Easy Homemade Chicken Broth

 

Chicken broth can be expensive, and full of ingredients that you can’t pronounce, so I put together a fairly easy way to make it using a rotisserie chicken you can buy at any store ($4-8).  When you consider that a quart of good quality chicken broth is $3.99, this is a pretty good deal!  You also have the chicken you can use for a couple meals during the week.  You can also roast your own chicken, which isn’t too hard to do, but sometimes the uncooked chickens are more expensive!  Stay tuned for a roasted chicken recipe in the future.

Measurement lesson:

32 oz = 4 cups = 2 pints = 1 Quart = ¼ Gallon

This recipe yields 8 cups of broth or 2 Quarts.

Ingredients:

8 cups of Water

2 Carrots, cut into sticks

½ White or Yellow Onion, cut in slices or wedges

½ tsp salt

½ tsp pepper

½ tsp dried thyme

½ tsp dried basil

Optional spices: garlic powder, oregano, rosemary, bay leaves)

Chicken bones from the Rotisserie Chicken: legs, thigh bones, and wings.

Instructions:

  1. Let your chicken cool to the touch.  You should not be afraid to get your hands a little dirty, deboning your chicken is much easier if you just use your hands.  Pull off the meat, and save it for a future meal.  It is OK for the bones to have a little meat left on them, but not too much.  You can also put some of the skin in your pot for a little more flavor.
  2. Combine the water, carrots, onion, salt, pepper, other spices, and chicken bones into a large pot.
  3. Bring to a boil.  Skim the foam off the top.
  4. Reduce heat, cover, and let simmer for 2 hours.  Stir occasionally.
  5. Strain the broth to remove the large chunks.
  6. Store in an airtight container and use within 5-7 days, or freeze it.

Tips:

Feel free to try adding the other spices listed.  If you aren’t sure you will like the spice in the broth, the best way to find out is to sample the spice all by itself.  If you like the flavor, go ahead and add it to your pot!

You don’t absolutely have to skim the foam, but your broth will be cloudy when finished if you skip this step.

I like to freeze the broth in 1 cup portions, so it is easy to take out the amount I need in the future.

 

Nutrition Information per Cup:

20 Calories, 0 grams Total Fat, 1 gram Total Carbohydrate, 4 g Protein.

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