food
Don't run to the store yet
By Emma Singer
•
Published May 24, 2024
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Photo: Liz Andrew/Styling: Erin McDowell
You found the most scrumptious recipe for chicken pot pie soupand can barely contain your excitement, so you head straight to the store with your ingredient list then rush back home to start cooking your dream dinner. Alas, when you start taking the groceries out of the bag, you realize you’ve made a terrible mistake: You forgot the chicken broth. Do you A) delay your dinnertime gratification and schlep back to the store, B) hold back tears and call for pizza delivery or C) roll up your sleeves and press on despite the absence of an important ingredient? Hold on, I’ll answer for you—the correct choice is C. When it comes to the best substitute for chicken broth, it turns out there’s at least one ingredient (if not all of these six) already hanging around your kitchen. Here are an expert’s favorites, ranked from best to worst.
Meet the Expert
Katherine Gillen is PureWow’s senior food editor. She’s a writer, recipe developer and food stylist with a degree in culinary arts and professional experience in New York City restaurants, and has spent nearly seven years writing about all things food.
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1. Water
Best For: all recipes
Don’t be shy to straight-up swap water for chicken broth. According to Gillen,water is a perfectly acceptable 1:1 substitute for chicken broth and it happens to be her favorite out of the bunch since it doesn’t require another grocery store run. Hear this out: Soups, stews, sauces and more are typically full of aromatics and flavorings that simmer in water, which means you’re basicallybuilding your own broth anyway. Just be sure to taste your dish and adjust the seasoning accordingly since you’ll likely need to amp up the flavor with more herbs, salt and other flavor boosters (Parmesan rind, anyone?).
Pros
- free
- already in your kitchen
Cons
- no flavor
Better Than Bouillon
2. Chicken Base
Best For: soups and stews
Similar to bouillon cubes (which are made by removing the water from chicken broth), chicken base is a highly concentrated paste that contains roast chicken and other seasonings. When dissolved in hot water, it makes a flavorful substitute for chicken broth that Gillen actually says she prefers over the boxed, store-bought kind. Once mixed with water, the liquid can be used in a 1:1 ratio for stock or broth. Her favorite brand is Better Than Bouillon. “It’s not a super common pantry ingredient,” she says, “but it should be.”
Pros
- tastes as good as store-bought chicken broth
- 1:1 swap
Cons
- not a common pantry ingredient
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3. Vegetable Broth
Best For: soups and stews
If you have some hanging around and are short on time, you can, of course, use boxed vegetable broth, but know that the store-bought variety has a tendency to be dominating in flavor (think cabbage-y). Instead, Gillen suggests home cooks make their own veggie broth from whatever is in the fridge for a more subtle flavor. To make a vegetable broth, simply simmer the trimmings of any veggies you have on hand—mushroom, onion, carrot, celery—along with some aromatics like bay leaf and thyme. The quick and easy process can be achieved in as little as 20 to 30 minutes—basically the time it takes to complete the remaining dinner prep—and the flavor boost is worth the effort. Note: This is another 1:1 substitute, but you should account for ¼ to ⅓ cup of lost liquid when measuring out the water prior to simmering the broth ingredients.
Pros
- easy to swap 1:1
Cons
- store-bought has strong vegetal flavor
- time consuming if homemade
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4. Bouillon Cube
Best For: soups and stews
Try this trick: Dissolve an old school bouillon cube in hot water as directed and use the liquid as a 1:1 swap for chicken broth. If you go this route, Gillen suggests using slightly less seasoning than you typically would for the dish, since bouillon cubes (i.e., tiny salt bombs) are typically more potent than both store-bought and homemade broth, even when diluted per the instructions.
Pros
- tastes as good as broth
- easy to use
Cons
- less likely to have in your kitchen
microgen/Getty Images
5. White Wine
Best For: sauces
If you’re in a pinch, you can replace chicken broth with water and 1/4 to 1/2 cup of white wine for a flavorful substitute. It will add a lot of brightness to the recipe, and is best suited for sauces that are cooked (so the alcohol has a chance to evaporate).
Pros
- adds brightness to recipes
Cons
- alcohol needs to be cooked off
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6. Bean or Chickpea Liquid
Best For: soups and stews
The next time you drain a can of chickpeas for a salad or some black beans for taco Tuesday, don’t let that liquid go to waste—it’s a rich, flavorful stand-in for broth that you’ll be happy to have handy. As a substitute for chicken broth, you’ll want to dilute the bean liquid with equal parts water, since the bean juices are so starchy on their own. The watered-down mixture can then be used as a 1:1 swap in any recipe that calls for chicken broth.
Pros
- good way to reduce waste
- flavorful
Cons
- needs to be diluted
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Emma Singer
Freelance PureWow Editor
Emma Singer is a freelance contributing editor and writer at PureWow who has over 7 years of professional proofreading, copyediting and writing experience. At PureWow, she covers...
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