This homemade Chicken Stock for Babies allows you to enhance your little one's food with delicious flavours, while avoiding the high salt content found in many commercial stocks. Plus, it's a convenient ingredient that you can make and sore in the freezer for easy use whenever needed.
When my children were babies, I learned how to make chicken stock so that I could make meals that were free from salt and additives. Because it is so easy, I still make batches regularly.
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What is Chicken Stock and Why Make Your Own?
Chicken stock is a liquid made with chicken bones, meat, vegetables and water. It is cooked slowly for a number of hours and is used as a basis for a tasty soup or as the liquid component in dishes such as stews, curries, sauces and risotto.
Making your own
- allows you to control ingredients to suit your family's age/stage and dietary requirements.
- makes good use of a carcass and leftover scraps from your roast chicken as well as vegetable scraps which would otherwise be discarded.
- It saves you buying boxed and cubed stock.
Ingredient Information
- Chicken - I usually make homemade chicken stock with a carcass and the leftover scraps from a roast chicken.
You can also make stock from a raw chicken carcass (the skeletal remains, including the bones and cartilage, once all the meat from the chicken has been removed) or chicken pieces such as legs, thighs and wings.
- Vegetables & Herbs - Vegetables and herbs add to the flavour and nutrition of the stock. It is a great way to use up vegetable scraps or vegetables that are coming to the end of their life. I usually use...
Carrots (including the peel and ends)
Onions
Celery (including the leaves)
Leek (green and white parts)
Parsley
Bay leaves
How to Make Chicken Stock
Great Uses For Homemade Chicken Stock
This baby friendly chicken stock in an excellent choice for your little one's meals. It is perfect for recipes that call for chicken stock or water, as it enhances the flavours without the need for salt, which is not recommended for baby food. Some ideas include:
- Baby Purees - Enhance the taste and texture of savoury purees that call for liquid like this lentil puree, green bean puree or chicken puree.
- Soups - Elevate the flavours of soups while reducing the salt content. Try it in recipes like courgette (zucchini) soup, baby chicken soup or carrot and orange soup.
- Stews - Add depth to chicken and beef stews such as chicken and chickpea stew, slow cooker chicken casserole, or slow cooker beef stew
- Curries - Infuse your curries with extra flavour, try it in delicious recipes such as sweet potato chickpea curry, red lentil curry or this fruity chicken curry.
- Rice dishes - Perfect in this vegetable risotto.
- Pasta sauces - Elevate the flavour profile of dishes like carrot pasta sauce or veggie pasta sauce by incorporating the deliciousness of homemade stock.
Recipe FAQs
All the goodness from the long slow cooking of bones, meat and vegetables makes for a nutritious ingredient in your cooking. Because you are making the stock yourself you can control the sodium content which is essential when cooking for babies.
Homemade chicken stock can appear greasy but the fat contained in the stock provides great flavour and enriches soups, gravy and sauces.
If you wish to remove some of the fat, cool the stock quickly and it will be easy to remove from the surface before use.
When you simmer a chicken carcass for long enough, you extract the collagen from the bones. This collagen in the bones is what causes the cooled down stock to gel. It is completely natural and will only happen in well-made stock. Once you reheat it, it will melt and return to a liquid.
You can use this chicken stock in baby food starting from 6 months.
Refrigerating - Cool the stock and transfer it to airtight containers. Refrigerate immediately and keep for up to 4 days.
Freezing - Cool then transfer to airtight, freezable containers. The stock will last for up to 6 months in the freezer.
Once thawed you can not refreeze, it is, therefore, a good idea to freeze in small amounts. This way you can just take what you need from the freezer.
If cooking for a baby it is a good idea to freeze in ice cube trays or small baby food containers (pictured below). You only need small amounts so doing this allows for very little wastage. Once frozen in the ice-cube trays, transfer to a freezable container/ziplock bag.
If cooking for a family, you may wish to freeze in larger amounts. Around 500ml (2 cups) is a useful amount to freeze per container.
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Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- 1 Large Chicken Carcass *SEE NOTE 1
- 1 Large Onion, quartered *SEE NOTE 2
- 1 Leek, cut into large chunks
- 2 Celery Stalks & celery leaves
- 1 Carrot
- 1 Small Bunch Parsley
- 2 Bay Leaves
- Water to cover (I used 3 litres)
Instructions
- Place leftover bones and skin from a chicken carcass into a large stock pot. *SEE NOTE 3
- Add vegetables and parsley and cover with water.
- Bring to a boil and then immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to a low simmer.
- Simmer, partially covered, for at least 4 hours. For a clearer stock, skim off any foam that comes to the surface.
- Strain the stock to separate out the solid pieces. Discard the solids. (I use a colander to do this and then strain it again through a sieve.)
- Season to taste (*SEE NOTE 4)
- Allow to cool and store in the refrigerator or freezer. (See above post for storage guidelines.)
Recipe Notes
- Use one large chicken carcass or two smaller ones left over from roast chickens. You can also use chicken pieces, such as legs, thighs, wings and feet.
- Stock is great for using up vegetables that are coming to the end of their life or vegetable scraps (e.g carrot tops, peelings etc) The above vegetable measurements are a guide only.
- You will need a large stock pot (at least 5 litres /9 imperial pints/ 10.5 US Pints in size)
- Remember Chicken Stock is an ingredient, not a finished product. It should have a chicken taste but shouldn't be overpowering. It is not a soup. A little seasoning can bring out flavour. Do not season if using to make baby food.
Audrey says
Excellent recipe with so many tips! Incredibly useful for first-time mama like me haha. I use the stock to prepare porridge for my baby and she LOVES it! Would recommend mamas to try this out if their baby isn't eating much. It adds so much more flavour to the porridge!
Amy says
Thank you! I'm so happy you found it useful. I'd have never thought to add it to porridge - thanks for the tip 🙂
Regina says
Hi Amy, I used 3L of water to cook this broth. However, at the end of the 4hr simmering, it became 1L. Did I cook it correctly?
Leah says
Hi Amy, what a your thoughts on freezing home made chicken stock that has been in the fridge for a day or two?
Amy says
Hi Leah, I'm so sorry for the late reply. I'd always try to freeze the day I make it. However, it should still be good to freeze if it has been properly refrigerated for the day or two. Just make sure to use it the day you take it out the freezer (rather than allow it to sit in the fridge for another couple of days)
Ioana says
Very useful recipe. I didn't try it until I discovered you site. I just made the broth using a raw carcase. Do you have any advice for the leftovers? The meat and the vegetables.
Amy says
Hi Ioana, I only use the bones and skin from the carcass so don't have any leftover meat. I always use vegetables scraps/veggies coming to the end of their life. I discard of the bones and veggies after making the stock.