Homemade Chicken Stock With The Pressure Cooker

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I use homemade chicken stock in so many dishes that I have to make it almost every week, especially during the winter months. So I found a way to make it fast!

Jump to:

• Why homemade chicken stock
• Canned vs homemade
• Salt or no salt
• Adding a Bouquet Garni
• Pressure cooker vs regulat pot
• Choosing the right chicken
• Making the chicken stock
• How to use the chicken stock
• A stock supply in the freezer
• Reviving the boiled chicken
• 📋 Homemade chicken stock

Why homemade chicken stock

If you never made chicken stock before, you need to start now. Homemade chicken stock can make wonders in your kitchen:

• It adds flavor to your recipes
• Makes everything creamier
• It is healthy
• Easy food when you or someone in your family is sick

The difference between cube stock vs homemade chicken stock is so huge, you cannot even compare them.

The chicken stock is creamy from the gelatin in the bone and has a full flavor that enhances and complements many dishes without overpowering them.

Canned vs homemade

You can find packaged or canned chicken stock at the supermarket, and that is okay. A better alternative to the cube stock.

However, if you make it in the pressure cooker, it only takes 30 minutes and you can store it in the freezer.

I bought a chicken stock at the store twice during one of my relocation's nightmare, and frankly, there was no comparison with my homemade.

Salt or no salt

One of the main reasons I like to make my own is that often the one you buy at the store has no salt. Why???

Besides a possible health factor, there is absolutely no reason not to add salt to the chicken stock. In fact, I found that unsalted chicken stock doesn't taste as good as the salted one, even when you add salt after.

They say the unsalted chicken stock is better for a perfect foundation of flavor. I just don't know what they are talking about. Unsalted chicken stock has no flavor at all.

Probably for Asian cooking you need unsalted chicken stock as they add Soya sauce, but for Italian cooking, there is absolutely no need.

Even if you reduce stock, you need a minimum of salt, and adding it after it is not the same to me.

Adding a Bouquet Garni

To give the stock a deep flavor, I always put a Bouquet Garni herb bundle in it.

I make it with a leek leaf wrapped around rosemary, bay leaf, sage, and thyme freshly picked from the garden, and use a cooking string to keep it tight.

The herbs, as well as the leek, add some subtle complexity to the broth.

I only add a carrot, a celery stalk and an onion to the water, you can add more flavor but I rather keep it simple so I can use it in any recipes.

Pressure cooker vs regulat pot

One of the main reasons I use a pressure cooker is the time I save. The stock in the pressure cooker only takes 35 minutes while in a regular pan it needs to boil for 2 hours.

That is not all, the pressure keeps the water particles trapped inside the pan at high pressure so they really absorb all the flavors.

Choosing the right chicken

Free-range chicken makes a big difference

To make the broth, I use an "old" free-range chicken, and by "old" I mean 2 years or older.

A free-range chicken has much more flavor, plus I wouldn't support farms that raise chicken trapped in small cages.

I have two chickens and they are free to roam around my garden, they are great company and I love them!

Chickens lay eggs until they are 2 years old, although they live for at least 10 more years after.

Once my chickens will no longer lay eggs, NO, I will not eat my chickens, ever!

Old chicken for stock

"Gallina vecchia fa buon brodo", an Italian motto says. Meaning old chickens make good stock. Even if it is probably referring to people getting wiser with age, the adage is true regarding the stock.

The cartilages of a young chicken are softer and easily break and dissolve once boiled, while old cartilages make a creamier stock.

If your chicken breaks apart when you remove it from the pan, it was a young chicken.

If you wish, you can also make chicken stock from just the carcass of a roasted chicken....as long as no one has been chewing on the bones!!

Making the chicken stock

Making the chicken stock is very simple:

1. Put all the cleaned vegetables and the Bouquet Garni in the pressure pan
2. Add the peppercorns and salt
3. Place the chicken in the pan
4. Cover with water up to 2/3 of the height of the pan

5. Close the pressure cooker, make sure it is sealed.
6. Put it on the heat so the pressure builds up with the heat. The pressure valve will rise to the second red line
7. Once the pressure is built, let it cook for 30 minutes at medium heat. Make sure the valve stays up
8. After 30 minutes, gradually release the pressure from the pan. The valve will start to go down
9. Once the pressure is completely released and the valve is down
10. You can open the pan

11. Remove the chicken from the stock
12. Let the stock cool down completely
13. Once cold, remove the fat by filtering it through a paper towel or a percolator coffee filter.

How to use the chicken stock

A chicken stock can have multiple uses in the kitchen. I use it to make:

• Chicken soup
• Minestrone, soups, or stews
• Risotto
• Paella
• Baked rice

So many recipes are so much better when added an homemade chicken stock.

Plus, if one of us gets the flu or a cold, a chicken broth is always ready to pamper us. The classic Italian pastina in chicken broth can resuscitate any miserable sick child.

A stock supply in the freezer

I like to freeze the stock into bags of various sizes, so I can defrost as big or small an amount as required.

To fill up my freezer I also make Brown Stock with bone marrow and Fish Stock with shrimps shells.

I make sure I label them and put the date as once the stocks are frozen they look exactly the same.

With all the stock ready in the freezer, my weekly dinner meals are much easier to prepare. 

If you are interested to know what other prep food I freeze you can read about it here in the article: Once a Month Freezer Meal Prep

Reviving the boiled chicken

When the stock is ready and remove all of the ingredients from the stock, I discard the vegetables, but I am left with an entire boiled chicken to use.

A boiled chicken can be boring to eat, but I have different recipes to re-purpose it and revive it: 4 Quick and Healthy Dinner Ideas: Reviving a Boiled Chicken

If you are making this homemade chicken stock in the pressure cooker, leave your comment below I would like to hear from you. You can find more delicious ideas if you FOLLOW ME on Facebook, YouTube, Pinterest and Instagram or sign up to my newsletter.