24 Hour Slow Cooker Chicken Bone Broth
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I buy a rotisserie chicken every week. Yes, every single week! It’s the most versatile item I get from the grocery store. I can make a variety of salads, toss it into pasta, use it for tacos, fajitas, quesadillas, homemade pizzas, you name it! I also use it to make chicken stock, or Bone Broth.
When I’m done with the meat from the bird, instead of tossing the bones into the garbage, I toss them into the freezer and when I’m ready I turn them into the most delicious chicken stock or bone broth.
Is it stock or is it bone broth? What’s the difference?
Let’s clear things up a bit first. There’s broth which tends to be light and clear. Stock is heartier than broth. Now we have “bone broth” which is essentially stock with a trendier name. The traditional definition for stock, which is more viscous due to Bone broth and stock are defined by their thickness which comes from the gelatin which is naturally occuring in bones and seeps into the liquid when cooked over a long period of time, and filled with nutrients. Broth is lighter in texture, taste and color and is made with actual meat sans bones, versus meat-stripped bones used for stock. (I actually use bones with some meat left on them.)
The confusion comes from the rising popularity of Bone Broth. So whether you call it Bone Broth or Stock, it’s essentially the same thing. But it is not regular chicken broth - let’s just get that cleared up.
Broth takes just a couple of hours to cook, whereas stock or Bone Broth is cooked over a longer period of time. I prefer to let it cook as long as possible to guarantee a more robust flavor. A bone broth can't really be overcooked because the point is to break down all of the cartilage so that the collagen-rich gelatin seeps in. That collagen is another food by product that’s all the rage these days and purported to be great for your skin, hair, and nails, and healthy gut.
To make a good Bone Broth (or Stock) you could head on over to your butcher, or you could reach for your frozen rotisserie remains. (I’ll often add two to the crockpot for an even richer flavor.)
Below, instructions for your Slow Cooker Bone Broth
Directions:
1. Place the bones and vegetables (onions, carrots, celery, garlic for options) along with a couple of bay leaves, salt and pepper into the crock pot, and make sure everything is fully covered with water. Add the lid, turn the dial to the 10 hour setting. When the 10 hours are up - usually at some point in the middle of the night for me - the slow cooker will keep everything on a warm setting. When I am up, or when I remember, I reset the dial for another 10 hours.
2. When all is said and done I turn off and unplug the crockpot and let the liquid cool enough to pour into two large bowls using a sieve to separate the bones and meat.
3. I then set the bowls aside and let the liquid cool some more to allow the fat to rise to the top to be skimmed off.
4. I then sift through the bones and veggies to pull off any existing chicken meat. I can usually get a fair bit which then gets used in soup or such.
When the liquid has cooled and the fat has been skimmed off the stock gets transferred into glass jars or plastic containers, which go into the fridge and the freezer.
I will be using this stock for my Thanksgiving dinner - for the gravy as well as the stuffing.