From chicken noodle soup to a rich marsala sauce, chicken stock is both versatile and indispensable to any person, especially those who like to cook from scratch. This light stock is made from chicken, either scraps from a previous cooking project or the untrimmed bones from a whole chicken and a classic mirepoix of onions, carrots, and celery. This homemade chicken stock is lightly seasoned with whole black peppercorns, thyme sprigs, and bay leaves.
Making Chicken Stock
To begin with, you will need to gather your ingredients:
8 Pound (3.6kg) Whole Chicken, Cleaned of Useable Cuts of Meat
1 Gallon (3.8L) Cold Water
2 White Onions
2 Carrots
2 Ribs of Celery
5 cloves garlic, smashed to open it
2 Tablespoons Whole Black Peppercorns
2 Bay Leaves
2 Sprigs of Fresh Thyme
2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
Method ~ Stovetop
- Start by rinsing the chicken bones. If you do not have access to a whole chicken carcass, most supermarkets sell fresh chicken necks, which are an excellent substitute. Pat the chicken dry and chop into 3-6 inch pieces using a heavy chef knife. Place the bones in the stock pot.
- Rinse and chop the vegetables into uniform pieces, about a 1-inch dice. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the onions or the carrots. However, it will not affect the quality of the finished stock if you do. Add the chopped vegetables to the stock pot.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the cold water to fill up the pot. Cold water is important because it helps regulate the temperature of the stock, allowing the liquid to slowly rise to a simmer. Depending on the size of your pot, you may need to halve the recipe.
- Place a lid on the pot and bring to the boil.
- Immediately reduce to a simmer. Simmer for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. The longer the simmer, the better the flavour will be.
- When ready, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary and cook for a further 30 minutes if adjusted.
- Strain the stock using a ladle and a fine-meshed sieve. Let it sit for around 10-15 minutes to make sure all the liquid comes out. It is important not to pour the stock through a colander as this will cloud the stock. The stock is now ready to use, or it can be cooled and stored.
Method ~ Instant Pot
- Start by rinsing the chicken bones. If you do not have access to a whole chicken carcass, most supermarkets sell fresh chicken necks, which are an excellent substitute. Pat the chicken dry and chop into 3-6 inch pieces using a heavy chef knife. Place the bones in the internal pot of the Instant Pot.
- Rinse and chop the vegetables into uniform pieces, about a 1-inch dice. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the onions or the carrots. However, it will not affect the quality of the finished stock if you do. Add the chopped vegetables to the Instant Pot.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the cold water only up until the recommended fill line. Cold water is important because it helps regulate the temperature of the stock, allowing the liquid to slowly rise to a simmer. Depending on the size of your Instant Pot, you may need to halve the recipe.
- Close the lid on the Instant Pot until it is latched. Close the valve to ‘seal.’ Set to cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. When finished, let it release naturally for 10-15 minutes then do a quick release.
- Strain the stock using a ladle and a fine-meshed sieve. Let it sit for around 10-15 minutes to make sure all the liquid comes out. It is important not to pour the stock through a colander as this will cloud the stock. The stock is now ready to use, or it can be cooled and stored.
Method ~ Slow Cooker
- Start by rinsing the chicken bones. If you do not have access to a whole chicken carcass, most supermarkets sell fresh chicken necks, which are an excellent substitute. Pat the chicken dry and chop into 3-6 inch pieces using a heavy chef knife. Place the bones in the slow cooker.
- Rinse and chop the vegetables into uniform pieces, about a 1-inch dice. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the onions or the carrots. However, it will not affect the quality of the finished stock if you do. Add the chopped vegetables to the slow cooker.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the cold water to the slow cooker to cover the meat. The water can go to within an inch of the top of the slow cooker. Cold water is important because it helps regulate the temperature of the stock, allowing the liquid to slowly rise to a simmer. Depending on the size of your slow cooker, you may need to halve the recipe.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and turn on to low heat and simmer for at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours.
- Strain the stock using a ladle and a fine-meshed sieve. Let it sit for around 10-15 minutes to make sure all the liquid comes out. It is important not to pour the stock through a colander as this will cloud the stock. The stock is now ready to use, or it can be cooled and stored.
Types of Chicken
When making chicken stock, you can use any type of chicken so long as it has bones.
If using a whole chicken, if the one you have has giblets, you will need to remove them from the cavity first. You can sear this chicken on all four sides if you want before adding it to your stock.
If using cuts or pieces of chicken, make sure to use ones with the bones in them such as bone-in thighs, chicken legs, bone-in breast, or wings. I recommend using bone-in chicken thighs alongside the bone-in chicken breasts if using cuts as the thighs contain more marrow bone, which is what you need to give your stock nutrients as well as a lovely taste.
You can use a carcass of a leftover roast chicken as well. This is a great way to utilise the whole chicken and save on wastage. Though, these bones of the carcass have been previously cooked before making the stock, so they won’t have as much left in them. A raw carcass would be great to use.
Bone Marrow
Bone marrow is the soft tissue that is found inside large bones. It is full of great nutrients, such as calcium, zinc, omega-3, and iron, to name a few, that make your stock rich, and nutritious. This nutrition can help, especially when you are feeling a little off, as it helps with boosting your immune system, promoting skin and joint health as well as digestive health. To get these nutrients from the bones, the stock needs to be cooked for a long time.
The apple cider vinegar also helps to leech the nutrients from the chicken bones as they cook. The amount used in this recipe is not enough to change the flavour of the stock, though you can alter this amount if you wish.
Storage
Storage is often the main reason people do not make their own stock. Fresh stocks have very short shelf lives. They need to be placed in the fridge as soon as they cool down so that bacteria will not be able to start to grow. In saying that, even when refrigerated properly, stocks tend to sour in 4-5 days, so use within 1 or 2 days from making it and freeze the rest.
Stock can be frozen, without affecting the quality, for up to three months. You can freeze the stock in large containers, filling them no more than ¾ full, allowing for expansion, sealing, then labelling. A clever tip is to fill plastic ice cube trays with the stock and freeze. This way, you can use only the amount you need without defrosting the entire batch. Once the cubes have frozen, transfer the cubes into a freezer zip-top bag, seal and label and put back into the freezer until needed.
Variations
Once you have become familiar with the chicken stock process, you can begin to play with the herbs and spices added instead of the traditional peppercorns and bay leaves.
Here are some ideas to try:
- Ginger, Lemongrass, and dried chilies.
- Tarragon and Rosemary.
- Wild Mushrooms Stems.
- Juniper Berries.
Each combination creates a unique and interesting flavor that can accentuate and enhance the final dish.
Notes
- When handling raw chicken, always clean and sanitise the area, knives, and your hands with an antibacterial solution before and after use to help reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
- No salt is added to this stock so that when you use it in different recipes, you can add the correct amount of salt then. If added to the stock, the dishes that you make using this stock could end up very salty.
- When the chicken stock cools, you may have a layer of yellowish fat on top. This can be skimmed off and discarded. It will not affect your stock.
- Cooled stock is thick and will jiggle like jelly. This is due to the gelatine and collagen that is taken from the bones that were used. It does liquify when using in your recipes.
More Chicken Recipes
Homemade Chicken Stock
Simple Living. Creative LearningIngredients
- 8 Pound (3.6kg) Whole Chicken, Cleaned of Useable Cuts of Meat
- 1 Gallon (3.8L) Cold Filtered Water, enough to fill up the stock pot / Instant Pot
- 2 White Onions
- 2 Carrots
- 5 cloves, garlic, smashed
- 2 ribs Celery
- 2 TBSP Whole Black Peppercorns
- 2 Bay Leaves
- 2 sprigs Fresh Thyme
Instructions
Chicken Stock ~ Stovetop Method
- Start by rinsing the chicken bones. If you do not have access to a whole chicken carcass, most supermarkets sell fresh chicken necks, which are an excellent substitute. Pat the chicken dry and chop into 3-6 inch pieces using a heavy chef knife. Place the bones in the stock pot.
- Rinse and chop the vegetables into uniform pieces, about a 1-inch dice. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the onions or the carrots. However, it will not affect the quality of the finished stock if you do.
- Add the chopped vegetables to the stock pot.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the cold water to fill up the pot. Cold water is important because it helps regulate the temperature of the stock, allowing the liquid to slowly rise to a simmer. Depending on the size of your pot, you may need to halve the recipe.
- Place a lid on the pot and bring to the boil. Immediately reduce to a simmer. Simmer for at least 4 hours or up to 24 hours. The longer the simmer, the better the flavour will be.
- When ready, taste and adjust the seasoning if necessary and cook for a further 30 minutes if adjusted.
- Strain the stock using a ladle and a fine-meshed sieve. Let it sit for around 10-15 minutes to make sure all the liquid comes out. It is important not to pour the stock through a colander as this will cloud the stock. The stock is now ready to use, or it can be cooled and stored.
Chicken Stock ~ Instant Pot Method
- Start by rinsing the chicken bones. If you do not have access to a whole chicken carcass, most supermarkets sell fresh chicken necks, which are an excellent substitute. Pat the chicken dry and chop into 3-6 inch pieces using a heavy chef knife. Place the bones in the internal pot of the Instant Pot.
- Rinse and chop the vegetables into uniform pieces, about a 1-inch dice. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the onions or the carrots. However, it will not affect the quality of the finished stock if you do. Add the chopped vegetables to the Instant Pot.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the cold water only up until the recommended fill line. Cold water is important because it helps regulate the temperature of the stock, allowing the liquid to slowly rise to a simmer. Depending on the size of your Instant Pot, you may need to halve the recipe.
- Close the lid on the Instant Pot until it is latched. Close the valve to 'seal.' Set to cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. When finished, let it release naturally for 10-15 minutes then do a quick release.
- Strain the stock using a ladle and a fine-meshed sieve. Let it sit for around 10-15 minutes to make sure all the liquid comes out. It is important not to pour the stock through a colander as this will cloud the stock. The stock is now ready to use, or it can be cooled and stored.
Chicken Stock ~ Slow Cooker Method
- Start by rinsing the chicken bones. If you do not have access to a whole chicken carcass, most supermarkets sell fresh chicken necks, which are an excellent substitute. Pat the chicken dry and chop into 3-6 inch pieces using a heavy chef knife. Place the bones in the slow cooker.
- Rinse and chop the vegetables into uniform pieces, about a 1-inch dice. It is not necessary to remove the skin from the onions or the carrots. However, it will not affect the quality of the finished stock if you do. Add the chopped vegetables to the slow cooker.
- Add the garlic, peppercorns, bay leaves, and thyme sprigs. Add the apple cider vinegar.
- Add the cold water to the slow cooker to cover the meat. The water can go to within an inch of the top of the slow cooker. Cold water is important because it helps regulate the temperature of the stock, allowing the liquid to slowly rise to a simmer. Depending on the size of your slow cooker, you may need to halve the recipe.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker and turn on to low heat and simmer for at least 8 hours, up to 24 hours.
- Strain the stock using a ladle and a fine-meshed sieve. Let it sit for around 10-15 minutes to make sure all the liquid comes out. It is important not to pour the stock through a colander as this will cloud the stock. The stock is now ready to use, or it can be cooled and stored.
Notes
- No salt is added to this stock so that when you use it in different recipes, you can add the correct amount of salt then. If added to the stock, the dishes that you make using this stock could end up very salty.
- When the chicken stock cools, you may have a layer of yellowish fat on top. This can be skimmed off and discarded. It will not affect your stock.
- Cooled stock is thick and will jiggle like jelly. This is due to the gelatine and collagen that is taken from the bones that were used. It does liquify when using in your recipes.
- When handling raw chicken, always clean and sanitise the area, knives, and your hands with an antibacterial solution before and after use to help reduce the risk of cross-contamination.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is an estimate and provided as a courtesy. The values may vary according to the ingredients and tools that are used. Please use your preferred nutritional calculator for more detailed information.
Puppy Story Puppets