Easy Shredded Chicken & Homemade Chicken Broth

It seems like I use a ton of chicken broth and it gets pricey really quickly. When I needed some shredded chicken for Chicken Marsala Casserole I opted to skip the pricier rotisserie chicken and opt for a whole chicken to cook myself.

Since I wasn't serving the chicken as a meal (but instead using the meat in a recipe) I knew I didn't want it overly seasoned. If you want to serve yours as a meal, feel free to season the heck out of it. Not only did I get a great amount of useable chicken, I also was able to use the leftover pieces to make chicken broth!

Easy Shredded Chicken
1 whole chicken, innards removed
Cooking spray
Seasonings, if desired

Spray the crockpot with cooking spray so it won't stick. Place the entire chicken in the crockpot, no additional liquid needed. Sprinkle on any seasonings you'd like (optional).

Cook it on low for 7 hours or so.

Remove the chicken and pull off all the useable meat (I use a fork). Don't pour out the liquid in the crockpot because if you want to make broth...


Homemade Chicken Broth
Bones, skin, etc of whole chicken
Five cups of water
Liquid already in the crockpot

Put the bones, skin, etc that you don't want from the chicken back in the crockpot and pour about 5 cups of water over top. Set it to low and get it cook all night/day long (I let it run about 10 hours).

Strain it and place the liquid in the fridge to cool completely. Scrape the layer of fat off the top and pour the remaining broth into smaller containers to freeze or refrigerate. I filled 5 pint sized jars and still had leftover! Some more adventurous than me would probably even find a use for the fat.



My $4 chicken provided enough meat for 3-4 meals plus tons of chicken broth. What a deal!