Chicken broth without gelatin (storebought and homemade)

Question

When I make chicken stock at home by cooking meat and bones, the resulting fluid contains a considerable amount of gelatin, as observed in Why did my Turkey Stock turn into gelatin?; it solidifies when chilled.

When I buy commercial chicken broth/stock in a can or box, it doesn't seem to contain a significant amount of gelatin. Why not? How do they avoid / remove the gelatin?

If I wanted to make homemade chicken stock with much less gelatin, so that it wouldn't gel when cooled, how could I do it?

Answer 1

The gelatin has come out of the bones; I find a good chicken stock is often a bit gelatinous when cooled.

As a general rule, when you cook stock for a really long time/on a higher heat, then it's likely to have a higher gelatin content (as it will reduce more and there is also more time for the gelatin to transfer from the bones to the stock liquid).

Generally, when I make chicken stock I put a whole chicken, a couple of carrots, a couple of sticks of celery, and a few brown onions chopped in half in a big pot and fill it with water. I'd simmer it for 1.5-2 hours and then chuck the veggies, and strip the meat from the chicken. The stock I get from that needs to be skimmed of fat, but is usually fairly light and not overly gelatinous when it cools (although it always is a little bit).

I hope that helps!

Answer 2

Your question has "chicken broth", without gelatin, which is correct. But in your post you are mentioning "chicken stock", which does have much more gelatin.

There is a difference in what you are asking between stock and broth. Stock is technically made with the bones, therefore leading to the gelatin that you don't want. Broth on the other hand is usually made with just the meat, which will have very little gelatin at all. The gelatin and collagen (connective tissue parts) are both released when they are slowly simmered, the longer the simmer time the more time there is to extract.

I think if you don't want the gelatin then you should just boil down the chicken meat instead of the bones. This will give you some chicken flavour but will not give you that fullness and richness with stock.