DIY In The Kitchen: Making Your Own Chicken Broth

Chicken broth is one of those essential things every kitchen needs.  It's a very versatile broth in cooking.  You can use it to flavor vegetables, rice, or potatoes, or as a base for soups, and I even use it as a base for my green chili.  Near Thanksgiving, I use chicken broth to flavor the stuffing that I make from scratch.

Photo Credit:  NourishingCook

I can buy chicken broth at the store, but I prefer making my own for a variety of reasons.  First of all, it's cheaper.  I usually use chicken carcasses from whole roasted chickens to make my chicken broth, although in a pinch I will use chicken legs and quarters if I need broth right away.  If I'm using the chicken carcasses, there is no cost for the meat bones I've used-my only cost is for the veggies and spices, and once I get my garden going, the cost will be pennies per quart.  It greatly reduces the waste, as I'm usually able to pick a bit more meat off the bone after I cook it for the broth.  You should never use bones from cuts that have been served to a plate to make broth.  Once they've been put on a plate, there's a chance they are contaminated from all the germs in our saliva.

Next, I control what the ingredients are.  I know that what I put in my broth is healthy for my family.  This is really important as I need to control the sodium levels in what we eat.  Mr. Sullivan has a history of high blood pressure.  Finally, I'm able to make it as flavorful or bland as I need it to be, or add specific ingredients for specific reasons.  For example, if the kiddoes are sick, I'll add some garlic and oregano to my chicken broth and make a batch of home made chicken noodle soup.

To start making your own home made chicken broth, you'll need chicken carcasses.  I have several basic chicken recipes that I use for whole roasted chickens, which I'll post later, but they are all similar in flavors.  If I'm doing say, an Asian flavored chicken dish, I'll use boneless, skinless chicken breasts rather than whole chickens.  That way, when I cook my chickens, if several are combined, there won't be conflicting flavors in the chicken broth from any leftover spices on the chicken itself.  I usually pop the remains of the chicken into a freezer baggie right after dinner and put it in the fridge to cool; the next morning I move it into the refrigerator.  We have an average of one chicken a week, and I wait until I have four or six carcasses and make the broth in bulk.  I take them out to thaw the day before I plan to make the broth.  If you're using chicken parts, I recommend legs and thighs or leg quarters, about three pounds would equal each chicken carcass.

For each chicken carcass, you will need
1 c. chopped carrots (they don't have to be pretty; they will be discarded after cooking)
1/2 c. diced celery
1/2 large onion, diced
1 tbsp parsley
1/2 tbsp sage
1 tsp marjoram
1 tsp thyme
1 tsp rosemary
1 tsp black pepper
2 tsp salt (you may want to add more at the end, adjust for flavor)

I use a huge stockpot and try to do four chickens at once.  That doesn't always fit, but it's what I try to do.  You can do them in a six quart pot, individually, if you want.

Put your chickens in the pot.  Add water to cover, and turn heat to high.  Bring to a boil, and remove and discard any scum that comes to the top.  Once it's boiling well, add all of your other ingredients.  When it resumes boiling, turn heat down to maintain a slow simmer.  Cook for two to three hours, replenishing water as necessary.

Once it's done, remove from heat, cover loosely, and let cool for at least an hour.  Covering is really optional; I do it because one time I had four carcasses worth of broth cooling in my kitchen and went in to finish it up and found a cat hair in it.  I'm trying to save you the pain in the rear end aspect of that.  Moving on.

You'll want to have a colander and a large bowl ready for the next step.  If you don't have a bowl large enough, then set up several bowls along with one "scraps" bowl for the next step.  Place the colander into the bowl, and begin pouring the broth through it.  Pour slowly, because it will still be pretty warm, and will splash as the veggies and chicken parts fall into the colander.  Leave one inch of space in each bowl, and dump the scraps into the scrap bowl.  Once you've poured off all of the chicken broth, put the bowls into the fridge overnight.

As the scraps cool, pick off any meat left on the chicken carcasses.  I package this up in two cup portions and freeze.

Photo Credit: aMichiganMom

The next morning, take the bowls of broth out.  You will see a yellowish white cluster on top of each bowl.  This is the hardened fat.  Skim this off with a metal spoon and discard.  Then take the broth (it will be thick at this point) and put it into your preferred container for freezing or canning.  I put this in quart canning jars and freeze, leaving one inch headspace for freezing.  I'm hoping to get some canned soon.  You can also freeze this in good quality freezer baggies, but don't overfill, and put it into a bowl when you thaw, in case the bag breaks or you have seepage.  I also put some into pint canning jars and freeze, in case I have only one sick kiddo that needs some soup or broth.