Description
Slow-simmered with whole chickens, fresh herbs, and vegetables, this deeply flavorful stock is pure kitchen gold — rich, nourishing, and effortless to make with soup socks.
Ingredients
Scale
3 whole chickens (in soup socks)
10 carrots, halved, unpeeled
1 head celery (with greens and base)
4 onions, halved, skin-on
1 head garlic, halved crosswise
1 bunch parsley
1 bunch thyme
1 bunch dill
1 tbsp whole peppercorns
1.5 tbsp salt
Water to cover (about 6 gallons)
Instructions
- Bundle the chicken and veggies: Place each chicken in its own soup sock and tie closed. Make one more soup-sock bag for the vegetables — everything usually fits into one, but use two if needed.
- Load, season and simmer: Add all soup socks to a large 16–20 qt pot, sprinkle in the salt, fill with enough water to cover, bring to a boil, then reduce to a gentle simmer for 4–6 hours uncovered (or longer for a deeper flavor).
- Cool & Strain: Using a sturdy fork or tongs, lift each soup-sock bag from the pot, letting any excess stock drip back in before transferring to the sink. Move the chicken bags to a colander to cool, and discard the vegetable bag — compost the contents if possible.
- Refine and store stock: Once strained, you’ll see fat on the surface of the stock — that’s normal. Ladle the stock in batches into a fat separator, let the fat rise, and pour the clean broth from the bottom into a new pot. Repeat once more, then transfer the clarified stock to jars or containers for storage.
- Shred the chicken: Shred cooled chicken; store or freeze for later.
Notes
- Yields ~12–14 cups broth and 3.5 lbs shredded chicken.
- Soup socks make cleanup and straining effortless.
- Carrots are the key to color and sweetness — don’t skimp!
- Prep Time: 15 Minutes
- Cook Time: 4 Hours
- Category: Soup, Soups & Stocks
- Method: Simmer
- Cuisine: Classic/Homemade
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 45
- Sugar: 1
- Sodium: 320mg
- Fat: 3g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5g
- Unsaturated Fat: 1.5g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 2g
- Fiber: 0g
- Protein: 6g
- Cholesterol: 10mg