Boxed or canned chicken stock and bouillon-type dehydrated stock cubes are super handy and an easy item to keep stocked in your kitchen. But if you thought for a moment about what these stocks contain (salt, hydrogenated fats, flavor enhancers, coloring, and sugars), you may be wondering if they are as healthy as they are convenient.
What if you could make your own homemade chicken stock, know exactly what you put in it, and at a fraction of the cost? AND it tastes better than anything you could buy in a store?
One quart broth, $4.79
To make a good quality chicken stock at home, I recommend starting with a variety of good bones. They can be left over from a whole chicken you roasted the day before or bought directly from the farmer. Here at Jones Family Farm, we offer two sizes of bone packs: Small (1.5lbs) and Large (10lbs).
My preference is to roast the bones until golden brown before putting in a pot to simmer. The result is a darker color and more complex flavor. While I do not add anything to the pot other than bones and water, you may choose to add onions, celery, carrots, garlic, apple cider vinegar, salt–you do you!
Bones roasted to a golden brown
I make homemade stock every other month, using our 10lbs pack of chicken bones. Because I am not a patient cook, I heat the oven to 350 degrees and plop the entire contents of the package in a roasting pan, still frozen. Because I put them in frozen, I have to “stir” the bones a little more often throughout the roasting process, separating pieces that are still frozen together. Roasting an entire 10lbs of chicken bones will take nearly 3 hours while our smaller 1.5lbs pack will only take one hour.
Once roasted, I transfer all the bones into a large canning pot (the largest pot I own), scraping any bits left in the roasting pan into the large pot. I then cover the bones with water, nearly filling the large pot. Bones are set to simmer for another 3-4 hours and are done when falling apart.
I allow the pot cool before fishing out all the bones and straining the stock into one-quart containers. I reliably get 12-14 quarts of stock from a $25 bag of bones, at a cost of $1.75 to 2.00 per quart (not including electricity, of course!)
These 1-quart deli containers are perfect for freezing
Directions
- 1. Set oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. If your oven has convection capability, use it!
- 2. Place bones (frozen or not) into a large roasting pan and place on center rack to roast. Check every 30 minutes or so, rearranging bones with tongs as needed to ensure all pieces are evenly roasted.
- 3. Once all pieces are golden brown, remove from oven and transfer to a pot large enough to accommodate the bones. Cover with water (ideally, the pieces will be below the surface of the water). Put on high heat on cooktop just until it starts to boil, turning down to a low to medium simmer. (If you choose to cover the stockpot, leave the lid slightly askew to allow some steam to escape.)
- 4. The pot can be largely unattended during the next few hours, but it doesn’t hurt to check to ensure the water is still lightly simmering. The stock is ready when the pieces are falling apart tender.
- 5. Allow the stock to cool so it is easier to handle. Remove bones with tongs or slotted spoon and discard.
- 6. Place strainer or chinois atop a clean 1-gallon pitcher. (I do this in the kitchen sink to minimize mess). Using a large measuring cup or ladle, transfer stock in batches through strainer and into pitcher. Fill 1-quart containers (or whatever size works best for you), label, and freeze for future use.