Description
Ina Garten’s homemade chicken stock elevates home cooking with rich, deep flavors from simple ingredients. Simmering bones, vegetables, and herbs creates a liquid gold foundation for countless recipes you’ll treasure in your culinary repertoire.
Ingredients
Scale
- 3 whole roasting chickens (5 lbs or 2.27 kg each)
- 3 large yellow onions, unpeeled, quartered
- 6 carrots, unpeeled, halved
- 4 celery stalks with leaves, cut in thirds
- 4 parsnips, unpeeled, cut in half (optional)
- 20 sprigs fresh parsley
- 15 sprigs fresh thyme
- 20 sprigs fresh dill
- 1 head garlic, unpeeled, cut in half crosswise
- 2 tbsps kosher salt
- 2 tsp whole black peppercorns
Instructions
- Preparation: Combine whole chickens, yellow onions, orange carrots, pale green celery, optional ivory parsnips, fresh green parsley, fragrant thyme, delicate dill, aromatic garlic, kosher salt, and dark peppercorns in a 16–20 quarts stockpot.
- Initial Boiling: Pour cold water into the stockpot, completely covering all ingredients. Heat to a rolling boil over medium-high temperature, then immediately reduce to a gentle simmer.
- Flavor Development: Maintain uncovered pot on low heat for 4 hours, periodically removing white foam and cloudy impurities with a fine mesh skimmer. Allow ingredients to slowly release their rich, complex flavors into the liquid.
- Straining: Remove pot from heat and carefully strain the golden stock through a sturdy colander or fine-mesh sieve into a clean container. Discard spent vegetables and chicken pieces, preserving only the pure, aromatic liquid.
- Cooling and Storage: Let stock cool to room temperature, then transfer to individual containers. Refrigerate overnight to settle flavors, ensuring the stock can be used within 5 days or frozen for up to 3 months for future culinary adventures.
Notes
- Strain Carefully: Use a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth to ensure a crystal-clear, sediment-free stock with maximum flavor intensity.
- Temperature Control: Maintain a gentle simmer to prevent cloudy stock and preserve delicate flavors without boiling vigorously.
- Skimming Technique: Remove foam and impurities consistently to achieve a clean, pure liquid with rich, concentrated taste.
- Storage Strategy: Cool completely before refrigerating, and use airtight containers to preserve freshness and prevent flavor contamination.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 hours
- Category: Lunch, Dinner, Snacks
- Method: Simmering
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 8
- Calories: 50
- Sugar: 1 g
- Sodium: 640 mg
- Fat: 2 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.5 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 6 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 7 g
- Cholesterol: 25 mg