Stock and Broth Recipes

Poaching the chicken in broth makes the chicken juicy and tender. It also deepens the flavor of the broth, which is then used to cook the couscous for this healthful and easy one-pot meal. Each serving provides almost five grams of fiber and more than a third of a day's protein with just 322 calories.

When homemade marinara is this easy and fast (OK, it cooks for about an hour, but after the first five minutes you hardly have to touch it), nobody should ever need the jarred stuff. Chicken broth adds extra flavor in this recipe, and aids in the thickening of the finished sauce. Take the time on a weekend to make a double recipe, and freeze in one-cup portions, perfect for thawing out and topping pasta for two.

Cook rice in water and it's just rice. But cook it in broth, and you've created pilaf, a much tastier and interesting side dish. This recipe combines the warm tastes of cinnamon and cloves with sweet raisins and crunchy pistachios for great fall flavor. You can substitute white basmati rice for brown, or use this dish to show off an uncommon rice variety such as red or black rice.

Reducing chicken broth not only concentrates the flavor, it also thickens the liquid so it can serve as a sauce, as in this classic dish. The wonderful mild flavor and deep aroma of roasted garlic will suffuse your whole house, and the tender braised chicken is comfort food for almost everyone.

The secret's out: Cream is not required for creamy mashed potatoes. Our version uses a combination of chicken stock and buttermilk to achieve tangy flavor, creamy texture, and a nice savory note while keeping calories at just 181 per serving. If you're of the meatless persuasion, vegetable broth works as well as chicken, and you can mix whatever flavorings you like with the butter. Try mâitre d'hôtel butter: Mix a half a tablespoon each of chopped parsley and lemon juice, plus some pepper, into the butter instead of the garlic, shallot, and rosemary.

Good stocks or broths are of course the main ingredient in good soups, and this nutritious vegetarian meal-in-a-bowl can shine with a great vegetable broth. The whopping 12.5 grams of fiber per bowl―half of what you need in a day―comes from the one-two punch of beans and whole-grain barley. It's a hearty lunch or light dinner by itself, but try it with a grilled cheese sandwich for a comforting rainy-day meal.

Rich, creamy risotto is the perfect spotlight for fresh seasonal vegetables, and good chicken (or vegetable) broth is the key to a flavorful risotto. In the summer, try this dish with

Without the vegetable broth this would be a collection of sautéed veggies, but the broth unifies the flavors into a coherent dish. Ratatouille is normally vegetarian anyway, but we've subbed tempeh for the usual eggplant to give it a meatier texture. You can use eggplant instead, and feel free to sub in whatever veggies are fresh and on hand.