Easy Homemade Chicken Stock (great to use in Baby Purees)
A super Easy Homemade Chicken Stock recipe that is a perfect additional to add to all of your homemade baby purees. It’s so easy and good that you will also want to use it for all of your favorite winter meals – soup, stew, chili and even risotto is better with homemade stock!!
Easy Homemade Chicken Stock
I wish it was Flashy Recipe Friday in the house today, but instead I am giving you Basic Recipe Friday and bringing you this Easy Homemade Chicken Stock recipe.
About time.. right?!?
Recipe after recipe, I have given you chicken stock as an option to add to any of the 80+ puree recipes on this site but have failed to give you an actual recipe for the stock.
Super rude of me, I know.
This might be because 1) I think dealing with chicken bones is pretty icky and am not a huge fan 2) I am lazy like that 3) I just call my mom when I need some chicken stock.
Yes, I still call my mom to make me food. I also leave her house with a bag full of groceries every time I visit. One day I will grow up. One day/some day/never!
But it’s time to put on our big girl panties and tackle this basic recipe.
Not only is homemade chicken stock an amazing way to get extra healthy fat, calories, vitamins and minerals into baby purees, it also adds a ton of flavor. Plluuuussssss, you can use it for all of your favorite winter recipes. Score for everyone in the family!
We got this!
Let the fun begin…
How To Make Easy Homemade Chicken Stock for Baby Purees:
First, we got to get us some chicken bones.
There are a couple ways to go about this. You can 1) roast a whole chicken and serve the meat for a lovely family dinner 2) be lazy and buy a roasted chicken at the store 3) call your mom to see if she has any bones 4) ask your local butcher really nicely if they will sell you some.
This last option might mean you have to actually take a shower, brush your hair and dress in something other then yoga pants, just saying.
Some people like to save bones after they use them and freeze them until they are ready to make stock.
Those type of people deserve gold stars, I also want you as my neighbor.
For this recipe, I just bought a roasted chicken, took off all the meat by myself (usually a job reserved for my husband) and then did a happy dance. See me growing up!
You can also use chicken meat on the bone and simmer away like that. I find that the chicken gets too tough to eat, but a great option if bone handling ain’t your thing.
Okay, once you have the bones the rest is SO SO SO simple. You toss in some carrots, onion, celery, spices and the bones into a large stock pot. Fill with water and we are ready for action.
I give the quantities of what I used down below in the ‘recipe’, but seriously anything goes here. Add in some red peppers, a little tomato paste, thyme, garlic cloves, rosemary, dried basil, squeeze of lemon, parsnips, etc.
Like I said, anything goes.
Then we simmer it F-O-R-E-V-E-R!
Then we drain.
Then we drain again.
Then we are done.
See it really is that simple. Big girl panties, here we come!
How to Use This Easy Homemade Chicken Stock in Your Baby Purees:
- you can add while cooking veggies
- add in while pureeing veggies instead of reserved steamer stock or other liquid (great to thin out purees)
- you can add this stock to any puree that you re-heat and is too thick
MORE STARTER BABY FOOD RECIPES YOUR BABY WILL LOVE:
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IF YOU TRY THIS RECIPE, LET ME KNOW! I WANT TO SEE YOUR YUMMY CREATIONS! SNAP A PIC AND SHARE IT HERE ON PINTEREST
Get the recipe: EASY HOMEMADE CHICKEN STOCK
Ingredients
- 1 chicken carcasses or 4-6 chicken breast bones
- 2 carrots roughly chopped
- 2 onions roughly chopped
- 2 celery roughly chopped
- 2 oregano or rosemary stems
- 10 peppercorns
- 1 tbsp dried thyme
Instructions
- In a large stock pot, combine all of the ingredients. Fill pot with cold water until everything is covered by an inch of water, roughly 8 cups of water.
- Bring to a boil over high heat and then reduce heat to a gentle simmer for 2-3 hours, skimming fat off of surface every so often.
- Pour all ingredients through a fine mess coliander into another large pot. If you find that some of the chunks got through, strain again. Store stock in a large air-tight container.
- If freezing, fill ice cube trays or freezer containers and freeze immediately.
- Once the stock cools, you will see white chunks of fat. You can either remove these or keep them in for additional flavor and nutrients. Once you heat the stock again, they will dissolve.
Notes
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NEW TO MAKING PUREES?
THEN CHECK OF MY GUIDE ON WHICH KITCHEN TOOLS YOU ACTUALLY ARE GOING TO NEED TO MAKE THE CREAMIEST AND SMOOTHEST BABY PUREES. HINT, IT’S NOT MANY!
20 Comments on “Easy Homemade Chicken Stock (great to use in Baby Purees)”
Hi thanks you for sharing ur great recipes. I want to ask if I used thawed broth to cook can i still freeze the food
Yes! I do this all the time and it works great!
xo, Michele
Hi thanks you for sharing ur great recipes. I want to ask if I used thawed broth to cook can i still freeze the food
Yes! I do this all the time and it works great!
xo, Michele
Hi thanks you for sharing ur great recipes. I want to ask if I used thawed broth to cook can i still freeze the food
Sorry for the delay, yes you can absolutely use the thawed broth and then freeze the puree again. It’s the same concept as using frozen produce in purees and then freezing them again. Just make sure the broth (or produce) is good and hasn’t spoiled and it works like a charm. Not to mentions saves a ton of time:)
xo, Michele
Hi Michele
This looks great! Can I check if I made chicken stock, then refrigerated it, then used to make baby food, can I refrigerate or freeze and reheat the baby food?
Thanks
Laura
Yes, you can make baby food and store it in the fridge or freezer using stock from the fridge.
Hi thanks you for sharing ur great recipes. I want to ask if I used thawed broth to cook can i still freeze the food
Sorry for the delay, yes you can absolutely use the thawed broth and then freeze the puree again. It’s the same concept as using frozen produce in purees and then freezing them again. Just make sure the broth (or produce) is good and hasn’t spoiled and it works like a charm. Not to mentions saves a ton of time:)
xo, Michele
Hi, thank you for this recipe. I added 8 cup of water like the recipe says and ended up with about 2 cups of stock. Does that sound right? It says it should yield 8 cups – do you rehydrate it before using it? If not, what am I doing wrong?
It sounds like it will be very delicious and flavorful stock! You can taste it to see if you need to add in more water to even out the taste, but usually how much you get in the end depends on how high you boil it for and for how long. Sometimes I get more and sometimes less. Hope that helps.
Do I need to worry about testing each of these ingredients as an allergen before I serve it to my baby? He’s had carrots but none of the other ingredients.
Sorry, I’m a bit confused. The ingredients in the stock? He should be fine with the stock with the ingredients in there even if he hasn’t had them before (onion, garlic, celery).
Hello, I was wondering if giving to baby can we add salt to the broth?
The chicken naturally has sodium already in it, so it shouldn’t need any more added to the broth. If you want a sodium-free broth you will have to purchase that at the store.
Hi can i ask if i decided to freeze the stocks. Do i ned to cool it down after cooking before placing them into the freezer?
Yes, you need to let it cool down slightly before freezing.
Hi! Thank you for the recipe. I wanted to ask, if we stored the chicken stock in the fridge, and it has been about 2-3 days, are we still able to freeze it or do we have to freeze immediately after cooking that same day?
You can freeze after 2-3 days of storing the stock in the fridge.