How to Make Homemade Chicken Stock

I wrote “How to Make Homemade Chicken Stock” in a post a couple of weeks ago, but decided it’s important enough to deserve it’s own post.  Yesterday, I needed to make some more and had just bought a rotisserie chicken, so I thought I’d document the process for you in photos.  My friend Amy tried this for the first time the other day (Woo Hoo Ames!) and had some questions along the way…so in an effort to serve you all better, I hope all these pictures help!

PS. I just copied below what I’d written in the post before.  But now, I’m adding pictures!!!

First I’m going to tell you how to make homemade chicken stock…the cheater’s way!  Step 1. Go to Sams or Costco or the grocery store and get a rotisserie chicken. Step 2. Eat the chicken for lunch or dinner with simple sides. Step 3. SAVE every single piece of that carcass and the juice in the bottom of the pan. Even fill the bottom dish from the chicken with water to add to your pot and get every last flavorful dripping you can out of that thing!

 Step 4. Put all of that in a stockpot. (The one I’ve used here is an 8qt pot.) Quarter an onion. Cut some celery into about 3 inch lengths (I’d say maybe 3 stalks, and yes, the leaves can stay on the celery…they’re flavorful!) Put some carrots in too…maybe a cup or so. These can be cut big as well, or you can really cheat and use baby carrots. Put a couple Tbsp minced garlic, salt, pepper, I put some Lawry’s seasoned salt, maybe a tsp of thyme, and a Tbsp parsley flakes..

 Fill the pot up with lots of water, a  Bring to a boil and then reduce heat and simmer a long time UNCOVERED…at least 3 hours, and up to about 8 makes it really great!

 This is how my pot looked when I started at about noon. I even measured the water line so you can see what will happen over time.

This was after about 3 hours.  The stock had evaporated over an inch worth of liquid.

And then below after 6 hours it’d lost another inch!  The longer you cook it, the more concentrated it gets!

Concentration = loads of flavor!

The darker the color, the richer the broth.  When you’re done, strain out all the bones and veggies and store the stock.  I normally just freeze mine in about 6 cup (that’s 1 1/2 qts) containers, so I can use it whenever I want. Also if you’ve made it really concentrated, then when you make soup or something with it, you can usually add as much water as you have stock to make more.  So if you have 4c. stock, then add 4 c. water and your broth will still taste super rich.

This is what my finished product looked like after about 7 hours simmering once I ran it through a strainer to get all the bones and things out.

Make sure that you say things like “oui, oui” and “bon appetit” when you make this, you’ll be very European now making your own stock and all.