To be honest, I was on the fence about sharing this post. It is, without a doubt, my most-used, most-loved method of storing chicken stock, but it’s just so easy that posting it almost feels like cheating. Since forever, we’ve mainly shared our recipes with our readers on Port and Fin, but perhaps it’s time to branch out a bit.
This post, rather than being a recipe, is just a helpful hint. Call it a “hack”, if you will (that word is all over the internet these days) but in reality, it’s just one of my favourite tips that I just had to share with you guys. I can’t take credit for the actual idea – I came across the idea somewhere on the internet- but I really do want to share it!
The next time you make homemade chicken stock, freeze it in a muffin tray!
Homemade chicken stock is a fantastic way to make use of all the bits of the chicken. I like to roast a chicken every so often, and instead of tossing the carcass in the bin, I’ll toss it in my crock pot (with some extra onions, herbs, lemon, celery, etc) with some water and let it cook on low overnight. In the morning, the house smells amazing, and I have a two-or-so litres of delicious broth to add to future recipes. Soups, stew, sauces, you name it.
Since I only use a bit of broth at a time, the best way to store it is frozen in a muffin tray (and transferred to a ziplock bag).
Each muffin “cup” is roughly 1/4 of a cup, so when a recipe calls for 1 cup of broth, I’ll simply pull out 4 pucks of broth and melt them in the microwave.
Storing, keeping, measuring, and using chicken stock is absurdly easy with this trick!
If you really want to try this, I recommend investing in some reusable, silicone muffin liners, which make removing the frozen broth from the tray a breeze. They’re relatively cheap (mine were just a few dollars from Ikea!) and can be reused indefinitely.
So:
- Make your chicken stock however you prefer. The crock pot makes wonderful broth, and it couldn’t be easier.
- Line a muffin tray with reusable, silicone muffin liners.
- Fill muffin cups with chicken stock.
- Freeze until solid, then transfer broth “pucks” to a ziplock bag.
- Repeat with remaining broth.
- Freeze until needed. Each puck is roughly 1/4 of a cup.
Now… anyone want to roast a chicken this weekend?
Good post – no need to be on the be on the fence about sharing – huge bags of frozen chicken stock have been know to launch at me when i open my freezer door ! I will definitely try this idea using my beloved silicone muffin pan. Seems like a wayy safer way to store stock 🙂
Haha thanks, Angela! Luckily these little pucks store relatively flat in their freezer bag, so no more stock-inspired bruises! ?
Absolutely a TERRIFIC idea. I usually put them in some pirex 1-cup containers but they’re really hard to remove an defrost as well as difficult to use only a bit. I made some stock last night so I went and bought some of these cupcake holders and a tray so, in a little bit, I’ll be trying this out. THANK YOU!!!!