How to Make Chicken Stock
How to Make Chicken Stock can help you make delicious homemade stock, and this post has all my tips from many years of making stock.
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I wrote this post on How to Make Chicken Stock many years ago and I’ve been making homemade chicken, beef, ham, and turkey stock for more years than I can remember. If you come to my house, I’ll usually have at least 10 containers of stock in the freezer, despite the fact that I use it all the time. I’m religious about saving scraps, chicken carcasses and leftover veggies, and make stock at least once every month. If you ask me, homemade chicken stock is a wonderful thing!
And I love the way making homemade stock uses things that would be thrown away. But you can also buy pretty good chicken stock (the kind in the cartons at Costco is great), so if making stock is not in your schedule, no worries.
I’m not a purist, and I often use a little bit of chicken soup base to add more flavor to the stock. My favorite is Better than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base (affiliate link) or the one in the photo, made by the same company. Do NOT use bouillon cubes, they are way too salty. (Edit: Shirley from Gluten Free Easily tells me that Better than Bouillon no longer guarantees their products are gluten-free, so that brand won’t work for people who have to avoid gluten.)
How to Make Chicken Stock:
(Scroll down for complete printable recipe.)
- Start with scraps of chicken or chicken carcasses, which I freeze until I’m ready to use them. (Save them up in the freezer until you have enough to make a big batch of stock.)
- You also need onions, celery, and carrots. If you have any veggies that are past their prime, this is the perfect use for them.
- If you’re going to make stock often, you might want to invest in a tool like this which is called a stock skimmer (affiliate link). It’s used for skimming off the foam from stock while it’s cooking. I also use it to scoop out the cooked vegetables when I’m discarding them.
- Put the chicken scraps, chicken base (if using), onions, celery, and carrots in a huge stock pot with water.
- Let it cook all day at a very low simmer, adding water whenever it gets low.
- After the stock has cooked all day (or at least for about 6 hours), I let it reduce it by about 1/3 before I scoop out the vegetables and discard them.
- When you’re through cooking it, remove the meat and veggies and strain the stock somehow.
- I use a yogurt strainer and a fat separator, which removes the fat by taking the liquid off the bottom. Any fine strainer will work.
- You can also remove the fat by cooling the stock and then scraping off the fat from the top.
- Now you have delicious chicken stock ready to put in the freezer and which can be used in a huge variety of dishes.
If you’re wondering why I don’t label the containers, it’s because I label my beef stock, turkey stock, and ham stock, and leave the chicken stock without a label, since I make it the most. Enjoy!
More Ways to Make Stock:
Weekend Food Prep:
This recipe has been added to a new category called Weekend Food Prep to help you find recipes you can prep or cook on the weekend and eat during the week!
How to Make Chicken Stock
Homemade chicken stock is so much better than the kind you find in a can or a carton, and it's a good way to use chicken scraps that might get thrown away.
Ingredients
- chicken scraps or chicken carcass with bones
- 1 - 2 onions
- 4 stalks celery
- 2 - 3 large carrots
- enough water to cover the chicken and vegetables
- Better than Bouillon roasted chicken base (optional but recommended)
Instructions
- To make chicken stock, start with scraps of chicken or chicken carcasses. (Save them up in the freezer until you have enough to make a big batch of stock.)
- You also need onions, celery, and carrots. If you have any veggies that are past their prime, this is the perfect use for them.
- Put the chicken scraps, onions, celery, and carrots in a huge stock pot with enough water. to cover the chicken and vegetables by a few inches.
- I always use a little bit of chicken soup base to speed up the process a little. I like Better Than Bouillon Roasted Chicken Base, but there are a few good brands. (Do NOT use bouillon cubes, they are way too salty.)
- Let it cook all day (or at least six hours) at a very low simmer, adding water whenever it gets low.
- After the stock has cooked all day I usually reduce it by about 1/3 before I scoop out the vegetables and chicken.
- When you're through cooking it, remove the meat and veggies and strain the stock somehow. I use a yogurt strainer and a fat separator, which removes the fat by taking the liquid off the bottom. Any fine strainer will work. You can also remove the fat by cooling the stock, then spooning off the hardened fat.
- Now you have delicious chicken stock ready to put in the freezer and which can be used in a huge variety of dishes. (Taste to see if you want to simmer longer to concentrate the flavor.)
Notes
I like to freeze this in two cup containers, which is just slight more than one can of chicken broth.
Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This much-used recipe for chicken stock was first posted in 2006, and I had been making it years before that. It was last updated in 2021.
53 Comments on “How to Make Chicken Stock”
I've been wanting a yogurt strainer like the one you show here. I notice you didn't suggest using it for the Tzatzaki recipe (ca. 2007-2009). Do you still have it? What company made your strainer (e.g., brand name)?
I really appreciate your blog as I'm new to South Beach and need all the ideas I can find. Thank you!
Thanks for the tips!
I am enjoying your site and though I'd add my 2 cents about your chicken stock. I have used the ice cube tray to freeze chicken stock. Each cube represents 1 package of bouillon. Also, you could buy a big bag of chicken wings to make stock with, if you are starting from scratch. I usually purchase boneless, skinless breast for eating so don't have scraps left over. I hope these tips help.
Yes, you could do that. I would leave some meat scraps clinging to the bones though for best stock flavor.
Yes, you could do that. I would leave some meat scraps clinging to the bones though for best stock flavor.
I don't ever have chicken scraps. So if I start with a fresh chicken, allow it to cook, remove it's meat for future recipes, would I return the carcass to the pot and continue with the stock?
The stock will say good in the freezer for at least six months, probably longer. Thanks, glad you are enjoying the blog.
What is the shelf life for the frozen stock? BTW, LOVE this website!
Here's my great tip for freezing chicken stock: I use freezer ziploc bags and I fill the bags with the chicken stock and mark how many cups of stock is in each bag. I then lay the filled ziploc bags flat on the cookie sheet and I put them in the freezer. Once frozen, I take them off the cookie sheet and I can stand them up or lay them on top of each other and they don't take up as much space as the tupperware bowls. It works great and I can write on the bags exactly what is in the bag and how much stock is in each bag. Happy cooking.
Kelly
www.beachglassgonewild.com
Nancy, it doesn't matter if the chicken scraps are cooked or raw. I usually have some of each.
Love the post. Do you use cooked chicken scrap to make your stock?
Amy, I start it in the morning and if I have to go somewhere I just turn the stove off while I’m gone, then turn back on when I get home. You can also make stock in a crockpot, then transfer to a stockpot and cook it down after it’s simmered for most of the day.
Does this mean you can’t leave the house all day? i mean, is it safe to leave while your stove is on to run an errand, or how do you manage it? I’m a working mom, so while I kindof like the idea of staying home all day and reading or gardening, there are always errands I need to do, and my daughter can get bored with no company! Ideas?
FREAKING AWESOME.
My end goal was to make chicken stock. I have never done this–or anything like this, for that matter–before. Kalyn’s instuction was very straightforward without dumbing things down and my stock turned out beautifully! I can hardly believe that I made this, as I would not consider myself a wonderful cook by any means. I will have to test the stock in a recipe and see how it fares, but it certainly looks and smells like the real deal as of now.
Thank you Kalyn!
Sorry I left a too long link, Kalyn. (I don’t use IE so didn’t know what might happen I can’t remember now exactly what I said nor what I linked to. But I think it might have been about vegetable stock.
We usually don’t simmer vegetable stock for longer than an hour because it can get an overstewed bitter taste if the vegetables are overcooked.
And we don’t roast the vegetables first (although that might be delicious too….) so our vegetable stock is fat free.
Don’t you just love the smell of the kitchen when there is stock is simmering?
-Elizabeth
Lisa, you can make it vegetarian. I would roast the veggies with some olive oil first for more depth of flavor, then just simmer like I did this.
Thanks for the instruction, Kalyn. I’ve never done this before!
Great isn’t it. Endless risottos and soups. I’ve also started making Asian variations for wonderful noodle soups.
Vanessa – you can just keep reducing the stock, until it is quite dense. Makes it easier to store.
One trick that my mom has taught me over the years is to not drain off the fat. Let the chicken fat solidify, forming a layer on top of the stock. This layer of fat acts as a natural protector from the air that houses bacteria. You can prolong the life of your stock by bringing the whole thing to a boil for 10 minutes every few days, again, letting it cool with that protective layer.
When you go to use the stock, just lift up the layer of fat to remove the stock. You can always save that fat for cooking.
I’ve discovered another method for chicken stock that works quite well, using chicken backs and wing tips, have posted here.
Great post, Kalyn!
i’ve made the stock a few times. never have enough room to store all that liquid though 🙁