I use so much chicken broth in my kitchen, that I usually make 3 huge pots at a time. I then pour it into plastic quart sized take out containers and store them in the freezer. If I had more pots, I would make even more:) It really is one of the best foundations for my “flavor factory”.
Yield: 6 quarts
Ingredients:
1 chicken, skinned and breast removed
1 large onion, quartered, with the skin
3 garlic cloves, smashed
2 dry bay leaves
3-5 black peppercorns
Place all the ingredients into a large stockpot, at least 8 quarts.
Fill it to the top with water. (By the way, it’s important to use good filtered water. If your tap water tastes funny, so will your broth:).
Season with salt to taste. Don’t salt it too much though; if you’ll be using this broth for a sauce that needs to reduce, it will be too salty.
Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour.
Skim off the foam from the top of the chicken broth.
Line a strainer with paper towels or a coffee filter and strain.
The paper towel will trap all the food particles and fat, leaving you with a beautiful, clear broth.
Yuck! I don’t want to eat that!
Reserve the chicken meat and use in chicken salad or meat filled crepes.
You can also save chicken parts, freeze them and then use them to make chicken broth when you have the equivalent of one chicken, about 3-4 lbs.
Skinning the chicken also cuts down dramatically on the fat and foam that rises to the surface. I often take off the breast meat and use it in another recipe and use the rest of the chicken for the broth, since chicken breast dries out so quickly.
It’s so convenient to have chicken broth on hand all the time. Every time I reach into the depth of my freezer it seems to magically appear.
One day I reached in expectantly only to come up with nothing. The chicken broth was all gone! How could that be? I had just made some, hadn’t I? (I’m always surprised, even though I use it almost every day.) I didn’t have time to replenish my stores, and I was in a hurry to make dinner, so I came up with a quick solution on the fly.
1 frozen chicken breast
1 small onion, cut in half (with the peel)
1 garlic clove, smashed
1 dry bay leaf
2-4 pepper corns
salt
Combine all the ingredients in a small pot, fill it all the way to the top with water. Bring to a boil, skim off the foam, reduce to a simmer and cook for 20-30 min, depending on how big the chicken breast is, just until the chicken is no longer pink.
What a wonderful discovery. No need to unthaw the chicken. You will be amazed by how soft the chicken breast will be.
You can also add parsley, thyme, carrots, celery, leeks, etc. to the broth. However, I keep it simple. Besides, it’s nice to keep the flavor clean so you can add other flavors later, since you will use the broth in so many varieties of dishes. Sometimes, you don’t want the taste of celery in your marsala sauce.
- 1 chicken, skinned and breast removed
- 1 large onion, quartered, with the skin
- 3 garlic cloves, smashed
- 2 dry bay leaves
- 3-5 black peppercorns
- salt
- Place all the ingredients into a large stockpot, at least 8 quarts.
- Fill it to the top with good filtered water.
- Season with salt to taste.
- Bring to a boil, reduce the heat to low and simmer for about an hour.
- Skim off the foam from the top of the chicken broth.
- Line a strainer with paper towels or a coffee filter and strain the broth.
Made this the other day and it turned out awesome!! Thank You Olga! Also where do you get those plastic containers?? I cant find them anywhere!
Lana,
Those are quart size take-out contatiners. I buy them in a restaurant supply store. If you don’t have one in your area, you can buy them online. They are very inexpensive.
ok ill look around thank you!!!
THREE QUESTIONS… WHAT IS PEPPER CORN, WHERE DO I GET IT.. AND WOULD IT MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE IF I OMITTED IT FROM THE RECIPIES?
PS. LOVE ALL ALL THE EFFORT YOU PUT INTO EXPLAINING ALL THE STEPS!!!
Pepper corn is dry whole black peppers, most often used in recipes ground up as ground black pepper. It’s used in almost every recipe, salt and pepper. Whole black pepper corns as great in broths, pickling recipes, etc. You can buy it in every store. If you don’t like using it, you can omit it, of course. I always add it to broths.
What an awesome idea!
This way, you can almost always have chicken broth on hand. Very smart!
I want to try it, but I’m not quite sure how to use it.
When you want to use some for a recipe, do you use the frozen broth and just scoop some out with a spoon or ice cream scoop??
I don’t know how much I would need for a recipe, if I would need to thaw it first, etc.
Please let me know! Thank you
Hi Angie,
You would have to thaw it first. I usually keep a quart of chicken broth in the refrigerator and every time I need more, I thaw another container.
I don’t discard the skin before cooking. I skim the fat after it rises to the top of the broth overnight and use it in bread and buns.
I usually make a lot of broth at the same time, 3 huge pots, it would take many hours for the broth to cool off and then I wouldn’t have enough room in the refrigerator to store it all. When I make a small batch, I store it in the refrigerator, and skim off the fat later. I rarely ever use chicken fat, though. Good use of it, Good for you.
I have some questions for you Olga! How long does the broth last in the freezer? Also, if I needed the broth to make soup, would I add it in frozen and then defrost it in the pot or bring it to room temperature in the fridge prior to cooking? Lastly, if this recipe makes 6 quarts of broth, when you triple this recipe, do you get 18 quart size containers of broth?
I use my broth A LOT, so it lasts me for a few months only. You can safely leave it in there for at least 3 months.
I usually defrost it on the counter or in the refrigerator. I always have a container of Chicken Broth in the refrigerator and as soon as I see that it’s starting to run low, I take out another container from the freezer.
Sometimes, I forget though. A quick way to defrost it, hold the closed container under hot running water just enough so it will come out of the container. Dump it out into a small pot and cook it until the chicken broth defrosts.
One of my pots is a little smaller than the other 2 large ones that I have, so I have a little bit less that 18 quarts, but it’s very close to it:). Like I said, I use chicken broth A LOT.
You always answer so thoroughly! I appreciate it!!
I just ordered the 32 ounce containers so I will start making my first Chicken Broth next week! Also, do you use a whole chicken per pot? If so, any ideas what to do with the left over chicken?
I use one chicken per pot, without the chicken breast. It turns really tough and rubbery after cooking so long, so I cut the chicken breast off and save it to use in other recipes.
I use the cooked chicken in Savory Crepes with Meat Filling. My favorite way to use up Cooked Chicken.