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White Chicken Stock Recipe

A great recipe for making homemade chicken stock, an essential ingredient to so many recipes.
Prep Time30 minutes
Cook Time4 hours 45 minutes
Total Time5 hours 15 minutes
Course: Sauces
Cuisine: American
Keyword: chicken stock

Ingredients

  • 5 pounds chicken pieces wings, backs and necks. (If you purchase whole chickens to cut up for a recipe, you can always remove these parts and freeze them until you have enough to make stock.)
  • 4 quarts cold water
  • 2 onions
  • 3 carrots
  • 3 celery stalks

For the Sachet

  • 2 bay leaves
  • 6 sprigs of fresh parsley
  • 12 whole peppercorns
  • 1 teaspoon fresh thyme or ½ teaspoon dried

Instructions

  • Pre-heat the oven to 350°F.

If you purchased whole chickens, cut them up into pieces. I like to remove the breasts to use in a different recipe but if you like white meat in your soup, use it but add it to pot near the end so it isn't overcooked.

  • Make the Sachet by adding the ingredients in some cheese cloth that you tie up with a string.
  • Peel the onions and carrots (although a good scrub will suffice).
  • Chop the onions and quarter the carrots as well as the celery.
  • Place the chicken pieces and vegetables in a sturdy roasting pan. You may want to apply a thin layer of oil or spray Pam to the surface to prevent sticking.
  • Roast the chicken and vegetables until the chicken pieces are brown.
  • Remove the chicken and vegetables to a large stock pot.
  • If there is a lot of fat floating on the surface of the roasting pan, remove it with a spoon but leave the wonderful caramelized juices that are a result of roasting the ingredients.
  • Put the roasting pan on your stove top and add 1 quart of the water. The pan is already hot so be careful and be sure to use your oven mitts.
  • Using a wooden spoon, scrape any brown bits of chicken or vegetables that may be stuck to the bottom of the pan and mix them into the rest of the liquids.
  • Pour the combined water and juices over the chicken and vegetables in the stock pot.
  • Add the rest of the water to the stock pot and bring the heat up to high. You want to watch this closely at this point because as soon as the water comes to a boil, you want to reduce the heat to a nice gentle simmer.
  • You will find impurities floating to the top in the form of fat or foam. Periodically remove the foam with a spoon.
  • Add the sachet to the pot.
  • Gently simmer for 3 to 4 hours removing any impurities as they form on the surface.
  • When done, remove the sachet and strain the stock through a fine meshed strainer. Let the stock cool and then transfer it to airtight containers and store in the refrigerator for up to a week.
  • You may find a thin layer of fat that has congealed on the surface of the stock after you have refrigerated it. Just scrape it off with a spoon.
  • You can also freeze your brown chicken stock up to 3 months.

You now have a rich, flavorful, important ingredient that you can use to make all sorts of soups and stews. It can also be used when you sauté or to deglaze pan sauces. And you won't believe how much better it is than the salty canned stuff you buy in a store.