The Ultimate Homemade Chicken Stock: Rich, Flavorful, and Nutritious
Homemade chicken stock is a kitchen essential that elevates soups, sauces, and rice dishes with deep, complex flavor. Using a combination of chicken feet and roasted chicken bones creates a broth rich in collagen, giving it a velvety texture and deep golden color. The addition of aromatics like garlic, leeks, carrots, and celery builds layers of flavor, while thyme, bay leaf, peppercorns, and coriander add subtle herbal and spicy notes. Unlike store-bought versions, homemade stock is free from preservatives and allows for complete control over the ingredients, ensuring a pure and wholesome base for countless dishes.
The Process of Making Stock
The process of making this stock is simple yet rewarding. Start by placing all of your stock ingredients in a large stockpot, covering them with cold water, and bringing it to a gentle simmer. Skim off any impurities that rise to the surface. Let the stock simmer for several hours—at least four—to fully extract the flavors and nutrients. The slow cooking process allows the collagen in the chicken feet to break down, giving the stock its characteristic richness. While our ultimate homemade chicken stock does not include any vinegars, adding a splash of apple cider vinegar can help extract minerals from the bones. Once done, strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve, discarding the solids, and let it cool before storing. For an ultra-clear broth, strain it again through cheesecloth.
Uses for Homemade Stock
This homemade chicken stock can be refrigerated for up to five days or frozen for several months, making it a convenient and versatile ingredient for future meals. Use it as a base for soups like chicken noodle or minestrone, enhance rice dishes such as Portuguese yellow rice or paella, or simply sip it warm for a nourishing boost. Its depth of flavor transforms any dish, proving that a well-made stock is the backbone of great home cooking. Additionally, the natural gelatin from the bones and feet supports gut health and joint function, making it as nutritious as it is delicious. Whether you’re a seasoned cook or just starting, mastering homemade stock is a game-changer in the kitchen.
Reducing Food Waste
One of the great aspects of homemade chicken stock is that it is an excellent way to reduce food waste. When vegetables are not looking their best we often think to throw these away, but these old vegetables work great in a homemade stock. When we roast a chicken we always save the left over bones, storing them in the freezer, and then using them in a stock recipe. In doing so we are responsibly getting the most out of our food and the flavors are beyond compare. Enjoy!
The Ultimate Homemade Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- 1 large carrot, roughly chopped
- 1 large leek, can substitute a whole onion, cut into 3-4 pieces
- 3 celery stalks, cut in half
- 1 garlic bulb, cut in half
- 1 lbs chicken feet
- left over bones from 2 whole chickens, keep and freeze the bones when you roast a chicken
- 10 peppercorns
- 10 coriander seeds
- 2 bay leaves
- parsley sprigs
- 1 tsp thyme leaves or a few thyme sprigs
- 1 tbsp kosher salt, preferably diamond crystal
Equipment
- 1 large pot 10 liters or larger
- 1 large bowl or 2nd large pot
- 1 vegetable peeler
- 1 knife
- 1 pasta strainer or large fine mesh sieve
Instructions
- Wash the vegetables well. Leeks can be particularly sandy. Peel the carrots.
- Cut the vegetables into large pieces as described in the ingredients section.
- Place the pot on the burner.
Put all of the ingredients into the pot.
Cover with 8 liters of water.- Turn on the heat to high and bring the water to a boil.
- Once boiling, lower the heat so that it is a rapid simmer/light boil.
- Cook the stock for 4 hours.
The liquid should reduce in half over this time. Turn off the heat.- In a large bowl or another large pot, place the pasta strainer or large fine mesh sieve.
- Using a smaller fine mesh sieve or slotted spoon, remove the vegetables and place them in the pasta strainer/large fine mesh sieve. Broth will slowly drain from the vegetables into a bowl.
- Continue doing this until all of the large pieces are removed.
- Once drained, clear out the vegetables from the strainer/sieve.
Place the strainer back on top of the large bowl/large pot and pour the broth through to remove any of the remaining pieces. The broth should be debris free.
You now have a strained homemade broth ready for use.
