Name: Whole Chicken Bone Broth
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 1 h
Total time: 1 h 10 min
Cuisine: Soup
Ingredients: Bones, skin and reject pieces from a 4-5 lb whole chicken*; 2 bay leaves; 4 carrots, quartered; 4 stalks of celery, quartered- leaves are okay; 4 cloves of garlic, smashed; 1 large yellow onion, quartered -you can leave the peel on; 10 cups of filtered water*; 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar; 1/2 teaspoon pepper; Optional 1 teaspoon salt**; Optional soup sock

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A chicken bone broth is a staple in any cook’s kitchen. This whole chicken bone broth recipe is a flavorful addition to any recipe and is a wonderful base for soups.

This whole chicken bone broth recipe can be made in a slow cooker, pressure cooker or even on the stove top (though I have a tendency to set and forget and a paranoia about burning the house down). It’s a healthy chicken bone broth recipe with gut healing properties and numerous health benefits.

Chicken bone broth benefits

Homemade bone broth contains amino acids and collagen, which can help repair the gut, fight inflammation and help protect your joints (more on bone broth benefits). You have heard that chicken soup can cure anything. Well that’s because of the properties of bone broth.

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Image shared with permission from https://www.cognitune.com/bone-broth-benefits/

What are the best bones for bone broth?

Use organic, pasture raised chicken bones whenever possible. I buy organic whole chickens at Costco because they are affordable, but if you have access to pasture raised whole chickens, those are best. When I make my broth using the Costco chicken, the broth will gel up a bit on top, but when I use pasture raised whole chickens, the entire container is like Jello when it’s refrigerated. The gel means you have the collagen which is what you want.

How to get chicken bones for bone broth

There are a few ways to get chicken bones.

Start off with a whole chicken and make an easy shredded chicken recipe and use the bones and liquid to make a broth.
Use the bones leftover from a roasted chicken.
Ask your butcher at your local grocery store. They sometimes have chicken bones you can buy just for making broth.
The bones freeze well. The next time you eat a whole chicken, freeze the bones if you don’t want to make broth right away. Then you will have them when you need them.

Do you put chicken skin in bone broth?

You should put the skin in your pot when making the bone broth. It gives a richer flavor. If you aren’t a fan of a little fat in your broth, skip it. You can also skim the fat off the top once the broth cools.

What to make with bone broth?

Use bone broth anywhere you would use chicken broth.

Chili
Chicken soup
Mashed potatoes
Use instead of water when making rice

How to make whole chicken bone broth

Follow the instructions to make a whole shredded chicken. Once that chicken has cooked, pull it out of the pot.

Shred the chicken and store.

Cut your onion, carrots, celery and garlic into large chunks.

Add the chopped vegetables, bay leaves, chicken bones and pieces of meat you don’t want to eat into a soup sock (if using), or back into the Instant Pot with the water used to cook the whole chicken.

Add the full soup sock, more water, pepper and apple cider vinegar to the Instant Pot and cook on high pressure for 30-90 minutes.

Once cooled, strain through a wire mesh strainer into storage containers.

Can you freeze bone broth?

You can absolutely freeze bone broth. Just let it cool completely first. Freeze in small increments, if possible. A good trick is to freeze in silicone muffin molds, in a muffin tin, then pop them out and store in a gallon freezer bags. Just make sure to measure the amount of liquid your muffin mold holds so you know how much each frozen cup is when you need it.

How do you take your bone broth? Are you an avid bone broth drinker?

Whole Chicken Bone Broth

Author: Jen
Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
Yield: 10 cups 1x

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Description

A chicken bone broth is a staple in any cook’s kitchen. This whole chicken bone broth recipe is a flavorful addition to any recipe and is a wonderful base for soups.

Ingredients

Scale

Bones, skin and reject pieces from a 4-5 lb whole chicken*
2 bay leaves
4 carrots, quartered
4 stalks of celery, quartered- leaves are okay
4 cloves of garlic, smashed
1 large yellow onion, quartered -you can leave the peel on
10 cups of filtered water*
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1/2 teaspoon pepper
Optional 1 teaspoon salt**
Optional soup sock

Instructions

Add the first 6 ingredients to a soup sock (if using) or directly in your Instant Pot.
Add the remaining ingredients to the Instant Pot. If 10 cups of water doesn’t fit, don’t worry. Just fill it it up as much as will fit.
Press the Manual button and “+” until the Instant Pot says 60 minutes. You can cook anywhere from 30 minutes to 90 minutes, depending on how much time you have.
Close the lid to sealing and let cook. You can quick release when it’s done or let it slow release.
Once cooled, remove soup sock and ingredients and discard. Strain the broth through a wire mesh strainer and into a sealed container (like a meson jar). If freezing, I recommend cooling in the refrigerator overnight first.

Notes

*Use this whole shredded chicken recipe (I make it and this broth 2-4 times a month). Keep the liquid from cooking the chicken and after shredding/storing the chicken, put all the bones and meat you’re not going to eat back in the liquid (or soup sock) for the broth and add more water to fill up the pot. It gives it more flavor this way.

**If you are using a chicken that was already cooked using salt, the salt isn’t necessary.