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Here is the best homemade Slow Cooker Chicken Stock Recipe (aka bone broth). It’s easy, healthy, delicious and frugal! Use it as a base for soups like Zuppa Toscana Soup, or White Chicken Chili! Even use it to steam cauliflower for Cauliflower Cream Sauce.
Along with no-fail homemade mayo, slow cooker chicken stock is now a staple in my kitchen.
You see, up until just a couple of years ago, I pretty much ignored “chicken stock” in every ingredient list and substituted for water instead. A travesty on multiple levels, I know.
Fortunately, I’ve come to my senses.
Now, before you roll your eyes at me and think “Great, ANOTHER homemade chicken stock recipe post from ANOTHER real foodie,” let me explain…
This isn’t just any chicken stock recipe. It’s quite possibly the easiest chicken stock you’ve ever made. And we’re frugal in these parts of the web too, so you know we’re doing as much as we can with as little as possible.
Your family will enjoy the flavor and richness of this chicken stock in nearly all of the recipes on your meal plan, like Homemade Ramen Noodle Soup, Zuppa Toscana Soup, and let me tell you… it makes a delicious chicken soup!
Slow Cooker Chicken Stock
Not only is this slow cooker chicken stock recipe a perfect base for all of your recipes, it’s also:
- Easy.
- Nutritious.
- Delicious.
- Frugal. You save 93% by making it yourself!
Slow Cooker Chicken Stock
- Carcass, spine, skin, innards and bones from two whole chickens
- Apple cider vinegar (make it yourself)
- Filtered water
- Onion (optional)
- Carrots (optional)
- Celery ribs (optional)
- Parsley (optional)
Note: Some people also like to add bay leaves
How to make slow cooker chicken stock
- Combine all the ingredients, except parsley, in a slow cooker. Cook on low for a full 24 hours.
- 10 minutes before finishing the stock, add parsley (if using).
- Turn off the slow cooker and skim any particles that have floated to the top. Allow to cool.
- Strain chicken parts and store in a freezer-safe bag for future stock. Discard vegetables.
- Chicken stock can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for several months.
Tips for making slow cooker chicken stock with a whole chicken
When it comes to getting the most I possibly can from a whole chicken, I have a somewhat methodical system.
First, I chop it into parts. It took me about 20 minutes the first time, but after doing this every month for well over a year, I’ve gotten it down to two chickens in roughly 10 minutes. Maybe I should moonlight as a butcher…
Edible chicken parts go into one bowl, skin in another and the innards, spine and chicken wings go straight into the slow cooker. The slow cooker goes on high for four hours while I package up the chicken parts and label them for the freezer.
Four hours later, I ladle the chicken pieces from the slow cooker onto a plate so that they can cool and I don’t burn myself while trying to get all the meat off the bones.
Note: Starting this whole chicken process late morning tends to work really well for my schedule. The meat cooks until early afternoon, cools through dinner and I can pick it off while Mr. Crumbs has some time with the kids.
When all of the meat is picked from the chicken bones, everything that’s left goes back into the slow cooker: bones, skin, tough pieces of meat that won’t pass through the kids radar… all of it.
Add a few splashes of apple cider vinegar, fill it to the top with water and turn it on medium-low for 10 hours.
Walk away proudly Family Chef, your work is done for the day.
What is the difference between chicken stock, chicken broth and bone broth?
Chicken stock is the liquid that is made from the carcass of a chicken, including bones, innards, meat and often vegetables. Like this chicken stock recipe.
Chicken broth is typically the liquid that results from cooking with the meat, usually in water. It’s lighter than stock because it cooks for less time and usually doesn’t involve the bones.
Bone broth tends to be a trendy name for stock – like this recipe.
Is this Slow Cooker Chicken Stock Recipe Healthy?
Making homemade chicken stock is the process of drawing the nutrients from good, nutritious food into a rich and incredibly healthy liquid.
According to Nourishing Traditions, stocks contains the minerals of animal bones, cartilage and marrow. Calcium, magnesium, potassium, collagen and gelatin are just a few of these minerals. Actually, the mineral gelatin allows the body to better use the proteins it consumes, making it an essential nutrient for us frugal foodies who don’t use copious amounts of meat in the meal plan.
To me, a cup of homemade chicken stock is a liquid vitamin filled with trace minerals and healthy fat! YUM!
How to use a slow cooker chicken stock recipe, besides in soup
When it comes to a nutritional powerhouse (that also makes food WAY yummy), we should aim to use it whenever possible. Besides making soup, try using it in place of water in these types of recipes too:
- One pot wonders like this Slow Cooker Chicken Cacciatore
- Rice, as in this super simple Instant Pot Yellow Rice, or this Autumn Rice Pilaf
- Stews and chili, like White Chicken Chili
- Other grains like quinoa, couscous, and polenta
- Sauces, gravy
- Noodles
- Steaming veggies as in this Creamy Cauliflower Sauce
- Cooking beans or lentils, like this lentil recipe
Short on time? Make your chicken stock in the Instant Pot pressure cooker! Follow this recipe.
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Slow Cooker Chicken Stock
Here is the best homemade Slow Cooker Chicken Stock recipe (aka bone broth). It’s easy, healthy, delicious and frugal!
- Author: Tiffany
- Prep Time: 15 mins
- Cook Time: 24 hours
- Total Time: 24 hours
- Yield: 4 quarts 1x
- Category: Soup
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
Scale
- carcass, spine, skin, innards and bones from two whole chickens*
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar (make it yourself)
- 4 quarts filtered water
- 1 onion, quartered (optional)
- 2 carrots, peeled & quartered (optional)
- 3 celery ribs, chopped (optional)
- 1 bunch parsley (optional)
Instructions
- Combine all the ingredients, except parsley, in a slow cooker. Cook on low for a full 24 hours. 10 minutes before finishing the stock, add parsley (if using). Turn off slow cooker and skim any particles that have floated to the top. Allow to cool. Strain chicken parts and store in a freezer-safe bag for future stock. Discard vegetables. Chicken stock can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for several months.
Notes
* Recipe can be made with only one chicken; simply halve the rest of the ingredients.
Do you make your own stock? What do you use it for?
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