Claire Thompson
Chicken carcasses can be used to make chicken stock, which can then be used as a base for soups, stews, sauces, and risotto. The process of making chicken stock involves placing the carcass in a large pot or slow cooker, covering it with water, and letting it simmer for an extended period. The vegetables are typically added after the stock has been prepared, although some recipes call for vegetables to be added during the simmering process to enhance the flavor of the stock. Once the stock is ready, the carcass is removed, and vegetables, noodles, or other ingredients can be added to create a variety of dishes.
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What You'll Learn
Chicken carcass soup
Preparing the Chicken Carcass and Stock:
Start by gathering your leftover chicken carcass, including any bones and leftover meat. You can use a single carcass or combine multiple carcasses for a more intense flavour. Place the carcass in a large pot or slow cooker. If you have leftover gravy, au jus, or juice from the chicken, add it to the pot along with the carcass.
Next, you'll make a flavourful chicken broth. Add water to the pot, ensuring it covers the ingredients. You can use filtered water if you prefer. For added flavour, you can also add a splash of oil, vegetables, herbs, bay leaves, peppercorns, and apple cider vinegar. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat and simmer. For a stovetop, simmer for 1-2 hours. If using a slow cooker, set it to low and let it cook overnight.
Adding Vegetables and Noodles:
Once your broth is ready, it's time to add your choice of vegetables. You can use a variety of vegetables such as carrots, celery, onion, potatoes, frozen spinach, canned chickpeas, or any other vegetables you like. Chop the vegetables into rough pieces, as they will be slow-cooked in the broth. You can also add noodles or pasta at this stage. Simply add them to the slow cooker and let them cook until tender, which should take about 45 minutes.
Seasoning and Serving:
Feel free to adjust the seasoning to your taste. You can add salt and pepper, lemon juice, soy sauce, Tabasco sauce, or any other spices you prefer. Give the soup a good stir, ensuring everything is combined. Finally, serve your chicken carcass soup in large bowls. It goes well with some crusty bread, cheese, or croutons on the side.
Storage and Reheating:
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Using a slow cooker
Step 1: Prepare the Chicken Carcass
Start by placing the chicken carcass in the slow cooker. If you have multiple carcasses, break them into pieces to ensure they fit. Loose bones, such as drumsticks, can be tucked inside the carcass to save space. You can use the carcass from a slow cooker whole chicken, a roasted chicken, or a store-bought rotisserie chicken. If you don't have time to make the stock right away, you can freeze the carcass until you're ready.
Step 2: Add Vegetables and Herbs
Roughly chop your desired vegetables and scatter them around the chicken carcass. The best vegetables to use include onions, celery, carrots, and garlic, as they add flavour and richness to the broth. You can also use vegetable scraps, such as onion and carrot peels, to add flavour. However, avoid cruciferous vegetables like cabbage, broccoli, and Brussels sprouts, as they can affect the colour and odour of the broth. Additionally, throw in some herbs like parsley, bay leaf, and pepper to enhance the flavour.
Step 3: Add Water and Seasonings
Cover the ingredients with water, filling the slow cooker to within an inch of the top. You can also add some apple cider vinegar to help draw out minerals from the chicken bones. If desired, add salt to taste, keeping in mind that homemade stock tends to have less sodium than store-bought. You can also add spices to your preference.
Step 4: Cook the Stock
Cover the slow cooker and set it to low. Let the stock cook for at least 8 hours, or even up to 24 hours for a deeper flavour. Newer slow cookers may cook at higher temperatures, so adjust the cooking time accordingly. Remember, the longer you cook the stock, the more nutrients and flavour you'll extract from the bones and vegetables.
Step 5: Strain and Serve
Once the stock is done cooking, use tongs to remove any large bones. Then, strain the stock through a fine strainer into containers. You can refrigerate the stock for up to 5 days or freeze it for later use. If you're making soup, you can add noodles and let them cook until tender. Serve your soup with garnishes like shredded cheese, crusty bread, and enjoy the comfort of a warm bowl of chicken soup.
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Making chicken stock
Step 1: Prepare the Chicken Carcass
Start by storing your chicken carcass in the freezer until you're ready to make stock or soup. You can even save multiple carcasses to make a larger batch of stock with a more intense flavour. When you're ready to cook, place the carcass in a large pot or slow cooker. If you have leftover meat on the bones, you can choose to remove it beforehand or leave it on and take it off after the stock is done.
Step 2: Add Water and Simmer
Cover the chicken carcass with filtered water or regular water, if you like the taste of your tap water. You can also add some apple cider vinegar to help extract collagen from the bones. Bring the water to a boil and then reduce the heat to a simmer. If using a slow cooker, you can set it to low and let it cook overnight. If using a stovetop, simmer the stock for at least 4-5 hours, or up to 8 hours, stirring occasionally. For a quicker stovetop method, use an Instant Pot for about 45 minutes to an hour at high pressure.
Step 3: Add Vegetables and Spices
After the stock has been simmering for a while, you can add your vegetables and spices. Common vegetables used include carrots, celery, onion, parsley, and bay leaves. You can also add garlic, peppercorns, and herbs like parsley and thyme. If you're making soup, you can add noodles, pasta, rice, or tortellini. For extra flavour, consider adding chicken wings or leftover gravy, au jus, or juice from the chicken.
Step 4: Strain and Cool
Once your stock is done simmering, use a slotted spoon or tongs to remove large bones and vegetables. Then, strain the stock through a fine-mesh strainer or colander into another pot or container. Be careful not to spill any precious stock! Let the stock cool, and then place it in the refrigerator. The stock will turn into a gel due to the collagen extracted from the bones.
Step 5: Store and Use
You can store your homemade chicken stock in the refrigerator for up to three days or freeze it for up to three months. When you're ready to use it, simply defrost it overnight in the refrigerator and reheat it on the stovetop. Your homemade chicken stock can be used as a base for soups, stews, sauces, and even rice or risotto.
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Customizable flavours
Chicken carcass soup is a great way to use up leftovers from a roasted or rotisserie chicken. It is a two-step process. First, make the chicken broth using the bones and a handful of vegetables. Then, use this as the base for your soup, adding more vegetables, noodles, or anything else you like.
When making your stock, you can customise the flavour by adding herbs, vegetables, and spices to suit your taste. For example, you can add garlic, bay leaves, and herbs to the chicken carcass in the pot. Fill the pot with water until the ingredients are fully submerged, then bring to a boil, reduce the heat, and simmer for an hour or more.
You can also add vegetables to the stock to help flavour it. These vegetables will be discarded after they have simmered with the stock, as they will be mushy and flavourless. You can then add a second set of vegetables to the soup. For example, you can add carrots, celery, and onion to the stock, then add leeks, fennel, or broccoli to the soup.
Other vegetables you can add to the soup include:
- Greens, such as kale or cabbage
- Root vegetables, such as potatoes
- Pulses, such as lentils or butter beans
You can also add pasta, noodles, or rice to your soup. For example, you can add store-bought cheese tortellini, or cook pasta or egg noodles in the broth. You can also add rice to the stock instead of water.
Finally, you can add spices to your soup to customise the flavour. For example, you can add salt and pepper, lemon juice, soy sauce, and Tabasco.
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Reducing food waste
Chicken is one of the most wasted foods in the UK. However, almost the entire bird is edible, and there are many ways to reduce food waste when cooking with chicken.
Firstly, when roasting a whole chicken, it is recommended to allot yourself 30 minutes more cooking time than you think you need. This accounts for the 10-15 minutes needed for the chicken to rest and cool before slicing. You can also save time by roasting two chickens at once, which will also increase the flavor of your stock.
Once you have removed the meat from the chicken, the bones and carcass can be used to make a nutritious and flavorful stock. To make stock, cover the chicken carcass with water in a large saucepan or soup pot and let it simmer for an hour or more. You can also add vegetables, herbs, and spices to customize the flavor of your stock. After making the stock, you can use it as a base for soups, stews, sauces, and risottos.
Another way to use the whole chicken is to make chicken noodle soup. To make this, you will need to make a stock using the leftover bones and carcass, as described above. You can then add vegetables, shredded chicken, and spices to the stock and let it cook in a slow cooker for 6-8 hours. Finally, add noodles to the slow cooker and cook until tender (around 45 minutes).
In addition to the bones and carcass, other parts of the chicken that are often discarded can be used in cooking. For example, the skin can be fried until crisp to make crackling, and the fat from a roast chicken can be used to make roast potatoes or whipped chicken fat butter. The neck can be used to make sausage or added to soup or stock, and the giblets and offal (heart, liver, kidneys, and gizzard) can be fried with warm spices or sauteed with wine. Even the feet can be braised and the head adds flavor to stock.
By utilizing the whole chicken, you can reduce food waste, save money, and contribute to a healthier planet. Additionally, food waste can be recycled and used as animal feed for poultry, which can reduce feed costs and have positive environmental impacts.
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Frequently asked questions
No, you can add the vegetables to the pot along with the chicken carcass.
You can cook the chicken carcass and vegetables for up to 2 hours on a stovetop. If you're using a slow cooker, you can cook it overnight on a low setting.
You can add carrots, celery, onion, bay leaves, peppercorns, and apple cider vinegar. You can also add other vegetables like potatoes, spinach, and chickpeas.
You can use the cooked chicken carcass and vegetables to make a soup or stock. You can also use the stock as a base for other dishes like risotto, stews, and sauces.
