Chicken Stock

Having a frozen supply of homemade chicken stock is the only way to roll over the winter. It adds flavor to just about everything and enhances every soup or dish that requires a chicken "broth". Chicken broth  is made from chicken meat - no extras. Chicken stock is made from bones that have simmered for hours along with some veggies and various herbs - to taste! If you simmered stock long enough it will become gelatinous.

On some of our other posts when chicken is involved (or turkey) we always say keep the bones and the skin.  This is why. You can't buy a better stock than what you can make in your kitchen for a fraction of the cost. Plus you know exactly what you're eating!


We had quite a bit saved up this time. So this made huge pot, probably more than likely you'll never have to do this. We had 1 turkey and 3 chickens worth of bones/skin. So based on what you have, you can adjust this as needed. But you really can't go wrong here..more is better! If you put in too much, well then it will just taste too good!

Based on a 44 quart pot - remember we had a ton of bones!
Chicken/turkey bones
14 huge carrots cut into 1/4's
1 1/2 heads of celery cut into 1/4's
2 large onions cut into 1/4's.
2 head of garlic peeled and lightly chopped
3 bay leaves
20 sprigs of fresh thyme
6 stems of fresh parsley
1/4 cup salt



Break all the bones in 1/2 because you want the marrow in your broth. Put everything in a large
stock pot, cover and bring to a boil. Once it begins to boil remove the lid and let is simmer for about 5 hours. We do this a few times a year but never this huge amount but you still want to cook it for a long time.

When its done, everything will be floating on the top and it will smell wonderful. Just remove everything and put through a find strainer. Put it back in the pot and let sit outside if its cold (covered) or in the refrigerator overnight. The next day  skim all the fat off the top and put it back on the stove and heat slightly just to be able to adjust your flavors if you need to.

We usually don't need to, but you can adjust to your liking. You could put in more herbs, salt etc and let it simmer even longer. Once you happy with the flavor, let it cool. We fill ice cube trays and when they are frozen just put them all in a big zip lock bags and back in the freezer. Then you can just use a cube or 2 as needed in sauces/soups etc.  Take the rest and just fill quart zip lock bags and freeze them.

We are forever making soup and we just take 2 bags and that is about 8 cups and make soup from that. Excellent for any soup that calls for chicken stock. You'll never go back to store bought after you try this!

We ended up with 11 1/2 quarts of stock.