Chicken stock is one of the easiest things you can do at home. Granted it is way easier to purchase chicken stock from the grocery store, and they now make lower sodium chicken stock. But even the lower sodium one still contains a lot of sodium. By making it yourself, you can control how much salt you put into the chicken stock. In fact, when I made chicken stock, I didn’t add any salt. I just used whatever flavor came with the carcasses.
Yes, I’m one of those weirdos in the neighborhood that collects carcasses. Ha ha… hear me out first. I used to not collect carcasses. Whenever we finished eating Roasted Chickens, or anything that has bones on it, I just threw them away. Then, I found out that those bones could be saved for later use, i.e. broth. So I started collecting chicken, turkey, duck, and beef bones. And occasionally pork shoulder bones, if we just made Smoked Pulled Pork. So, literally, if you open up my freezer, you can see all sorts of bones in there. Ha ha… In fact, several sources (this is when I’m too lazy to dig up sites to cite) mentioned that somehow the broth would be tastier if you used cooked product to make your broth.
So, now the secret is out, start collecting your own bones and make your own stock! 
The recipe I used is based on Alton Brown’s recipe, except I didn’t have any leeks, so I skipped that. But the basic ingredients to make stock are carrot, celery, and onion. Easy enough right?
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- The ingredients to make chicken stock other than a chicken, or chicken carcasses: celery, carrot, onion, garlic, thyme, parsley, bay leaf and peppercorn.
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- I stuffed the carcasses into a large stock pot.
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- Added all of the additional ingredients.
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- Added water to cover all of the ingredients.
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- Let it come to a boil, and let it simmer for 3-4 hours. I skimmed the scum that came up to the top from time to time, and add hot water as necessary.
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- After removing the bones and vegetables and strained it through cheese cloths, I got a nice, thick chicken broth. Easy right?
Print recipe here.
Homemade Chicken Stock
Recipe adapted from Alton Brown
Ingredients:
Chicken carcasses
1 large onion, quartered
2-3 carrots, peeled and cut into 1 inch long
2-3 celery, cut into 1 inch long
¼ teaspoon dried thyme
10 sprigs fresh parsley with stems
2 bay leaves
10 peppercorns
2 cloves garlic, peeled
Water
Preparation:
Put everything into a large stock pot. Make sure the bones are submerged. Bring it to a boil, and then simmer it for a minimum of two hours. Remove the white scum that floats to the top of the pot. Remove bones and vegetables, strain with cheese cloths if you prefer clear broth. If you want to defat it, then put the cooled broth into the refrigerator. The fat will solidify and you can remove it easily.
