Learn how to make consome de pollo at home with our homemade chicken broth recipe and use it instead of bouillon cubes. Coming from a family where cooking with natural ingredients was the norm, I rarely use industrial seasonings at home or in my recipes.
Why we ❤️ it
Years ago I asked my readers a question: "Do we really do this?". The full question was "do we Dominicans really use sopitas (bouillon cubes) that much?". The question came after a discussion on the subject on our social media.
Well, let me tell you right now that, in my opinion, industrial seasonings and bouillon cubes are not what makes (or breaks) traditional Dominican cookery. So if you like these conveniences, by any means, go ahead. I don't argue about taste. But if you want to start cooking in a more sustainable, healthful fashion, I am here to help a bit, and this chicken broth is a great way to start your journey.
Top tips
- You can pick the meat that comes off after boiling and save it to make pastelitos or something else.
- You can add more or fewer ingredients as you wish.
- If you freeze it, it has a very long shelf life, so store it in pre-measured portions (about a cup each) for convenience. It should last at least a month.
- You can double, triple --or more-- the recipe and have a lot of pre-made chicken broth for later use.
Consome de pollo or homemade chicken broth
About this recipe
Nowadays you see me list "chicken broth" or "vegetable broth" instead of bouillon cubes in my recipes. You can also buy low-sodium and low-fat broths, but why not make it at home?
This homemade chicken bone broth recipe is inexpensive (and you know that's one of my favorite words!).
Better yet, it's easy, very easy. Trust me, as recipes go, this cannot get any easier. It's just "set it and forget it", in the immortal words of Ron Popeil.
Recipe
[Recipe + Video] Consome de pollo or Homemade Chicken Broth
Ingredients
For the chicken broth
- 1 chicken ribcage and bones, (1 lb [0.45 kg])
- 1 medium red onion, quartered
- 1 head of garlic, peeled
- 1 sprig oregano (dry, ground)
- 1 bunch parsley, or cilantro
- 1 cubanela (cubanelle pepper), seeded and halved
- 1 teaspoon allspice berries (malagüeta)
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
Instructions
Place chicken, onion, garlic, oregano, parsley, bell pepper, allspice, and pepper in a large pot.Add ½ gallon [2 liters] of water.- Cover, and simmer over very low heat for an hour and a half. Add more water when it becomes necessary to maintain the same level.Once this time has passed, remove it from the heat and let it cool down to room temperature.
- Strain and get rid of solids.If there was meat on the bones, you can pick up the pieces and use them for empanada fillings.
- Separate into portions of one cup each and freeze.
Video
Tips and Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is calculated automatically based on ingredients listed. Please consult your doctor if you need precise nutritional information.
Consome de pollo ingredients
To make this natural and easy chicken consommé you can use as a base the ingredients in our recipe, but you can add some more if you have pieces and leftovers in the fridge. As a note, I don't add salt to add it later in the dish I use it in. You can also add:
- Chicken bones
- Celery
- Carrots
- Garlic cloves
- Oregano
- Sweet peppers or chili peppers
- Pepper
- Malagueta (Jamaican pepper)
- Vegetables (cilantro and parsley in the DR)
- White or red onion
- A few drops of lime juice
For this recipe, I bought a whole chicken and removed the chicken breast, legs, and wings, and used the remainder to make the chicken stock. After straining the broth, I collected the bits of minced meat left in the strainer to use as an empanada filling.
How to use consome de pollo
You can use chicken consommé as a base for Chicken soup, or to add extra flavor to Locrio de pollo and Asopao de pollo, as well as other recipes where we mention it.
Why homemade ingredients
When I started writing these recipes I sometimes had people tell me that mine were not "authentic Domnican recipes" because this dish, or that other, did not contain seasonings or sopita. As time passed I came to the conclusion that If I wouldn't serve something to my family, why would I "serve" it to my readers?
And on the authenticity argument, I disagree, our grandmothers in the campos had little access to these "conveniences", and they don't appear in my old Dominican cookbooks. We have been advertised to death until we were convinced that Dominican food has always contained these things.
How to make chicken broth from bouillon
If you cannot make it homemade, you can make a quick chicken broth by dissolving a bouillon cube in 2 cups of boiling-hot water.
Preguntas frecuentes
To make chicken consommé or chicken broth in a few simple steps, vegetables, herbs and spices are boiled together with bones and other parts of the chicken for a long time to extract their flavors.
Chicken consommé is a concentrated chicken broth used to flavor other dishes.
Chicken broth can be consomé de pollo or caldo de pollo in Spanish depending on the country.
Chicken consommé is "chicken broth" or "chicken stock" in English.
Yes, you can. They are the same thing.
Published Feb 27, 2013, revised
