roast the bones or run them through the airfryer. I keep a bag in the freezer for veggie scraps and bones. Salt the water and add a bayleaf.

Rotisserie chickens, usually from Costco. I have a bucket in the deep freeze that holds a bunch of old carcasses and vegetable scraps. I put about 5 carcasses at a time into our roaster and cook it for 24 hours with some onions, carrots and celery.

They been piling up over the summer waiting for me to close up the house for the winter. I'll make a few gallons of stock - some for soup and some to freeze for later.

If you cook with the chicken meat, it has a better taste. Try it.

Isn't all the flavor and goodness gone if you use a roasted chicken?

Open the fridge and grab the jar of better than bouillon, scoop into pot.

+1 to using the freezer to collect bones and veg, and +1 to the instant pot for cooking it.

If you’re willing to learn to quarter a chicken, I’m way more likely to roast quarters than a whole bird and also it works better. You can put the back etc straight into a freezer bag for stock or roast them while you’re roasting the quarters and then freeze them.

I buy a whole chicken cut up. Well…it isn’t the entire chicken, I think the package has the breasts, legs, and thighs. I remove the skin and put in a big pot of water with half an onion (leave the peel on), a carrot, a couple celery stalks, some whole peppercorns, salt, and a few springs fresh of thyme and parsley. Bring to boil and simmer about 40 min. Remove the chicken, let cool a bit then pick the meat off and set aside in the frig. Put the chicken bones back in the stock and continue to boil for a couple more hours at least. When done, I throw out the solids the best I can and put the broth through a sieve lined with a cheese cloth.

I always make it from raw.

Use chicken breast / thighs and if I have wing tips or Turkey legs, add these as well (sometimes I throw in a pork bone).

When it comes to boil, throw a few cloves of garlic, an onion, and sometimes a carrot or bay leaf. And it cooks for 5 -8 on gentle heat, sometime more. Use the meat from chicken / Turkey to make chicken salad and freeze the broth.

For boiled chicken meat, you can shred it and add spicy sauce /chili oil. It’s delicious!!

Anonymous wrote:That's about what I do, except that I have a bag in the freezer & every time I use garlic, onions, relevant herbs (rosemary, thyme, parsley), carrots & celery, I save the stems & bits & pieces like onion/garlic skins & ends & throw them in with the chicken carcass. I much prefer the flavor of mine to boxed chicken stock.

This is the way. Keep a "soup trash" bag in the freezer and save your carrot peels, squash ends, celery tops/bottoms, leftover herbs, etc. I don't use brassicas in my stocks because I think they add a funky taste but YMMV.

I roast my own chicken most times, but bones from a rotisserie chicken probably won't make a terrible difference.

Definitely add an acid of some kind (vinegar, lemon juice) to help break down some of the collagen.

Add a bay leaf or three to anything that simmers low and slow. I also add "soup herbs" when I do this, so the flavor is somewhat consistent no matter what veg scraps get added.

I use a pressure cooker and definitely brown the bones. I try to make more of a bone broth (gelatinous) vs stock, so the pressure cooker helps get out all that good stuff much quicker.

I will usually do a full pressure cooker (not instant pot, actual old school pressure cooker) with 2 carcasses, rotisserie is fine. I do roast them, something like 450 for 10-20mins, really doesnt take too long at all. Throw them in the pot. If you save veggie scraps, this is the BEST way to use them up. Carrot peels, onion skins, garlic butts. Really whatever you have. I usually throw some peppercorns and bay leaves in too. I don't add much salt, because the rotisserie chickens are usually injected and add a bit, but do add a small bit. A splash of apple cider vinegar helps break down some of the other nutrients, so throw that in too. Top with water, set it for like 4h. I let it cool first and then drain/strain it, discarding all the bits. Leave it in the fridge overnight and you will have a not-very-cute-but-very-tasty chicken stock/jello.

Anonymous wrote:I cook a chicken carcass for 24 hours in a slow cooker with veggies and spices.

I do the slow cooker for 18 hours (sometimes a little longer). I find that that chicken stock can go bad and one variable seems to be too much time. Carrots also are dangerous, I never put those in. Sometimes it just turns out bitter though.

2-3 chicken carcasses, an onion, peppercorns, a few bay leaves, any greens (parsley, cilantro, carrot tops, etc.). And a generous splash of apple cider vinegar (good vinegar with the mother) that breaks down the bones but cooks off so it isn't tasted. In the slow cooker for 18 hours, then strain with a paper-towel lined strainer.

Anonymous wrote:I use a pressure cooker and it makes a big difference. The pressure seems to get more of the collagen out of the bones, and my stock is completely solid when it's cold. I don't bother roasting the bones or anything like that, and sometimes I don't even put any vegetables in it.

+1 more for instant pot. It only cooks for 1 hour at pressure plus heat up and cool down time. Way better than all day/night slow cooker methods (which we did before the instant pot).

We have silicone ice cube trays with 1/2 cup cubes. After it cools we pour it in the trays and freeze it and then put them all in a plastic bag. You can pull out however many cubes you need at a time.

I cook a chicken carcass for 24 hours in a slow cooker with veggies and spices.

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Thanks to everyone for all these great ideas. Seems like some use rotisserie chickens but purists don't. The advantage of the rotisserie chicken method is how cost-effective it is, you are pretty much doing it for free. It's also very easy. Buying a whole chicken uncooked at Whole Foods is around $15-$17, and the meat is not very good when you've boiled it, so it seems like an expensive and time-consuming way to get a couple cups of flavored liquid. I'm not convinced it's worth the effort but maybe I'll do it some long weekend

Make chicken salad or soup with the chicken.

My chicken tastes good after slow cooking it for hours.

Chicken Stock is cheaper, bone broth is not much cheaper.