So, yesterday I shared with you my SUPER YUMMY Oktoberfest Baked Chicken…. well I hope you didn’t throw out the leftovers yet!  I’m going to share with you my SUPER EASY recipe for making homemade chicken broth—or stock—whatever you call it. 🙂 I’ve always just bought the Swanson Chicken Broth until I realized how easy and how much better it is to make your own!

How to Make Homemade Chicken Broth with the Crock Pot

The great thing about making your own chicken broth is that YOU control what goes in it!  Do you realize how much sodium is in the stuff you buy at the grocery store!  You know me… I am NOT into slaving over the stove for hours on end BUT I do want to help my family (and you) eat healthier.  So, I’m going to share how to make DELICIOUS chicken broth overnight with the crock pot.

I always make chicken broth right after we finish dinner because it means less dishes to clean!

Take your chicken and make sure to clean off all the meat—you want to keep all the other stuff (well, not the innards I told you to throw away yesterday)—throw the bones, the juices (yes- all the juices—the Octoberfest beer really makes the flavor come out perfect!), the skin, ALL OF IT into the crockpot.

Now, finish filling up the crockpot with water.  Set the crockpot on the LOWEST setting and let it go all night.  Don’t worry—you won’t burn down the house, you’ll be able to smell it mmmmmmm, but not burn down the house (unless you have a faulty crock pot and in that case you can just sue the manufacturer and never have to cook again ).  Anyway, when you wake up in the morning turn the crock pot off and let the broth cool.

Once the broth is cool you will want to transfer it to ziplock bags and freeze—but FIRST you’ll want to sift out all the bones, skin, and whatever else.  So, either use a flour sifter or colander with cheesecloth laid inside and pour the broth through there into another container.  I do this 4 cups at a time and immediately pour it into a quart size freezer ziplock bag.  I’ve found that 4 cups of broth frozen is the perfect amount for my family when we make Chicken & Dumplings, Chicken Soup, and Chicken & Rice.  You can separate it into any size you feel is adequate for your family.

And that’s it.  You have YUMMIER (it tastes so much better than store bought) and HEALTHIER chicken broth that can go straight from the freezer and into the pot to cook whatever you want to use it for!

What are you going to use homemade chicken broth to make?