Chicken broth is easy and relatively inexpensive to purchase at the store, but making your own is also really simple and uses basic ingredients. Homemade Chicken Broth has extra rich flavor, and one of the benefits is that you can control things like flavor notes and salt content. My method here uses something that is normally discarded- a leftover rotisserie chicken! After you use the meat on the chicken for a meal, instead of tossing the remaining bones and scraps, simmer them with a few more ingredients and it results in a delicious homemade broth. I’m including instructions to make this both on the stove top or in a pressure cooker. If both options are available to you, I strongly recommend the pressure cooker. It will result in a more flavorful and less cloudy broth, and it cooks fast, too!
Ingredients Needed
You really only need basic ingredients to make great broth at home and it’s incredibly flexible. I don’t even always measure the vegetables. It’s also fine if your veggies are just barely starting to go bad. Instead of tossing them out, toss them in the pot!
- Chicken stock bones – This recipe calls for the leftover meat, cartilage, and bones of a rotisserie chicken. You can make broth with a chicken that is mostly picked apart, or one that still has quite a bit of meat on it. This is a great use for a chicken that still has meat on it, but it’s perhaps been in the fridge for a couple days and you no longer want to just eat it plain. You could also use leftovers from any cooked, bone-in chicken or simply use whole, raw drumsticks, or bone-in thighs or chicken breasts.
- Celery
- Carrots – Regular or baby carrots work great.
- Onion – I prefer yellow or white onion. Red will also work, but it may turn your broth a murky color.
- Fresh garlic
- Peppercorns – Peppercorns add flavor but can also be strained out at the end. If you don’t have whole peppercorns and don’t mind pepper flakes in your finished broth, feel free to crack some black pepper into the pot.
- Kosher salt
- Herbs – As desired. Fresh herbs are wonderful, but you could also used dried. Feel free to add different herbs to taste, it’s very flexible!
How to Make Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
- Pull off any large pieces of fat and skin from the chicken and discard. Place the carcass in a pressure cooker (or stove top pot).
- Add carrots, celery, onion, garlic, salt and peppercorns.
- Add water.
- In a pressure cooker, I cook on high for 45 minutes and then let it naturally depressurize. On the stovetop you’ll want to simmer, covered, for at least an hour. The longer you cook it the more flavorful it will be, but it will also reduce. Feel free to add more water if needed to make sure all ingredients are covered.
- When it’s done, strain your liquid to remove the solids. I like to use a large-hole strainer to discard the chicken bones and vegetables, and then run it through a fine-mesh strainer to further remove solids. You don’t need to remove all solids if you don’t want to, they usually just add flavor and body to your finished dishes!
- Use or freeze to enjoy later.
Storing and Other Tips
- Store finished, cooled broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days for best results.
Freezing Homemade Broth
- Food service containers are a great way to freeze broth. I put a piece of masking tape on it and label with the contents and date.
- Another favorite tool for frozen broth are my favorite Souper Cubes, which make it easy to freeze portioned amounts. I freeze into cubes and then transfer the cubes into Ziplock bags, an airtight container, or a vacuum sealed bag for longer term storage.
- To Defrost: Place containers of broth in the fridge a day ahead of time to thaw, or I add the frozen cubes directly into warm pots of soups and sauces to melt.
Frequently Asked Questions
I use this Chicken and Dumplings recipe- just omit the dumplings, add noodles, and replace the milk with broth.
The quick answer is that both broth and stock involve simmering water and vegetables with parts of a chicken. Generally broth is made with chicken meat, like a whole chicken while stock is made with a large quantity of bones. Often in stock, the bones are roasted first as well. Overall, stock is known for having a deeper, richer flavor. Because the bones contain a lot of gelatin, stock usually has a little more body. I think this is true for homemade restaurant quality stock, but when it comes to the store-bought options, there’s not a huge difference (in my opinion). Some companies aren’t even consistent in labeling. So are they interchangeable in recipes? Generally speaking, yes. I buy broth 100% of the time. It’s more widely available and I like the light, clean flavor. The recipe above does contain bones, but it’s mostly the meaty chicken scraps attached that gives the broth its flavor.
You can, if you have a good quantity of leftover meaty bones. Beef broth requires a higher meat/bones to water ratio than chicken. Beef broth will need to cook longer and you may want to replace some of the herbs with a bay leaf. Beef contains more fat as well, so you will need to skim that off as well.
Easy Homemade Chicken Broth
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 rotisserie chicken leftover scraps
- 2-3 ribs celery you can leave the leaves on
- 2 carrots or a handful of baby carrots
- 1 onion, medium
- 3 cloves garlic smashed or roughly chopped
- 10 peppercorns
- 1 heaping tablespoon kosher salt
- fresh herbs a few fresh sprigs of parsley, thyme, and a bay leaf. Rosemary and sage are also good. You can also use 2 teaspoons each of rosemary, parsley, and thyme.
Instructions
Preperation
- Trim any excess fat and skin off of chicken and place it in a pressure cooker or stock pot.
- Give the celery, carrots and onions a rough chop and add to pot. Add all remaining ingredients.
- Add water so it covers the ingredients by a couple inches. If using a pressure cooker, do not exceed the max fill line. In my pressure cooker, I add about 12 cups of water. In a stock pot, I generally add 12-16 cups.
Cook Broth
- Pressure Cooker: Cook at high pressure for 45 minutes and then do a natural release.
- Stove Top: Bring to a boil and reduce to a simmer. Simmer covered, stirring occasionally for 1-2 hours.
- Strain mixture to remove solids. Cool broth to room temp and then store in portioned containers in the freezer for up to 3 months, or in the fridge for about 5 days. Quantity varies, but it will reduce in volume after simmering.
Notes
- Store finished, cooled broth in an airtight container in the refrigerator and use within 3-4 days for best results.
Freezing Homemade Broth
- Food service containers are a great way to freeze broth. I put a piece of masking tape on it and label with the contents and date.
- Another favorite tool for frozen broth are my favorite Souper Cubes, which make it easy to freeze portioned amounts. I freeze into cubes and then transfer the cubes into Ziplock bags, an airtight container, or a vacuum sealed bag for longer term storage.
- To Defrost: Place containers of broth in the fridge a day ahead of time to thaw, or I add the frozen cubes directly into warm pots of soups and sauces to melt.
Questions & Reviews
When ever I poach chicken for recipes like soups, stews, etc. I always cook them with celery, carrots, onions, etc. so I can get stock/broth out of it. I actually store it in a ziploc freezer bag in my veggie drawer. I date it too. Sometimes I freeze it in ice cube trays and then pop them out, put them in a ziploc bag so I have a little to use in other recipes.
Another great way to make broth is in a crockpot. Set it up over night.
Oh my goodness….you are right, I almost skipped reading this post but then I read it once I saw your “roll your eyes” comment….so glad I did! I have tossed soooo many of the costco chickens as well! Now I cant wait to get my next one to make some broth! Lol…thanks a bunch-love you gals! You never let us down!! 🙂
Okay, I have a question for you– I have made my own broth but I ended up using it right away (chick noodle soup), but I think I will try to make it more often. And, sidetrack, I am like you, I can not eat all the meat off it! The dark stuff grosses me out. ANYWHO– so my q is this- you buy broth, is there any reason why bouillon cubes are different? I use so much that I plow right through a costco sized container in no time at all. I used the stock in the jar, but I really do use so much that I just started using the cubes. So I would really like to know what you think. I hate unwrapping them, but other than that, is there a downside? Thanks!!!
Heather- I keep a big container of Costco bouillon in my pantry too, but usually use it only if I’m out of broth, or I just need a little and don’t want to open a whole can/box of broth. There’s nothing wrong with bouillon, but it does generally have a lot more sodium and artificial flavors. I think the flavor of broth and stock are a lot cleaner tasting. That being said, bouillon can work just fine in most recipes that call for broth, you just have to be careful about adding salt to the recipe since the cubes tend to be a little saltier.
I have a habit of making a roasted chicken at least once a week as part of this habit I just put all the parts of the cut up chicken that I know my family won’t eat into my big pasta pot(why the pasta pot? because then all I have to do is let it drain into the bottom and dump the top part into my composter!)with a couple of onions cut in half and whatever not so great looking fresh veggies I have in my fridge I cover with water add a tiny bit of salt and simmer while Im cooking dinner it cools down while we eat then after dinner I just put in freezer containers and voila homemade I know whats in it stock!
I live in Boise too, (just since right before Christmas), and I live fairly near the Costco. I stop for a chicken every chance I get, and next time I’m going to hold up a “Our Best Bites” sign when I’m there. Watch for me!!! I cut all the meat off and make soup in my digital pressure cooker. We had chicken burritos tonight, love, love, love, and I took soup to my sick DIL. Thanks for a fun post!
You wouldn’t believe the amount of times that I have a “carcass” sitting in the fridge the day after and I have no clue about what I should do with it (the word carcass really does sound bad lol). After reading this I went downstairs and literally followed your receipt step by step and the broth turned out amazing! I highly recommend that anyone that has leftovers try it out, you really don’t have much to lose (especially if you are going to be throwing most of the leftover out anyways).
You can also do this in the crockpot, and can cook the chicken in there first too instead of a rotisserie one. I usually throw the carcass in there after dinner with the extras (onion, carrots, celery, dried herbs) and then let it cook on L while we sleep. In the morning (the house smells odd for breakfast but hey, whatever, right?), I fish out the bones and puree everything else (veggies too) into broth. Then I freeze it in 1-1.5 cup portions in ziptop bags (you could do 14 oz as that’s a usual can of broth, I think). From my one $3.49 chicken, I get: 1 main meal of chicken meat, at least one more baggie of meat to freeze for casseroles, taquitos, etc., and then 6-7 cups of broth for later. That’s a good deal!
@Veronica,
A good way to make stock without wasting any vegetables is to save the ends of onions (the part you chop off so you can cut it) & the ends of celery (and the leafy part of the celery)and carrots that get cut off. I just stick all the ends in a ziplock bag in the freezer, so by the time I want to make chicken stock/broth, I usually have enough and don’t end up wasting anything!
I make your fauxtisserie chicken about twice a month, my husband LOVES it. And I always make chicken broth with the leftovers. Its the easiest thing in the world, freezes well and tastes great! I freeze mine in 2 cup portions. I usually end up with about 20 cups of stock for about $1.50.
This is such a useful recipe. I use chicken broth all the time and I get those chickens from Costco a lot, too. So glad I can save some money and use those carcasses for something! Thank you!!!