Intensified Flavor
This classic brown chicken broth is made by slow simmering roasted chicken pieces and aromatic vegetables with fragrant herbs and spices. The result is a beautiful, dark broth with outstanding flavor!
Fragrant Aroma
It’s darker in color and more intense in flavor than the golden variety we commonly think of. These differences in color and flavor are developed by first oven roasting the chicken pieces and aromatic vegetables.
You’ll be blessed by the fragrant aroma of roasting chicken, red onions, carrots, celery, and garlic!
Deglazing to Capture Flavorful Juices and Tasty Browned Bits
Next, we capture the flavorful juices and tasty browned bits from the bottom of the roasting pan and add them to the slow cooker.
From here, fresh, cold water, herbs, and spices are added and simmered on LOW for 8 hours. Following a little cooling, the broth is strained using a fine-mesh sieve
This classic brown chicken broth recipe is well-suited for a 6-quart slow cooker and yields about 8 cups of broth.
Classic Brown Chicken Broth
Classic brown chicken broth has a deeper shade and more intense flavor than the golden variety we normally think of. That’s because we first start developing color and flavor by oven-roasting the chicken pieces and aromatic vegetables.
Next, these ingredients are simmered with fresh, cold water, herbs, and spices.
The result is a beautiful, dark broth with outstanding flavor! Use this chicken broth as a flavor foundation for many of your favorite dishes.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 9 hours 45 minutes
- Total Time: 10 hours
- Yield: About 8 cups
Ingredients
2–1/2 pounds chicken thighs and wings
2 medium red onions, peeled and quartered
2 large carrots, peeled and cut into thirds
2 stalks celery, washed and cut into thirds
1 head of garlic, halved around the middle
vegetable oil for drizzling
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 tablespoons dry sherry (or 1 tablespoon cider vinegar)
8–10 cups cold, fresh water
2 bay leaves
2 tablespoons dried parsley
1/2 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
Instructions
1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Place a single layer of chicken pieces on a cookie sheet with sides or a shallow roasting pan
3. Roast: Roast for 1 hour or until chicken is well-browned
4. Add: Layer onions, carrots, celery, and garlic over the roasted chicken. Drizzle oil over the vegetables and sprinkle with kosher salt
5. Reduce temperature: Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
6. Roast: Roast for 45 minutes or until vegetables are brown on the edges, but not burned.
7. Using tongs, carefully move chicken and vegetables to slow cooker while the pan is still warm. If there is more than a couple tablespoons of fat in the bottom of the pan, spoon it off and discard. Only take out the excess fat and leave the caramelized juices and browned bits. These contain lots of wonderful flavor!
8. Deglaze: Add the sherry or vinegar to the pan. Scrap up the browned bits with a wooden spoon. Add some water if more liquid is needed to easily free all of the flavor from the bottom of the pan. Pour this rich mixture over the roasted and vegetables in the slow cooker.
9. Add water: Cover the contents of the slow cooker with fresh, cold water. About 8-10 cups.
10. Add: Add the bay leaves, parsley, and peppercorns.
11. Cook: With lid on, cook on LOW for 8 hours.
12. Strain: Strain contents through a fine-mesh sieve and discard the solids.
13. Cool: To properly cool, lower the container of freshly strained broth into a sink filled with a few inches of ice water.
14. Within 2 hours, the broth needs to be cooled to 70 degrees Fahrenheit. Stirring the broth will help release heat and promote faster cooling.
15. If you’re planning to freeze the broth, divide it among freezer-safe containers now.
16. Label with date, name of broth, and amount.
17. Allow the broth to finish cooling in the refrigerator overnight. If freezing, place in the freezer in the morning.
Notes
It may be tempting to immediately place hot broth in the refrigerator after straining. However, doing so can lower the refrigerator’s temperature too much and possibly place your other contents at risk.
Refrigerated broth should be used within 3 days.
Frozen broth is flavorful for up to 3 months.
