Crock Pot Chicken Stock Recipe

Updated on October 9, 2025

Crock Pot Chicken Stock Recipe. Don’t throw away the bones when you cook a whole chicken! Make this delicious recipe as a substitute for canned stock or broth.

Next time you cook a whole chicken, don’t throw away the bones!

We cook entire chickens at our house all the time. We roast them, smoke them, and sometimes grill a beer-butt chicken. What I love about cooking a whole chicken is that I can get about three meals out of it.

We have grown our own meat chickens in addition to our layers. Making homemade broth is a great way to use up every last bit of the chicken, so nothing goes to waste.

How to Make Crock Pot Chicken Stock

Today, I am going to share my recipe for making homemade chicken stock in the crockpot. This recipe can be used after you have cooked a whole chicken yourself or bought a pre-cooked rotisserie chicken at the store. It results in the most flavorful broth!

Ingredients:

• Carrot
• Celery
• Onion
• Olive oil
• Leftover chicken bones
• Italian seasoning
• Salt and fresh ground pepper – to taste

Prep Vegetables

First, gather all your ingredients to make the mirepoix. This is just a fancy term for a blend of celery, carrots, and onions.

You can leave it raw, roast it, or sauté it with butter or olive oil. For this recipe, we will sauté the vegetables together in olive oil.

Heat olive oil (or butter) in a pan over medium-low heat. 

Chop the veggies to a uniform consistency. For chicken stock, you only need to roughly dice the ingredients.

I didn’t have a large carrot or a large celery stalk, so I used two small ones of each. You want a 2:1 ratio of carrots and celery to the onion. Sauté the vegetables in the olive oil until they begin to soften.

Prepare the Chicken

While the vegetables are cooking, work on the chicken.

Take the whole chicken and remove as much meat as possible from the bones. Save all the chicken carcass bones for this recipe.

Use any chicken meat you pulled off the chicken and create another recipe (chicken salad, shredded chicken tacos, etc.).

Cook Everything in the Crock Pot

Once the vegetables are sautéed, place them at the bottom of the crockpot. Layer the chicken bones on top of the vegetables.

Add between 8 – 12 cups of cold water. Mine will hold about 10 cups.

How many cups of water to add will depend on the size of your crockpot. You want enough water to cover everything, and you can fill your crock pot to the top edge.

Add one teaspoon of Italian seasoning, one teaspoon of salt, and 1/2 teaspoon of black pepper. Other spices you may want to add – fresh thyme, a bay leaf, peppercorns, or garlic.

You can add more or less to taste as desired. I don’t add a lot of salt to mine because I typically add the salt when I am using the prepared stock.

Stir to combine, then cook in the crockpot on low for 8-10 hours. I have even let the mixture cook overnight for 12 to 15 hours. You can’t really overcook this.

Once the stock is finished cooking, taste it to ensure it’s to your liking; season with more salt and pepper as needed.

Strain the stock through a wire mesh strainer into a large bowl. You can throw out all the bones and vegetables at this point.

Once the recipe has cooled, you can skim off any excess chicken fat if you don’t want it added to the recipe you are making.

Ways to Use Chicken Stock

Use it in any recipe that calls for chicken stock or broth—my favorite way to use this rich broth is to make homemade chicken soup.

• In homemade chicken soup
• In place of water or chicken broth in any recipe (this works especially well when making rice or cous cous)
• Pour it into a mug and drink as a nutritious, cozy meal
• Add to sauces for flavor

This recipe can also be used to make turkey stock in the same way. However, when making turkey stock, use only half of the turkey carcass bones in the crockpot.

How to Store

To store this stock, I have included several methods for saving it for future use.

1. Place the stock in a glass jars and store it in the refrigerator for 3 to 4 days.
2. A pressure cooker can be used to store the chicken stock for later use. This will make the jars of chicken stock shelf-stable.
3. Freeze it in gallon-size Ziploc bags. I usually do this in 4-cup serving sizes. Lay the bag flat in the freezer to freeze, and then you can either stack them or store them upright.
4. Freeze the stock in ice cube trays. Once the stock is frozen, remove the cubes and place them in freezer bags. Depending on the ice cube tray, each cube usually yields around one tablespoon of stock. This is great for when a recipe only calls for a small amount of stock to be added.

Frequently Asked Questions

• How long does the broth last in the refrigerator? 3-4 days.
• How long does the broth last in the freezer? 6 months
• What is the difference between stock and broth? Stock is typically made by simmering bones with aromatic vegetables and herbs, while broth is made by simmering meat (with or without bones) in water. 
• I don’t have a crockpot, can I make this on the stove top? Yes! Prepare in the same way as above, but simmer for 3-4 hours (or up to 8 hours) on low in a large stockpot.
• Can I add apple cider vinegar? Yes! This is a personal preference, but the apple cider vinegar is thought to extract even more minerals and nutrients from the bones. Just a splash is all that is needed.

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