Making homemade chicken bone broth is extremely easy to do and requires just a few key tools. You can use a roasted chicken that you either roast yourself or you can purchase an already roasted chicken.
Where i get my whole chickens:
I have yet to find a local farmer that sells whole chickens like we have for our beef and pork and we are not set up to raise our own yet. I buy my roasted chickens at Costco. Ours sells their rotisserie chickens for $4.99 currently. When I go to Costco, I usually pick up 2 each time I go. It equals out to maybe 2 chickens a month or so.
the process: HOw to make Chicken bone broth
Once most of the meat is cut away, I take the bones, skin and any other pieces and place it in my crockpot. You can add whatever vegetables or vegetable scraps you have available and I always add lots of garlic. We eat garlic at pretty much every meal. We seriously cannot get enough. Carrots and onions make great additions.
Fill the crockpot basin with water and make sure to leave about an inch space at the top. I put my entire crockpot in the laundry room and shut the door. Otherwise, it will make your entire home smell like bone broth.
Place on a stable, flat surface. Plug in and turn it to low. I let my chicken bones cook on low for up to 24 hours. Once 24 hours is up, I turn it off and let it cool down for about an hour. You will need a large bowl, a piece of cheesecloth and a strainer.
Place the strainer in the large bowl. Lay the cheesecloth in the strainer, making sure to cover the entire thing. Next, slowly pour your chicken bone broth and bones into the strainer. Be very careful not to burn yourself. The broth will more than likely still be very hot. The purpose of the cheesecloth is to prevent any of the larger particles from remaining in the broth.
Once all the liquid has strained through, carefully bundle up the bones and leftover vegetable pieces in the cloth and you can discard them.
Ready to portion
After everything has been strained, you are ready to portion your chicken bone broth into your storage of choice. I use plastic baggies that are made for the freezer. We use ours up so fast every month, I do not worry about the plastic sitting in my freezer for long. You can also use mason jars. Just make sure that if you do use the jars, to leave room at the top to account for the liquid to expand while freezing.
Label before storing
Make sure to label you storage containers with the date and what is in them. Trust me, you will not remember in a month from now.
HOw to thaw out your frozen chicken bone broth
When I know ahead of time that I am going to use broth, I try to take it out of the freezer the night before. Place it in a bowl or plate and let it thaw out slowly in the refrigerator. When you go to use it the next day, it will be thawed out and ready.
If you do not plan ahead, all is not lost
I have a problem with not meal planning and sticking to it. I usually do not know what I am cooking until that afternoon. So I take it out right before I need it. So I fill up my sink with cold water. Place the container of bone broth in the cold water and in an hour it is thawed out enough that I can use it.
How many cups of chicken bone broth does this give you?
This time I was able to portion out 10- 1 cup servings of bone broth. It all depends on how much water you add to your crockpot in the beginning.
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