How To Make Homemade Chicken Stock

I would never call myself a frugal person. Not in the slightest. But when I see how easy it is to make things at home, I at least give it a try. Saving money is always a good benefit of making things homemade. I’ve gone from buying pancake mix to making my own. Same with brownies. I even tried my hand at homemade granola bars.

The one thing I have been consistently making at home for the past few months is my homemade chicken stock. It is literally the easiest thing to make at home.

How To Make Homemade Chicken Stock

To make your own homemade chicken stock, you will need:

Bones and carcass from one roasted chicken
onions
stalks of celery
carrots
bay leaves
parsley stems

To make my stock, I save my kitchen scraps in a Ziploc bag in the freezer. For example, when I peel carrots, I save the peelings. Same goes for the onions and celery. All the scraps get thrown in the Ziploc bag. Once I have the bag full, I take it out to use for that week’s stock.

Almost every week, I grab a rotisserie chicken at the grocery store. I have found that Costco is the best place to buy a rotisserie chicken. Not only is it inexpensive but they are huge. After, I remove the meat for lunches, fillers, and salads, I throw the entire carcass (bones, skins, leftover meat) in the bag. And don’t forget the most important part, the drippings!

Now that you have all of your ingredients, it’s time to get cooking. Before you start, you will need:

Excelsteel 16 Quart Stainless Steel Stockpot With Encapsulated Base Cuisinart Set of 3 Fine Mesh Stainless Steel Strainers, CTG-00-3MS OXO Good Grips 4-Cup Fat Separator

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You ready for the easy part? Throw everything in the stock pot! Cover with water and let simmer all day long. Make sure you vent your lid because you do want the steam to escape so that the broth cooks down.

When your stock is ready (2-6 hours), it’s time to strain. I strain my broth with a fine mesh strainer into the Fat Separator. Let it sit for a few minutes so the fat rises to the top.

There are two ways to store your homemade chicken stock. You can either pour into mason jars and keep in your fridge if you are going to use it right away. Or you can freeze them in ice cube trays to use at your leisure. I just started freezing mine and I love being able to grab a few cubes as I need them!