Homemade Chicken Stock

For Thanksgiving this year, my work gave all of their employees a small turkey & 2 bottles of wine-one red & one white. If we didn't want the turkey we could have given it to charity but I wanted it. I had my dad grill it for me when everyone was in town & I froze the meat-it's always good to have frozen turkey meat to eat over time. I was just going to throw away the carcass but my mom & aunt convinced me to keep it & make chicken stock with it, especially after telling me how easy it was. All I basically had to do was buy the canning jars for it so I could freeze it after. And they were so right! After my dad grilled the turkey, we destroyed it and took all the meat off of it to freeze. I took the carcass home with me in a separate bag & stuck it in the freezer until I was able to make it the following weekend.

Homemade Chicken Stock (12 16-oz canning jars-the kind you can freeze)

3-4 carrots, peeled & cut into chunks
3-4 celery, cut into chunks
2-3 onions, peeled & cut into chunks
Assortments of fresh herbs (I used sage & rosemary)
Assortment of seasonings to your likening (I used vegetable pepper, salt, celery salt, oregano & Italian seasoning)

Put carcass in bottom of large Dutch oven or deep pot & fill with water to cover carcass. Place vegetables around & in pot. Place seasonings & herbs in pot. Place over med-high & bring to a boil. Reduce heat & simmer 3-4 hours, uncovered.

Stock is done when most of the meat has fallen off the bones & the carcass has broken down. Take the pot off the heat & let cool down; enough so you can handle the carcass. I placed a strainer in another deep pot and strained out the smaller bits of the carcass and scooped out the broth into the jars that way. It was a bit messy but worth doing it that way in the end. You will have bits of meat in the broth but that makes the broth even tastier. Don't over-fill the jars before you freeze otherwise the jars will explode in the freezer.

I thawed out some of the broth a couple weeks later to use for some soup & it was soooo good! It was really flavorful & so tasty! I need to hurry up & make another chicken or turkey so I can use the carcass & make me some more broth!




Ready to boil...

Ready to freeze...Enjoy!...