The other night we grilled a Beer Can Chicken, which is one of my go-to dinner recipes during grilling season. This time, after thoroughly annihilating that grilled bird in one fell swoop, I was left with greasy hands, a full stomach, and a chicken carcass. It was a shame to throw away those bones and bits of skin, so I looked for a broth recipe I could make in the crock pot, without much fuss. (In the past I’d made broth on the stove, in a stock pot, which was a time-consuming process.)
I love homemade chicken stock, now popularly called “bone broth” on Paleo and health food sites. Chicken stock (bone broth) adds great flavor to rice, quinoa, and soup bases. You can also add a pinch of salt and a few wilted greens and eat the broth on its own. Perfect for a cold day!
There are several sites that talk about the health benefits of eating bone broth; here’s a great one. I found a crock-pot broth recipe from The Nourished Kitchen that was simple to prepare (took me 20 minutes at most; I just dumped everything into crock pot and turned it one) and made great bone broth in only 24 hours. My daughter and I drank two cups of this broth (with a little salt) as soon as it was done. Here’s the recipe:
Nourished Kitchen’s Roast Chicken Stock (Bone Broth)
YIELD: approximately ½ gallon
Ingredients
1 Leftover Roast Chicken Carcass (try Perfect Roast Chicken or Roast Chicken with Prosciutto & Herbs)
Vegetable Scraps (celery leaves, onion trimmings, carrot peels, garlic etc)
2 Bay Leafs
1 Tablespoon Cider Vinegar
Instructions
Pick the chicken carcass clean of useable meat and reserve that for another dish (like Asian Lettuce Wraps with Garlic Scapes).
Add the chicken carcass, vegetable scraps and bay leafs to a crockpot.
Pour filtered water over the carcass to cover.
Add cider vinegar.
Cook in your slow cooker on low heat for 24-hrs or longer.
By adding water to the cooker, you can continue to cook the broth until the chicken bones become flexible and rubbery.
Strain the broth through a fine mesh sieve and pour into mason jars.
The broth should gel, but it is not necessary.
Store in fridge for one week, or freeze in ice cube tray and place frozen cubes in zip-lock bag in freezer for up to 6 months
