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I use homemade chicken stock so much that I have to make it almost every week, especially during the winter months. So I found a way to make it fast!
I like to freeze it into bags of various sizes, so I can defrost as big or small an amount as required.
If one of us gets the flu or a cold, a chicken broth is always ready to pamper us.
To give the stock a deep flavor, I always put a Bouquet Garni herb bundle in it.
It’s a leek leaf wrapped around rosemary, laurel and thyme freshly picked from the garden.
The herbs, as well as the leek, add some subtle complexity to the broth.
To make the broth, I use a free-range chicken and cook it with all the stock ingredients in a pressure cooker.
It is done in only 35 minutes. If you don’t have one, boil the chicken for 2 hours.
My pressure cooker is a WMF Perfect Pressure Cooker (affiliate link to amazon).
If you want to know why I love it compared to others and what else I cook with it you can find my review here: Pressure Cooker
When the stock is ready, I remove all of the ingredients from the broth before letting it cool down completely.
While I discard the vegetables, I have an entire boiled chicken to use.
A boiled chicken can be boring to eat, but I have different recipes to revive it:
4 Quick and Healthy Dinner Ideas: Reviving a Boiled Chicken
By the way, 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!!
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.
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
Homemade chicken stock
Ingredients
- 1 Bouquet Garni: leek leaf wrapped around rosemary, laurel and thyme
- 1 large carrot
- 1 onion
- 1 stalk of celery
- 5 peppercorns
- 1 tbsp sea coarser salt
- 1 hole free range chicken or the carcass of a roasted chicken
- fresh water
Instructions
- Put the free-range chicken and all the ingredients in the pressure pan cover with water up to 2/3 of the height and cook it for 35 minutes. Boil for 2 hours if you don’t have a pressure cooker
- When ready, remove all of the ingredients from the broth before letting it cool down completely.
- Once cold, remove the fat by filtering it through a paper towel or a percolator coffee filter.
- Use it or freeze it into bags of various sizes, so it can be defrosted as big or small an amount as required.
- To defrost, microwave the container for 5 minutes, and then use as instructed in your recipe.
Cricket Plunkett
Love a good broth on a cold day, i bet the leeks make it extra tasty!
Laura
It is so comforting
Lisa | Garlic + Zest
I am a huge proponent of homemade stock — it’s so much more flavorful than canned broth — and because you’re using the whole chicken, you get that great collagen feel – round and full bodied.
Laura
well said Lisa, you really hit the nail with Collagen feel
Silvia
Homemade stock is the best. The store-bought one doesn’t even compare to this.
Laura
You are right Silvia, it absolutely doesn’t
Luci's Morsels
This is great and simple enough! Homemade recipes tend to have much more flavor. I must try this!
Laura
Thanks, yes. I make it so often and it has to be simple
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
There is nothing better than homemade. My mamma taught me how when I was just a little girl. I think she made it every Sunday. Then we’d eat soup throughout the week. The bones from the chicken gives the stock that rich taste.
Laura
What a nice memory. Yes, a lot of taste from the bone as well as a creamy consistency
Maryam
Thanks Laura, very useful tips. I am going to order the pressure cooker. I think it will be good for stews as well.
Laura
Thank you Maryam, I use it so often. It is good for stews as well as cooking chickpeas and beans. I also steam potatoes.