Homemade Chicken Bone Broth From Farm-Raised Chickens
A Rein Maker Ranch Farmstead Recipe by Daniela Picciotti
There is something especially satisfying about turning something that could have been discarded into something useful, nourishing, and delicious.
After processing our first flock of 22 Delaware chickens, we saved the carcasses and necks rather than throwing them away. Daniela used them to make rich homemade chicken bone broth, and it quickly became one of those farmstead projects that made us wonder why we had not been doing it all along.
This recipe is simple, flexible, and meant to be adjusted based on the size of your pot and the amount of chicken you have available.
Recipe at a Glance
Prep Time: About 20 minutes
Cook Time: 12–18 hours
Method: Stovetop simmer
Yield: Varies by batch size
Best For: Soups, stews, sauces, gravy, rice, and pantry storage after safe pressure canning
Ingredients
For Daniela’s first batch, she used five chicken carcasses.
You will need:
Chicken carcasses and necks
Celery
Carrots
Onions
Garlic cloves
Whole black peppercorns
Water, enough to cover everything
There is no need to measure the vegetables perfectly. Use what you have and adjust based on the size of your stockpot.
Equipment
Large stockpot
Long-handled spoon
Fine-mesh strainer or colander
Large bowl or second pot for straining
Storage containers or canning jars
Pressure canner, if preserving for shelf-stable storage
Step 1: Fill the Stockpot
Place the chicken carcasses and necks into a large stockpot.
Add celery, carrots, onions, garlic, and whole black peppercorns.
There is no need to make this complicated. This is a good recipe for using vegetables you already have on hand.
Step 2: Cover With Water
Pour in enough water to completely cover the chicken bones and vegetables.
Try not to dramatically overfill the pot. You want enough water to extract the flavor from the bones while still producing a rich broth.
Step 3: Bring Everything to a Boil
Place the stockpot on the stove and bring the mixture to a boil.
Once it reaches a boil, reduce the heat.
Step 4: Simmer Low and Slow
Allow the broth to simmer gently for approximately 12 to 18 hours.
Add additional water as needed to keep the bones and vegetables submerged.
This is where the flavor develops.
It is also where the house begins to smell like you have your life completely together.
Even if you do not.
Step 5: Strain the Broth
Once the broth has finished simmering, remove it from the heat.
Carefully strain out:
Bones
Vegetables
Garlic
Peppercorns
Any other solids
What remains should be a rich, flavorful liquid.
Step 6: Remove the Excess Fat
Allow the broth to cool enough to handle safely.
You can skim excess fat from the surface while it is still warm, or refrigerate the broth and remove the hardened fat after it chills.
Daniela found that refrigerating the broth made the fat especially easy to separate.
Step 7: Refrigerate or Freeze
If you are not pressure canning the broth, transfer it into appropriate storage containers and refrigerate or freeze it.
Make sure you use clean containers and follow normal food-safety practices for cooling and storage.
Step 8: Pressure Can for Pantry Storage
If you want to make the broth shelf-stable, it must be pressure canned using a tested poultry-stock canning method.
Reheat the strained, defatted broth to boiling and transfer it into prepared canning jars, leaving the headspace required by the tested recipe you are following.
Processing time and pressure can vary based on:
Jar size
Elevation
Pressure canner type
Tested recipe instructions
For that reason, do not guess at the canning settings.
Use current guidance from a trusted source such as the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning or the National Center for Home Food Preservation.
Farmstead creativity is wonderful.
Botulism is not.
[DOWNLOAD THE CHICKEN BONE BROTH RECIPE]
Why Did My Broth Turn Into Gel?
One of Daniela’s favorite moments came when a refrigerated jar of broth turned thick and gelatinous.
That is a good thing.
When bones and connective tissue simmer for a long period of time, gelatin is released into the liquid. Once the broth cools, that gelatin can cause it to firm up.
The broth usually returns to liquid once reheated.
For us, that gel was one of those small but very satisfying signs that the broth had become rich and concentrated.
Daniela’s Notes From Her First Batch
The biggest lesson was patience.
Daniela experienced some siphoning with her earlier pressure-canning attempts, which means some of the liquid escaped from the jars during processing.
Later, she had five jars come through the process beautifully without losing a drop.
There may have been an unreasonable amount of excitement over those five jars.
If you have ever learned pressure canning, you probably understand.
Her other big takeaway was simply how much value was still left in the chicken carcasses after the meat had been removed.
What could easily have gone into the trash instead became broth that can be used for dozens of future meals.
Ways to Use Homemade Chicken Bone Broth
We use homemade broth anywhere we would normally use chicken stock.
It works well for:
Soups
Stews
Gravy
Sauces
Rice
Beans
Braised dishes
Cooking vegetables
Adding extra flavor to casseroles
It is one of those pantry staples that disappears faster than you expect.
From Our Farmstead Kitchen
This recipe came from our first experience processing chickens raised here at Rein Maker Ranch Farmstead.
After putting the time, care, money, and work into raising the birds ourselves, throwing the bones away simply did not feel the same as it once did.
So we saved them.
Daniela turned five of those carcasses into her first batch of homemade chicken bone broth.
And now we have one more farmstead skill, one more homemade pantry staple, and one less thing going to waste.
Nothing wasted, another skill learned, and one more recipe added to the Rein Maker Ranch Farmstead kitchen.