Homemade Chicken Stock to Warm Your Soul

This post may contain affiliate links. Please read our disclosure policy.

Homemade chicken stock that warms your soul, makes your house smell like heaven and perfect for base for soups like gumbo or chicken and dumplings. 

Homemade Chicken Stock/Bone Broth

Homemade chicken stock is the perfect base for soups and other dishes. There’s a reason that a lot of dishes have chicken stock and that’s because it brings flavor to the dish. Chicken stock or bone broth also has many health benefits like helping alleviate joint pain and boosting the immune system. You can read more about some of the health benefits of bone broth here.

There’s a reason that back in the day people used to make chicken noodle soup (from scratch, not from the can) to help with colds. It definitely has some truth to the nutrition in the bone broth. And it is really easy to make! It’s a few veggies + spices + chicken and water. All you need is a little time but there’s a lot more waiting time then actual cooking involved.

Fall Off the Bone Chicken

Not only are you getting the benefits of a bone broth with this homemade chicken stock, but you have ready to go, fall off the bone, juicy and delicious chicken. This chicken literally fell off the bone after making the stock. You can use it for dinner like chicken and dumplings or freeze the shredded chicken. This one whole chicken yields about 4 cups of meat.

How to Store & Use the Chicken Stock

This chicken stock made about 4 quarts of stock. I used some of the stock to make chicken and dumplings and froze the rest for chicken noodle soup.

• Fridge – The homemade chicken stock will last about 4-5 days in the refrigerator.
• Freezer – It will last about 2-3 months in the freezer. You can put it in large freezer bags and freeze them flat so they don’t take up a ton of space in your freezer.

Print Pin

Homemade Chicken Stock

Course Main Course

Cuisine American

Keyword chicken stock

Prep Time 5 minutes

Cook Time 2 hours 15 minutes

Servings 4 quarts of stock

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• whole chicken
• 2 large carrots (chopped in large chunks)
• 1 large onion (chopped in large chunks)
• 2 celery stalks (chopped)
• 4 quarts water
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoon peppercorns
• 2 springs of fresh rosemary

Instructions

• Drizzle 2 tablespoons of olive oil in a large pot or dutch own. Then put the chicken backside down into the pan and let it brown on medium-high heat for 8-10 minutes. Then flip the chicken over and let it brown for another 5 minutes.
• Add the chopped vegetables to the pan.
• Add the water to the pot. Make sure it is enough to cover the chicken.
• Add the bay leaves, rosemary, salt and peppercorn.
• Bring it to a boil and then lower the heat to a simmer for about 2 hours.
• Remove the chicken and set aside to cool. Later you can shred the chicken and use it for another dish if you would like.
• Strain out the vegetables and place chicken stock into containers. Let it cool on the counter top for about 30 minutes before placing into the fridge.