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Costco Rotisserie Chicken Broth

Don't toss that bundle of bones! The bits of meat, skin, and bones in a picked over bird carcass (whether from Costco, home-roasted, or leftover from the Thanksgiving bird) are so so easy to turn into delicious broth.

Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 2 hours
Servings 8 servings
Author Cara

Ingredients

  • 1 Roasted Chicken Just the bits you didn't eat at first! Leaving a little meat on it, or picking it clean- it's up to you.
  • 1 gallon filtered water However much water it takes to fill your pot mostly full is the right amount.
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt optional, depending on your salt preferences

Instructions

  1. Place anything from your chicken that you didn't eat (including the skin, bones, cartilage, and any remaining meat) in the bottom of your stock pot. You can add the jelly stuff (it's rich in protein and flavor!) from the bottom of the container as well.

  2. Cover with filtered water, until all the chicken carcass is covered, but you're at least 3 inches from the top of the stock pot so it doesn't spill over.

  3. Add optional salt, or taste after it is done and add salt then.

  4. Heat on medium-high heat until a slow boil starts (some large bubbles coming up, but not quickly)

  5. Once the broth is at a slow boil, reduce heat to a simmer and place a lid on the pot.

  6. Simmer for 2-4 hours. If you do this in a slow cooker, cook on low all day.

  7. Turn heat off and allow to cool enough that it is not dangerous to work with.

  8. Taste and add salt if needed.

  9. Strain broth into jars or other storage containers. Keeps 10 days in the fridge, 1 year in the freezer, or 1 year if canned (see instructions for this here)

  10. Pick the remaining chicken off the bones to use if desired. This will be less flavorful than the original roasted chicken, but is a great addition to taco meat, or used in chicken salad!

Recipe Notes

You can keep the same bones and other bits from the chicken after straining off the broth to do a second batch of broth if you are feeling extra frugal! I like to just put all of it in a zip top bag in the freezer and repeat the process if I ever need broth and don't have fresh bones on hand. The second batch of broth will still be full of amino acids and good for you, but a bit less flavorful than the first batch. To boost the color and flavor of the broth, adding the clean skins of 1-2 onions to your cooking second-batch-broth (add right at the beginning) makes a big difference!