Seed to Supper Database

Chicken Broth

How to Make Guide

"The bones you almost threw away are the best meal you'll make all week."

Chicken broth is the backbone of a budget kitchen — it turns a pile of scraps and bones into liquid gold that flavors everything it touches. Store-bought works fine, but homemade costs almost nothing and tastes like somebody actually cared.

Parts Mapped

Every piece accounted for

Total Uses

Nothing wasted

Preservation Methods

Year-round supply

Culinary Use as the cooking liquid for rice instead of water — 1:1 replacement gives you seasoned rice for zero extra cost

Culinary Simmer dried beans in broth instead of water for beans that taste like they've been cooking all day with a ham hock

Culinary Pour 1 cup into a skillet after searing pork chops or chicken thighs, scrape up the brown bits, and reduce by half for a pan sauce

Culinary Heat a mug of plain broth with a pinch of salt and sip it — it's a warming, nearly zero-calorie snack that fills you up

Culinary Use as the base for any soup, stew, chili, or gumbo — it's the difference between watery and rich

Culinary Thin out mashed potatoes with warm broth instead of milk for a dairy-free version that's still creamy and flavorful

Culinary Splash into a pot of sautéed greens — collards, kale, or spinach — to braise them down tender

Culinary Deglaze any pan with broth after cooking vegetables for an instant sauce base

Garden Cooled unsalted broth (diluted 1:4 with water) can be poured around the base of garden plants as a mild nutrient boost

Household Warm broth makes a soothing compress — soak a cloth in warm salted broth and apply to sore muscles or congested sinuses

Culinary Skim the fat cap off chilled broth, melt in a skillet, and use for frying eggs — they'll taste richer than anything cooked in vegetable oil

Culinary Spread softened schmaltz on bread and sprinkle with coarse salt for old-fashioned schmaltz toast — sounds odd, tastes incredible

Culinary Use in place of butter or oil when sautéing onions, carrots, and celery for soups — it adds another layer of chicken flavor

Culinary Toss roasted potatoes in melted schmaltz instead of olive oil before roasting at 425°F for the crispiest potatoes you've ever made

Culinary Stir a tablespoon into a roux for gravy — it makes the gravy taste like it came from a whole roasted bird

Garden Rub a thin layer of schmaltz on wooden-handled garden tools to condition and protect the wood from cracking

Household Use a tiny amount to condition and waterproof leather boots, garden gloves, or tool holsters — an old-time trick that still works

Household Mix with beeswax to make a simple furniture polish for unfinished wood surfaces

Culinary Blend the soft cooked vegetables with a little broth for a quick, silky vegetable puree soup — season with salt, pepper, and a swirl of cream

Culinary Mash the soft vegetables into baby food — they're already perfectly tender and mild-flavored

Culinary Stir the mushy vegetables into a pot of cooking lentils or split peas — they dissolve right in and add body

Culinary Mix into meatloaf or meatball mixture for moisture and hidden veggie nutrition — kids never notice

Garden Compost the spent vegetables directly — they break down fast since they're already soft and cooked

Garden Bury spent mirepoix in the bottom of a new garden bed as a compost-in-place layer under 6 inches of soil

Culinary Scoop the gelatin-rich sediment layer and melt it into sauces — it adds body and a silky mouthfeel that restaurants charge $30 for

Culinary Use as a base for homemade aspic or savory gelatin if you're feeling adventurous — old-fashioned but making a comeback

Culinary Stir into reheated leftover soups and stews — it restores the rich body that gets lost when you refrigerate them

Culinary Add a spoonful to ground meat mixtures for juicier burgers, meatloaf, or dumplings — this is a restaurant secret

Garden Dilute with water and pour around plants as a gentle protein-based fertilizer — the gelatin breaks down into amino acids that feed soil microbes

Difficulty

Dead simple — if you can boil water, you can make broth

Time

4-24 hours (almost entirely hands-off)

Cost

~$0.25 per quart from scraps, free if you save bones

Yield

One chicken carcass → 3-4 quarts of broth

💡 Grandmaw's Tips

🌱 A good broth jiggles like Jell-O when cold. That's gelatin from the bones and it means you did it right.

🌱 Throw in a couple of chicken feet if you can find them — they're dirt cheap and packed with gelatin. Your broth will be restaurant-quality.

🌱 The slow cooker is your best friend here. Set it on low, go to bed, and wake up to liquid gold.

🌱 Don't salt the broth while it's cooking. If you reduce it later, the salt concentrates and can ruin it.

🌱 One rotisserie chicken from the store gives you dinner AND the bones for a batch of broth. That's two meals from one $6 bird.

🌱 If you don't have enough bones yet, just keep collecting. That freezer bag is a savings account for your kitchen.

🌱 Roast the bones at 400°F for 30 minutes before simmering for a darker, richer-flavored broth.

📝 Steps

1 Save every chicken bone you come across in a gallon freezer bag — rotisserie carcasses, wing bones from dinner, drumstick bones. Freeze until the bag is full.

2 Keep a separate freezer bag for vegetable scraps — onion ends, celery tops, carrot peels, parsley stems, mushroom stems. Avoid brassicas (broccoli, cabbage) as they make broth bitter.

3 When you've got enough, dump bones and scraps into your biggest pot. Add vinegar and cold water to cover by 2 inches.

4 Bring to a boil, then immediately drop to the lowest simmer you can manage. You want tiny bubbles, not a rolling boil — boiling makes it cloudy.

5 Skim any foam or scum off the top during the first 30 minutes. After that, leave it alone.

6 Simmer 4-6 hours for regular broth, 12-24 hours for bone broth with more gelatin and minerals. The longer it goes, the richer it gets.

7 Strain through a fine mesh strainer or cheesecloth into jars or containers. Press on the solids to get every drop.

8 Let cool, then refrigerate. The fat will solidify on top — that's your schmaltz. Skim it off or leave it as a natural seal.

9 Season with salt only after straining. Unsalted broth is more versatile — you control the salt in the final dish.

Every item below works beautifully with chicken broth.

🥩 Proteins

Chicken thighs Ground beef Pork shoulder Eggs Lentils White beans Italian sausage Shrimp Ground turkey Chickpeas Ham hock Bacon

🥬 Vegetables

Onion Carrot Celery Potato Corn Green beans Spinach Mushrooms Cabbage Turnip Parsnip Kale Peas

🌿 Herbs

Thyme Parsley Rosemary Bay leaf Dill Sage Chives Oregano

🧂 Spices

Garlic Black pepper Onion powder Cumin Turmeric Paprika Italian seasoning Cayenne Ginger Celery salt

🧀 Dairy

Butter Heavy cream Parmesan Sour cream Cream cheese Cheddar

🫙 Pantry

Rice Pasta Egg noodles Dried beans Flour Tomato paste Canned tomatoes Cornstarch Soy sauce Vinegar Olive oil Bread Tortillas

🔗 Explore more foods in Grandmaw's Pantry

Here's how to keep chicken broth all year long.

🧊 Freezing (Containers)

6-12 months

Best for: Soup base, cooking liquid, sipping broth

💡 Leave an inch of headspace in jars or containers — broth expands when it freezes and will crack glass if you fill it too full. Ask me how I know.

🧊 Freezing (Ice Cube Trays)

6-12 months

Best for: Deglazing pans, cooking rice, adding to sautéed greens

💡 Freeze broth in ice cube trays, then pop them into a freezer bag. Each cube is about 2 tablespoons — perfect for when you just need a splash.

🧊 Freezing (Muffin Tins)

6-12 months

Best for: Half-cup portions for quick soups and sauces

💡 A standard muffin cup holds about ½ cup. Freeze, pop out, bag them up. Grab 4 and you've got 2 cups of broth ready to thaw.

🥫 Pressure Canning

2-5 years

Best for: Shelf-stable pantry stock, emergency preparedness

💡 Broth is low-acid and MUST be pressure canned — water bath won't cut it. Process quarts at 10 lbs pressure for 25 minutes (adjust for altitude). A shelf full of home-canned broth is like money in the bank.

🔥 Reduction (Concentrated Stock)

2-3 months frozen, 1 week refrigerated

Best for: Space-saving pantry stock, rich sauces and glazes

💡 Boil broth down to ¼ its original volume until it's thick and syrupy. Pour into ice cube trays. One cube dissolved in a cup of hot water makes instant broth better than anything in a box.

🥶 Freeze as Fat Cap Seal

3-6 months refrigerated

Best for: Short-term storage with no special equipment

💡 Leave the fat cap on top of refrigerated broth — it acts as a natural seal, just like potted meat. The broth underneath stays fresh for up to a week. Once you break the seal, use it within 3-4 days.

🔗 Learn preservation methods in Grandmaw's Kitchen

Seed to Supper to Seed

Nothing leaves the cycle. Everything comes back around.

🍗

Buy a whole chicken or rotisserie bird — eat the meat for dinner

🦴

Save every bone in a freezer bag alongside veggie scraps

🫕

Simmer bones and scraps low and slow into rich homemade broth

🧈

Skim the schmaltz — use it for frying and roasting

🥣

Use broth for soups, rice, sauces, and braising

🧊

Freeze surplus broth in cubes, jars, and muffin tins

🥫

Pressure can for shelf-stable pantry stock

🌱

Crush spent bones into the garden for calcium, compost the vegetables

🍗

Buy the next bird and start again — every bone earns its keep