How to Make and Store Homemade Chicken Stock

Homemade chicken stock is easy to make and it's great for stretching your budget. Use this homemade chicken stock recipe to save money at the grocery store and add a nutritional punch to your home cooked meals.

Today I’m going to share with you how I make and store chicken stock so that I always have some on hand for any dish that requires extra flavor.

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Benefits of Homemade CHicken Stock

There are so many reasons to make your own homemade chicken stock. Here are some of the benefits of making your own chicken stock at home:

• Money Savings: Making chicken stock at home costs pennies to do. Every time I purchase a rotisserie chicken, I save the bones that have meat scraps on them, and throw them in the freezer. I'm not buying any fresh ingredients to make this stock, simply using what I would have previously tossed.
• Health Benefits: When I make my own stock, I know exactly what ingredients are going in the recipe. This allows me to control what herbs, seasonings, and other ingredients go in the stock (there are no other ingredients).
• Convenience: This recipe makes A LOT of chicken stock. Because of this, I almost always have some in the freezer.

Ingredients in Chicken Stock

What I love about making my own chicken stock is I’m literally just using leftover food. Seriously. If you would have looked in my freezer, you would have found the remnants of rotisserie chickens, bones saved from chicken thighs, and scraps of celery, onion and carrots.

I know it sounds weird, but TRUST ME ON THIS ONE.

How to Make Chicken Stock

When I make chicken stock, I throw all my ingredients--the bones, the vegetables, some salt, some italian seasoning mix, and some minced garlic or garlic powder, in my dutch oven (also featured in my Dutch Oven Pulled Pork recipe, and my Lazy Girl’s Guide to canning tomatoes), in the oven with the lid on at 350 for an hour.

That roasting brings out the flavor, then I transfer everything to the stovetop and add as much water to cover all the ingredients. I add roughly 12 cups of water. 

I let that simmer on medium on the stove for an hour, then I turned the stove off, and let it cool. 

Once it’s cool, I place a fine mesh strainer (similar to this one), over my large pourable mixing bowl (mine is Pampered Chef, here is similar) to strain out the bones, meat and vegetable fragments. 

After just the stock is left, I pour it in these freezer-safe plastic containers. I love freezing soup and stock, so I always have these containers on hand.

Each of these containers is 16 ounces, and from this batch of ingredients, I was able to get half a dozen containers

And that’s it! I label each container with the date and try to use it within six months, but that’s honestly not hard at all. 

How to Use Chicken Stock in Recipes

I use chicken stock all the time. I don’t just use it to make soups either. I use it in a lot of my dishes. Chicken stock is great in rice, like my Cilantro Lime Rice recipe. It’s great for adding to casseroles for flavor or I will put it in the crockpot with chicken breast to keep the chicken breast from drying out.

Chicken stock makes the perfect base for gravies as well. Basically, if you need a hit of flavor, add chicken stock.

Looking for other low-cost, budget stretching recipes? Check out my other posts:

Quick Copy Cat Cilantro Lime Rice

Cream Corn Casserole That’s Perfect For Holidays or Any Day of the Week!

Easy and Cheap Strawberry Jello Pie

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