Bone based stocks (including fish) are the baseline for the majority of mother sauces in classic French cooking. And, one of the most versatile and delicious skills you can have is learning how to make chicken broth.
Chefs pride themselves on their depth of flavour, colour and clarity. Getting this building block right gives you the best chance of making excellent, tasty stews, casseroles, soups, sauces and braised meat dishes.
Not only is it the foundation to all these household favourites, a chicken broth also maximises the nutritional value from every ingredient. What’s more, all of this comes from what is considered a byproduct in a domestic home kitchen – chicken carcass bones!
This allows you to elevate the flavour and nutritional value of your dishes, but that’s not where the benefits end. Learning how to make a chicken bone broth is also a massive kitchen hack!
With one chicken carcass you can ensure you have enough chicken broth in your fridge for plenty of dishes, so you’re ready to make a huge range of meals at the drop of a hat.
Pop it in the fridge to use within a few days, or freeze a few portions and you can enjoy it for 3-6 months.
By food prepping a chicken bone broth, it makes creating tasty, nutritious meals quick and easy.
Roast Chicken Stock (Broth)
Created from the carcass of raw birds, or the stripped remains of a whole roast birds, we need to further roast the bones in an oven to generate the browning (milliard effect) which adds colour, depth of flavour and begins to break down the collagen into gelatine.
We recommend adding additional chicken wings to improve the viscosity and nutritional benefit for the finished stock, as they contain higher ratios of collagen (gelatine).
By also roasting off rough chopped root and tuber vegetables, carrots, celery, onions, leeks, garlic, we break down their starches into sugars and onwards to caramelise those sugars for colour and enriched flavour.
The addition of aromatics, bay leaf, herb stalks, peppercorns add layers of taste notes, as does using wine to deglaze the roasting tray, before adding water to cover the bones.
Tomato puree or tomato skins also add flavour and body to the stock once cooked out.
Key aspects are not to boil the bones, as this will release the glue, which is naturally occurring and present in bones, turning your stock (broth) cloudy and an unpleasant taste.
Chicken Broth Recipe Ingredients;
- 2kg Fresh Chicken bones (extra wings)
- 2 large carrots
- 1 large onions / Leek
- 3 sticks of celery
Aromatics
- 4-6 peppercorns
- 2-3 cloves garlic
- 2-3 bay leaves
- Hardy Herb stalks, Thyme, rosemary, oregano, tarragon.
- 25g tomato puree
- 250ml wine
- 4 litres of water.
Chef’s tip:
- Try to use fresh herbs wherever you can! This helps to create a fuller flavour and adds more nutritional value to your dishes.
Recipe Instructions
- In a medium to hot oven, dry roast the chopped down chicken bones and rough chopped root vegetables until deep golden brown, turning frequently to get an even distribution (not burnt).
- Add the tomato puree and continue to roast for a further 4-5 minutes. Remove from the oven, place over a low heat and add the wine, stirring to the edges of the roasting tray with a thermal spoon to deglaze any juices that have caramelised, dissolving them ready to add the aromatics and water to cover the bones.
- To cook the stock out, either leave on a very low heat to simmer in a large pan OR return to the oven on a low heat covered with tin foil for 6-8 hours. This will extract all the flavours, nutrients and gelatine to give you an amazing stock.
- Lift out the bones and vegetables with a slotted spoon, discarding them, then pass the warm liquid through a fine sieve to remove any small particulates.
- At this point you will notice some fats coming to the surface, try to gently skim these off with a ladle and save for later use. Alternatively once the stock has cooled enough, place in your fridge overnight and it will form a gelatinous state, with solid fats on the surface you can just lift off. At this point once the stock has cooled enough, it will freeze for 3 – 6 months easily.
Chicken Broth in Recipes
Our favourite use of a fresh chicken broth? The best gravy ever!!!
Even if using a gravy thickening powder, use this stock rather than just water to boost the flavour profile and bring a huge nutritional kick to your meals.
If you’re making a soup, say roast tomato (that isn’t vegetarian of course!) then use this stock rather than water. Again, the depth of flavour will be hugely increased, and it just elevates what is a simple soup, to a firm favourite on your weekly menu.
When making a classic Coq au vin, this stock is going to boost your meal with additional flavour and goodness that a shop-bought stock cube just can’t compete with.
Perhaps most importantly, when you’re making risotto this stock will transform your dish. The rice will absorb all that delicious flavour, taking this hearty rice dish to the next level.
OR simply drink a hearty mug of this wonderful elixir! It’s really that good!
If you’d like to take your chicken broth to the next level, why not check out our bone marrow Brilliant Base, it’s just as versatile as the chicken, but with heaps more flavour and nutritional value.