An easy, flavorsome, and frugal low fodmap chicken broth with only 3 ingredients? It sounds like a farce but it is not! You can definitely make a low fodmap chicken broth without onions, garlic, or any of those pesky high fodmap ingredients. We got tired of reading through the list of ingredients at the back of boxes and asking, “is chicken broth low fodmap?” So, we went ahead and made our own.
What we love about this recipe, is that you only need the bones or carcass of a chicken, ginger, and coriander (or cilantro if you’re from the US). A lot of low fodmap soup recipes require substitutes for onion and garlic but we believe this low fodmap chicken stock recipe is simple and flavorful enough to serve as the base of many recipes.
In this post, we’ll cover:
This recipe is part of our series, “One Chicken, Three Recipes.” Where we do exactly as the title describes and show you how to utilize an entire chicken without wasting a thing. Check out our other recipes as part of this series:
Mee Siam – Thai Low FODMAP Noodles
Low FODMAP Slow Cooker Chicken
Ready? Let’s get started with the technical part of this recipe and learn how to break down an entire chicken.
Disclaimer: If you are queasy and do not want to see pictures of raw chicken or chicken being broken down, please skip the following section, “Breaking down an entire chicken in five steps,” and continue on with the rest of the post. This post may contain affiliate links and we may earn a small commission when you click on the links at no additional cost to you.
Breaking Down An Entire Chicken In Five Steps
The holiday season sees a lot of birds on the dinner table. To make the most of your meal, don’t go tossing your turkey or chicken bones into the trash just yet! Put them aside and make this easy low fodmap chicken stock.
Or if you have a whole chicken and want to make the most out of it but have no clue how to cut up a chicken, then welcome to this simple 5 step guide, complete with pictures. You can use this recipe as a base for a low FODMAP chicken soup or check out our recipe for Mee Siam or Thai Noodles.
Where To Make Your Cuts
For visual purposes, we’ve labeled which and where the cuts will be.
The first cut will be the leg and will lead us to the second cut, which is to separate the thigh and drumstick. The third cut is by the wing.
We kept the whole wing for the stock but you can easily remove the wing tip and make the fourth cut around the drummet. The final cut is labeled number four because of the whole wing situation but the last thing is taking the breast meat off the bone.
Now that we’ve familiarized ourselves with the bird, let’s get to it.
Step 1: Breaking Down The Leg
Start by holding on to the leg firmly, pulling it away from the chicken. You will notice a separation where the chicken skin thins. That’s where you want to make your first cut.
Your knife should slide down easily. You will hit a joint and that’s when you place some pressure. Move your knife in a back and forth motion while pulling the leg from the body.
It should come right off. If you’ve gone too far or the leg is not coming off easily then you have probably passed the joint and hit the backbone. No worries, with a bit of pressure and a sharp knife, you’ll still get a leg piece.
Step 2: Separating The Leg
The second step is essentially breaking down the leg to get the thigh and drumstick. If you prefer the whole leg, then skip this step. If you’d like smaller pieces, then soldier on.
With the first step complete, now we go into breaking down the leg. Following the same principle as before, you’ll want to feel for the joint and make a cut around the drumstick.
Use the same back and forth motion and the thigh should separate from the drumstick easily.
Step 3: Breaking Down The Wings
The whole wing is called a three joint wing and depending on what you want to make, you can keep it whole or break down the wing. For this stock, we reserved the drummets for our low fodmap slow cooker chicken and kept the mid joint and wing tip for this low fodmap chicken stock. You could keep these cuts to make fried chicken.
Back to the guide; we work backwards on this step. Start with cutting off the wing tip, moving on to the mid joint. And just like we did in the first step, grasp firmly onto the drummet, feel or look around for the joint.
Use a smooth front to back motion while pulling the drummet away. And voila! Bone-in chicken to make anything your heart desires.
Step 4: Removing The Breasts
This may seem like the most daunting step but honestly, it’s fairly simple and we are firm believers of the saying, “Practice makes progress.” There is a bone that runs right down the chicken, try to feel for it. Your next cuts are going to be on either side of that bone, like so:
Your knife will slide right down and hit the rib cage, angle your knife and continue cutting along the bone. Use it as a guide to get the whole breast off. Do the same for the other side and there you have it. You have just broken down an entire chicken.
If you’re not sure what to do with all these wonderful cuts, why not check out our delicious low fodmap chicken meals:
Step 5: Get A Clever
With all of the ‘essential’ cuts off your chicken, switch from a knife to a clever for the last step. The final step will make it easier for the chicken to fit in a pot. You can chop as you wish and break down the chicken bones into small pieces.
Start by cutting the chicken carcass in half by chopping through the back or rib bone and from there, cut it into quarters and you have officially butchered a whole chicken in 5 steps.
Now, on to making our three ingredients low fodmap chicken stock.
How To Make Our Low Fodmap Chicken Broth
Chicken broth fodmaps are usually quite high because of flavoring agents like onions, garlic, celery, etc. And of course one could make a chicken broth low fodmap by using substitutes like garlic oil instead of garlic cloves, green onions, or leeks (green tops only) to infuse oniony flavor but our bowels disagree even with just the leafy green tops of leeks and green onions.
With only three ingredients, this low fodmap soup base packs a surprising amount of flavor and has been one of our favorite soup bases and best low fodmap soup recipes. The secret ingredient? Timing.
What makes this chicken stock low fodmap is the omission of any high fodmap ingredients. It’s a broth without onion or garlic. All you need is ginger, chicken bones, and coriander or cilantro. If you absolutely hate cilantro, don’t run off just yet. We’ve got you covered with other substitutes. But, we’ve digressed, let’s get back on track and start making one of our favorite bases for low any fodmap chicken soup recipes.
Color Is Flavor
You can use a tablespoon of oil or like us, start with the chicken fat and skin we removed from the bird. When there is enough fat in the pot, add in your chicken bones and castaways and cook on medium-high heat until brown. You can’t overcook this chicken, so don’t worry! What you’re looking for is this: delicious brown low fodmap wings.
Those delicious brown bits of caramelization will give the stock a lot of its flavor. This can take up to 6-10 minutes. Once you’re happy with the degree of caramelization on the chicken, add in your bruised ginger and saute. We love using a thick bottom pot or a Dutch oven for stocks because it allows for deep steady browning without the risk of burning anything.
At this point, you can add any other spices you desire but we wanted to keep it simple so we added black peppercorns.
Cold Water VS Hot Water
Some recipes call for cold water and others hot water. We use cold water because:
- We can’t ever be bothered to add another step and pre-boil water
- Aisha has always been told growing up making broths with cold water is essential for a clear stock
- We tried making this broth with both cold and hot water and noted that the cold-water start produced a clearer and less cloudy broth.
Hack: Remove Impurities
An annoying part of making any stock is scooping up all that muck and bubbles that rise to the top of the broth. These impurities -as many call them- make the liquid cloudy and leave an unpleasant taste.
The general consensus is to grab a spoon and start scooping it all up. But that is tiresome, takes far too long, and most times you end up getting more broth than foamy gunk. Switch that spoon out for a tiny sieve and be amazed.
Make sure to rinse the sieve after every scoop to avoid adding impurities back into the broth. You could make this a low fodmap chicken soup slow cooker recipe if you’re not in the mood to stand over a stove too!
Not A Fan Of Coriander? Here Are Some Substitute Spices
Is cilantro low fodmap? Yes, it is. Does everyone like it? Nope… This section is for you cilantro haters out there.
So, you want to make this stock for a low fodmap chicken soup recipe but you don’t like coriander or cilantro. That’s okay! Personally, we are team cilantro/coriander all the way but if you can exclude this herb or substitute it with:
- Cloves
- Star anise
- Cinnamon stick
- Rosemary
- Thyme
We have made this stock without cilantro and instead used a mix of whole cloves, star anise, a cinnamon stick, and cardamom to give this broth an aromatic earthy undertones. If you don’t have these spices then substitute with fresh herbs like rosemary or thyme.
Tip: Tie your fresh herbs into a little bouquet using food-safe string or thread for easy removal.
And just like that, you have a low fodmap chicken broth recipe that utilizes ONLY THREE INGREDIENTS and you’ve also learned a few neat tricks along the way. How to break down an entire chicken, get a clear broth, an easier way to remove impurities, and how to turn any chicken stock low fodmap with substitutes.
That is one heck of a list. What do you plan on using this low fodmap chicken broth recipe to make? Comment below and let us know!
This recipe is part of our series, “One Chicken, Three Recipes.” Where we do exactly as the title describes and show you how to utilize an entire chicken without wasting a thing. Check out our other low fodmap chicken recipes as part of this series:
Mee Siam – Thai Low FODMAP Noodles
Low FODMAP Slow Cooker Chicken
Looking for a low fodmap broth? Check out this delicious and healthy bone broth:
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