Put that chicken carcass to good use and make homemade chicken stock! You just need a little time, chicken bones, carrots, celery, and onion. Before you know it, that golden elixir is ready for soups, stews, or pan sauces. Learning how to make chicken stock is easier than you think!.
When my life was less busy and slightly quieter, I would make chicken stock while my children napped and I wrote my book or developed recipes for magazines and websites. This was less a desire and more a need to be resourceful and pinch pennies while eating well. Since then, making homemade chicken stock to use in soup recipes has become a regular part of my life, like breathing or dropping my kids off at school. Most chicken stock is made from bones and random scraps of vegetables and this recipe follows suit. It can be cooked on the stove in a stock pot or in a slow cooker (more on that here).
I like to add celery, onion, and carrots to mine, along with a few herbs and spices! But to be honest, there are no rules about what can go into a pot of chicken bones. Add roasted garlic if you want it sweeter and caramelized, add ginger if you want a little bite, or fennel for a hint of anise. Like homemade Vegetable Broth, making homemade chicken stock is an easy way to save money, use up what you have on hand and create something healthy and delicious while you’re at it. Use it in soups like Pastina, Avgolemono, White Bean and Kale Soup, Ratatouille, Chicken Gnocchi Soup, or Italian Wedding Soup. Sip on a cup of warm stock when you’re feeling under the weather or freeze it in an ice cube tray to use in pan sauces like in this Skillet Onion Chicken recipe.
People usually throw away chicken bones after eating them, but they can be used for many other things. I’m always looking for ways to save money and make the most of ingredients because I care about the environment and saving food. I was shocked to learn how useful and adaptable chicken bones can be after doing some research. This article is a complete list of all the creative things that can be done with chicken bones.
Making Nutritious Bone Broth
One of the most common uses for chicken bones is to make homemade bone broth. Simmering bones in water for an extended period extracts nutrients like collagen, amino acids, and minerals. This results in a wholesome, protein-rich broth that has potent health benefits. Bone broth can help improve gut health and immunity, reduce joint inflammation, and promote skin, hair, and nail growth. It’s simple to make – just simmer chicken bones with aromatics like onions, garlic, and herbs in a pot of water for at least 6 hours. Strain out the solids, and you’ll be left with a concentrated, super nourishing liquid to use as the base for soups, stews, and sauces.
Enhancing Soups, Sauces, and Stews
You can use chicken bones to make more than just bone broth. They can also be used to improve the taste of any dish. It adds more depth, savory umami flavor, and richness to stock soups or tomato sauce when bones are added while they are simmering. When making stews, use chicken pieces with bones instead of meat without bones. The connective tissue and marrow will break down into the sauce, making it taste and feel better. You can also roast or pan-fry chicken bones until they turn brown and then add them to liquids to make the flavor stronger. They’ll impart delicious roasted notes.
Natural Fertilizer for Plants
Chicken bones are full of nutrients like calcium, phosphorous, and magnesium that plants thrive on. You can grind them up into a fine powder to use as fertilizer in your garden. First soak the bones in vinegar for several days to help soften them and leach out some of the fat. Then rinse, dry, and grind into a meal with a mortar and pestle or heavy duty blender. Sprinkle bone meal around your vegetable gardens, flower beds, potted plants, and trees. The nutrients are released slowly as the bone meal breaks down, providing a gentle fertilizer boost.
Making Your Own Dog Treats
If you have a canine companion, you can use chicken bones to whip up all kinds of healthy homemade treats for them. Cook chicken bones by boiling, baking, or dehydrating until they are brittle and easily crushed. Then process them into a fine powder to mix with dough for bone-shaped biscuits packed with nutrients like calcium. You can also grind them and sprinkle over their regular food as a supplement. Be sure to only feed dogs cooked chicken bones to avoid any choking or health risks from raw bones.
Unique Jewelry and Ornaments
If you’re crafty, you can use chicken bones to make pretty jewelry, decorations, and more. First, thoroughly boil or bake the bones to sterilize them. Then let your creativity run wild! Clean bones can be carved, etched, or painted to make beads, pendants, earrings, and other accessories that look nice. You can also decorate mirrors, make windchimes, or put together sculptures and mosaics for art projects. The options for crafting with chicken bones are virtually endless.
Nutrient-Dense Addition to Compost
Don’t let chicken bones go to waste – add them to your compost pile instead! Crushed chicken bones contribute valuable calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, and other trace minerals as they break down. This provides a nutritious boost for microorganisms in the compost and helps balance nutrients for plant growth. Avoid adding any chicken bones with residual meat or fat, as this can attract vermin and cause odors. Always crush bones thoroughly and bury in the center of your compost pile. Over time, they’ll provide a slow-release source of minerals.
Chicken bones are clearly far more versatile than most people realize. With a little creativity and know-how, they can be transformed into nutritious meals, natural fertilizer, canine treats, unique crafts, and more. Next time you’re left with a pile of picked-over chicken bones, remember all the possibilities. By making the most of this unconventional ingredient, you can reduce food waste, save money, and make the most of your leftovers.
How to Make Chicken Stock
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. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
- Take the meat off the chicken body: This is not delicate work. To get the meat off the bones, you have to be ready to get your hands dirty. Don’t forget to turn the bird over and get the meat from the bottom. There is plenty there. Put the meat in a container and put it in the fridge. You can put it on top of a bed of greens, in soup, or with chicken salad. Now to address the bones.
- Put the chicken carcass, bones, skin, and any other bits and pieces into a large stock pot or Dutch oven. Add the chopped onion, garlic, thyme, bay leaves, parsley stems, and peppercorns if you’re using them.
- Pour 10 cups of cold water over the ingredients in the stockpot and raise the heat to medium. Wait until you see a low boil, then lower the heat to medium-low (or whatever level you need to keep the stove at for a gentle simmer). You should only let the stock simmer; you should never let it boil. Boiling can separate the fats and proteins, making the stock dark and greasy. Cover with a lid.
- Skim the stock and let it cook for three hours on medium-low heat. About every 45 minutes, check on it and use a spoon to skim off any foam that forms on top. This is not an exact science. It’s fine if you lose track of time and let it steep for 4 hours. You might need to add water because the stock will be stronger. Not enough time? If you only have two hours, you’ll only have a lighter stock. That’s Ok too. There is no room for perfectionists in stock making! .
- Strain the stock: Layer a fine mesh strainer with cheesecloth. Place it over a big bowl and pour the stock into the strainer that has been lined. Press on the solids to release any additional liquid. Based on how much it has reduced, you should have 5 to 6 cups of stock when it’s done.
- You can use, store, or freeze this golden elixir made from bones and scraps. Add it to your next soup or freeze it for that rainy day. Put the stock in small containers to help it cool down faster. Let it cool down all the way, then cover it and put it in the fridge. A layer of fat will form on top of stock after it has been in the fridge for a few hours or overnight. Go ahead and remove that fat layer. The stock will be gelatinous and wobbly when cold. that’s a good thing. You have five days to use it or freeze it for up to six months.
What’s in Chicken Stock?
Basic chicken stock is really just bones and water, but dressing it up with a few herbs and vegetables just increases the flavor and complexity of the stock. When I’m cooking other dishes, I often save the scraps from chopping vegetables and put them in the freezer. When I’m ready to make stock, most of the ingredients are already there.
- Chicken body: I roast a chicken once a week, but you can buy a rotisserie chicken and use that instead.
- Celery, carrots, and onion make a pretty classic chicken stock that is used to add flavor and as the base for many soups.
- Garlic: Garlic isn’t required, so use as much or as little as you like.
- When I use fresh thyme, it’s easier to strain out of the broth, and I think the stock tastes better because of it. You could also use 1 teaspoon of dried thyme leaves instead of thyme powder. It will give the stock a muddy color.
- Bay leaves: The stock tastes sweet and flowery with bay leaves.
- Sage stems: The stems have more oil than the leaves, so I use them instead of the leaves. Making stock is a great way to use them up.
- Ten peppercorns, if you want them. I like a little heat, and I always have whole peppercorns on hand. If you have them, use them. If you don’t, that’s OK.
How to Recycle Chicken Bones to Make Food for Plants! creative explained
FAQ
What can I do with chicken bones?
You can make tasty chicken stock or broth from chicken bones and then use it in soups, stews, and sauces.
What can old bones be used for?
At some point, bone has been used to make almost every primitive tool you can think of. From small, everyday tools like sewing needles and awls for making holes in hides and baskets to larger, more important tools like harpoon heads, arrowheads, and even axe heads.
Are chicken bones good for the garden?
A lot of passionate composters will tell you that you can compost chicken bones at home, and we’re not going to shoot them down. Chicken bones, like all bones, are biodegradable organic material. That means, yes, they can be composted.
What can I do with the remains of a whole chicken?
You could roast it like a turkey and then use the bones and leftover bits of meat and fat to make chicken stock. Use the meat from the chicken in recipes like chicken and rice, chicken soup, chicken salad, pasta dishes, etc. You could also freeze smaller packs of the cooked meat to pull out for use in recipes later.