Making a homemade turkey stock isn’t very difficult and is a fantastic way to use leftover turkey bones after the holidays. All that’s required is a leftover carcass or some bones, vegetables, salt, a few aromatics and some time out of your day. No worries, the time component is mainly hands-off cooking time! Highly worth it for the finished product that can be used in soups, pies and even as a base to cook your rice in! This how-to guide focuses on making both a large and small batch of turkey stock.
Stocks are a great way to reuse old bones. By boiling the bones in some water with other additions for a long time, the marrow from the bones is extracted, leaving you with an incredibly flavourful broth that can be used in plenty of recipes.
My go to light/yellow stock vegetables consist of carrots, celery and onions. This combination gives the perfect flavour to accompany both turkey and chicken-based stocks. By adding a little salt to the water at the start, this helps the water boil faster as well as starts the seasoning process. I tend to go light on the salt during this step because the turkey skin has usually been seasoned pretty well already. Also, salt can always be added later in the recipes that use the stock, where the amount can be adjusted to taste. The final components that will add to the stock flavour are the aromatics..
In a cheesecloth, bundle a large sprig of sage, a few bay leaves and cloves of garlic as well as some whole peppercorns. Either knot the ends together or use a piece of cooking twine to keep the aromatics secured. A fresh sprig of thyme will work instead if you don’t have any sage on hand. Bundling the aromatics in a cheesecloth makes adding them and removing them for just the right amount of time much easier. If you leave the aromatics in the broth too long it can overpower the other flavours. Timing is key! Bonus, cheesecloth can be reused during the straining stage after a quick rinse. Recycling and reusing is practically the motto of this stock.
Large batch
To make a large batch of turkey stock, you will need a large stockpot, one that is at least 16 quarts or larger and a large turkey carcass. Choose a leftover turkey that weighed at least 15-20+ pounds before it was cooked. Before adding the turkey carcass to the pot, shave as much of the turkey off as possible to save for later recipes. Place the shaved carcass into the pot with 2 tsp of salt and 10 quarts (~40 cups) of water. Don’t worry about leaving the skin on some pieces, that will just end up adding to the overall flavour and the chunks of fat that fall off will end up strained out of the final broth.
Tip: Trying to bring that much water up to a boil takes quite a while, anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour (with a non-induction stove). To speed up this process, you can boil some of the water in a kettle 1-2 quarts at a time to help it reach a boil faster.
Layering the flavours
When I make stocks, I like to layer the flavours. That means adding the flavouring components at different times in the cooking process. If you throw everything in at the same time, the end flavour will be good but muddled as nothing will really stand out. By starting with just the turkey and giving the marrow time to be extracted before adding the vegetables and finally the aromatics near the end of the cooking time, the final result is a broth that screams turkey flavour with the other additions adding to it instead of taking away from the star ingredient.
Straining
Overall, a large batch takes about 4 hours of boiling before the turkey flavour really starts to shine. Once it’s reached the point of critical turkey flavour (which can be tested by trying a spoonful of broth), turn off the heat and let the broth cool for a couple hours. Next is the straining step. This will ensure the clarity of your broth, removing all the floating pieces of fat and making sure no small bones end up in future soups. For this step, feel free to untie the bundle of aromatics and reuse the cheesecloth by lining a colander with it. Alternatively, you can use a coffee liner to line the strainer instead. Use a large bowl or measuring cup underneath and work in batches until all the stock has been strained.
Storage and Freezing tips
The turkey broth can either be used right away, divided up and stored in the fridge for a week or frozen for up to 2 months. The large batch makes about 18-20 cups of broth which I divide into batches of 4, 2 and 1 cup portions. Mason jars work best! The smaller the surface area the stock has to come in contact with air when frozen, the less of it will end up freezer burnt over time. The smaller portions are great for making rice or turkey pies and the larger portions are perfect for soups. If freezing, take out of the freezer and place in the fridge the day before you plan on cooking with it. You know you’ve nailed a perfect turkey broth when, after chilling in the fridge, the broth turns into a jelly like substance. Maximum turkey flavour has been extracted!
Small batch tips
If you don’t own a large stockpot, have no fear, you can get away with making this stock in a dutch oven or a 6-8 quart soup pot. This really only makes enough stock for one turkey soup recipe though. It also won’t hold a large turkey carcass, a leftover 8-12 pound turkey is best. To get around this, break the carcass up into chunks or use the easily removable bones, like the legs, wings, neck etc. This method is pretty similar to the large batch, the overall quantities of ingredients are just scaled down. The only real difference, besides the smaller ingredient quantities is to keep the pot covered during the cooking process. Since there's only room for 10-12 cups of broth in the pot, we need to minimize the amount of liquid lost to evaporation. By covering the pot, very little broth is able to evaporate away. This is not an issue for the larger batch as there is just so much liquid, having half the total evaporate isn’t really an issue. Don’t worry about a weaker flavour with the smaller batch. With the long cooking time, you will still pull a ton of turkey flavour into the broth even without the concentrating effect of evaporation
After reading this, I expect you to never even contemplate throwing out your turkey bones again. Instead, take the time to make either a small or large batch of stock. The stock is the perfect base for turkey soups, pies and to cook your rice in.. wait, what? rice? That’s right, cooking rice in water is a thing of the past. Consider cooking your rice in broth from now on to really up the flavour. Keep an eye out in the future for both leftover turkey pie and soup recipes!
How To Make Homemade Turkey Stock
- Yield: large batch: 18-20 cups |
- Prep time: 15 min |
- Wait time: 2 hrs |
- Cook Time: 4 hrs |
- Total: 6 hrs 15 min
Ingredients:
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Equipment:
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large stockpot (16-20 qt)
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cheesecloth
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optional: cooking twine
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strainer
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Large Batch:
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1 turkey carcass + bones
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40 cups water
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1 tbsp pink Himalayan salt
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2 large carrots, peeled or scrubbed
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2 stalks celery
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1 large cooking onion, peeled and halved
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1 sprig of fresh sage
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2 bay leaves
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2 large whole cloves garlic, peeled
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1 tbsp whole peppercorn
Directions:
1. Strip and shave as much turkey off the bones as possible. Refrigerate leftover turkey in a sealed container.2. Place the turkey carcass in a large stock pot, top with the water and add the salt. Place the cover on the pot and bring to a boil.
3. Remove the cover and continue to boil the bones for 2 hours. Adjust and lower heat if the stock starts a rolling boil.
4. Add carrots, celery, and onion to the stock, continue the gentle boil for an additional 1.5 hours.
5. In a square of cheesecloth, place the sage, bay leaves, garlic and peppercorns. Bring the edges together and tie a knot creating a pouch to hold the aromatics. Or use a piece of string to tie the bundle together
6. Add the aromatics to the stock and continue to simmer for another 30 minutes.
7. Remove the cheesecloth packet from the stock and turn off the heat. Allow the stock to cool for 30 minutes to an hour.
8. Open up the cheesecloth and line a large strainer placed over a large measuring cup/bowl. Working in batches, strain the stock until the entire pot has been drained. Store the stock in a sealed container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week or in the freezer for up to 2 months.