Smoked Chicken Bone Broth

4 smoked chickens covered and resting.

My husband loves to smoke all kinds of meats and anything else he can think of. I gave him a barrel type pellet smoker a few years ago and just this summer I bought him a Pit Boss, which was a larger upright one, for his birthday. He was excited and has used it quite a bit, but not as much as he'd like.

While shopping at the grocery store, I came across 4 chickens that had been marked down to half price. They just magically hopped into my cart and whispered in my ear that they were excellent smoking material. It appears hubby thought so, too, because they ended up in the smoker with a nice coating of a new rub recipe that hubby wanted to try. The chickens were good, but the rub needs a bit a tweaking. I wasn't so fond of all the cayenne pepper that was in it, and hubby had even cut the amount in half.

Cooking with veggies

Now, my turn for excitement. I took the meat off the bones and froze it and put all the bones and skin in the crock pot and covered them with water and added a tiny bit of vinegar to draw out the calcium. I let them cook over night. In the morning, I took out my 20 quart stockpot and transferred the carcasses and stock from the crock pot into the pot. I added onion, celery, garlic, broth and carrots and brought it to a boil, then simmered it for a good 24 hours - making the total simmering time about 36 hours.

Straining through cheese cloth

I then strained out the bones and veggies and then transferred that back to the pot, giving it a second straining - this time through cheese cloth. As chilly as are temps have been, when the pot cooled down some, I took it out to the garage to chill overnight.

The next day, the broth was brought back in the house and I peeled the solidified fat off the top. The broth was heated, brought to a boil then put in hot jars to pressure can.Since this broth was cooked with vegetables, I processed it for the vegetable broth time. 

It always amazes me when I do this. Why? I ended up with a total of 13-1/2 quarts of broth from something I might have thrown out! The onions that were added were parts of onions that I might have thrown out. I save the tip end and root end (I remove most of the brown wrap from the tip and the roots from the end since they are not very clean, and keep the white part). I also keep the tough outer part of the onion that lies beneath the brown protective covering. All of this goes in a freezer bag and kept in the freezer. I will also keep the leaves and tougher stalks from the celery and freeze them as well. Then when I do a broth, I take all the frozen veggies and add them to the water with the carcass. My only cost may be the carrots, garlic and any seasonings I may use plus the cost of electricity to cook it.

13.5 quarts of broth from 4 smoked chicken carcasses.
Dehydrated veggies in background.

If I figured correctly, it cost under $2 for lids and veggies for 13 and a half quarts of delicious and healthy broth. (I did not factor in the cost of the electricity.)