How to make chicken stock

Following on from my chicken dinner post here, I decided to use the few leg bones to make some homemade chicken stock for the first time. After consulting several online recipes I decided to have a go. Bones with a little meat left on them are best as give extra flavour.

Chicken Stock

-Old chicken bones or carcasses

-Carrots

-Onions

-Celery or other vegetables

First I placed my old bones into a pot. If you have larger bones, break in half to release more flavour.

Next prepare the base vegetables. I only had shallots and carrots so used these. Celery is a common addition and any other old vegetables you have to eat would be ideal. Chop into chunky pieces.

Add the vegetables to the bones and pour hot water into the pot. Season with salt and plenty of pepper.

Bring the stock up to the boil on a high heat and upon reaching, turn down so that it continues to simmer. I left the lid covering the pot for a good 4-5 hours.

The stock could be made into a soup if you only added a low volume of water and thickened before draining the bones. I wanted it as a stock so mashed the vegetables up a little before draining the bones and larger pieces.

You should now be left with a lovely flavoursome stock.

I poured mine into a plastic container for the freezer. Otherwise if you are planning to use soon, it will keep in the fridge.

So that’s how I made my chicken stock. I haven’t been brave enough yet to buy a whole chicken for roasting otherwise I would have a lot more bones, but this worked well for a few helpings of vegetables.