Homemade Chicken Stock

Yesterday on my IG stories, I shared a little bit about my homemade chicken stock or bone broth. This is one simple change I made to my family’s diet a few years ago when my son, Taylor, was diagnosed with his allergies/sensitivities {He’s since grown out of them-Yay!}.  This is a simple way to add extra nutrition to your food, and I think it makes your homemade soups and sauces taste so much richer!

I make mine in the crock pot-I know that you can do it in the IP too, but I still prefer my crock-pot/slow cooker.  I save up scraps my freezer of onion, carrots, and celery as I’m making other meals and put them in a freezer zip baggie.  Then when I need to make broth, I dump what I have in my crock pot, add extra veggies if needed, put my organic chicken on top, add a few seasonings, water, and WA-LA!  You’re good to go!

Recipe:

2-3 C of onion, carrots, and celery, chopped- use all parts of veggies I typically use 2-3 onions, 4-5 carrots, 2-3 celery stalks

1 1/2 tsp sea salt

1 TBSP black pepercorns

1 TBSP dried parsley-I MUCH prefer to use fresh- it makes a HUGE difference in taste, but alas, I don’t always have it.  So if you do have fresh parsley, grab a handful and throw that in!

1 6-8 lbs ORGANIC chicken-  It also makes a HUGE difference in the gelatinous of the stock if you use organic.  You want your stock to be thick kind of similar to a jelly when after it’s refrigerated. But if you don’t have access to organic, or it’s too expensive, or wal-mart substitutes your organic chicken…it will be OK!:)

Then add water until it is 1″ from the top of your crock pot and cook on High for 6-7 hours.  I start my broth around 10 am usually, then I have meat to use in a meal for dinner that day.

Remove chicken carefully after the 6-7 hour time-it will be extremely tender.  Let the meat rest covered loosely with foil for for 10 minutes. Then separate the bones, meat and fat.  Put the bones back in the crockpot, save the meat for a meal, and discard the fat.  Continue cooking on low overnight. Why throw the bones back in?  That is where you get the gelatinous part of the stock.  All the rich minerals cook out of the bones into the broth.

The next day, turn off your crockpot, and strain the stock with a fine mesh strainer into a glass bowl.  Discard veggies/bones.  Let the stock cool for 30-45 minutes on the counter.  Then cover the bowl with a lid and put it into the refrigerator until the next morning.  When you pull it out all the fat will be solidified on the top.  And that gives you an almost totally fat free homemade stock!

Scrape the fat off and then pour into plastic freezer containers. You can find them in the canning section of a grocery store.

I keep the stock in my fridge for up to a week, or I keep them in the freezer for several months- I use mine faster than this, so I assume it will keep for several months.:)

This may seem like a lot when you read through it, but after your first time, you’ll see how easy it is to make your own chicken stock.

When trying to improve your diet, start with small things. Add one thing each month that you want to try to add into your diet. This was something easy and pretty hands free- the crock-pot does all the work.

I hope that you have a wonderful weekend and can find ways to look for the hope that exists all around us.

Today there is a reason to hope.