Homemade Chicken Broth [Updated]

March 15th, 2009

I was making chicken noodle soup the other today and needed some broth, so I went back and looked through my postings to find a recipe.  I wasn’t really happy with it so I updated it just a little and am re-posting it here.  I hope you enjoy it!

As you may have noticed I don’t use salt that much. I like to use unsalted butter, and I rarely put salt in anything I bake. I found that it is not necessary to add salt in order to have a delicious flavor. When I went on a salt-free kick way back when, I realized that chicken bouillon and store-bought chicken broths have a LOT of sodium (along with pretty much every thing else you buy at the grocery store). So I decided that I would try to make my own; This was also after wondering what I would do with the whole chicken I had just cut-up.

This is a great way to use a whole chicken after you take what you want from it. I found that a whole chicken can make a whole weeks (depending on your family size) worth of meals if you use the whole thing (as opposed to just using the meat: breasts, thighs, and legs). I actually used this broth in a recipe I’ll share soon! Here is my very simple recipe (which you can extend to use any flavors you want):

Ingredients:

• A whole chicken (cooked=brown chicken broth, uncooked=white chicken broth) with breasts and other meaty-parts removed based on preference
• 1 Tbsp ground pepper
• Enough water to fill your pan and cover the whole chicken
• 1 Medium Onion, roughly chopped
• 3-4 celery
• 3-4 carrots cubed
• 1/2 tsp salt if you don’t want salt-free, otherwise none!

That’s it, it’s a really basic list of ingredients.

To prepare:

1. Heat the pan over medium heat with a dash of olive oil in the bottom.
2. Cut the chicken into manageable pieces and so that it fits into your pan. I use a big soup pan. It probably held about 8-cups of water or more.
3. Place the onions in the pan and saute until soft.
4. Place the carrots and celery in the pan along with any spices
5. Saute for 2 or 3 more minutes then put the chicken in and stir well
6. Saute for 2 or 3 more minutes, trying to get the chicken pieces on the bottom of the pan.
7. Fill the pan with water.
8. Turn the stove on high until the water boils, then reduce heat to let the stock simmer.
9. Simmer and stir occasionally for about 2 hours, maybe 1.5. The broth will be reduced slightly, so keep that in mind for your proportions.  You can cover once it has stabled out to a small simmer to reduce the evaporation.
10. Use a strainer or a cheese-cloth like device to strain the broth and use as desired.
11. Let the meat cool and then pick the meat off the bones for chicken soup or a casserole.

I hope you enjoy it!