Chicken Bone Broth
Chicken backs, necks, and feet simmered slowly with onion, carrot, celery, and herbs into a golden broth that sets like jelly when cold.
Why you'll love Chicken Bone Broth
This is the broth behind twenty recipes on this site, from the avgolemono and the duck consommé to the pan sauce on the seared duck breast. Making it yourself means the ingredient list is exactly the one Camille asks you to look for on a carton: chicken bones, water, vegetables, herbs, and salt.
The feet are what give it body. They are mostly skin, tendon, and cartilage, which are rich in collagen, and hours at a bare simmer melt that collagen into gelatin. Gelatin is why a good bone broth wobbles in the refrigerator and why it turns a pan sauce glossy as it reduces. Backs and necks bring the meaty chicken flavor, and the vegetables go in for the last two hours so they flavor the pot without turning it muddy.
It takes an afternoon, but almost all of that is the pot sitting quietly on the stove. One batch fills the freezer with enough broth for a month of soups and braises, portioned in the amounts the recipes call for.
Quick overview: This Chicken Bone Broth takes 20 min of hands-on time and about 7 hr 50 min in all and makes 10 servings, each 1 cup. You'll need a pot and a fine sieve.
Ingredients
- 3 lb raw chicken backs and necks
- 1 lb chicken feet
- 4 quarts (16 cups) cold water, plus more as needed
- 1 large onion, unpeeled and quartered
- 2 carrots, cut into chunks
- 3 celery ribs, cut into chunks
- 1 head garlic, halved crosswise
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tsp black peppercorns
- 4 sprigs fresh thyme
- a small handful of parsley stems
- 1 1/2 tsp fine sea salt, or to taste
Instructions
- Prepare the feet: Rinse the chicken feet under cold water and snip off the tips of the claws with kitchen shears. Most feet are sold already peeled; if any still have a yellow outer skin, it slips off after a 30-second dip in boiling water.
- Start in cold water: Put the backs, necks, and feet in a stockpot of at least 8 quarts and pour in the cold water, enough to cover the bones by about an inch. Starting cold lets the proteins on the bones dissolve slowly and then gather into foam you can lift away, which keeps the broth clear.
- Bring it up slowly and skim: Set the pot over medium heat and bring it just to a simmer, about 30 to 40 minutes. As it heats, gray foam rises to the surface. Skim it off with a large spoon every few minutes until very little comes up.
- Simmer gently: Lower the heat until only a few small bubbles break the surface, set the lid ajar, and simmer for 4 to 6 hours. A bare simmer keeps the fat floating on top, where you can skim it, instead of churning it into the broth and clouding it. Add hot water now and then if the bones start to poke above the liquid.
- Add the vegetables and herbs: Add the onion, carrot, celery, garlic, bay leaves, peppercorns, thyme, and parsley stems and keep the pot at the same gentle simmer for 2 hours more. Two hours is long enough for the vegetables to give up their flavor and short enough that they stay fresh-tasting.
- Strain: Set a fine sieve over a large bowl or a second pot, line it with damp cheesecloth for the clearest broth, and ladle the broth through. Let it drain without pressing the solids, which pushes cloudy bits through. Discard the bones and vegetables, then stir in the salt and taste.
- Cool it fast: Set the pot or bowl of strained broth in a sink filled with ice water and stir it every few minutes, adding ice as it melts, until the broth is cool to the touch, or divide it among several smaller containers. Moving it quickly through the warm range is what keeps it safe.
- Chill and portion: Refrigerate the broth in containers no deeper than about 2 inches until it is cold and set. Lift off the layer of fat that firms on top, or stir it back in for a richer broth, then portion it into 1/2-cup, 1-cup, and 2-cup containers, the amounts the recipes on this site use.
Storage and leftovers
Cool the broth quickly. Food-safety guidance for cooked food is to bring it from hot to 70°F (21°C) within 2 hours and on down to 41°F (5°C) within the next 4 hours, and a full stockpot left to cool on its own holds its heat in the center far longer than that. Set the pot of strained broth in a sink of ice water and stir it every few minutes, or ladle it into several smaller containers, until it feels cool to the touch. Then refrigerate it, uncovered or loosely covered until cold, in containers no more than about 2 inches deep so the cold reaches the middle.
Refrigerate the cold broth in covered containers for up to 4 days. Freeze it for up to 3 months for the best flavor, leaving about an inch of space at the top of each container because broth expands as it freezes. Thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, or set the frozen block in a pot over low heat.
Bring refrigerated or thawed broth to a full boil before you drink it or use it, the standard guidance for reheating any broth, soup, or sauce.
Variations
- Roasted chicken carcasses: Use the carcasses of 2 roast chickens in place of the raw backs and necks, still with the feet, and simmer them 3 to 4 hours before adding the vegetables. The broth comes out deeper gold with a roasted flavor.
- Ginger and scallion: For the duck consommé, the ginger-scallion chicken, and the pork belly soup, use a 3-inch piece of sliced fresh ginger and 4 scallions in place of the thyme, bay leaves, and parsley.
- Instant Pot: Put the bones, vegetables, and herbs in the pot, add cold water to the max fill line, and cook at high pressure for 2 hours with a full natural release. The yield is smaller and depends on the size of the pot.
- Turkey: Use turkey necks and wings in place of the chicken backs and necks, keeping the feet for body.
Notes and tips
- Find chicken feet: Look in the meat case at Asian and Latin markets, ask a butcher, or check with farmers who sell poultry. Chicken wings bring collagen too and stand in if you cannot find feet.
- Keep it barely bubbling: If the broth starts to roll, turn the heat down. A hard boil gives a cloudy, greasy broth.
- Freeze small portions too: Freeze some broth in an ice cube tray, then pop the cubes into a freezer bag. A couple of cubes are the right size for a pan sauce.
- Label everything: Write the date and the amount on each container so the oldest gets used first.
Nutrition and mindful eating
- Bone broth carries gelatin, the cooked form of the collagen in chicken feet, joints, and skin, along with a little protein, which is why it sets when cold and gives soups a full, silky body.
- Hours of slow simmering draw savory depth out of the bones and vegetables, so a soup built on this broth tastes finished with very little else.
- Made at home, its ingredient list is the one on this page: bones, water, vegetables, herbs, and salt.
- As you eat, notice how a soup or braise made with this broth feels fuller and more warming than one made with water, and pay attention to how long that bowl carries you before you think about food again.
Frequently asked questions
Have a question about this Chicken Bone Broth? Start here, with the questions people ask most.
Why use chicken feet?
They are mostly skin, tendon, and cartilage, which is where the collagen is. A pound of them is what makes the broth set like jelly when it is cold.
What if my broth stays liquid in the refrigerator?
It is still good to use and still brings flavor. Next time, use more feet, start with a little less water, and keep the pot at a gentle simmer for the full time, since gelatin forms slowly.
Can I use store-bought bone broth in the recipes instead?
Yes. Choose one whose label lists chicken bones, water, vegetables, herbs, and salt, with no sugar, natural flavors, or oil.
Why does the broth need to cool so quickly?
Bacteria grow fastest between 40°F and 140°F (4°C and 60°C). A big pot of broth holds heat for hours, so an ice bath or smaller containers move it through that range quickly before it goes into the refrigerator.
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