March 16, 2015

(Sort of) Homemade Chicken Stock

Recipe challenge, week eleven.




This may or may not be considered a recipe and there may or may not be several of you who are gasping in horror at the idea of buying a grocery store rotisserie chicken.  But I hate cooking chicken. When I want chicken, I buy a rotisserie one.  If I'm making an actual recipe, I do cook chicken, but prepared chicken is much easier for salads and we eat chicken salads at least once a week. It actually doesn't really cost more to buy prepared food in this case.  I don't have the desire to cook a whole chicken.  And hey, whatever chemicals they must use taste good.

So when I use half of the chicken, or even all of the chicken, I put whatever is left into the 6 qt. crockpot.

(and I did cut that string off the legs after I took the picture)

Then I add...

2 teaspoons of salt and 1 (unpictured) teaspoon of pepper.  You can add more after cooking.


You don't need to chop.  Just wash and cut it all up enough to fit in the crockpot.  I did peel the garlic and smash it. 


Fill to the top with water.  Notice the celery leaves (where all the flavor hides) and then the onions are still in giant chunks. 


Cook all day on low (oh the blurriness...)

I don't have a picture of what the stock looks like after it cooked, but you will just want to strain out all the vegetables and chicken. The chicken that's left is still good to eat, but I usually don't. Then, I let the stoneware cool and put it in the fridge overnight.  That way I can skim off the fat in the morning and separate the stock into freezer bags.  I get about 4 freezer bags from the 6 quart crockpot.  Lay them flat in the freezer until they're frozen solid and then they'll be good to pull out for any recipe calling for chicken stock. I let one thaw in the fridge for a day before I use it.  

Again, I don't know how much of a recipe this really is because I don't measure it and you can add or subtract anything you'd like to change the flavor.  Extra spices (onion powder, poultry seasoning, celery salt, etc), extra veggies (leeks, turnips, parsley...I didn't have any parsley this day).  It's a fantastic way to clean out the produce drawer.  I started making it because I hate remembering to buy and then lugging home cans of chicken broth from the store. 

You could also, obviously, use a raw chicken.

(This recipe is pretty similar but I didn't find it until after I'd been making my own version.)

8 comments:

  1. Oh what a great idea! We eat rotisseries for dinner a lot but we always have some left that we don't eat in time, and I HATE throwing food away! This is a great solution!

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  2. This is such a great idea, I will definitely be doing it!

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  3. Is it weird that I've never had a rotisserie chicken?

    Good idea to make stock, though! I've toyed around with the idea of making vegetable stock, too...

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  4. I've made my own stock before using a similar recipe. It tastes so much better!

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  5. Replies
    1. I am making this right now. It smells wonderful!

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  6. I actually use my rotisserie chicken carcass, after we eat all the meat, because the bones are the most important part anyway!

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  7. I never ever throw bones out without making stock, whether I've made the chicken or not.

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