Best Chicken Stock
Elevate your culinary creations with the "Best Chicken Stock," a nutritious and deeply flavorful foundation for soups, stews, sauces, and more. Crafted from a rich blend of chicken bones, aromatic vegetables like carrots, celery, and onion, and a medley of fresh herbs including parsley, thyme, and bay leaves, this homemade chicken stock achieves restaurant-quality depth. With a low-simmering technique that extracts every ounce of flavor while maintaining clarity, this recipe is a must-have for transforming everyday dishes into something extraordinary. Whether you’re curating holiday favorites or enhancing weeknight meals, this easy-to-make stock freezes beautifully, ensuring you’re always prepared to cook with flair. Keywords: homemade chicken stock recipe, best chicken stock, flavorful chicken broth, homemade cooking base.
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Recipe Information
Ingredients
- 1 whole (about 2-3 lbs) chicken carcass or bones
- 2 large carrots
- 2 whole celery stalks
- 1 large yellow onion
- 4 whole garlic cloves
- 1 small bunch fresh parsley
- 5 sprigs fresh thyme
- 2 leaves bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 16 cups cold water
Instructions
Prepare your ingredients: Peel the carrots and cut them into large chunks. Chop the celery into large pieces. Quarter the onion without peeling it to retain the natural color it adds to the stock.
In a large stockpot, place the chicken carcass or bones. Add the carrots, celery, onion, garlic, parsley, thyme, bay leaves, peppercorns, and salt.
Pour in 16 cups of cold water, ensuring all ingredients are submerged.
Place the pot over medium heat and bring the mixture to a gentle simmer. Avoid boiling the stock, as this can make it cloudy.
Once simmering, use a spoon or skimmer to remove any foam or impurities that rise to the surface.
Reduce the heat to low, cover the pot partially with a lid, and let the stock simmer for 4 hours. Check occasionally to ensure the water level is sufficient, adding more as needed.
After 4 hours, remove the pot from heat and let the stock cool slightly.
Strain the stock through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth into another container to remove solids. Discard the solids.
If desired, skim excess fat from the surface of the stock once cooled, or refrigerate the stock and remove the fat layer after it solidifies.
Store the stock in airtight containers. It can be refrigerated for up to 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months.
Nutrition Facts
Calories |
2615 | ||
|---|---|---|---|
% Daily Value* |
|||
| Total Fat | 171.2 g | 219% | |
| Saturated Fat | 47.9 g | 240% | |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 0.1 g | ||
| Cholesterol | 850 mg | 284% | |
| Sodium | 3488 mg | 152% | |
| Total Carbohydrate | 39.7 g | 14% | |
| Dietary Fiber | 10.5 g | 38% | |
| Total Sugars | 15.1 g | ||
| Protein | 209.9 g | 420% | |
| Vitamin D | 0.0 mcg | 0% | |
| Calcium | 540 mg | 42% | |
| Iron | 18.2 mg | 101% | |
| Potassium | 2946 mg | 63% | |
*The % Daily Value tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
