Homemade Chicken Stock

This Homemade Chicken Stock, tweaked from Ina Garten's Go-To Dinners cookbook, is easy to make and smells and taste divine. 

There’s a new-old obsession in our house: chicken soup. 

I say new-old because chicken soup – specifically matzah ball soup from Kenny & Ziggy’s – is our forever go-to feel-good sustenance. Of course, if we are sick, or if anyone we know is sick, it’s chicken soup. But also sometimes we just need a little pick-up. Still chicken soup. Or, we just feel like chicken soup. And I hate to say it, but every single time I’ve made it – and I really do like to make it, because the house smells amazing and it looks so Norman Rockwell-ish and it all makes me feel like a good person – but every time I’ve made it, I’ve looked at my children and said, “Kenny & Ziggy’s makes it better,” and then, sadly, they nod yes.

Until now – ta-da! – and herein lies our new obsession. Ina Garten’s Homemade Chicken Stock, the one she shares the recipe for in her latest book Go-To Dinners, is quite simply the best chicken soup ever. It’s easy, it smells divine, and it tastes even more divine. I have been serving it to myself for breakfast. It’s that good.

Just a couple of ways I veered from the recipe: Ina’s recipe calls for four parsnips, which I didn’t use, but maybe you’ll give it a try. She also instructs us to discard all of the solids after straining the soup. Sorry, but those carrots are amazing in my breakfast soup. So is the chicken we shredded from the cooked breasts.

I feel like I’m giving you a gift with this recipe. Actually, Ina is giving a gift to all of us. Thank you, Ina. And dare I say…it rivals Kenny & Ziggy’s. But don’t tell Ziggy.

Homemade Chicken Stock
From Go-To Dinners by Ina Garten

3 (5-pound) roasting chickens (I had my butcher cut the chickens up into pieces)
3 large yellow onions, unpeeled and quartered
6 carrots, scrubbed, unpeeled and halved
4 celery stalks with leaves, cut into thirds
20 sprigs fresh parsley
15 sprigs fresh thyme
20 sprigs fresh dill
1 head garlic, unpeeled and cut in half crosswise
2 tablespoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons whole black peppercorns

Place the chickens, onions, carrots, celery, parsley, thyme, dill, garlic, salt, and peppercorns in a 16- to 20-quart stockpot. Add 7 quarts of water and bring to a boil. Lower the heat and simmer uncovered for 4 hours. Allow the stock to cool for 30 minutes. Strain the contents of the pot through a colander into a large bowl and discard the solids. Pack the stock in containers and refrigerate for up to a few days or freeze for up to 6 months.