Want to know How to Make the best Chicken Stock?
Here are the tricks and “tweaks” for the most consumed food in our home! Our chicken stock is soothing, healing and budget friendly. We consume this almost every day!
To clarify, stock is made with meat and it renders a great flavor. Broths have little flavor and render a great base for many cooking sauce. Both are beneficial for your health! This recipe is a stock from our very own book, Real Food Recovery, intended to bring fun, encouragement, and health back to the kitchen, while proceeds benefit foster kids.
First, it is important to note that I cook a stockpot at least once a week, probably twice. Then I store our stock in mason jars that rotate from freezer to refrigerator to dish and repeat. If I have time to cool the stock, I will put in a one-gallon hard plastic container.
This is a base for all of our creative dishes and the secret for why our dishes taste so delicious. What is so amazing is that this is so simple to make and yet it is one of the most nutritious foods you can eat.
Ingredients
1 Whole, free range, Kosher Chicken or 2-3 lbs of bony parts This is the most expensive online, but I want you to see the best option! Try Winn-Dixie or a local farmer/Farmer’s Market.
Chicken Feet, if you can find
4 Quarts Cold Filtered Water, we use this
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (ACV) or white vinegar
1 Large Onion with onion skins on (lots of nutrients in the skin – read this)
2 carrots chopped in 2-3 pieces
4 potatoes, optional for first meal
2-3 Celery Sticks in 2-3 pieces
1-2 cloves of garlic
1 bunch parsley
Instructions
Heat oven to 425˚F. Cut the chicken into 2-3 parts if time; otherwise you can leave the chicken whole when in a hurry. Place in a glass or stainless steel pan, add ACV or white vinegar and fill the pan 1/3 full with water to sit for 15 -30 minutes. Now put the pan in the oven to roast for 15 minutes to pull out the flavor. (This is the step that has added the “no fail gel” to our stock.)
Turn down the oven to 350˚F, add vegetables and fill with filtered water. Roast for 3 hours, with your pan or crock pot filled with water. First meal: take the chicken out and remove some meat (leave the bones) and serve for a meal. Strain out this liquid for broth and put a cup into the stock pot.
Second Meal or more: Now place the remaining meat and bones into your prepared stock pot. Be sure to add a cup from the roasting pan to capture some of the previous roasted collagen and minerals. Turn to High heat. Remove all the scum material that may gather at the top.
Reduce the heat and cook 3-6 hours. You can cook longer over night, but I find the stock will gel and set up well even after this short amount of time with chicken. Note: For our beef bone broth, we let it cook 24 hours. The bones are much larger and it takes more time to draw the beneficial minerals out of the bones.
Once ready, turn the heat off and let your chicken stock cool. Once cool, pour through a strainer into a large bowl. Be sure to save the meat for chicken salad or chicken enchilada recipes. It is very dry, therefore the spices and sauces give it new life.
Now you can take a funnel and pour your chicken stock into mason jars. Or Here is a great option a friend shared!
We generally put one jar in the refrigerator and the remainder in the freezer. We take out a new jar from the freezer every day or so depending on the size of our jar.
With this recipe, you have the basics for many good recipes and great health. I will try to add the links to our creative ideas for chicken stock recipes your kids will love…and we would love to hear your ideas too!
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Oh, Mandy, great post! My favorite way to make broth 🙂
How full do you fill your mason jars to freeze? I haven’t been doing that because I’m afraid they will burst… but i loathe putting this magic potion into plastic, lol.
Btw, you can now get chicken feet from Azure Standard if you have a drop point near you. We raise and process our own broilers so baby we got a freezer full of feet. I usually add 4-6 per pot, that really gets the gel going!
Thanks, Sally! I did not know about Azure Standard. I leave between 1-2 inches of air on top. So far it’s worked well! How wonderful that you have access chicken feet. That is the hardest bit to find.
[…] 2 Cups Bone Broth -chicken is best for this bone broth recipe, this is our version of bone broth […]
Just found your website through a pinterest pin. Quick question I thought the ACV was to be added to the water as a way to extract as much of the minerals from the bones as possible. How does this happen (in the oven)if the bones are not submerged in the vinegar water?
Also, about freezing broth, I’ve had much success cooling my broth to room temperature in glass jars on the counter then storing in the refrigerator for a few hours to a day then transferring to the freezer. Haven’t had a jar break since starting this. Am enjoying your blog, thank you!
Billie, Thanks for the catch! I’ll modify to wait before turning oven on. To your point, I usually have water 1/3 to 1/2 high on the chicken in the oven with the vinegar. So my chicken isn’t completely submerged but my stock gels really well. So it must pull out the minerals anyway. I use to submerge and just put in the stock pot, but my “gel” factor wasn’t as good. In my experience, the roasting for 15 minutes is the trick.
I love your transition to the freezer. That makes a lot of sense. Thanks for sharing your wisdoms…and for visiting.
[…] Before Bone Broth or Stock became popular, this brew has been served as a delicious soup for 1000s of years on campfires/burners/stovetops galore to greet guests, prevent hunger and wash away sickness. […]