Homemade Chicken Broth

A few days ago our local grocery store had a great deal.  And, really, who doesn’t love a great deal?

For $10, I got a whole roast chicken and 8 pieces of fried chicken.  Enough to feed a hungry family of five, no matter which way they preferred their chicken.

When it was over, the only thing left was a fairly large pile of chicken parts.  It struck me as a waste to just throw it all out, but what could I do?

How could I make this awesome dinner deal dollar stretch even further?

I recently faced the same question when I had a pile of vegetable peels left over from a roast I was making.  That got turned into a really great vegetable broth.

I thought, why not do the same with chicken?

What You Need

• Chicken leftovers – bones, skin and other bits (at least one roast chicken)
• Salt and Pepper
• Large Pot – big enough to hold all your chicken and enough water to cover the chicken by a few inches, the larger the pot the more for freezing
• Vegetables (optional)
• Water

I’m calling the vegetables optional since you may want the chicken flavor to come through as much as possible.  You can always add vegetables to your soup, or whatever you make with your broth.

However, if you like a little extra flavor to your broth, feel free to add some of your favorite veggies. 

Tip: If you freeze vegetable peels for later use (as suggested in our vegetable broth recipe), dig in and see what you’ve got. 

When making my last batch, I found some frozen celery tops and leeks.  It was just the right amount of “something”. So go ahead, throw your faves in to taste, and crank up the heat.

What to Do

• Fill a large pot with water – about ¾ quarters full or enough to cover your chicken by a couple inches at least
• Add chicken bits
• Add any vegetables you may want to add
• Salt and pepper to taste
• Bring to a boil, reduce heat to simmer and cover
• Continue to simmer for 3-4 hours.  If you want to cook down the broth into more of a chicken stock, let simmer another hour or more.
• Strain chicken parts and vegetables

That’s it.  Just a few ingredients, and a couple hours and you’ll have yourself some homemade chicken broth.

Bag it in gallon size freezer bags (try to remove as much air as possible). Then freeze it and pull it out whenever you need some chicken broth.

This is a great way to squeeze a little extra value out of that roast chicken and to save a trip to the grocery store when you need some broth in a pinch.