Homemade Chinese Chicken Stock

This Chinese chicken stock is very, very easy to make and perfect for all your local dishes that call for its use, whatever the cuisine.

Estimated reading time: 4 minutes

Difference between Stock and Broth

This is a question I get asked a lot in my classes. Many cooking terms, like names of foods, sometimes depends on where you happen to live in and what English you speak, ie British English or American English!

Stock is something you cook with, that provides a base of flavours that one builds on, to make soups, stews and such. In the Western world, this would be made of bones and a collection of vegetables and aromatics. So we’re talking carrots, celery and onions. Like this fish stock on LinsFood. East Asian stocks, like today’s Chinese chicken stock, are an altogether more streamlined affair, as you’ll see.

Broth refers to a light liquid that one consumes, like the trendy bone broths you see everywhere these days. What, in many parts of Asia, we’d call soup. Light coloured, translucent, and may or may not contain vegetables and pieces of meat to bulk it up. Broth is made of stock that is then seasoned to taste and added upon, if desired.

Chinese Chicken Stock

Chinese chicken stock is a lighter affair than its Western counterpart. We don’t use the usual mirepoix of carrots, celery and onions. And instead of bones, very often, a whole chicken is used to make a large amount of stock. So we have bones and meat. Besides that, we only have a small amount of aromatics for just a hint of flavour.

The stock remains very light in aroma, giving you a wonderful base to create any number of Chinese dishes that call for chicken stock. Like the prawn ball soup that I shall be doing next (image below).

While I’m fairly happy to use stock pots and cubes when making Western dishes, I always cook up Chinese chicken stock for any East Asian dishes. This is because shop bought cubes and stuff is just too strong on the nose and has a sweetness that I don’t want in my Chinese, Japanese and Korean recipes.

Homemade Chinese Chicken Stock

It is very, very easy to make. We need 5 ingredients:

• chicken (I prefer using portions, instead of a whole chicken)
• water
• ginger
• garlic (tiny amount)
• spring onions (scallions)

And all we do is:

1. Rinse the chicken and place everything in a large pot.
2. Bring to a boil and skim off any surface scum.
3. Simmer for 3 hours.
4. Strain and use or store.

The cooked chicken can then be re purposed, see below.

Re Use the Chicken

Once our Chinese chicken stock is done, lift out the chicken portions onto a plate. Then pull away the meat from the bone and set aside. Fish out any large pieces of meat from the stock, if you like. Place the bones back into the stock and strain, squashing everything down.

You can use the chicken meat to add to any soup, noodle soup that you make. Or add it to stir fries, salads, sandwiches, or to just about anything. The chicken meat will keep overnight in the fridge.

You can also freeze the cooked chicken meat for up to a month.

How to Store?

If not using the chicken stock on the same day, it will keep in the fridge for 2 days.

You can also pour it into little freezer proof containers and freeze for up to 3 months.

There you have it, a simple homemade Chinese chicken stock that can be used for any East Asian recipe that calls for chicken stock.

And there you have it. Let’s get this going for our next recipe!

If you enjoy the recipe, drop me a comment and let me know. And if you are feeling like a star, don’t forget that 5-star rating!

If you make this recipe, post it on Instagram and tag me @azlinbloor and hashtag it #linsfood.

Lin xx