A 2-Part Recipe: Roast Chicken & Stock (2024)

FAQs

Is it better to roast chicken bones before making stock? ›

Roasting your chicken bones and aromatics may require slightly more time, but I guarantee it's well worth the effort! What is this? You'll need a good amount of chicken bones, depending on how much stock you're intending to make. You can use literally any part of the chicken, as long as there are bones.

Both make for a great stock. Using a whole raw chicken or raw parts is sometimes easier and faster and can yield a great stock. Some people say that the bones from a roasted chicken make for a deeper flavor, but I don't think it's hugely noticeable.

That minimum ratio—a pound of chicken per quart of water—was sufficient to extract enough gelatin from the wings to give me the loosely gelled stock above. If you can pack in even more chicken and aromatics, your stock will only get richer and more gelatinous.

Whenever I have the remains of a roasted chicken, or the drippings from a roasted chicken pan or casserole dish, I make chicken stock and then use it or freeze it to use later. It is easy to defrost and you can have instant soup or stock for a recipe. Here is one slow and one fast route to chicken stock or soup.

A good rule of thumb is that for each pound to pound-and-a-half of chicken, you'll need one quart of water, or enough to just barely cover everything. Any more than that and you'll have a watery chicken stock or need to simmer it for much longer to get it flavorful enough.

Learning how to make chicken stock is easy. To make homemade chicken stock, place chicken bones, vegetables, herbs and spices into a large pot. Cover with cold water then simmer for about 3 hours. Let it cool, then skim the fat.

“In general, stock and broth can be used interchangeably. However, there are times when it is more advantageous to choose one over the other,” Hill admits. Because stock is made from bones, it will infuse any recipe with stronger chicken flavor than broth.

Put the leftover bones and skin from a chicken carcass into a large stock pot. Add vegetables, like celery, onion, carrots, parsley. Cover with water. Add salt and pepper to taste, about a teaspoon of salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper.

I usually leave the pot uncovered, or I put the lid not completely covering the pot, but covering it is fine: it cooks at a slow simmer for hours. Depends. Lid on makes thinner stock but reduces risk of the liquid all boiling away.

You can overcook chicken broth.

In fact, I have many times. If the broth is simply unseasoned bones and skin, it can be cooked for a long time without developing a bad flavor. However, a broth that includes vegetables and herbs can become bitter or develop an unpleasant flavor if simmered too long.

What's the difference between chicken broth and chicken stock? ›

Stock is generally made from bones, and broth is generally made from flesh. In both cases, they are often supported with aromatic vegetables, but in the case of stock, left unseasoned for maximum flexibility in recipes, whereas broth will usually contain at least salt and pepper.

Chicken stock can be simmered for as little as 1 hour or up to 8 hours. Most often, you'll see recipes call for somewhere in between, about 3 to 4 hours. The longer the stock simmers, the more concentrated its flavor.

The hotter you cook the stock, the faster you convert collagen into gelatin. Cooking low and slow gives you good conversion while preventing fat, minerals and other gunk from emulsifying into your stock. Boiled stock will be cloudy, greasy and have a lower yield.

Some folks feel that chicken skin adds too much fat to the broth leading to an unpleasant mouthfeel. I can see how raw chicken might do this, but with roasted chicken much of the fat has been rendered. Plus, the crispy skin adds to the overall depth of flavor.

Making gravy from the pan juices is really simple too and an added bonus to top your chicken with. For paleo gravy I like to thicken with tapioca starch or arrowroot flour, for the drippings from one chicken I typically mix 2 Tbs flour with 2 Tbs cold water.

The trick with stock is to roast the bones first to get some caramelized flavor going, then to slowly heat them in water until a bare simmer, and then let them cook that way, gently, for a good long time. With beef stock, it helps to include some beef scraps or stew meat, as well as aromatic vegetables and herbs.

If you start with raw bones, there will likely be a thick layer of fat on top of the broth. If you start with roasted bones, there'll still be some fat but not nearly as much. I'd recommend skimming as much of it off as possible before proceeding.

For meat stock, start with either cooked or raw bones. If they're raw, give them a good rinse in a colander before beginning. You'll want enough bones to cover the bottom of your stockpot and come a couple of inches up the side.

Brown stocks, the basis for many classic sauces and stews, are made by roasting bones and vegetables until dark brown, before moistening. This lovely stock makes a wonderful base for many different recipes, and can be stored in the refrigerator in a sealed container for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 6 months.