As far as I'm concerned, chicken stock (or chicken broth) is liquid gold. You can buy it — but it's ridiculously easy to make your own chicken broth yourself. When I'm on my game, I've got stock in my freezer and maybe even a supply in my refrigerator. I'll usually store it flat in freezer bags. That way I can make soup just about any time I want. But of course, you can do so much more with chicken stock than just make soup — here are seven other ways to use chicken broth.
More from The Stir: 8 Mouth-Watering Ways to Cook With Coconut Oil
- Colds and flu Rx. I like to keep some chicken broth stocked at all times in the freezer in case someone comes down with a cold. Even if I don't have fresh ginger to grate in, just that broth alone
- Soup cubes. Sometimes the dinner you serve is too hot — so one way to cool it down is to toss in an ice cube. But that's going to water down the food! Instead, pour chicken stock into an ice cube tray, and use those soup cubes to cool off food instead.
- Sauce starters. I'll use the soup cubes for sauces as well. Usually I'll deglaze pan drippings from roasted meat or vegetables with a little wine. Add some soup cubes and let simmer a while, and you have a lovely sauce.
- DIY ramen. Instead of using the dried soup packets that come with ramen noodles, I like to pour in some homemade broth and season with my own spices.
- Mashed potatoes without gravy. If you don't have time to make gravy, you can pour in some chicken broth while you're mashing your potatoes to add a little bit of that gravy flavor.
- Braising liquid. I like to pour in some stock when I'm slow-cooking large cuts of meat, on the stove or in the oven.
- Rice dishes. Cook rice in broth instead of water for extra flavor.
How else do you use chicken broth?
Image via www.worththewhisk.com/Flickr