Slow Cooker Chicken Broth with Left Over Rotisserie Chicken

With Thanksgiving rapidly approaching I knew it was time to let you in on one of my favorite tricks in the kitchen! Homemade chicken broth made in the slow cooker with the left overs from our rotisserie chicken! Pure genius!

I have to admit this amazingness did not originate in my mind. I was taught how to make delicious homemade chicken broth by Lindsey of Homespun Sprout when she came to speak to our MOPS group. I was so intrigued with this after hearing her explain not only how easy it is to make, but how much better it is for you and how tasty it is, that I had to make it right away. Well two years later, I am here to tell you that this is a keeper! You won’t believe how easy and delicious it is!

To make your chicken broth you will start with the left overs from your whole chicken. You can do this with any whole chicken, but we frequently have rotisserie chicken at our house fr dinner so I tend to use that most of the time. It just makes easy, even easier if that is even possible. I used to just toss these left overs in the trash but now I know what I treasure I had been discarding.

Place the left overs of your chicken into your crock pot. When I say leftovers I mean everything! Bones, skin, fat, id bits of meat. Just toss it on in. Top your chicken leftovers with any veggie leftovers you might have. I used onion, celery, baby carrots and a few garlic cloves. The veggies will also be thrown in whole. You will want to rinse off any dirt but throw in all stems, skins etc right with the chicken and veggies. It was hard for me to believe at first but it works people! After the meeting Lindsay spoke at, we actually jokingly called this trash broth since it seemed you just threw in all of your trash and cooked away! Ha!

After you add your chicken and veggies you will just fill up the crockpot with water to the very top, covering all of your additions. Then put the top on and cook on low for 8-12 hours. Lindsay recommended after your meal you ate the chicken at just throwing everything right into the crock pot and letting it cook away all night while you sleep. This method has worked great for me!

After the broth is finished cooking you will want to pour the contents of the slow cooker over a strainer into a bowl. For a clearer broth you can use a cheese cloth for this, but I just stick to what I have on hand which is a strainer.

Now put your strained broth in the refrigerator for 4 hours to over night. Once it is chilled the fat will solidify on the top and you can just use a spoon to scrape it right off and discard it.

Your broth is now ready to be used or stored. I like to freeze mine in ziplock baggies in 2 cup portions since 2 cups is very close to the amount you would get in a store bought can. To do this I use a cup and put a baggie inside it flipping the top sides of the bag over the mouth of the cup to hold it open. I then use a cup measure to pour in two cups of broth. Remove the bag from the cup, seal, and repeat until all of the broth is packaged! I usually get 8 cups (4 bags) of broth out of each batch of broth I make.

Isn’t it crazy? Out of my trash, I can make 4 cans worth of chicken broth! Blows my mind every time! This broth is easy, delicious, and frugal! Sounds like it might be the triple threat of the canned good world! Watch out!

I hope you enjoy this delicious broth as much as I do!  The possibilities for using it are really endless.  With Thanksgiving coming up I am making and freezing a double batch so I have enough to use for every recipe I make with broth in it!  Do you have a favorite recipe that uses broth?

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