Homemade Chicken Bone Broth or Stock

Just like the homemade Beef Bone Broth or Stock we made the other day we also make our own Chicken Broth.  We raise and butcher our own Chickens.  Because there are only two of us we'll cut our chickens up before freezing them bagging the different parts (breast, legs, thighs, wings) seperately.  The remaining 'bony' pieces are bagged together for making our Broth/Stock

We put the bony pieces in the stock pot with the usual onion, carrots, celery, bay leaf, 4-5 crushed garlic and some parsley.  I cook this for about an hour, remove the chicken pieces to cool and remove any meat then put the bones back in with 2-3 tablespoons pure apple cider vinegar.  The Vinegar will function to remove the calcium from the bones into the broth.  I then cover, reduce to low and cook over night. 

The broth is strained and cooled in a ice water filled sink.  The bones, etc are then fed to our barn cats who find this a real treat!

I then package it in pint zipper bags using 2 cups per bag.

The bags are then laid flat on a cookie sheet or folded over as I do.  Use whatever method you need to make the best use of your freezer space.  I fold them over so I can fit them in the door of my freezer. Left flat will make them easier to stack on your shelves.  Freeze on the cookie sheet until frozen then remove from the cookies sheet and store in your freezer.

See the Beef Broth Blog for details on bagging.

Thaw in the refrigerator before using.

I use Chicken Broth in a lot of my cooking.  I also use it as a warm drink when I'm under the weather or have been 'glutened'.  I ended up with 2 cups of chicken pieces that I can make Chicken Noodle Soup with or Chicken Noodle Casserole, or Chicken ala King, or.......yummm, even chicken salad sandwiches!