You just can’t step into the homemade cooking arena without a good broth recipe in your back pocket.
It’s a necessity and honestly easier than pie. For realz.
Chicken broth (and any other meat bone broth) is SO easy, all you need is some leftover bones, some veggies and water. There’s really no recipe needed and no need to measure.
Start by gathering up your ingredients.
Add a couple handfuls of carrots, celery, onion, some bones, & a 1/4 tsp. of dried thyme. (plus a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar – this helps draw the minerals from the bones)
Fill her up with water a couple inches from the top.
If you’re cooking your broth in a pressure cooker, cook on high pressure for 1 hr with slow release.
If you’re cooking your broth in a crock pot, cook on low for 8-10 hours.
*TIP* Stick it on your back porch if you don’t want your house to smell like broth for 3 days straight.When it’s done cooking, add salt & pepper to taste.
Afterwards, pour all the contents through a mesh strainer to catch all the little particles/veggies/bones.
*TIP* You can freeze the used bones to make another broth and another broth until the
bones completely disintegrate.
Fresh chicken broth will last 1 week in the fridge or about 3 months in the freezer.
One batch should make you about 1 gallon of broth.
How do I freeze my chicken broth?
I prefer to pour into a cupcake tin and freeze, then pop them out and store in a ziploc bag in the freezer. This way I can throw one in the pot fast when I need it
WARNING: DON’T FREEZE IN MASON JARS. IT WILL EXPLODE. Ask me how I know.
Your recipe in your book doesn’t call for Apple cider vinegar.
lol, I’m glad I’m not the only one who knows first hand why you shouldn’t freeze those glass jars! Love the recipe idea; thanks!
I never knew you could freeze in mason jars. I love using jars but I guess my freezer would fill up pretty quick. I do like the cupcake tins idea.
You *can* freeze in jars, but as with all glass containers in the freezer, you MUST leave plenty of headroom for expansion and you MUST leave the lids off until after it is frozen — that expansion is what causes the explosion. Oh, and you need to make sure the stuff is dead cold before you put it in the freezer, because putting hot in the freezer not only endangers the freezer life of anything you put it near, the hot on the cold can also cause cracking and exploding. Better off not to use glass to freeze in at all, I think. (Yeah, ask me how I know, too 😉 I think the best way is to use a vacuum sealing solution. Much safer and keeps things really well. Good luck!
Chickens, dogs, hogs and compost all love the leftover veggies. A little bit of bone or chicken fat won’t hurt any of ’em.
Do you use the vegetables for anything after you are done or should you just throw them away?
OMG, I love the idea of freezing in cupcake tins and then then putting those in a ziploc baggie. I usually use mason jars (I’ve only had one explode) but they take up tons of freezer space. Thanks!
I always put a 1/4 cup of vinegar in and soak the bones for an hour before I start the heat. I also put parsley in 10 minutes before the end a la NT.
I always make 2 rounds of broth with one set of bones. the first cooks for 24 hours, the second goes (at least) 2x as long to get full strength.
Sometimes my mason jars crack, but I have so many of them, I don’t care! I’m going to try the “don’t cover them ’til they’re frozen” idea.
when the crack, I run them under hot water until the big pieces fall away, then I boil the frozen block of broth and run it thru a metal strainer to ensure there aren’t any bits of glass. I’ve never cut my trachea open (yet).
I freeze broths and sauces in mason jars ALL. THE. TIME.
(1) Most importantly, you CANNOT fill the jar all the way. Liquid needs space to expand. Remember science class in middle school when they told us that water expands when it freezes? Same applies to broth and liquid!
(2) The jars need to cool completely to room temperature before putting them in the chill chest.
Hope this helps your exploding mason jar dilemma!
I have been told that once you freeze in the jars they will break in the canner after that
I noticed that when I reuse the bones the broth isn’t as dark. Is there any difference in the taste or the nutrional value?
I save what I can of the veggies and puree them. Use them in spaghetti sauce or homemade BBQ sauces. Good way to get some extra hidden veggies in there and thicken up the sauce a bit! 🙂
Great idea!
Love this. It makes it so simple. Now I can roast a chicken and do something great with the bones. Thanks!!!! Love the freezer tip – it’s perfect.
It’s so crazy because this is exactly the post I need right now! Thanks DaNelle!
Thanks for the mason jar tip…I was just going to use them to freeze in! Do they break? Ooops!
You can absolutely freeze in mason jars! There just are a couple tricks.
Old worn out jars are weak, don’t use. Also avoid regular mouth, use wide mouth.
Cool in the refrigerator before transferring to freezer, or at room temp if you don’t have space.
Leave lids off until completely frozen.
Works 95% of the time!
You’re SO right! I freeze in mason jars ALL THE TIME!
Come on, DaNelle! Get on the bandwagon.
I also freeze in mason jars—you can put the lid on—but just like with canning, you need to leave some head space, this time for the ice to expand—I leave about 1 1/2 to 2 inches—once I started doing that, I never lost a jar!
Why not just can it?
Ditto
I froze a homemade marinara in a jar…oops…
Yeah, I learned first hand not to freeze in mason jars too! Oops!