Slow Cooker Chicken Stock Recipe

Easy Slow Cooker | Ryland Peters & Small, 2010

Why is it that homemade chicken stock seems to require far less patience when made in a slow cooker than when left to burble on the back burner? Perhaps because you can walk away from it. Er, that is to say, you can walk away from it and not worry about the flame being too low and blowing out. Or the flame being too high and causing the stock to boil raucously and turn cloudy rather than burble sleepily and remain clear as can be. Or….well, not that making chicken stock from scratch is difficult. It’s just that once you make homemade chicken stock in a slow cooker, you just may be so wooed by the ease with which it comes together that you won’t go back to making it any other way.–Renee Schettler Rossi

LC Sly Substitutions In Homemade Chicken Stock Note

A homemade chicken stock recipe isn’t hard to stumble upon. But a reliable homemade chicken stock recipe? Hah. That’s another matter entirely. The thing is, you can certainly toss chicken—whether raw parts or the carcass of a roasted hen—and whatever vegetables and herbs you happen to have on hand in your slow cooker with some water and chances are it’s not going to be terrible. But it may not be as much to your liking as it could be. If you’re brazen enough to veer from the formula in the recipe below, we’ve a few things you may wish to consider in terms of ingredients. Leeks lend a milder allium experience than onions. Celery imparts a rather clean, almost astringent note. Carrots ensure sweetness. Black peppercorns—just a few, mind you—lend depth of flavor and complexity. Herbs, well, we think that’s sorta obvious. Same goes for garlic. Ginger imparts a warming sharpness that’s a boon to anything Asian, though best used sparely and only with other ingredients such as lemongrass or onion.

Just don’t rely on nothing but bones and water. Trust us. When we (and by “we,” we really mean Renee) first made homemade chicken stock as a young something straight out of college, she poured water over roasted bones and let the potion simmer for hours, assure that the gods of stockmaking would smile favorably upon this effort. They did not. Let it be a lesson to you. It certainly was to her, er, us.

Hands-On Time: 15 minutes | Total Time: 12 hours | Makes about 2 quarts

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Ingredients

2 pounds chicken wings, necks, backs, or other parts (raw parts or roasted carcasses)
4 smallish carrots, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 leek, rinsed and roughly chopped
1 smallish onion, peeled or unpeeled, roughly chopped
1 teaspoon black peppercorns
1 fresh bay leaf (optional)
1 sprig fresh thyme
Cold water

Directions

1. Place all of the ingredients in your slow cooker, add enough cold water to cover, and cook on low for at least 12 hours or overnight. You may need to skim the surface toward the beginning of cooking.
2. Strain and let cool completely. Freeze in 1- to 2-cup portions.

Hungry for more? Chow down on these:

Beef Stock from Soup Chick
DIY Veggie Stock from Annie's Eats
Roast Chicken Stock from Leite's Culinaria
Wiggle It, Just a Little Bit—Duck Stock, That Is from Leite's Culinaria