How to Make Chicken Stock Without a Recipe (2024)

FAQs

What can I use if I don't have chicken stock for a recipe? ›

Here are some options: Vegetable Broth: Vegetable broth is an excellent substitute for chicken broth if you want to keep the dish vegetarian or vegan. It adds flavor and moisture to your soups and stews. Beef Broth: Beef broth can be used as a substitute, although it will impart a slightly different flavor to the dish.

If you need a chicken broth substitute, you can use the same amount of white wine or a combination of water with 1 tablespoon of olive oil or melted butter. For beef broth, combine water with 1 tablespoon soy sauce.

Here, there are no carrots or celery, no pepper or bay leaves; instead, there are but five ingredients: chicken wings, one onion, one clove of garlic, salt and water. You're not tied to your stove while it simmers away for hours and hours, you just put the whole thing in a slow-cooker and go on with your life.

Stock can be made with a whole chicken, any of its parts, or a combination. In practice, it's usually made with the scraps and bones of a chicken that's already been butchered for other uses. Still, it helps to know how each part of a chicken can change the flavor of stock.

Fortunately, we're here to let you in on a game-changing secret: Water makes a more than acceptable replacement for chicken stock in most soups, stews, sauces, and braises. And in many cases, water actually produces a better-tasting result.

To make homemade chicken stock, place chicken bones, vegetables, herbs and spices into a large pot. Cover with cold water then simmer for about 3 hours. Let it cool, then skim the fat. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 6 months.

The simple answer is yes, it's usually okay to substitute vegetable stock with water. In most recipes that call for vegetable stock, its main advantage over water is that it provides flavor, which is especially important if you're making vegetarian or vegan food that's missing the richness from meat.

For a vegetarian substitute for chicken broth, a handful of dried or fresh shiitake mushrooms will quickly transform a plain pot of water into an umami bath. After boiling for 20 to 30 minutes, this earthy liquid can replace broth and stock in a pot pie, vegetarian gravy, and Thanksgiving stuffing.

Stock and Broth Substitutes

In most cases, stock and broth are interchangeable. If you're in the soup aisle and can't remember whether the recipe called for stock or broth, either will do for making soup, gravy, or a flavorful pot of rice or grains. Keep in mind that stock is unseasoned, and broth is seasoned.

Why is homemade chicken stock better? ›

The Case for Homemade

Simmering a good-quality chicken with its bones and a handful of aromatics like onions, carrots, and celery transforms the contents of your pot into nothing short of liquid gold: a richly flavored, lip-smacking broth that takes risottos, soups, and stews to their most delicious potential.

The key is that the bones are free of any meat or cartilage. The stock gets its rich flavor and fattiness from the residual cartilage in the bones. Chicken broth, on the other hand, is made with chicken meat (such as a whole chicken), as well as the same mirepoix blend, herbs, and spices.

Method. Tip everything into a large saucepan with a pinch of salt then cover with 2 litres of water. Bring to the boil, then reduce to a simmer and cook for 3 hours, skimming when needed. Pass through a sieve and use for your intended recipe.

Chicken broth is the cooking liquid you find yourself with after you simmer the carcass, skin, and (sometimes) meat of the bird along with vegetables in water, and season it with salt, herbs, and spices. Broth might be lighter, but it has a complex enough flavor to be sipped and enjoyed all on its own.

Water. This simple swap should suffice in most recipes that call for broth. To give H2O more depth, you may want to compensate by adding more spices like salt, pepper and bay leaves to your recipe and a tablespoon or two of olive oil to mimic the richness of broth.

Although broth, stock and bouillon are not exactly the same, they can generally be used interchangeably in cooking. If you have the option, go for broth or bouillon when the flavour of the liquid is a key element of your recipe, and reach for stock to add new depths to a well-seasoned dish.

Chicken broth and chicken stock can be used interchangeably, but just know that chicken stock is a tad thicker and is made by boiling a mixture of bones with vegetables and seasonings as opposed to the chicken meat. Stock can be used as a 1 to 1 substitute anywhere you'd use broth.