About the Recipe
Turn basic ingredients into liquid magic with this easy chicken broth recipe. It's rich, flavorful, and perfect for giving your soups, stews, or sauces that homemade touch. Once you try it, you'll never go back to the box!
Ingredients
Whole chicken, thawed to room temperature
4 medium carrots, roughly chopped
4 medium celery stalks, roughly chopped
2 medium onions, roughly chopped
1/2-1 tsp salt
1/2-1 tbsp whole peppercorn
Optional other vegetables to add:
Mushrooms
Leeks
Parsnips
Turnips
Fennel
Instructions
Step 1
Find the biggest pot you own (with a lid). Add all the ingredients (*make sure you remove the giblet bag from inside the chicken*) and fill with water. Bring to a boil, then close the lid and reduce heat to a simmer.
Step 2
After 30 minutes or so skim foam that forms off the top, remove, and discard. Taste test and add more salt as needed.
Step 3
Continue simmering for 2-4 hours, making sure to check every 30-60 minutes to skim foam and taste test.
Step 4
Once broth is perfectly golden and exquisitely salted, remove from heat. There are a few different ways to separate the ingredients from the broth. I placed a separate, equally sized pot in the sink with a large strainer (like what you would use for pasta) inside of it. Using an underhand grip, very carefully dump the contents from your cooking pot to the new pot in the sink.
Step 5
Rinse and wipe original pot and pour the mixture 1-2 more times using a fine mesh strainer to make sure all other ingredients are removed from broth. Store in containers of your choice and freeze or use within 3 days. You will be impressed with how much better this tastes than store bought!
Tip: Save vegetable scraps in a gallon Ziploc bag in your freezer throughout the week or month. Eventually, you will have a stockpile that will be great to make vegetable stock or add to your chicken stock. If you are a seafood lover, save your shrimp, crab, and lobster shells in a freezer bag as well to make seafood broth too.