Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Stock From Scraps for Cents Per Litre
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Turn leftover roast chicken into delicious slow cooker chicken stock. Under 50c/litre in less than 15 hands-on minutes. Easy step-by-step instructions.
Homemade chicken stock, especially stock made from leftover chicken bones, is just cents per litre – far cheaper than store-bought stock.
And while it does take some cooking time to get a rich chicken flavour, using the slow cooker means the hands-on time is only a few minutes.
The added bonus? You extract maximum flavour and value from your grocery budget – a whole chook can become multiple meals, saving you money.
Is Homemade Stock Actually Saving You Money?
I’ve done the calculations below based on 2026 prices. Even with the price of electricity, it’s massive savings compared to ready-made stock purchased at the supermarket.
| Leftover chicken carcass | $0 |
| Leftover vegetable scraps (optional) | $0 |
| Peppercorns, salt, bay leaves (optional) | $1 (this is generous – probably less) |
| Electricity* | $0.36 |
| Total for 3 litres | $1.36 |
*Cost of electricity calculation: average wattage of a 4-litre slow cooker on low, approx. = 140w or 0.14kWh. Running the slow cooker for 7 hours = 0.98kWh (round to 1). My current energy price is 36 cents (rounded up) per kWh. The total energy usage is probably somewhat less, because a slow cooker doesn’t draw down energy the whole time, but cycles on and off once it gets to temperature.
A 1-litre carton of pre-made stock at our local supermarket is $4.50 for the name brand and $3.00 for the home brand. So for 3 litres of stock, $9. That’s a saving of between $7.64 – $12.14 while fully utilising scraps bound for the garbage bin anyway.
But What About the Time?
Who has time to spend hours in the kitchen, right?!
Making stock does take time, but the good thing about a slow cooker is that a lot of the time is hands-free.
If you’re comfortable leaving the slow cooker on overnight, then you can literally make stock in your sleep!
My usual workflow is:
Strip the meat off the bones the night I make a roast dinner > put the bones straight in the slow cooker and cook overnight OR refrigerate, then start the slow cooker when I first get up in the morning > strain after 7 hours, give or take > freeze in batches.
Total hands-on time: approximately 15 minutes.
Most of that time is just decanting and labelling the bags/jars and washing the slow cooker, to be honest.
If you like, you can refrigerate the stock and skim the cold fat off the top before freezing. This adds another day to the process, but hands-on work is still only minutes, not hours.
How to Make Chicken Stock in the Slow Cooker Step-by-Step
First, a note on tools.
You don’t need any fancy tools for this. In fact, you don’t even need a slow cooker. Stock has been made in a large pot on the stove for hundreds of years. So if that’s what you have, you can make it on the stove.
But to make things easier:
- slow cooker
- ladle
- measuring jug (optional)
- fine strainer
- tongs to pick the bits out first
- recycled jars, containers, or zip lock bags for freezing stock
- permanent marker to label (and masking tape if using jars or containers).
Step 1: Strip the Meat off the Chicken
Strip the remaining meat off the carcass, leaving the bones and scraps.
Refrigerate the carcass for no more than 3 days if you’re not going to make stock straight away.
Step 2: (Optional) Add Veg for Extra Flavour
If you like, you can add some vegetables to your stock for extra flavour. Veggie options include:
- onion
- garlic
- carrot
- celery
- parsley.
I collect vegetable scraps (pictured) and freeze them, so I have some ready to go when I want to make stock. There are a few celery leaves and parsley stalk scraps in the picture.
Step 3: Add Salt and Seasoning
Add salt to your stock (I prefer not to add too much and salt each dish as I cook it).
You can also add bay leaves if you have them, and peppercorns.
Step 4: Cover with Water and Cook for 7 Hours or Longer
Cover with water and cook.
For my slow cooker, I used 3 litres to cover the bones, so I should get about 3 litres of stock. Depending on the size of your slow cooker, you might get a little more or less.
Step 5: Strain Stock
I’ve found the easiest way to strain the stock is to first remove as much of the chicken bones and veg as you can using a pair of tongs, then ladle the stock through a fine strainer into a bowl.
(I forgot to photograph this step.)
Step 6: (Optional) Refrigerate and Remove Excess Fat
If you want to remove the excess fat from the stock, you have two options.
- Carefully skim the fat off the stock while it’s still hot
- Refrigerate overnight and then skim the hardened fat off the top.
Either option is fine; the refrigerated version is easier, but drags the process out over two days.
Or, you can leave the fat in the stock if you prefer.
Step 7: Pour into Jars/ Ziplock Bags, Label, and Freeze
Decant the stock into zip-lock bags, containers, or recycled jars in various amounts for different recipes.
Label and freeze.
If you’re using zip-lock bags, freeze flat on a tray, then you can store flat or ‘file’ upright in a container to conserve freezer space.
If you’re freezing liquid in glass jars, remember that liquid expands when it freezes, so be sure to leave enough headroom in the jar for expansion; otherwise, the glass jar can break in the freezer.
Freezing Guide
Homemade chicken stock can be kept in the fridge for up to three days.
Frozen chicken stock can be kept in the freezer for up to three months.
I like to freeze the stock in various amounts (1 litre (4 cups), 500ml (2 cups), 250ml (1 cup)) for different dishes.
Using Homemade Chicken Stock
Use in:
- soups
- sauces (like pasta sauce)
- gravy
- curry
- risotto
- to flavour grains or mashed potatoes
- braises
- pot-roasting
Super Simple Slow Cooker Chicken Stock
Make your own delicious chicken stock easily from scraps in the slow cooker. You really only need bones and water, but I've added some optional ingredients you can use to deepen the flavour.
Ingredients
- Leftover bones of a whole roast chicken
- 3 litres of water (or enough to cover)
- 1 tsp. salt
- a few peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves (optional)
- vegetables or vegetable scraps (optional, see notes)
Instructions
- Strip the meat from the cooked chicken bones and place the bones into the slow cooker.
- Top with water and add salt and peppercorns.
- Add the vegetables and bay leaves if using.
- Cook on LOW for 7-8 hours or overnight.
- Strain stock through a strainer.
- (Optional step) Refrigerate and skim the solidified fat off the top.
- Divide into portions, label, and freeze.
Notes
- Because stock is the base of other dishes, you don't want to over-salt it. Instead, season whatever dish you add it to to get the perfect flavour.
- If you want to add vegetables, add a couple of roughly chopped carrots, a chopped onion or two, maybe a couple of garlic cloves, celery leaves or stalks, and some parsley stalks. (You can just add what you have on hand; it doesn't have to be all of this.)
- For an even cheaper version, use vegetable scraps. I put scraps in a bag in the freezer when I'm preparing meals, so there are scraps ready to go when I want to make stock. Scraps to use include carrot and onion peelings, celery leaves, parsley stalks, and garlic. Just make sure to wash your veggies before you keep the scraps.
- For traditional French stock, add a bouquet garni and/or a bay leaf and a few peppercorns.
- You can freeze the stock in containers, zip-lock freezer bags (these are great because they stack once frozen) or jars.
- If you use glass jars, make sure to leave plenty of headroom in the jar because liquid expands when frozen, and you don't want exploding jars!
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 0Sodium: 75mgCarbohydrates: 0gFiber: 2g
Nutritional information is calculated automatically using the Nutritionix database. Nutrition information can vary for a recipe based on factors such as precision of measurements, brands, ingredient freshness, serving size or the source of nutrition data. We strive to keep the information as accurate as possible but make no warranties regarding its accuracy. We encourage readers to make their own calculations based on the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.
