Easy Chicken Stock

This easy chicken stock is my favourite stock, and I make it in large batches at a time. It’s the foundation for most of my soups and risottos.

The ingredients for my chicken stock are essentially the same as for my vegetable stock but with chicken bones added. If you are lucky enough to have access to a good butcher, you can usually get hold of a couple of kilos of chicken carcasses, especially with a bit of notice. Although now many butchers don’t break down chickens themselves anymore these days, it’s getting harder to find butchers that have chicken bones.

If you struggle to get hold of the bones, a couple of value packs of chicken drumsticks from your local supermarket will also do the trick (although take the skin off or the stock will get too greasy). And of course, you can make a quick chicken stock from the left over carcass and leg bones from a roast chicken.

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Chicken Stock

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A really easy chicken stock that will transform your recipes.

Ingredients

• 1 kg chicken bones
• 2 large onions (roughly chopped)
• 2 carrots (roughly chopped)
• 2 sticks of celery (and their leaves if you have them, roughly chopped)
• 3 cloves garlic (cut in half)
• 1 leek (roughly chopped)
• 3 mushrooms (halved)
• 10 peppercorns
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 bunch of parsley (including stalks)
• 1 small bunch of thyme sprigs

Instructions 

Clear Chicken Stock

• Put the bones in a large stockpot and cover with 4 litres of cold water and heat until the water starts to boil.
• Bring to a gentle simmer for a few minutes. Skim off the scum that forms after a few minutes.
• Add the vegetables, herbs and peppercorns and simmer very gently for 4-6 hours. The water should be simmering so gently that only pin prick bubbles break the surface.
• Strain in a chinoise.

Brown Chicken Stock

• Roast the chicken bones for 20 minutes, then add the the chopped vegetables (but _not _the herbs/ peppercorns) for a further 20 minutes.
• Remove from the oven and put the bones and vegetables in the stockpot, along with the herbs and the peppercorns, being careful not to add any fat from the baking tray.
• Bring to a gentle boil, then simmer for 4-6 hours, removing any scum that forms.
• Strain in a chinoise.

Notes

Keep the chicken stock in the fridge for up to 3-4 days or freeze in batches for up to 3 months.

 

I prefer to add the vegetables after I have skimmed off the scum as the vegetables float and make it harder to skim off the scum.

Course: Soup

Cuisine: British, Hungarian

Keyword: chicken stock, stock