A good chicken broth can take your soups and stews to another level. It can be your secret weapon for the most comforting chicken noodle soup or a rich chicken and cheese casserole. The best part? Learning how to make chicken broth is not as intimidating as you may think. It may require a little extra time compared to store-bought broth, but it’s worth the extra effort.
Upgrade all your soups and stews with homemade chicken broth.
Before we begin cooking, we need to establish a few technicalities. For instance, we need to know the best cut of chicken for broth and understand the difference between broth and stock. We’ll start with the foundation before we move into the technique.
What is chicken broth?
Chicken broth, or bouillon, is a savory liquid made from simmering a combination of meat, vegetables, or aromatics in water. The flavor foundation of broth can vary depending on how you intend to use it. You can make chicken broth as simple or as complex as you like. You can keep it as minimal as only chicken simmered in water with salt or add any number of vegetables and aromatics to the broth to suit your tastes.
Broth vs. stock: what’s the difference?
Chicken broth is made with meat, bones, and skin of the chicken, while stock is prepared with bones and aromatics like onion, carrots, and celery. For example, you may make broth with a whole chicken and shred off the meat and skin. You could then use the bare carcass to prepare stock, giving you two batches of cooking liquid from one chicken with different flavor profiles. Below are a few key differences between stock and broth.
- Preparation: Broth is prepared by simmering chicken–including meat, bones, and skin–in water with vegetables or aromatics. Stock is typically prepared by roasting the bones and then simmering in water.
- Seasonings: A general rule of thumb is that chicken broth is salted, and chicken stock is typically unsalted.
- Appearance: Chicken broth tends to be lighter in color, while chicken stock is typically darker due to the roasting of the bones in the preparation.
- Body: Chicken broth is thinner, while chicken stock is thicker because the bones release collagen as they simmer. This collagen becomes gelatin as the stock refrigerates, creating a thick gel. Depending on how it’s prepared, chicken broth can become gelatinous as it refrigerates, but not to the same extent as chicken stock.
- Flavor: You can expect a more robust, deeper flavor from stock because of the preparation of roasting chicken bones. Chicken broth will deliver a salty and rich chicken flavor, but it won’t have as much depth as chicken stock.
How to freeze chicken broth
Freezing chicken broth is easy. All you need is your homemade broth and your storage container of choice.
- Cool the broth completely. After you’ve strained it, transfer it to the refrigerator overnight. You can skim off the extra fat the next day, but I prefer to leave it as it makes for a more flavorful broth.
- Transfer the chicken broth to a container of choice. You can use plastic quart containers or your favorite storage container. You can freeze broth in plastic freezer bags for a space-saving approach. My favorite method is to add the broth to ice cube trays. After they’ve frozen, I pop the broth cubes from the tray and transfer them to a freezer bag. From there, I add them to anything that needs a little boost of chicken broth. They melt quickly and are available for immediate use. If using a storage container, you may need to soak the container under warm water to get the broth to pop out. Not so with the ice cubes! Pro-tip: If you use a glass container, leave enough room at the top for expansion. I recommend plastic as it’s less likely to break when freezing!
- Store in the freezer. Frozen broth lasts for up to 6 months in the freezer.
How to make chicken broth
Ready to make a batch of delicious homemade chicken broth? Let’s go through the process.
What you need
- Chicken: I recommend a whole chicken, but you can make this with chicken thighs or split chicken breasts. When making chicken broth, I recommend bone-in, skin-on chicken and using a mix of breasts and thighs to give you a balanced broth that isn’t too fatty or too lean. If you need to decide between thighs or breasts, my vote is always thighs for the richest broth. Skin-on, split chicken breasts will still deliver a delicious, light broth.
- Aromatics: My go-to aromatics are celery, garlic, and onion. If I have them, I will occasionally add carrots. I layer in a few herbs but prefer to stick with thyme or parsley because they are less intense than herbs like sage or rosemary. Mild herbs will create the most versatile chicken broth that can be used anywhere. Similarly, unless you have a specific use in mind, I avoid strongly flavored aromatics like fennel or bell peppers since they may limit how you can use the chicken broth. As a reminder, you can always use your veggie scraps for broth! Save your onion peels or celery stumps and freeze them; you can use them in your broth!
- Dry spices: I keep it simple with salt and pepper. Salinity preferences will vary from person to person, but my ratio is always 1 teaspoon of kosher salt per pound of chicken. If I’m using a 5-pound chicken, I use 5 teaspoons of kosher salt. If I add pepper, I add whole black peppercorns instead of ground pepper. I also add dry bay leaves.
How to make it
- Step 1: Gather your ingredients in a large pot. Add the chicken, herbs, aromatics, salt, and black peppercorns. If you’re using a chicken that comes with the neck, add that to the pot, too.
- Step 2: Cover with water. The exact amount of water will depend on the size of your chicken, but ideally, you want enough to cover the chicken by about 1 inch. If your chicken is quite large, it’s okay if the top of the bird sticks out a bit from the water. For a 5-pound chicken, I usually need about 16 cups of water.
- Step 3: Bring the water to a boil. Once it boils, reduce the heat to low. You may choose to cover the pot or leave it uncovered. Refer to the next step for more details.
- Step 4: Simmer the broth. Simmer the chicken for at least 1 hour and 30 minutes or until it is cooked. You can simmer the chicken covered or uncovered, depending on how intense you want the broth to be. If you leave the pot covered, the broth will not reduce much. If you allow the chicken to simmer uncovered, you may cook off as much as three to four cups of liquid, resulting in a saltier, more intense broth.
- Step 5: Remove the chicken. Carefully transfer the chicken to a large bowl.
- Step 6: Pick the chicken from the bones. You can save the carcass for stock. Use the chicken for a pot of soup, chicken salad, or your favorite chicken dish.
- Step 7: Hard-simmer the broth. This part is optional, but it intensifies the flavors more. Turn the heat to medium. The broth should be simmering and bubbling, but not boiling. Hard-simmer, uncovered, for about 20 minutes. The broth will be reduced by about one cup, depending on how hard it simmers.
- Step 8: Strain the broth. Carefully strain the broth through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl. Discard the spent herbs and aromatics.
- Step 9: Let the broth cool completely. Transfer to your storage container of choice and freeze or refrigerate until ready to use.
How long does homemade chicken broth last?
Homemade chicken broth will last 3 to 4 days in the refrigerator and up to 6 months in the freezer.
My favorite recipes
Ready to make a batch of chicken soup? Here are my favorite recipes that use chicken broth.
- Chicken Noodle Soup: You have to start with the classic, right? This is my best chicken chicken noodle soup, starting with a rich, salty chicken broth.
- Ginger-Scallion Chicken Soup: You can use store-bought broth for this soup, but if you’ve made a batch of this homemade chicken broth, substitute it here! It’s a spicy, aromatic soup perfect for a cold evening.
- Chicken and Rice with Zante Currants: Use homemade chicken broth to boost the flavor of this lightly sweet rice.
How to Make Chicken Broth
Learning how to make chicken broth is not as intimidating as you may think. It may require a little extra time compared to store-bought broth, but it’s worth the extra effort.
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Servings: 12 to 16 cups
Calories: 11kcal
Ingredients
- 5-6 pound whole chicken (giblets reserved for another use)
- 1 teaspoon salt (per pound of chicken)
- 1 yellow onion (peeled and quartered)
- 3 ribs celery (cut into thirds)
- 6-8 sprigs thyme
- 1 head garlic (top cut off; cloves left in the paper)
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tablespoon black peppercorns
- 16 cups water
Instructions
Gather the ingredients:
- Place the chicken in a large pot. Season with 1 teaspoon salt per pound of chicken. Add the onion, celery, thyme, garlic, bay leaves, and black peppercorns. Cover with water, ensuring the chicken is submerged if your pot allows it. You will need about 16 cups of water to cover the chicken. It’s ok if the very top of the bird is exposed.
Boil the broth:
- Turn the heat on the pot to high and bring to a boil. Cover and reduce the heat to low. If you prefer a more reduced and intense broth, leave the pot uncovered as it simmers. Simmer for at least 1 hour 30 minutes or until the chicken is completely cooked.
Remove the chicken:
- Using tongs, carefully transfer the chicken to a large bowl and cool for 10-15 minutes.
Hard-simmer the broth (optional):
- Turn the heat on the pot to medium-high. Allow the broth to simmer rapidly, uncovered, for about 20 minutes, to reduce it to about 10 to 12 cups broth total. It will deepen in color and flavor. Adjust the heat as needed to keep the broth from reducing too much. See Note 1.
Strain the broth:
- Carefully strain the broth through a sieve into a large bowl. Discard the spent herbs and vegetables.
Pick the chicken:
- Pick the meat from the chicken, saving the carcass and skin for stock if you like. Shred the meat with your fingers or dice it into cubes if preferred. Reserve for another use.
Store the chicken broth:
- Allow the broth to cool completely. Once cooled, transfer to a storage container of choice. Refrigerate for 3 to 4 days or freeze for up to 6 months. Enjoy!
Notes
Note 1:
If you cover the pot as it simmers and skip the hard simmer step: You will have about 16 cups of broth.
If you leave the pot uncovered as it simmers and skip the hard simmer step: You will about 12 cups of broth.
If you cover the pot as it simmers and hard simmer the broth: You will have about 14 cups of broth.
If you leave the pot uncovered as it simmers and hard simmer the broth: You will have about 10 cups of broth.
If you cover the pot as it simmers and skip the hard simmer step: You will have about 16 cups of broth.
If you leave the pot uncovered as it simmers and skip the hard simmer step: You will about 12 cups of broth.
If you cover the pot as it simmers and hard simmer the broth: You will have about 14 cups of broth.
If you leave the pot uncovered as it simmers and hard simmer the broth: You will have about 10 cups of broth.
Nutrition
Calories: 11kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 0.4g | Fat: 0.1g | Sodium: 219mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin C: 3mg
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