Learn how to easily make chicken broth soup with chicken legs, vegetables, fresh herbs and spices. This homemade chicken broth can be used in many recipes.
Imagine cooking your own chicken broth with fresh ingredients using your own ingredients that you like. You don’t have to buy the big boxes of the bouillon at the store.
Chicken Broth Recipe
Texture: thin liquid consistency.
Taste: salty with veggie and meaty flavor.
Simplicity: bouillon is quick to prepare with few simple ingredients, however it needs about 2 hours for cooking.
Meal Type: soup with noodles, but mainly it is used as base for sauces or soups.
What is Chicken Broth?
Chicken broth is made with chicken meat, often with bones. This is mainly liquid made with water, fresh herbs, few vegetables and spices. The homemade chicken broth is simmered on low heat to get all the nutrients from the meat and vegetables. The bouillon is usually used as a base for sauces, soups, gravies and other meals, for instance cooking rice or quinoa. Also, it can be served as a soup with noodles, which is common in Poland.
How to make Chicken Broth Soup
- Firstly, prepare all ingredients: chicken legs, celery stick, carrot, parsnip, garlic clove, bunch of parsley, bay leaf, onion, salt, dehydrated vegetables, nutritional yeast, turmeric and water.
- Prepare large pot, immerse chicken legs into the water, cook for 30 minutes. Remove the scum.
- Add rest of ingredients, simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes.
- After cooking, use strainer to separate the bouillon from cooked meat and veggies.
Tips to make Homemade Chicken Broth
- Make sure to simmer on low heat, don’t cook it quickly, slow is better.
- Skim of the scum and fat quickly as possible from the top of the soup before it will mixes up with the bouillon. This is very important step, you want to make a clean/clear soup. The scum is the protein that comes to the top from cooking the chicken.
- Add veggies, spices and herbs after you remove the scum. It is easier to skim the scum without any ingredients.
- What to do with meat and cooked vegetables? You can eat them separately or use it for soup, for example you can use chicken legs instead of breast in this Taco Chicken Soup recipe, add veggies too. Also, you can chop veggies into small pieces and leave it in the bouillon.
- You don’t have to use nutritional yeast, dehydrated vegetables or turmeric, but I do recommend it. It brings the best flavor.
What Soups to make?
You can use chicken broth in many soup recipes, at first make Roasted Butternut Squash Soup, Homemade Tomato Basil or Cream of Mushroom Soup. Browse other tasty soup recipes that you can make for your lunch or dinner.
Bouillon Faq’s
What are the ingredients in chicken broth? Raw chicken meat with bones, fresh vegetables like carrot, celery, onion, garlic and parsnip. You want to add some spices: salt, garlic powder, onion powder, turmeric etc. Add fresh herbs, for instance parsley or dill. You might want to add nutritional yeast or dehydrated vegetables to enhance the flavor.
What is chicken broth used for? You can use it for variety of dishes, sauces and gravies.
How can I make chicken broth taste better? Add fresh veggies and herbs, onion, garlic, variety of spices, dry herbs, dehydrated vegetables. Simmer the bouillon on low heat for few hours to get all the flavor from the cooking.
What can I substitute for chicken broth? You can use water, but keep in mind the dish might be less flavorful. You can also use chicken stock or bouillon.
What is a vegetarian substitute for chicken broth? It is simple to make vegetarian broth, just omit the meat in the recipe. Add lots of fresh vegetables and herbs, cook slowly to get all the flavor from veggies. Also, you can add few drops of olive oil.
Other Soup Recipes
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Homemade Chicken Broth Soup
Ingredients
- 16 cups water
- 2 chicken legs
- 1 celery stick diced
- 1 carrot diced
- 1 parsnip diced
- 1 garlic clove
- 1 cup parsley fresh
- 1 onion small or quarter of big
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. dehydrated vegetables optional
- 1/2 tsp. nutritional yeast optional
- 1/8 tsp. turmeric optional
Instructions
- Add water and chicken to large pot. Cook it on low heat for 30 minutes. Skim the scum using spoon.
- Add celery stick, carrot, parsnip, garlic clove, parsley, onion, bay leaf, salt, dehydrated vegetables, nutritional yeast and turmeric. Simmer on low heat for 1 hour and 30 minutes, covered or not covered is fine.
- Strain the liquid using strainer.
- The meat and vegetables can be eaten, separately. Also, they can be used for other soups.
- Store the broth in glass container in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Make sure to simmer on low heat, don't cook it quickly, slow is better.
- Skim of the scum and fat quickly as possible from the top of the soup before it will mixes up with the bouillon. This is very important step, you want to make a clean/clear soup. The scum is the protein that comes to the top from cooking the chicken.
- Add veggies, spices and herbs after you remove the scum. It is easier to skim the scum without any ingredients.
- What to do with meat and cooked vegetables? You can eat them separately or use it for soup, for example you can use chicken legs instead of breast in this Taco Chicken Soup recipe, add veggies too. Also, you can chop veggies into small pieces and leave it in the bouillon.
- You don't have to use nutritional yeast, dehydrated vegetables or turmeric, but I do recommend it. It brings the best flavor.
Nutrition
Wanda York
I have a question regarding the “scum/ protein”. It is the healthiest part of the broth. Why do we skim it off and throw it away? Shouldn’t we use it, and how do we use it?
Ilona
Removing scum makes clear chicken broth, but yes you are right about scum/protein, it gives valuable extra ingredients (for example collagen) that we can consume. Thanks for your good comment, I will update the post and I will write why scum/protein is valuable.