Making homemade whole chicken in the crockpot is easy, cheap, and delicious. I make this recipe almost every week after cooking a whole chicken. At the moment I may or may not have a deep freezer half full of chicken stock! It is so nice to know that I always have some on hand and the fact that I make it basically for free makes it even better!
In this post I will show you two different ways to make this stock. the first one using fresh veggies that you chop when you are ready to make the stock. The second method using scraps from veggies you have cut up throughout the week.
The first thing you need to do for this recipe is cook a whole chicken. This is such an easy weeknight meal. It feeds our family of four two meals and produces 12 cups of stock! We eat it the first night just after coming out of the oven with some potatoes and roasted broccoli. I then use leftovers to make a homemade chicken pie with some of my fresh stock and a sourdough crust.
After you have cooked the chicken and eaten dinner the first night, take the bones and throw them in the crockpot. Now, here are the two different options for the veggies. You can either cut up 2 carrots, 2 stalks of celery, 1 onion, and 2 cloves of garlic and throw them in the crockpot. Or, you can take your scrap veggies from the freezer and add them to the crockpot. I prefer this way because it is using scraps that would have otherwise been composted. It also saves time because I don’t have to chop up new veggies.
Using the second method will mean that your stock will taste slightly different each time depending on what is in your scrap bag. But to me, that is the fun part! After you have the veggies in the crockpot add in 2 Tbsp of Italian seasoning, 1 tbsp salt, 1 tsp pepper. Now add water to fill up the crockpot (around 12 cups).
Now you can set the crockpot for 8 hours and let it cook overnight. It can cook anywhere from 6-10 hours so don’t worry about sleeping in a little the next morning. After it has finished cooking, strain out all the bones and vegetables. Let the stock cool, then pour into storage containers, and place it in the freezer. That is all you have to do to make delicious homemade chicken stock!
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Homemade Chicken Stock
Equipment
- 1 Crockpot
- 6 pint storage containers
Ingredients
- 1 bones from a whole chicken
- 2 carrots chopped
- 2 celery stalks chopped
- 1 onion chopped
- 2 cloves garlic chopped
- 2 Italian Seasoning
- 1 tbsp salt
- 1 tsp pepper
- 12 cups water
- Note: *You can also use scrap veggies instead of chopping up fresh ones. I keep a bag in my freezer an just pull it out when I am chopping vegetables. Then, when I am ready to make stock, I just dump them in.*
Instructions
- Chop all the vegetables
- Put the bones from the chicken in the crockpot
- Add the vegetables and spices
- Add the water (as much as you can)
- turn crockpot on low for 6-10 hours
