This healing chicken bone broth recipe is easy to make and easy to store. You can make this broth with chicken bones leftover from the chicken roast you had for dinner!
Photo credit Bayev’s Kitchen
Chicken broth is used in more recipes than you would think! I like to make a large batch of it and add it to my bolognese sauce and eggplant pasta sauce, as well as to soups like this roasted garlic soup or traditional Ukrainian borscht.
Ingredients
Chicken – you can use chicken bones instead.
Vegetables – you can add any other veggies you want! You can even add onion and carrot peel along with other vegetable leaves.
Recipe Video
Step By Step Instructions
STEP 1
Preheat your oven to 400F/200C. Then take the chicken apart if using a whole chicken. Cut the legs, wings, and breasts off from the carcass.
Place all the parts onto a sheet pan and put into the oven for about 20 minutes until the chicken becomes brown.
STEP 2
Chop up the veggies, and don’t worry about getting them the right size – after boiling they will be no good for food anyway, so you will discard them at the end. You can even place a whole onion into the pot if you want!
But I like to at least cut them in half so that they can get a bit brown. The same goes for carrots and celery – I find that they create more flavor if cut in pieces versus placed in whole.
STEP 3
Preheat a pot and add a bit of oil to the bottom. I use a dutch oven, but you don’t have to if you don’t have one! Place the veggies in the pot and let them brown. Avoid the temptation to stir constantly – if you stir too much, your veggies won’t caramelize.
STEP 4
Add the chicken to the pot, deglaze the sheet pan with some hot water and add that to the pot. Deglazing simply means getting off all the stuff that got stuck to the sheet pan after roasting your chicken.
Pour additional water to almost cover all the veggies and chicken. Bring to a simmer and leave for 3-24 hours!
STEP 5
Strain your broth with a cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel. Discard the vegetables. You can eat chicken meat! Store the broth in the fridge for 3-5 days or freeze for up to 6 months! But make sure your broth has cooled down completely before placing it into the refrigerator.
Expert Tips
– Use herbs to deepen the flavor. You can add any herbs you like! Basil, thyme, rosemary, parsley, etc.
– Roast the chicken and the veggies before adding water. Roasting will add that brown color which brings so much more delicious flavor with it!
– Old chicken gives better results. Old in a sense of the age of the chicken, not in how long it’s been laying in the fridge.
– You can add soy sauce or seaweed to give this healing chicken bone broth an Asian spin.
– Don’t add salt. This way you can control the salt levels in the dishes you make with your broth.
– Drink the healing chicken broth on its own with some salt for an immunity boost in winter!
FAQ
If you look online, you will read that yellow fat in a chicken means it’s gone bad. But, actually, yellow fat in an old chicken is totally normal. However, you do want to watch for strange smells and the gray color of meat.
If your chicken smells even a little bit unpleasant, the chances are it started going bad. When you see that the meat has grayish color then it is your second sign that this chicken is not doing that well anymore.
If you suspect that your chicken is bad, it is safer to get rid of it altogether.
If you notice a sour taste and smell, cloudy appearance, and change in texture your broth has gone bad. Don’t use broth or stock that has gone bad, because you can potentially get sick and ruin the entire dish you made with it!
You want to make sure that you wash your hands for 30 seconds after each time you handled raw chicken. Don’t touch other things until you wash your hands. If raw chicken touched a cutting board, a table surface, a knife, or anything else, all of the objects need to be washed before the next use.
Raw chicken has bacteria that can make you really sick, so it is better to be extra careful!
Your best bet is at least 3 hours. The longer you simmer your stock the more health benefits and flavor profile it will give you.
Chicken broth is a great immunity booster during winter times when we are prone to catching all kinds of viruses. Check out this article for more health benefits information!
The process is the same, place all the ingredients into your slow cooker and leave the setting on low for a few hours. You can go for up to 24 hours and the longer you cook your broth the better it gets. But try to aim for at least 3 hours.
Chicken Bone Broth For Colds
Equipment
- 1 strainer or cheesecloth
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken or just the chicken bones
- 1 onion use more if you want to!
- 2 celery ribs use their leaves as well!
- 5 garlic cloves
- 1 large carrot
- 2 tbsp apple cider vinegar to help the bones break down faster
- 1 tbsp oil for frying the veggies
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400F/200C. Then take the chicken apart if using a whole chicken. Cut the legs, wings, and breasts off from the carcass.Place all the parts onto a sheet pan and put into the oven for about 20 minutes until the chicken becomes brown.
- Chop up the veggies, and don’t worry about getting them the right size – after boiling they will be no good for food anyway, so you will discard them at the end. You can even place a whole onion into the pot if you want! But I like to at least cut them in half so that they can get a bit brown. The same goes for carrots and celery – I find that they create more flavor if cut in pieces versus placed in whole.
- Preheat a pot and add a bit of oil to the bottom. I use a dutch oven, but you don't have to if you don't have one! Place the veggies in the pot and let them brown. Avoid the temptation to stir constantly – if you stir too much, your veggies won’t caramelize.
- Add the chicken to the pot, deglaze the sheet pan with some hot water and add that to the pot. Deglazing simply means getting off all the stuff that got stuck to the sheet pan after roasting your chicken.
- Strain your broth with a cheesecloth or a clean kitchen towel. Discard the vegetables. You can eat chicken meat! Store the broth in the fridge for 3-5 days or freeze for up to 6 months! But make sure your broth has cooled down completely before placing it into the refrigerator.
Notes
Nutrition
What’s Next?
If you made this chicken broth, let me know how it turned out! What kinds of veggies did you add to your recipe? Let’s stay in touch! You can subscribe to my newsletter if you would like to learn tips and tricks on how to take your cooking to the next level.
Try this tomato basil soup recipe using your homemade chicken broth!