Whenever I make homemade soup, I start with making stock from scratch. If you have the time, it’s so easy and adds so much incredible flavor to your dish. This recipe specifically is best for soups that include shredded chicken, since it calls for a whole chicken rather than leftover bones (though that’s certainly a great way to use up kitchen scraps like carrot ends, small celery sticks and leaves, and onion peels). For this stock, you’ll slow-cook the chicken into a flavorful broth, then remove it and shred the meat, making sure to return the bones to the pot for as long as possible, then continue to make soup. You’ll never want to make another chicken soup again once you try this—and this totally mouthwatering chicken salad (I like to call it a chicken soup chicken salad) while you wait for the soup to finish. It’s tender, juicy, fall-off-the-bone delicious.
Add the chicken, celery, onions, and carrots to a large stock pot and cover everything with fresh water by 2 inches.
Place the stock pot over high heat and add the bay leaves and peppercorns to the pot. Bring to a boil, then cover.
Cook for an hour and a half, then remove the chicken from the pot and shred the meat. Use 1½ cups of the chicken to make the Best Chicken Salad, and keep the rest on a plate for your soup. Return the bones to the pot.
Continue to cook the stock, covered, for as long as you have, up to 3 hours.
In a sink, place a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl or another stock pot. Carefully drain the stock into the pot so none of it goes down the drain. If there’s lots of sediment in your stock, line the strainer with cheesecloth and strain carefully once more.
Store the chicken stock in a freezer-safe container for up to 2 months or use it to make soup immediately.
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