Ingredients and Equipment Notes
You really only need basic ingredients to make great broth at home and it’s incredibly flexible. I don’t even always measure the vegetables. It’s also fine if your veggies are just barely starting to go bad. Instead of tossing them out, toss them in the pot!
Rotisserie chicken – You can make broth with a chicken that is mostly picked apart, or one that still has quite a bit of meat on it. This is a great use for a chicken that still has meat on it, but it’s perhaps been in the fridge for a couple days and you no longer want to just eat it plain. Carrots – regular or baby carrots work great Celery – any part of the celery works great, do not remove the leaves, just throw that in there as well. Onion – I prefer yellow or white onion. Red will also work, but it may turn your broth a murky color. Fresh herbs – fresh herbs are wonderful, but you could also used dried. Feel free to add different herbs to taste, it’s very flexible!
Instructions
Freezing Homemade Broth
Food service containers are a great way to freeze broth. I put a piece of masking tape on it and label with the contents and date. Another favorite tool for frozen broth are my favorite Souper Cubes, which make it easy to freeze portioned amounts. I freeze into cubes and then transfer the cubes into ziplock bags, an airtight container, or a vacuum sealed bag for longer term storage. To Defrost: Place containers of broth in the fridge a day ahead of time to thaw, or I add the frozen cubes directly into warm pots of soups and sauces to melt.
Q: Do you have a basic Chicken Noodle Soup recipe? A: I use this recipe– just omit the dumplings, add noodles, and replace the milk with broth. Q: What’s the difference between broth and stock? Are they interchangeable in recipes? A: The quick answer is that both broth and stock involve simmering water and vegetables with parts of a chicken. Generally broth is made with chicken meat, like a whole chicken while stock is made with a large quantity of bones. Often in stock, the bones are roasted first as well. Overall, stock is known for having a deeper, richer flavor. Because the bones contain a lot of gelatin, stock usually has a little more body. I think this is true for homemade restaurant quality stock, but when it comes to the store-bought options, there’s not a huge difference (in my opinion). Some companies aren’t even consistent in labeling. So are they interchangeable in recipes? Generally speaking, yes. I buy broth 100% of the time. It’s more widely available and I like the light, clean flavor. The recipe above does contain bones, but it’s mostly the meaty chicken scraps attached that gives the broth its flavor.
