Homemade Chicken Broth

Oh chicken broth. We love this stuff so much at my house. Whenever I get a rotisserie chicken from Costco or have leftover bones from any kind of chicken (or turkey) I make broth out of it and store it in the freezer for a rainy day.
When one of us is sick at our house we heat up some of this yummy deliciousness and it makes us feel so much better! Its a great way to get a lot of nutrients into your body.
I use this for all sorts of recipes. I especially love it in my Homemade Chicken and Quinoa Soup! It is a great start to any soup to be honest :)
You will not be sorry you tried making your own homemade broth, and may not even go back to buying that store bought kind because this stuff has so much more flavor!

By the way, I just want to give a big shout out to my wonderful followers.  Man, I really do appreciate all of you who follow my blog and enjoy these recipes. It really makes me happy to know that sharing great recipes can really help people enjoy being in the kitchen. I appreciate all of your comments as well! When I see that I have new comments it seriously makes my day a billion times better! SO THANK YOU!


The thing I love about this broth is that you can change it to fit your likes. You can add all sorts of veggies or herbs to whatever your taste preferences are. This is just my usual basic recipe because I always have these ingredients lying around.

Bones from a whole chicken carcass (already cooked and picked clean)
3 carrots
3 stalks of celery
1/2 onion
4 cloves of garlic
3 sprigs of sage
2 bay leaves
1 tsp kosher salt
1/2 tsp pepper
water

1. Throw bones into big pot along with all other ingredients. (I usually cut my carrots and celery in half and then quarter the onion. The garlic you can smash and leave whole.)

2. Fill pot with water until about an inch from the top (just fill it as much as it can go without boiling over)

3. Place on high heat and bring to a boil.

4. Once boiling turn to medium low and let simmer for 3 hours.

5. Strain vegetables out of broth and store in air tight containers. If using soon just keep it in the fridge, or store in the freezer for longer periods of time.

(When making this you can let this cook for as long or as little as you like. I usually do a minimum of 3 hours but the longer you let broth go the more depth of flavor you get. I will add though that I usually will pull the carrots out after 3-4 hours because I don't like it to get much more of the vegetable flavor but you can cook the bones for hours and hours)

**Randi's Side Notes**
~ I usually get somewhere around 7-8 cups of broth out of this but it will vary based on how big your pot is and also if you boil it on a high boil then it will evaporate out, which yes the broth will become super flavorful faster but you won't have as much broth. That's why I like to do mine low and slow to keep as much liquid in as possible!
~ For the sage, if I don't have any sage I will use parsley but then also add some dried sage (use about 1 tsp of dried herbs) into the water. (I REALLY like the flavor of sage but seriously use whatever fresh herbs tickle your fancy)
~ If using turkey bones you can actually make 2-3 batches of this broth and get a massive amount of it in storage.
~ You could also omit the chicken bones all together and just make vegetable broth. You could add all sorts of veggies, peppers, potatoes, tomatoes (if not on the anti-inflammatory diet). ANYTHING.
~ If you don't have time to let your broth simmer for 3 hours, I have also made this using a pressure cooker, cooked on high pressure for 1 hour with a natural release. I'm not gonna lie, it wasn't as good as it is when I cook it on the stove so I may try adjusting the times if I try it again.
~This could also be done in the slow cooker. Just put everything in cover and cook on low for 7-8 hours or high 3-4 hours. Really you can let the broth go as long as you like. Just keep tasting it until it reaches your desired depth of flavor.