Homemade Chicken Broth is so easy to make, you won’t need to buy it from the store anymore. This delicious chicken broth recipe is made with lots of vegetables, spices, and chicken to create the perfect flavor. Learn how to make chicken broth and use it in all of your soups this winter season!
Homemade Chicken Broth
Homemade Chicken Broth is such a simple thing to make for yourself, and you’ll use it so many recipes. Learn how to make chicken broth and start making those delicious soups!
Fall and winter are the seasons of soup! When the weather is cold, I know all I want to eat is a big bowl of hot soup. It’s so warming and comforting to sip on something so hearty and flavorful.
I love soup, and I have about a million favorite soup recipes that I like to make throughout the season. And the main thing you need for every good soup? Chicken broth!
Homemade Chicken Broth is the perfect base for so many soups, and you know it’ll be on every ingredient list. So learn how to make chicken broth at home so you can have the best tasting broth to start every soup.
It also comes in handy when making all kinds of Thanksgiving recipes, like stuffing and casseroles, so you’ll definitely need this stuff around. And when you end up with a cold, sip on some homemade chicken broth until you start feeling better.
Make a big batch, freeze it, and use it throughout the fall and winter seasons!
This Homemade Chicken Broth recipe is so simple and so tasty. Learn how to make chicken broth at home so you can use it for every soup you make!
Chicken Stock vs Chicken Broth
Chicken stock and stock broth are very similar, and they can generally be used interchangeably. In a pinch, if you don’t have one, use the other. They’re also made in a similar way, but still, chicken stock and chicken broth are not exactly the same.
Both are liquids made by boiling chicken bones and/or meat along with vegetables. The difference is that chicken stock tends to be less seasoned, and is perfect as a base to make sauces, gravies, etc.
Chicken broth, on the other hand, is well-seasoned and full of flavor, so it’s ready to consume as is. That makes homemade chicken broth perfect to use in soups and casseroles, or to just sip on its own.
Homemade Chicken Broth Ingredients
The amazing flavor of this homemade chicken broth comes from all of those great ingredients that we have simmering in the pot. The liquid draws flavor from all of the vegetables, spices, and chicken to create a perfectly balanced broth.
What’s in Chicken Broth?
- Chicken (meat and bones)
- Onions
- Garlic
- Water
- Carrots
- Celery
- Herbes de Provence
- Bay Leaves
- Cloves
- Black Peppercorns
- Salt
- Soy Sauce
How to Make Chicken Broth – Step by Step
Making chicken broth is just a matter of letting a bunch of vegetables, spices, and chicken simmer together in a pot. Nothing is easier than that, right? This homemade chicken broth recipe is the perfect balance of flavor!
It makes 19 cups of broth, so you will have plenty to save and use for all for all of your soup recipes.
How to make homemade chicken broth:
- Add all listed ingredients into a large 16-20 quart stock pot, and cover with 6 quarts of water.
- Bring to a boil, then reduce heat to low and let it simmer (uncovered) for 2 1/2 hours.
- Carefully remove the whole chickens from the broth, removed the meat from the bones, and then return the bones to the stock pot. (Save the chicken meat for recipes!)
- Let the broth cook for another 1 1/2 hours.
- After it’s done cooking, pour the broth through a strainer to separate the liquid from the other ingredients.
- Refrigerate the broth overnight and remove surface fat the next day.
Now you can use the homemade chicken broth, or you can freeze it and save it for later. It will keep in the refrigerator for 3 days, and in the freezer for 3 months. See the recipe card for more detailed instructions.
Can you freeze chicken broth?
Yes, homemade chicken broth is easy to store in the freezer. Just pour it into freezer-safe containers and it will keep for up to 3 months. You can portion off the broth before freezing to make it easier to grab and thaw when you’re ready to cook.
What can you do with chicken broth?
Homemade chicken broth is the perfect base for soups, which is what I love to use it for. But a lot of different kinds of recipes call for chicken broth, and you can use this broth for them all. I use it in this Chicken and Rice Casserole and this Chicken Pot Pie Casserole.
Besides cooking other recipes, hot chicken broth is the perfect thing to sip on when you’re sick, and you need something warm and soothing for your stomach.
Other Chicken Soups and Chilis we LOVE!
- Slow Cooker White Chicken Chili
- Creamy White Chicken Chili with Cream Cheese
- Creamy Chicken Soup
- Mexican Chicken Soup
See the recipe card below for details on how to make Homemade Chicken Broth. Enjoy!
Try some of these delicious soup recipes:
- Chicken Tortellini Soup
- Chicken Alfredo Lasagna Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Enchilada Soup
- Chicken Noodle Soup
- Easy White Chicken Chili
- Homemade Chicken Tortilla Soup
Homemade Chicken Broth Recipe
Ingredients
- 2 5-pound young roasting chickens (whole)
- 6 quarts cold water
- 3 large yellow onions unpeeled and quartered
- 1 head garlic unpeeled and halved, optional
- 6 carrots washed, unpeeled and quartered
- 4 stalks celery with leaves washed & halved
- 2 tablespoons herbes de Provence
- 4 dried bay leaves
- 12 whole cloves
- 2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns
- 1 tablepoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon soy sauce
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in a 16-20 quart stockpot, and cover with 6 quarts of water.
- Bring to a boil, reduce heat to low and simmer, uncovered, 2½ hours.
- Carefully transfer the chickens to two large bowls. Remove the chicken meat from the bones and set aside.
- After removing the meat from the bones, place them and the excess broth (from the bones) back into the stockpot. Season to taste – the broth should taste lightly salted.
- Continue cooking the broth another 1½ hours.
- While the broth reduces, cut or shred the chicken meat and save for other meals. (It freezes beautifully.)
- After the stock is finished cooking, strain it over through a colander and discard the remaining solids.
- Refrigerate the stock overnight and remove the surface fat the next day.
- The stock will be slightly gelatinous, but it will liquefy and add a rich, lovely flavor when heated.
- Keep the stock refrigerated and use within 3 days or pour into freezer containers (or zipper bags) and freeze up to 3 months.
- Enjoy!
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