This one is going to be short and sweet because this is one of the basics! Chicken Bone Stock is one of my most frequently made basics that I keep in my freezer. Sure you can buy the boxed stuff, but it's tasteless and more expensive. A lot of times I even end up throwing it away because I only needed half a cup for a recipe! But no more my friends, because this is so easy and so so cheap.
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When making chicken bone stock you have some options. Either you could go to the store and get all of the vegetables you need or you can save the odds and ends from your cooking and freeze them for later. To be honest, I usually end up buying them from the store. It's just easier for me to have a consistent tasting broth. If you want to be as frugal as possible, save those scraps! There aren't a lot of vegetable ends that won't go perfectly into this recipe.
One thing that I do save is chicken bones. If you enjoy making my Dry Brine Chicken or you love those $5 rotisserie chickens from Costco, you'll have more than enough bones to make stock. Just take off all the meat and throw the bones/scraps into a gallon bag in the freezer. I usually use the bones from 2 birds per bag so I just need a couple veggies when I need stock.
No Pressure Cooker?
If you don't have an Instant Pot, no problem! I only use my pressure cooker for chicken bone stock when I don't have time or I'm in need of the stock quickly. Usually I do this exact recipe, but I leave the stock on simmer for 12 hours, adding water as needed. My apartment smells AMAZING all day and I get a lot more broth overall.
One thing you absolutely have to do is freeze the broth into pucks for later use. If you're like me, you just don't need a ton of broth all the time, but it's great for specific recipes. I love deglazing the pan with just a little bit of chicken broth. I use this silicone muffin pan to freeze broth into ½ cup amounts. It lasts for up to a year in the freezer. Now you can really quit buying broth!
If you're a soup lover, make this ASAP. January is the perfect time for soups and I have two amazing ones coming up next on That Zest Life: Chicken Curry and Tom Kha Gai. They're full of flavor, easy, and will use up about half of this recipe, which means you'll still have plenty to freeze!
I want to see what you're cooking! Tag me @thatzestlife on Instagram, or find me on Facebook! It just brings me joy to see people cooking my food. I also want to hear what you think, so leave a comment and rate the recipe. Also, subscribe! I have a great bonus recipe in the works for my subscribers. Until next time!
Recipe
Chicken Bone Stock in the Instant Pot
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 2 chicken carcasses
- 1 onion, cut in half
- 2 carrots, cut in half
- 2 celery stalks, cut in half
- 2 small leeks, split down center
- 1 bunch fresh parsley
- 1 bunch fresh thyme
- 2 tsp peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- filtered water
- Salt to taste
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in Instant Pot. Fill one inch from the top with filtered water.
- Set the Instant Pot to Manual on high for 45 minutes.
- Once 45 minutes are up, let pressure release naturally.
- Pour through fine sieve into a container. Place immediately into an ice water bath.
- Use within 1 week or freeze.
NOTES
- Be careful not to release the pressure yourself! You could spit boiling water all over your kitchen.
- Freeze the leftovers into a silicone muffin tin! It makes it easy to have broth anytime you need for a fraction of the cost.
- Don't worry if it turns to gel. That just means you got all of the good stuff out of the bones.
If you make this recipe, be sure to tag @thatzestlife in your photo! I would love to see what you made!
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Renee
Made this over the weekend and used in a soup recipe I usually use boxed or canned broth for. I was quite frankly shocked that it made as much of a difference as it did! Even the chicken I put in the soup had a better flavor! I froze the rest so I have enough for four more batches of my soup. No more boxed broth for me! Thanks, Megan!
Dan
I’ve completely quit buying store broth since this recipe. So easy and so much tastier! Thank you!
Megan
And SO much cheaper!!! Thanks for trying Dan!