Follow these simple instructions on How To Clarify Homemade Stock so that it looks just like store bought stock!
You guys haven't just been throwing away those chicken skins and carcasses, right? You've started making your own from scratch Chicken Stock 'cause it's the easiest way to stretch your food dollar and make a from scratch condiment that can be used a gazillion different, ways, right? Oh good. 😉
Now that you're doing that, have you noticed that your stock comes out all cloudy and not at all like the nice clean looking stock that comes out of the carton from the store? I sure have. But I just thought it came with the whole from scratch territory. But oh... ooh not until one of you lovely readers let me know that Better Homes and Garden had a recipe to clarify stock! I had no idea and now my from scratch Chicken Stock world has been forever changed for the better! Thanks, Lee H.!!
I've said it before, but I'll say it again, we eat a lot of chicken in this house. One of our recent favorites is the Maple Soy Glazed Chicken Thighs recipe which requires de-boning and de-skinning the thighs, which is what we usually have because I'm too cheap the pay the added cost of buying it skinless and boneless already. Which actually works out because it's the perfect excuse to make some homemade stock. Also, we happened to have some wilted celery and carrots in the fridge that normally would have just gone into the compost that I also threw in the stock pot.
My favorite thing about making stock? You can let it simmer for as long as you want while you go about the rest of your life. In this case, I re-painted the built in shelves in our kitchen bar because what else would you do on a Sunday night when you're 29 weeks preggo and in extreme nesting mode?
Anyway, once the stock reached a richness that we liked, I lined our large sieve with a cheese cloth and slowly drained the stock. Now this is where I would normally stop, but now that I know How to Clarify Chicken Stock, and how easy it is, I just took the few extra steps!
How to Clarify Chicken Stock
Step 1: Separate egg yolk and white and then whisk the egg white with some water.
Tip: Then make a small bath of Mayonnaise From Scratch with that one little lone egg yolk!
Step 2: Add it to the hot stock and then put it back on the burner.
Step 3: Bring it all to a boil and then remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
While the egg white cooks it's coagulating and collecting all of the little particles from that stock that make it cloudy. Yay science!
Step 4: Give one last strain one last time through your trusty cheese cloth.
And done! Just like it just came out of a carton of organic chicken broth- but for waaayy cheaper. You can do this with your veggie stock and beef stock too then you have a lovely clear base for your soups, stews!
Our Favorite Ways to Use Chicken Stock
- Homemade Condensed Cream of Chicken Soup
- Garlic Chicken Piccata
- Crock Pot Balsamic Chicken
- Crock Pot Chicken Pho
- Creamy Asparagus Bacon Soup
- 15 Minute Garlic Butter Chicken
Enjoy, friends! Go forth with your Stock Clarifying!
Equipment
Ingredients
- Chicken or Vegetable stock
- 1 egg white
- 1/4 cup cold water
Instructions
- Strain your homemade stock (if freshly made).
- Whisk egg white and 1/4 cup of cold water.
- Heat stock (or return to stovetop if freshly made) and bring it (back) to a boil.
- Add whisked egg white and water to the stock.
- Once stock has been brought back to a boil, remove from heat and let sit for 5 minutes.
- Strain stock through a cheese cloth lined sieve to strain out the egg.
- Done!
Hi! Will the egg mix with the rest of the broth? Does it change the taste at all?
Hi Dean, yes it will! And nope!
Is it just me, or are the before and after photos the same ?
Hi! The before stock is still in the pot, I didn't take a shot of it in the mason jar, which you know, I should have to help show the difference! If you mean the first photo and then the last photo of the post, then yes, you're right they are the same - both show the stock clarified 🙂