Chicken Bone Broth
The simplest recipe for homemade chicken broth
You've gone to the trouble of making a delicious roast chicken dinner and now you're left with the aftermath but you've heard about the wonders of chicken broth and wondering where to next....
If you've been put off making homemade chicken broth because you're heard it takes 24 hours and you need to add lots of ingredients then you've come to the right place because this recipe is SUPER SIMPLE.
Our family usually has a roast chicken dinner once a week and EVERY single time, we'll make a homemade broth in the few days after the roast dinner.
We think keeping things simple is always the best approach around here and we've found this method to be easily do-able with minimal effort but maximum results. This recipe even goes one step further and makes TWO lots of bone broth so you get even more bang for your buck! (or cluck cluck).
Step One - chicken bones
To make a bone broth, you basically need bones, water and salt.
Once you've made a roast chicken for dinner, keep the carcass and any leftover chicken and bones in a container in the fridge or freezer. You can create this with one carcass or you can wait until you have two.
Step Two - in the pot
Put your bones (they can be frozen or freshly cooked) into a big pot so it's about 3/4 full. Usually two chicken carcasses will be sufficient to fill a big pot. Fill up the pot with filtered water till the bones are fully covered.
Step Three - add salt
It's important to add salt for maximum flavour. After you add some salt feel free to add anything else at this stage, chuck in some garlic cloves, bay leaves, rosemary etc. We usually keep it really simple and use whatever we roasted the chicken in - sometimes this will include lemons or onions. All we add is salt.
Step Four - bring to a boil
Bring the pot to a boil with a lid on top that is not fully closed. Once it comes to a boil, bring it down to a strong simmer with the lid askew. Keep it like this for about 2 - 4hrs. You really want a concentrated broth so it's important the water reduces over time. When it first reduces, you can add some more water back up again and keep it going. Likely it will be fully reduced in about 4hrs depending on how much it's been simmering over that time.
Step Five - pour out broth
Using either a sieve or a fine colander, pour the broth into another pot or bowl for it to cool down. Make sure to keep all the bones in your original pot! Once it has completely cooled down you can pour into a glass container and store in the fridge. Or you can freeze it for later but honestly you'll likely use it up so quickly you might as well keep it in the fridge!
Step Six - repeat all of the above
Then you can do it all over again! Make sure to top up your pot with the original bones, add salt again and bring to the boil.
Usually with my second batch I only simmer for about 2hrs - depending on how much time I have. Generally I allow about 8hrs in total for my bone broth making day.
My first batch I really want it to be gelatinous as possible and for it to wobble like jelly when I pull it out of the fridge the next day.
The second batch I typically do for a shorter period of time and I'll add more flavour to it - like any leftover ginger root and rosemary sprigs. This one is usually more of a liquid.
Using your broth
Once your broth has been refrigerated you can now put it to use! Always put it in a pot and bring to a boil for a few minutes before drinking. It's great for making soups or adding to rice or pasta dishes. We love serving ours in mugs to drink during winter.
We typically use it to make a chicken noodle soup - we use organic udon noodles, and when it comes to serving in bowls we'll add any shredded leftover chicken and spring onions.
Let us know if you make any of your own this season and if you do feel free to share it on Instagram and tag us @selftrustsociety as we love to see it!
