Homemade Chicken Broth Slow Cooker Recipe

Day 17.

Mmm. Looks lovely, doesn't it? Making your own chicken broth isn't as hard as you think it is. Knowing what exactly is going into your family is important if you have allergies, health problems that call for low-sodium diets, or sensitivities to preservatives.

I am not a purist. I am not going to play one on the Internet. I like spice packets, and I definitely like shortcuts--I do use store-bought chicken broth (a lot.)---but I also use my own broth when I have it on hand in the freezer.

The Ingredients:

--store bought rotisserie chicken carcass (see! shortcuts!) if you are gluten-free or have other allergies, read the ingredients on the package carefully. Costco clearly labels their chickens as gluten-free.

-- chopped onion

--bunch of celery

--2 cups or so baby carrots

--small bunch of green onions

--head of garlic

--3 bay leaves

--1 tablespoon Italian Seasoning

--6 cups of water

The Directions:

--put chicken carcass into slow cooker stoneware

--coarsely chop onion, celery, and green onion; place into crock with baby carrots

--peel entire head of garlic; dump in

--add Italian Seasoning and water

Close it up and cook on low for 8-10 hours.

Remove from heating element, and let cool completely on stove-top.

The cooling is important. Humor me.

okay. Wash your hands and dig in. Find all the little chicken bones, peel off any remaining chicken and discard the bones and bay leaves. This is a good exercise in finding your inner 9-year-old.

Use a cup and scoop the soupy liquid into your blender to brothicize.

Once liquified, pour broth into freezer bags in manageable portions. I chose to use 1-cup servings. This particular batch made nine 1-cup servings.

Place on a small cookie sheet and freeze. Once the bags are frozen, they are small enough to be tucked in nooks around your freezer.

This broth has NO salt added. I am happy about this, but some people really like salt. When using a homemade broth recipe, taste the dishes you make and add salt as needed. The overall sodium content will be much lower.