Easy Homemade Chicken Broth Recipe
Homemade chicken broth tastes so much better than store bought cans. Sure it’s easier to open up a can but you can’t get this rich, delicious broth from a can. You can freeze it, refrigerate or use it immediately with your favorite recipe.
Place 3 pounds (approximately) of small whole chicken, or chicken parts, in a large stock pot. Make sure to use a stock pot that is taller than the chicken. Add enough water to completely cover the chicken plus 2” above the chicken. About 8 cups of water depending on the size of the chicken and pot.
Quarter 2 medium onions and then place in the pot.
Peel and cut into large chunks, 3 medium carrots then place into the pot.
Rinse and cut 2 celery stalks into large chunks then place into the pot.
Bring pot to a boil, then turn to a simmer, covered. After 30 minutes of simmering, remove anything that floats but not the vegetables. Continue to simmer for another 1-1/2 hours covered. (2 hours total)
While that simmers, prepare the herbs and seasonings. In a cheesecloth place 8 sprigs of parsley, 4 sprigs of thyme, 1 clove garlic, 8 peppercorns and 1 bay leaf. Tie the cheesecloth closed with cooking twine.
Place the bag into the pot, pushing it completely into the broth. Simmer for 30 more minutes. If you put the herbs and seasonings in for any longer they will lose their flavor.
Using a slotted spoon, scoop out everything in the chicken broth, including the herb bag, and place it in a bowl. I find the vegetables are not that flavorful at this point and I throw them away along with the herbs. I save the chicken for another recipe like chicken soup, stew or something else.
Pick through the bowl, saving the chicken, making sure there are no bones, cartilage or skin on the chicken.
There will still be small pieces of chicken and vegetables floating around the broth so pour the broth through a mesh strainer or cheesecloth to remove them. Season with salt, I used 1-1/2 tsp but add to your own taste.
Check out the color of that broth! Now it’s ready to use. Transfer broth to jars or containers and refrigerate for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months, better yet whip up a pot of soup!
http://www.InDianesKitchen.com
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Categories: Broth, Carrots, Celery, Chicken, Onion, Spices/Seasoning, Vegetables/Slaws/Salads
Delicious 😋 – Every time I remove skin debone thighs I make chicken stock – I add skin and bones (any fat cut for meat) to water with either Italian herbs or herbs de providence. 1 teaspoon Himalayan salt, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar. The vinegar draws out the nutrients from the bones. Also if I have time, I roast the bones before adding to the water.
That sounds similar to the bone broth I make. When I read you used Himalayan salt I remembered I forgot to put in the salt on my post! So I quickly edited it to include the salt! Thank you!
Even if you forgot it, you can always add later when using the stock or broth. But you are right it should be included while cooking. Thing I hated is when you put too much. Some dishes you can remedy but most you can’t. I am always careful about adding more than a teaspoon. 😋👍🏼
Most all my recipes have 1 tsp salt and 1/2 tsp pepper. My husband has high blood pressure and I use a lot of salt as I am eating, my salt level is very low with no high blood pressure.
I’m sure you know this but maybe somebody will read it. If a soup, stew etc. is too salty, drop a potato in it as it soaks up salt.
Yes that is what I do
Good stuff
Thank you Derrick!
Delicious! We store our chicken broth in ice cube bags. When making a sauce we add one or two cubes for extra flavor.
That is a wonderful idea! Thanks for sharing it.
Homemade broth is so much more satisfying. A great way to use up the leftover bones or carcass – of Rotiserrie chicken for example. The hubby did a turkey broth after Thanksgiving a few years ago and it was awesome.
If you have the room in your freezer, save any vegetables ends, peels, onion skins etc. and throw them into a freezer bag for when you make your broth. You will have a much better variety of flavor and a good addition to making the broth.
Good tip, thanks for sharing Diane!
You’re welcome Ab!
yes, I’ve started making my own and it’s so easy and so much more delicious
It’s a long process compared to the tasteless cans but worth it!
Great idea. Winter is quickly upon us so, hot soup sounds good.
Thank you Georgetta! We eat soup a lot in the cold winter months.
What are sound goods soups to make for someone that has dietary restrictions. My husband has to eat somewhat Mediterranean style foods. He can eat chicken and fish. I need so ideas for foods to cook. Thanks!😀
Honestly Georgetta, I don’t know anything about Mediterranean style food. You could type soup in my search bar and maybe you can find something that would work or that you could modify to his needs. If it was me, I would find a Facebook page that is Mediterranean recipes. I wish I could be of more help!
Thanks Diane.
You’re welcome Georgetta.
Homemade broths and stocks are the best.
Yes they are! Thank you Dorothy.
Sounds good! That store bought broth is positively tasteless.
It doesn’t even have any color or taste. I made bone broth and cooked it forever in my slow cooker. That was easier than hours on the stove. I know not everyone has a large slow cooker so I made it on the stove for my post.
Homemade is the very best!
You are right, no comparison!
You picked a good time to have this post as cold weather is finally settling in.
Thank you Linda! I made it because I made chicken and tortellini soup which I haven’t posted yet.
That sounds good too – my mom used to make a tortellini soup with spinach in it … inside the tortellini shells.
I love spinach, fresh or canned but Terry doesn’t so I can count on one hand how many times he will eat and enjoy a meal with it in something. The soup I made would have been delicious with spinach added, I used cheese tortellini.
I haven’t had spinach in a while. My mom used to make a quiche with spinach (frozen spinach) and Durkee onion rings – yum.
You and those onion rings! 😂
I only use them for holiday dinners and since I missed doing my Thanksgiving dinner (October 13th) I was mad and ate them right out of the canister. Meijer doesn’t carry (or they don’t make) the small canister of French’s onion rings anymore. Of course Meijer has their foil bags of their own onion rings and if you buy them, they’re often smashed by the time you get them home.
I’m so sick of grocery stores eliminating name brand products. Then they wonder why we shop at Amazon.
You’re right about that Diane. Meijer is eliminating more and more brands, replacing them with the Meijer brand or more recently the Fredericks brand.
That is the reason we stopped shopping at Kroger. Not only did they start eliminating brand names but we must spend $20 less at Meijer.
We went to Farmer Jack’s for decades and I think they were just in Michigan (owned by Borman’s). They were just like a Kroger, same size, etc. They suddenly shut down in 2006, so I had to decide where to shop. I was doing most of the shopping by then, except my mom liked to go for the meat shopping for Winter. We tried Kroger – too busy, too expensive, so we switched to Meijer. I felt overwhelmed how big it was until I got it “memorized” but I could go into Farmer Jack’s today and remember where everything was – they only moved end-cap stuff at Christmastime when they had goodies, etc. Meijer moves stuff around all the time.
Meijer is definitely cheaper, that’s one reason why we stopped going to Kroger. That and the fact they kept getting rid of name brand products and sold their brand instead. Now Meijer is doing the same thing!
Meijer is bad for pushing their stuff out front – it’s gotten worse the last few years. Have you heard about that Campbell’s Soup debacle with the CEO describing the Campbell’s Soup and its various subsidiary brands as not real meat and his tirade was recorded by an ex-employee? Yikes!
We just watched it on TV. I will be doing a post about how the grocery stores upscale and one of them is putting their products at eye level and out front.
I’ll look forward to reading that Diane. And where did this Fredericks of Meijer brand come from the last few years … it is like a second store brand, but fancier.
Fredericks is Meijer’s premium products made from local chefs and artisans, primarily from the Midwest, who partner with Meijer to have their creations featured under the brand name. Meijer controls these products to assure the quality is great.
I didn’t realize that – I can’t say I’ve tried anything but their dark chocolate bars as I had a coupon for a free bar or a lot off so I tried it. I was eating dark chocolate every day, but learned I was eating a lot of cadmium as I bought the highest cacoa percentage, so I have not bought it since. I may go back to it again, but only 76% and not Ghirardelli, which was what I had and which was the worst for cadmium.
I don’t like dark chocolate so that’s probably why I don’t care for Ghirardelli. That does not sound healthy at all eating something high in cadmium!
I am not keen on dark chocolate either Diane, but was just eating it for good health since it is supposed to be good for your heart. But then I heard a medical story on the news and researched it a little and stopped eating dark chocolate right away … some of the brands were not bad, if you used a lower cacao percentage, but I used one with the highest percentage and most metals! I wrote the good chocolate down for when/if I go back: Mast and Taza are the least toxic re: cadmium and also lead.
I can never figure out how something can be so good for you yet so bad. I think it is just an excuse to eat chocolate. Haha
Ha ha – I know. It is not that tasty though. Now if you get those foil-wrapped Dove minis … those taste good! This morning I heard they want to put larger warnings on things that are “bad” for you, namely added sugar, sodium, I forgot the others … the ultra-processed food, a term I never heard about until a year or so ago.
Seriously, I think they think we are stupid and can’t read labels! Let’s face it, all of us either eat healthy all the time or they don’t. A label won’t change that but they can definitely make larger print on all the products! They require so much information for the consumer that you need a magnifying glass to read it. Lol
Yes, do make everything bigger and easier to read and can we please have a standardized way to display the expiration date of products. I always check when I buy things and I waste more time searching on dairy products, which are the worst to find and sometimes on top of uneven surfaces, so you can’t read it.
OMG I agree 100%! It took a long time getting Terry to look at the expiration date and always buy the food item that will last the longest. That is hard to do when you can’t find it or it is too small to read!
I will hunt through the items in back if the stuff out front has a expiration date coming up. Yogurt is the worst … I buy different brands according to sales or they’re out of my flavors I like, so they are all over the map where they put the date.
YES!!! Yogurt is horrible finding the expiration date and never dark enough to see.
We should complain. They would say “well, we put the info on each individual carton if you buy the six-pack and can’t read it on the outside” … but, if I buy multiple cartons or six packs (as I buy fridge food for three to four weeks), I have jockey around everything to keep straight, what needs to be eaten first.
I think it’s something required by the FDA but they didn’t set a size limit evidently. We keep a magnifying glass in the kitchen drawer just for this reason.
I noticed almost every package/bottle I open, there is less and less inside these days. I think I mentioned about my Nescafe Clasico dark roast instant coffee I’ve been buying for years and you open the seal and there’s no coffee for 1 1/2 to 2 inches down, Plus, I have to put twice as much coffee in the cup now for it to taste like anything, or it tastes like the coffee bean ran through it.
Coffee is one thing I won’t give up, I drink a cup a day so it lasts a long time. I get the huge container full at Sam’s Club. I bought Kona coffee for my MIL for Christmas and it was $38.00 for a 7oz bag. She is 96 years old and she deserves a little pampering.
I agree – coffee is something I won’t give up either Diane. I have a cup when I get up and another when I come back home after walking/errands/running the car – something to look forward to. You are a good daughter-in-law … yes, that would be a treat for sure. I just use the Nescafe Clasico that I mentioned earlier – that is my first cup and I like the Taster’s Choice French Roast, not as dark roast for my second cup. That’s it. I bought a couple of small cans of the “treat coffee” to have at the holidays with the cookies I bought, but that’s it. I find it really sweet but it does get frothy and is delicious otherwise. 🙂
How nice that you treat yourself for Christmas season Linda, you deserve it!
I bought wedding cake cookies the last time I just ran into Meijer, not a big shopping, but they had put out the Archway Christmas cookies. My mom made those, but called them Cashew Nougats … I finally found them today. I had put them with the batteries in the cedar closet. I ran out of space to put things and just jammed them in there. I looked everywhere for the batteries, so today, after the gutter guy left, I had a lot of them for my lunch/dinner. Not sensible I know. 🙂
Oh I think that was an excellent choice for lunch and dinner! 😁
Very balanced and nutritional! Santa would be proud, his favorite treat!
Thank you Linda!
Very nice.
Thank you Nancy!
Homemade broth is wonderful. I’ll be making turkey broth from the Thanksgiving turkey carcass next month.
Not me! This is the one holiday my son cooks for all of us, however, he told me he will be buying a bunch of on sale turkeys and making stock with them, he learns so well! Lol
👏👏👏
Thank you!
so welcome!
Regards, Linda xx
mmmm – homemade is way better and this version of broth sounds good
Oh yes! Store bought broth looks and tastes like water.
❤ ❤
Oh yes, homemade chicken broth is the best! I like your cheesecloth with the herbs – will try that next time.
Think of the cheesecloth like a tea bag, all the flavor seeps in the broth without the messiness of removing them. I actually use a cheesecloth like bag and tie it closed. It is much easier and I can wash it for the next time.