Do you need chicken bones for good broth?

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Can you make chicken broth with boneless chicken breast? Or do you need the bones, fat etc from a whole chicken to make it tasty?

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Type: Question • Score: 16 • Views: 11,521 • Replies: 40

[+3] - ehBeth - 11/23/2009Chicken broth made with boneless chicken breast? don't bother. Bones, roasted, make the best broth. Actually a whole carcass, roasted, cooked with onion/carrot/fennel (or celery), strained...

@Robert Gentel,

Wouldn't that mean wasting the chicken breasts (cooking them until the meat is inedible)?

Here is a sample recipe but it doesn't involve chicken breasts.

Quote:

Method 1. Leftover Chicken Bones
1 Put the leftover bones and skin from a chicken carcass into a large stock pot and cover with cold water. Add veggies like celery, onion, carrots, parsley.
2 Add salt and pepper, about 1/2 tsp of salt, 1/4 tsp of pepper.
3 Bring to a boil and immediately reduce heat to bring the stock to barely a simmer.
4 Simmer uncovered at least 4 hours, occassionally skimming off the foam that comes to the surface.
5 Remove the bones and strain the stock.
6 If making stock for future use in soup you may want to reduce the stock by simmering a few hours longer to make it more concentrated and easier to store.
Method 2. Chicken backs, wings, and legs.
4 lbs of chicken backs, wings, and or legs that have been hacked with a cleaver into 2-inch pieces. You can ask your butcher to prepare the chicken pieces this way.
1 large yellow onion, chopped.
Olive oil
2 quarts of boiling water
2 teaspoons of salt
2 bay leaves
1 Heat 1 Tbsp of olive oil in a large stock pot. Add one chopped onion. Sauté until softened and slightly colored - 2 to 3 minutes. Transfer to a large bowl.
2 Add half of the chicken pieces to the pot. Sauté until no longer pink, about 4 to 5 minutes. Transfer cooked chicken to bowl with onions. Sauté the rest of the chicken the same way. Return onion and chicken pieces to the pot. Reduce heat to low, cover, and cook until chicken releases its juices, about 20 minutes.
3 While the chicken pieces are cooking, fill a large tea kettle with 2 quarts of water, bring to a boil.
4 After the chicken pieces have been cooking for 20 minutes, raise the heat level to high, add the 2 quarts of boiling water, 2 teaspoons of salt, 2 bay leaves. Return to a low simmer, then cover and barely simmer for about 20 minutes.
5 Strain broth and discard solids. Broth can be covered and refrigerated for up to 2 days or frozen for several months.

Seems to be a waste of chicken meat. I think that's the point in using the bones and other lesser scraps to make the broth.

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@tsarstepan,

tsarstepan wrote:

Wouldn't that mean wasting the chicken breasts (cooking them until the meat is inedible)?

Hellifino, but I'm trying to figure out if I can avoid the messy whole chicken. There's this chicken rice dish in Central America that uses the broth from the chicken to make the rice. I like it but want a version that doesn't need the whole chicken but don't know if the broth would turn out good without fat, bones etc.

1 Reply

@Robert Gentel,

bones

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@Robert Gentel,

I don't know.

Glad to see you back.

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@Robert Gentel,

Although the low sodium version of this is the best chicken broth I've ever tasted.

http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_LobE441_K00/SZqJfHOqU3I/AAAAAAAAAZA/iwRFY4qNxSI/s400/ImagineChickenBroth16oz.JPG

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@Robert Gentel,

Go to a butcher and ask for the cheap scraps. The site I got those recipes from suggested that a typical butcher would have plenty of scraps to make broth from. It also be much cheaper in the long run.

You have to think about the fatty components from the skin and the marrow components from the bones.

2 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

One of the keys to making good chicken broth/stock is to make sure it doesn't come to a rolling boil. As the water heats up the chicken will release a foam which floats to the surface. Skim this off as it forms. Then, when the water comes just to a boil, reduce the heat to a slow simmer. If you let it boil hard the broth will be gray and cloudy. If you remove the foam (scum) and let it just simmer it will be clear and yellow.

1 Reply

I believe for good stock you need to steep the bones, for both nutrition and taste. JPB is correct about avoiding any boiling- it makes bad chemistry. I think broth made with just the white meat will beslightly better than dishwater.

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@tsarstepan,

I'm mainly trying to avoid the nasty parts of chicken that I don't like (skin, fat, cartilage etc) and scraps would defeat the purpose.

2 Replies

@Robert Gentel,

As it has been suggested the only alternative is to buy premade broth. Smile

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@Robert Gentel,

You could make mock chicken soup. No meat- just poultry seasoning with root veggies like parsnip, onion, garlic and rutabaga. You can find a more detailed recipe on-line. Strain the veggies before using it as a broth.

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@tsarstepan,

which can be dealt with by chilling.

tstar seems right so far.

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@JPB,

Good, thanks.

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http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/chicken-stock-recipe/index.html
Alton Brown! Food genius and scientist!

http://www.foodnetworkfans.com/forum/attachments/alton-brown-good-eats-fans-discussion/182d1216229218-alton-brown-motivational-poster-alton_brown_geek_motivator.jpg

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@Robert Gentel,

Chicken broth made with boneless chicken breast? don't bother.

Bones, roasted, make the best broth. Actually a whole carcass, roasted, cooked with onion/carrot/fennel (or celery), strained and defatted makes the richest broth. A little more time, slightly less labour, fabulous broth.

1 Reply

@ehBeth,

the word, from ehBeth.

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@Robert Gentel,

Robert Gentel wrote:

Can you make chicken broth with boneless chicken breast? Or do you need the bones, fat etc from a whole chicken to make it tasty?

Can't you buy chicken broth in a can? Or use bouillon cubes?

2 Replies

@DrewDad,

These differ.

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I'm with ehBeth.

I always have roast chicken one day and use the scraps to make stock the next.

If you make your stock in a pasta pot -- one of those big pots that has a strainer insert -- you can just lift all those "messy" parts out and toss them away without having to deal with them.

Are you making paella? (Yum.)

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Do you need chicken bones for good broth?

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