How to make homemade healing chicken bone broth [easy]
There is nothing better than making chicken stock from the carcass of a chicken after enjoying a roasted chicken. By following the instructions in this post, you’ll get yourself in a simple routine of cooking a whole chicken and making chicken stock with it after! Grabbing a Costco rotisserie chicken? We won’t judge, make some delicious soup with that carcass and leftover meat, too!
The routine of always having ready-made bone broth
In our home, we follow this simple routine every week after we cook a whole chicken in our Dutch oven. The carcass is thrown into the instant pot and the leftover chicken meat is saved for other meals during the week. Typically our meals during the week will focus on whole cuts of meat made into various meals through the week. If night 1 is a roasted chicken, night three will be something the shredded chicken quesadillas and night 4 will be an easy chicken soup recipe. Follow the same steps with any other poultry, like turkey, and almost identical steps for beef bones to have the luxury of bone broth to add flavor and nutrients to every meal.
In this routine, it’s important to be using the entire carcass of the bird. Making bone broth from boneless chicken breast meat or other boneless cuts of meat will not give any of the nutrients we are hope for in chicken bone broth soup as the bones are what provide the gelatin, collagen, the amino acids (mainly glycine) or any of the other anti-inflammatory properties of bone broth. Without the bones, soft tissue and cartridge, you do not glean any of the benefits of bone broth, nor will the end result be the delicious product you are looking for!
Why ditching store bought broth is important:
Not only is it very cost effective to make your own chicken bone broth or beef bone broth using the steps outlined below, but it is also a huge boost to the immune system. By simply acidifying chicken bones in water with simple minerals, like salt, as outlined, you’ll be providing the body with gelatin, collagen, protein and improving your digestion.
Store bought broth, even the most expensive options, is still too diluted and as too many other additives to pack the same punch that homemade bone broth does– and it is so simple, you’ll have this on repeat just like emptying the dishwasher.
Breaking Down the Carcass
The video below shows just how quickly a carcass can be broken down, I take care to separate and flatten the carcass as much as possible to increase the surface area. In just three minutes it’s into the pot and ready for making bone broth! This is sped up for you, but in reality it took 3 minutes and 23 seconds!
Kitchen Essentials for chicken bone broth soup
While this delicious recipe uses the instant pot, you can use a traditional pressure cooker, the stove top or a slow cooker, but the instant pot takes all the guess work out of over or under boiling the bones to get the most. A large pot on the stove to boil carcasses can often lead to over-boiling, which breaks down the chemical compounds and causes the broth not to gel. Be sure to keep your stove at medium heat if you need to be using the stove top.
You’ll be using simple spices in this recipe, and Azure standard is the best place to get your spices!
This easy recipe is sure to be part of your cooking routine, and it’s so easy it may not even require a recipe card!
Here are the step-by-step instructions for making the most delicious bone broth recipe after you roast a whole chicken:
1. After enjoying your roast chicken, following the steps on our slow roasted whole chicken post. place all parts of the leftover carcass into the instant pot. This includes the bones, soft bits and skin, all of it has benefits! You can use a stash of carcasses from your freezer as well, but it is simpler to just make and use broth every week. Typically, in our home we are only using bones as some produce scraps will alter the flavor of the broth. If you are really looking to nourish your family, throw a few chicken feet into the pot for ultimate health benefits!
2. Add 2 t salt, 1/2 t peppercorns (you can use black pepper, but peppercorns have much better flavor). You can also add any fresh herbs or dried herbs like bay leaves, but in our home we keep it plain to be able to use the homemade chicken broth in a wider variety of ways later. Not only are we making soup, but we also use it to cook rice, make macaroni and cheese and even boil potatoes. Please be sure to always use a true salt, like Redmond’s as there are trace minerals in real salt.
3. Acidify your broth with 1/2 cup of white wine or 2 t. apple cider vinegar. The acid is needed to assist in the extraction of nutrients from the bones. In the instant pot the white wine DOES NOT evaporate like on the stove top. Be mindful of this if you are sensitive to alcohol. It is being used in a minimal amount, but still work mentioning.
4. Add water to one inch above the carcass (likely about 2 quarts of water). It will feel like you want to pinch pennies here and add more water, but we want the most delicious broth and the most nutritious! The savings in making your own broth will cover the cost– don’t skimp!
5. Set your instant pot to 120 minutes on high pressure, allow a natural release. This makes your total cooking time about 2.5 hours, but it’s so little hands on time! Let it cool to a temperature you can handle the pot. As your pot sits, the acid will continue to extract nutrients from the bones, so don’t feel like this step needs to be rushed. Typically in our kitchen, we let the instant pot work overnight and stay on warm until morning, when we move to step 6.
6. Strain your broth from the bones using a wire mesh or a cheesecloth and colander. Let the broth cool to room temperature before placing it in the fridge or freezer in an airtight container. These containers are amazing fo refrigerating or freezing portions, but you can also pressure can your broth if you feel comfortable pressure canning.
And if you don’t feel comfortable pressure canning, take our canning course! This course shows the exact method for pressure canning broth!
Your broth is now ready to use as a replacement for commercial chicken stock or bullion in all of your favorite recipes, delicious soups with leftover shredded chicken and even throwing plain noodles to give picky eaters some added nutrition when they least expect it! . .
