Homemade Chicken Broth

Hey everybody!! As I stated in an earlier post, I am going to keep posting until I am all caught up on my blogging. So I hope none of you are tired yet. LOL.


About two (maybe three) months ago, I decided to try a new butcher shop (yeah...I'm one of those people that does not purchase my meat at the grocery store). It was a very nice shop and the owner decided to give me a package of chicken backs along with some lunch meat for free. (Thank you!!) So of course I come home and parcel everything out and freeze it all.

Now, if we fast forward to last month, there was a random weekend day that I wanted BBQ chicken for dinner. So I go to the freezer to take out a parcel of chicken so it can thaw out and you would not believe what I thawed out. A package of CHICKEN BACKS!! I accidentally thawed the wrong package of chicken that was in the freezer. SMH. Now, I don't know about you guys, but I don't know many recipes that call for chicken backs. The only thing I know to do with them is make chicken broth. So that is what I did. So try this recipe out and let me know how it came out. :)

Take care!

Homemade Chicken Broth 

Now for this recipe, I do not have a picture of the broth after I was done with it because it is currently a solid mass in my refrigerator. But when I use it to make something that requires broth, I will add a picture here. If you cannot wait until then, check out my Chicken Noodle Soup post. I used the broth for that recipe.

Ingredients:

• Chicken bones, backs, or any part of the chicken with lots of bones (I used 6 chicken backs)
• 6 cups of water
• Seasonings: thyme, basil, Adobo, garlic powder, onion powder, black pepper, paprika, crushed pepper, etc. (enough for taste)
• 2-3 celery stalks, cut into chunks
• 1- 1.5 cups of carrots, cut into chunks
• Half of an onion, sliced  
• 2 miniature bell peppers, sliced

Directions:

• Crock-Pot Owners 

1. Place all of the ingredients in a crock-pot (use enough seasoning to taste).
   
2. Cover and let cook in crock-pot for 4 hours on high (8 hours on low). (If you are worried that you did not put in enough seasoning, do a taste test around the third hour of cooking. If there is not enough seasoning, add more.)
   
3. When done, separate the liquid from the non-liquid parts. 
4. For the liquid, pour it into a sealed container and place in your refrigerator or turn around and use it to make chicken noodle soup.
5. For the non-liquid parts, you can either throw it away or separate out the chicken parts to throw away and use the vegetables for another meal such as chicken noodle soup.

•  Non-Crock-Pot Owners

1. Place all the ingredients in either a dutch oven or a stock pot (use enough seasoning to taste).
2.  Slowly bring everything to a boil.
3.  Cover the pot and reduce the heat to a simmer. Allow everything to cook for 2 hours. (If you are worried that you did not put enough seasoning, do a taste test around the first hour or hour and a half hour of cooking. If there is not enough seasoning, add more.)
4. Follow steps 3-5 above.

Now, you have homemade chicken broth! :)

Note: If you have not already noticed, I do not really measure out my seasonings if I am cooking from scratch. Cooking is a science to me and I enjoy trying things. So if you do not add enough seasoning in the beginning of something, just add more later. There is no shame in doing that.