Back to the Basics: Homemade Chicken Broth

This post may be overkill for many of you, but I figured I'd do more of a "how-to" entry today. In the interest of time, many people just buy soup broth out of the carton, or buy bouillon cubes to drop into a pot of boiling water. Nothing wrong with this--I do this a lot, especially when I don't have the prep time to make my own broth. But the fact of the matter is everything homemade just tastes better. So for those who have the extra day prep time to make homemade chicken broth, here's how it goes:

Ingredients
1 pack chicken thighs and/or bony chicken pieces
2 quarts water (roughly)
2 celery ribs
2 large carrots, peeled
1 large onion, outer shell removed
A few stems of fresh parsley
1 garlic clove
1 parsnip, peeled
2 bay leaves
Salt to taste (careful not to make the broth too salty!)
Pepper to taste

Procedure

1) Rinse your chicken pieces thoroughly and drop them into a tall empty pot. Add your water, or roughly half the pot, depending on its size. Bring the water to a boil.

2) As your water boils, you'll notice a fatty foam from the chicken rise to the surface. Use a straining spoon to skim the foam off the top of your water. You'll have to repeat this step several times until finally no more foam appears at the surface.

3) Once your mixture appears relatively clear, add your vegetables. Reduce the heat and let simmer for an hour. Set aside to cool.

4) Once cool, remove the meat and store for another purpose (great for some sort of pulled chicken dish!) Strain your broth, discarding vegetables and seasoning. Refrigerate over night and your broth is ready for use the next day.


I made this broth a week ago to be used in some homemade matzah ball soup, similar here.

Hope this was informative!

~A