How to Make Chicken Bone Stock
One of my absolute favorite items to make in the kitchen is chicken bone stock. I have been making my own stock now for a few years, and nothing quite compares to it. Not only does the taste not even compare to stock bought in the store, but the health benefits are huge, and it’s way cheaper than buying it.
Health Benefits of Chicken Stock
When I make chicken bone stock, it cooks low and slow for much of the day, often 15 hours or more. This may seem a bit excessive, but there’s a reason. When you cook the bones for an extended period of time, they start to break down. The longer it cooks, the more nutrient dense it becomes, releasing vitamins, minerals, collagen, and gelatin, which contains important amino acids. Having stock on hand for the winter months when everyone gets sick is also a huge advantage. A cup of hot stock tastes so good when you aren’t feeling well.
What to Make with Chicken Stock
One of the reasons I always have chicken stock on hand is because it is so versatile. Stock can be used in place of water while making rice, giving the rice a richer taste, with the added health benefits. I also use stock for making casseroles, roux, but most importantly, the most popular soup, chicken noodle. If you looking for a chicken noodle recipe that contains fresh garden carrots, homemade noodles, and freshly make stock, this is your recipe: Healthy Chicken Noodle Soup.
What Ingredients do I Need?
I make stock a couple different ways, depending on what I have in my freezer and my cupboards. Each year we raise about 100 Cornish Cross chickens, so there certainly isn’t a shortage of whole chickens at our place. Each time we use a chicken, I clean the remaining meat off the bones, and place everything else in a gallon zip log bag. This will keep in the freezer for many months. Each summer, we also grow lots of carrots for canning. To prep for the canning process, I clean and peel the carrots. I place the peels in quart sized bags, and will use these while making stock. The carrot peels add the most delicious, fresh flavor to the stock, with no extra work. Other vegetable that take delicious in the stock are celery and onions.
How do I Make Chicken Bone Stock?
To make stock, you will need a larger soup kettle or an even larger stock pot, if you plan on making a larger batch. I use 3 chicken carcass’s in my stock pot, cover everything with cold water, add 2 Tbls apple cider vinegar, salt, herbs, and last, the remaining vegetables as needed. The purpose of the vinegar is to help draw out the collagen in the bones. Since I use multiple carcass’s, I fill up my entire stock pot with water. Bring the water to a low simmer, and let it sit all day. The longer the better, but if you’re only able to do it for even 8 hour, that will still make a good stock.
How to Store Once Complete
Once the cooking is done, I strain the stock, and will either put the stock into quart sized cans, and pressure cook it, or I will place them in freezer safe soup containers. If you plan on using the soup containers, make sure you give the stock some time to cool. When placing in the freezer, leave the cover off, as the stock will expand a bit. Once the stock is frozen, then place the cover on.
