How to make chicken stock: your complete guide to making an easy, rich, and delicious chicken stock at home.
A while back I posted an epic guide to making Roasted Chicken (which you should definitely go read if you haven’t already!). And as a follow-up, I have another guide for you: How to make chicken stock (from the leftover chicken carcass).
If you’ve never made homemade chicken stock before, friend, you are in for such a treat.
Using Homemade Chicken Stock
Chicken Stock can be used in any recipe that calls for chicken broth or stock. When using homemade chicken stock in recipes that call for broth, use half chicken stock and half water (if a recipe calls for 8 cups of chicken broth, use 4 cups stock and 4 cups water). You want to dilute the stock because it’s very rich and adds a ton of flavor, which can sometimes overpower clear soups.
The one thing to remember when making things with homemade stock is ALWAYS ADD SALT. Store-bought stocks and broths are usually quite salty, so don’t be alarmed if you find yourself adding a lot of salt to compensate.
My favorite recipes to use with homemade stock are:
Why You Should Make Chicken Stock at Home
There’s a richness and depth of flavor to homemade chicken stock that you just can’t get from stock that comes from a box. The store-bought stuff is perfectly fine and serviceable; I use it all the time. But when you taste something made with homemade stock, oh man, can you taste the difference.
The good news is that while making homemade chicken stock is definitely a time commitment–it needs about 4 hours of simmering time–it’s not tough to make or labor-intensive.
You can let it simmer on a lazy Sunday so your house smells like a holiday while you watch Netflix, or throw it on the stove in the morning while you’re deep cleaning the house and feel doubly productive when you’re loading freshly made stock into your fridge around mid-afternoon.