Quick homemade chicken stock

Homemade chicken stock is a marvelous ingredient to add rich flavor to recipes without the salt and additives of the powdered versions. It’s also a great way to get the most out of a leftover chicken carcass. In recipes like risotto or chicken and dumplings, a high-quality chicken stock elevates the flavor to another level. Chicken stock freezes very well, so it’s great for making in a big batch to have some on hand later.

The hardest part about making chicken stock is having the time. This recipe uses a pressure cooker to knock the cooking time down to 45 minutes instead of a couple hours. This long cook time allows some gelatin and minerals from the bones to diffuse into the stock. The protein in the remaining meat also breaks down into flavorful amino acids, and the flavor of the vegetables infuses into the stock.

Ingredients

• Chicken bones: Either use the bones from a chicken you just served, or start a collection of chicken bones in the freezer until you have enough and have the time to make your stock. If a little meat is still on the bones, that’s okay.
• Vegetables: A few standard vegetables like onion, carrot, and celery round out the flavor. The chicken flavor should dominate, so we don’t use too much vegetable. Notably, too much carrot can turn the stock slightly sweet.
• Water, of course

Blanching and roasting the bones

Don’t bother for this recipe! Some recipes call for blanching and roasting the bones before cooking. Blanching is for taking out any impurities in the bones before using the bones to make the stock. This is said to improve the flavor of the stock or bone broth. In this case with chicken bones, I haven’t found blanching necessary. If you do want to blanch your chicken bones, put the bones in a pot of cold water and bring to a boil for 15 minutes, then drain.

Roasting the bones can be useful depending on how you plan to use your stock. For a light chicken stock (this quick recipe), no roasting is necessary. For a brown chicken stock, roasting can add some lovely flavor thanks to Maillard browning. The idea with roasting the bones is to roast whatever meat is left on the bones to enhance the flavor of the stock. If you do want to roast your chicken bones, try 230 °C (450 °F) for at least 20 minutes until the bones get nice and dark.  Be sure to scrape all the browned bits off the bottom of the pan and into your stock, along with the bones. Light chicken stock is nice for recipes like my dried porcini mushroom risotto or chicken and dumplings. Brown chicken stock can be good for broth you want to drink by itself or in soups like French onion soup.

What is the difference between stock and bone broth?

To put it simply, you cook stock for less time and with bones plus a few vegetables. Bone broth on the other hand, you cook for much longer, and you may or may not include vegetables. You may even cook bone broth so long that the bones start disintegrating.

How to store

Fill your hot broth into glass jars (canning jars), seal, let cool, then freeze. Ideally, skim any fat off the surface before freezing to avoid off-flavors in case your jar isn’t air-tight. To reduce risk of spoilage, fill the glass jars while the broth is still hot, and cool quickly in an ice bath. Alternatively, do not open the pressure cooker once the cook time is over, and let cool down in the closed pressure cooker before filling into jars and freezing. To avoid warming the other food in your freezer, it is recommended to cool food in the refrigerator before putting it in the freezer.

Print Recipe

Quick homemade chicken stock

Easy homemade chicken stock to get the most out of your leftover chicken bones

Prep Time5 minutes mins

Cook Time45 minutes mins

Total Time50 minutes mins

Servings: 1.5 liters

Equipment

• Pressure cooker

Ingredients

• Chicken bones from 1 whole cooked chicken or equivalent
• ½ carrot cut into a few pieces
• 1 small onion cut in half or quarters
• 1 branch celery cut into a few pieces, leaves included

Instructions

• Place the chicken bones and vegetables into a suitable pressure cooker.
• Add water to just cover the ingredients.
• Close the pressure cooker and close the pressure valve.
• Heat over high heat until up to pressure. Boil under pressure for 40 minutes over low heat.
• Off heat and release pressure.
• To store, fill into glass jars and chill or freeze.

Notes

1. Any meat, skin, or cartilage remaining on the chicken bones is okay for making the stock, just note that the skin will add a little fat layer to your stock.
2. Other vegetable leftovers, such as the greens from leeks work well, too. You may also include herbs such as a bay leaf, a little dried thyme, or a few black peppercorns depending on how you want to use the stock.
3. Feel free to adjust the proportions depending on how many chicken bones you have! This recipe is quite adaptable!