Homemade Chicken Stock

If you read my last post, I showed you how to cook a chicken in the crock pot. Now I'm going to show you how to make homemade chicken stock from that chicken.

First thing's first. What are you going to do with the chicken? Either way, it's already falling off the bone, so you gotta get all that good meat off the bone. I like to de-bone my chicken into another container. Then, you throw all the bones and skin back into the crock pot. I like to keep some of the onion with the chicken if I'm using it for something other than eating it immediately. (Which I did.)

After you have all the bones and skin back in the crock pot, you need to cover them with water + 1-2" above the skin and bone. Turn your crock pot on low, and go to bed. Let it cook at least 12 hours, but you can let it cook up to 24 hours if you want to.

 After it has been cooking for the time you want, you need to turn it off and let it cool. Once it's cool to the point you can handle it, it's time to strain it. What I use is a mesh colander, a big picture, and a small measuring cup. I scoop it with the small measuring cup and dump it through the colander, into the pitcher. (I like to use the pitcher, because it helps with pouring it, later on. But you can use whatever you want.)

 But, don't throw those bones away!!! No, no, no! Put them in a freezer bag and throw them in the freezer. When you save up some more bones, you can throw them back into the crock pot, and make more stock from them. They are good until they virtually disappear!

 Once you got the stock all poured into your container, put it in the fridge overnight. This will bring all the fat up to the top.

 Skim the fat off the top, and then pour into your containers for freezer. I prefer the ziploc containers with the screw on lids, but you can even use ziploc bags if you really wanted to. (I don't recommend it though, because it seems like every bag I did this way, ended up busting when I thawed it.) I like to store it in 1 or 2 cup portions.

Stay tuned for my next post where I show you one of the ways I use my chicken stock. :)