Homemade Chicken Broth
(You could also use turkey, duck, or lamb, following the same basic directions.)
Ingredients
- 1 whole free-range chicken or 2 to 3 pounds of bony chicken parts such as necks, backs, breastbones, and wings
- Gizzards from one chicken optional
- 4 quarts cold filtered water
- 2 tablespoons vinegar
- ¾ inch peel of 1 large white potato discard the center
- 1 large onion coarsely chopped
- 2 carrots peeled and coarsely chopped
- 3 celery stalks coarsely chopped
- 1 bunch parsley
Instructions
- Fill up a large stockpot (or large crockpot) with pure, filtered water.
- Add vinegar and all vegetables except parsley to the water.
- Place the whole chicken or chicken carcass into the pot.
- Bring to a boil, and remove any scum that rises to the top.
- Reduce the heat to the lowest setting and let simmer.
- If cooking a whole chicken, after the meat begins to separate from the bone, remove the chicken from the pot and separate the meat from the bones. Place the carcass back into the pot and continue simmering the bones for another 12-24 hours.
- If cooking bones only, simply let them simmer for about 24 hours.
- Add the fresh parsley about 10 minutes before finishing the stock, as this will add healthy mineral ions to your broth.
- Remove remaining bones from the broth with a slotted spoon and strain the rest through a strainer to remove any bone fragments.
- Simmering bones over low heat for an entire day will create one of the most nutritious and healing foods there is. You can use this broth for soups, stews, or drink it straight. The broth can also be frozen for future use. Keep in mind that the “skin” that forms on the top is the best part. It contains valuable nutrients, such as sulfur, along with healthful fats, so just stir it back into the broth.
Notes
Simmering bones over low heat for an entire day will create one of the most nutritious and healing foods there is. You can use this broth for soups, stews, or drink it straight. The broth can also be frozen for future use. Keep in mind that the “skin” that forms on the top is the best part. It contains valuable nutrients, such as sulfur, along with healthful fats, so just stir it back into the broth.
Please note the addition of vinegar. The vinegar helps leech all those valuable minerals from the bones into the stockpot water, which is ultimately what you’ll be eating. The goal is to extract as many minerals as possible out of the bones into the broth water. Bragg’s raw apple cider vinegar is a good choice as it’s unfiltered and unpasteurized.
