How to Make Turkey Stock
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Homemade turkey stock is the key to the most amazing soups and sauces. Even better, a homemade stock presents a purposeful way to use what might have otherwise been tossed off as waste. Of course, using the leftover turkey carcass to make a turkey stock is most common, but that is far from the only option.
You can do stocks from beef and veal bones, ham hocks, or just vegetables. Nothing like a homemade stock for cutting back on sodium and loading up on way more flavor. With an easy to make homemade stock, build a proper foundation for so many great dishes!
Turkey stock, in a way, becomes that “secret ingredient” that turns heads and excites taste buds. Even the simplest soup rises to supremely delicious with a great homemade turkey stock.
Homemade Stock Making Tips
There are restaurants from China to France that have stock pots that have been boiling away continuously for close to 100 years! As some of the precious stock liquid is removed, more is added. Chefs add ingredients as well.
Bones, vegetable bits and pieces that might otherwise seem useless, like the ends and skins of onions, come into the stock and simmer away. The process of adding and taking away, while constantly cooking, impart layers and layers of flavor.
Of course, most people won’t keep a pot going for days, weeks, or years, but knowing how to get the most out of a homemade stock will make everything taste better.
Here Are A Few Tips For Homemade Stock:
- You can use cooked bones or uncooked. Of course, the long simmer will completely cook everything you toss in.
- Start with a high boil, then bring everything down to a low simmer. Leave the top just partially off to prevent the heat from rising too high when you simmer it.
- Use all the pieces of veggie and herbs that you might otherwise toss. Onion skins, garlic skins, the root end of the green onion, the bottom of that bunch of celery. All of those are packed with flavor that will imbue the stock with flavor for days.
- Pour your stock through a screen sieve with a piece of cheesecloth in it to remove all the solids. You can just do it through the screen sieve if you don’t need it to be perfectly solid free.
- Add seasonings like herbs, salt, and pepper, some cayenne… feel free to go wild. Mustard seeds, celery seeds, caraway, you name it. A great stock has many layers of flavor.
Clarifying A Broth
Some soups, like consomme, require the broth to be as clear as possible. To clarify a broth, mix some egg whites with some cold water and pour it into the stock slowly. It will form a “raft” that will help clarify the stock. Just remove the eggs and strain the stock broth again.
Some people also use eggshells to clarify the broth. In this case, the raft is made of egg whites and eggshells. Of course, make sure to strain them out! The great thing about using eggshells to clarify a broth? It adds extra calcium in a form easy to digest and absorb.
Storing Stock
Take your homemade stock and freeze whatever you can’t use. It will keep for months. If you want a convenient way to access just small flavorful bits of stock, then use ice cube trays. You can freeze cubes of stock that are easy to add to sauces.
No need to unfreeze a big block of stock unless you are making soup!
Some Recipe Suggestions To Use Your Homemade Stock In
I have so many great ways to take advantage of your stock! Check out some of these recipes. You can, of course, use any type of stock for each, but some might be better with a chicken or beef or a ham hock stock. You make the call!
Chicken and Turkey Stock
- Kapusniak soup
- Chicken Mushroom Wild Rice Soup
- Spicy Chicken Noodle Soup
- Italian Chicken Noodle Soup
Beef Stock
Pork Stock
Vegetable Stock
While you probably won’t keep your stockpot going for years, you will make great soups and sauces with homemade stock for many years to come! It is worth the effort, and the effort is minimal. The hardest part of making homemade stock?
Taking little spoonfuls to taste test it and deciding what spice or herb you need to add to get it just right!
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Let’s get to the recipe for this homemade turkey stock, shall we? 
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How to Make Turkey Stock
Ingredients
- 1 turkey carcass
- Top 1/3 of 1 bunch of celery leaves included, washed
- 2-3 carrots cut into chunks
- 1 medium-sized onion cut into chunks
- Salt and Pepper
- Accent Seasoning optional
Instructions
- Place turkey carcass in a soup pot, press down to fit in the bottom, cut in half if necessary.
- Chop the tops of the celery stalks off (about the top 1/3 portion) Wash, leaving the leaves intact. Add to soup pot with the carcass.
- Chop 2-3 carrots in thirds and add to the pot.
- Peel and Slice one onion, add to the pot.
- Cover with water so ingredients are submerged.
- Sprinkle generously with salt and pepper. Add Accent seasoning if desired.
- Cover pot with a lid and cook for 1 1/2- 2 hours on low. Remaining meat will fall off of the bone, and broth will be rich and fragrant.
- Strain the turkey stock, catching all of the bones and vegetables. Remove any pieces of meat from the bones, add back into strained stock. Discard the rest.
- At this point, I like to refrigerate overnight. All of the grease will rise to the top and you will be able to skim it off easily when it's cold. Return to soup pot to finish.
I don’t know why I have never thought to do this before. But you have convinced me that I need to for sure this year. Can’t wait to try it.
The recipe of turkey stock sounds simple and delicious at the same time. It has arrived during the holiday season when I really need it! Thanks for sharing:)
I never knew about clarifying the broth! Thanks for the tip!
What a clever timely recipe! I love homemade chicken stock so much that of course I’ll love turkey stock. Thanks for this!
My mom was just talking about Thanksgiving and turkey recipes. We had talked about turkey stock and how she might make it. Perfect timing to find this recipe! Will be helping her try this recipe!
Being a child of a child of the depression, I am all about using every little bit of food possible, and this stock is a great example of that. I’m sure it’s way better than anything you can buy, too.
This post was so informative and a great read for someone who has never made stock before. It is also a great reminder of how easy it is to make such a flavorful stock.