No tags yet.
How to Make Your Own Chicken Stock
I use chicken stock in a lot of my recipes, and although you can certainly use store-bought, it's actually really easy to make your own, and it saves you money.
Going to the store to buy a bunch of vegetables, chicken, and herbs just to boil them for a stock and then discard them can be really expensive and honestly feels a little wasteful. I actually save all the vegetable, chicken, and herb scraps during my daily cooking in a one-gallon plastic bag that I keep in the freezer. Once the bag is full, I add all the frozen bits of vegetables to a large pot and fill it up with water, along with some extra seasoning like bay leaf and black pepper. Just make sure that all your vegetables are washed before adding things like carrot and onion peels to the bag.
I bring everything to a boil and simmer for an hour or two until the water has absorbed all the delicious flavors from the vegetables. I then strain out all the veggies and put the chicken stock into various containers for storage.
When I know I'll be using the stock in the next few days, I'll simply pour it into quart containers and leave it in the fridge. However, if I want to save it for future use I freeze it in large, quarter-cup ice cube trays. That way, I can keep it for weeks in the freezer and I can take out and defrost only exactly as much as I need.
By simply saving your vegetable scraps whenever you cook, you'll save money because you don't have to go out and buy a) ingredients just for stock or b) store-bought stock.
The stock won't taste exactly the same every time you make it, because it will depend on what vegetables you've been cooking with recently, but I think that makes it kind of fun. Sometimes when I've been cooking with jalapeños, I'll get a stock with a nice kick to it, or in the winter when I'm using more parsnips and carrots, it'll have a bit more sweetness. Each stock tends to perfectly compliment the types of foods I'm cooking at that time of year.
Below is a list of vegetable scraps you can and can't use in stock (but feel free to experiment!)
Use:
Carrots - the tops, bottoms, and peels
Onions - the tops, bottoms, and skins
Celery - the tops, bottoms, and leaves
Garlic - those tiny cloves from the middle you don't know what to do with, and the skins
Parsnips - the tops, bottoms, and the peels
Broccoli - the stems
Cauliflower - the stems
Asparagus - the bottoms
Green beans - the ends
Bell Pepper - the tops and bottoms
Jalapeño - the tops and bottoms
Zucchini/Squash - the tops, bottoms, and peels
Mushrooms - the stems
Corn - the cobs (from uncooked corn, if you cut the kernels off)
Chicken**
**If you only use vegetables, you'll still get a great stock, but I like to add chicken pieces to it as well. I often buy bone-in, skin-on chicken breasts because they're less expensive and I take the bones out myself - I'll add those to the bag as well. In the summer, I often grill a whole chicken which requires removal of the spine, which I always add to the bag. Lastly, when I make wings I always save the wing tops that I cut off for stock as well - those little nuggets are packed with flavor! You can also use the leftover carcass from a roast or rotisserie chicken.
Don't Use:
Potato peels - they make the stock really cloudy and don't add much flavor
Kale stems and scraps - they turn very bitter after being frozen, yuck!
Any vegetable peels or skins that you didn't wash - for obvious reasons.