13 Ingredients to Elevate the Flavor of Chicken Broth

There is no arguing that chicken broth is the backbone for countless recipes and cuisines around the globe. Chefs often view it as one of the core fundamental building blocks in cooking, providing an intense amount of flavor to a plethora of soups, stews, sauces, and grains. As a professional chef of over 10 years — who has made what seems like a thousand pots of chicken broth throughout my career — I truly believe it’s a foundational dish that everyone should master. 

Thankfully, chicken broth is pretty easy to conquer in the kitchen. Its umami-rich flavor and golden brown hue are typically provided by the same process: slow-simmering a chicken alongside an array of aromatic ingredients until your kitchen is perfumed with a savory fragrance. However, think of that method as a base on which you can build even more flavor. One simple way to elevate that base is by adding additional ingredients into the mix.

Whenever you’re thinking of different ways to incorporate major flavor to your chicken broth, it’s smart to think about what salt-forward and umami-boosting ingredients you have on hand. A few dried shiitake mushrooms or a splash of fish sauce could really make a substantial difference in the flavor of your chicken broth. To get things started, use this list as a guide to find ingredients that will give your chicken broth the flavor boost it needs.

There are countless delicious ways to use fish sauce, but one of the best is to add it to your chicken broth. Fish sauce is considered a secret weapon in the culinary industry for adding major flavor quickly. The sauce has a nuanced, complex flavor profile known for its salty, savory, and strong umami characteristics. Some people described the flavor as almost sweet and caramelized. The sauce is made by fermenting salted anchovies for several months, which breaks down the fish’s proteins and bones, resulting in a rich and delicious golden brown sauce.

It’s arguably one of the most important condiments in Southeast Asian cuisine, used frequently in various dishes. Similar to ketchup in American diners, fish sauce always has a spot on the table at Thai, Indonesian, and especially Vietnamese pho restaurants. When added to chicken broth, it provides a subtle hint of sweetness and fishiness, enriching the overall taste. It’s best to add fish sauce to chicken broth after it’s finished cooking to avoid overwhelming its flavor.

If you’re concerned about the sauce being overwhelmingly fishy, try picking a less fermented bottle, as the intensity of fish sauce can vary depending on the fermentation time. The longer it ferments, the funkier and fishier the flavor becomes.

When you’re making chicken broth, you should always incorporate onions and garlic cloves. However, there is one more powerful aromatic ingredient that people often forget to add — fresh ginger. Ginger can be intimidating for some beginner cooks. Side note: ditch the peeler when cleaning the skin off and use the back of a spoon — it’s much easier. Ginger has a complex flavor profile that’s often described as spicy, warm, peppery, and slightly sweet with a bright, citrusy punch. Fresh ginger’s initial sensation is quite sharp, but as it cooks, the flavors gradually soften, revealing its unique taste.

Adding ginger to chicken broth is simple. You can slice, chop, puree, or even leave it whole and add it directly into the pot. You’ll get even more flavor if you char it over an open flame first. The heat will caramelize the natural sugars in the ginger, releasing its fragrant oils into the broth and adding a subtle smokiness. It’s a great way to quickly release the warm, aromatic, and slightly spicy flavor of ginger into chicken broth. To char ginger over a stovetop, place it on a wire rack or directly on the burner. Grate over a flame, turning it frequently until it’s slightly blackened. If you have an electric stove, just place it on a sheet pan and use the oven broiler.

Does your chicken broth need a salty, umami boost? Try stirring in a tablespoon of miso paste and let the magic happen! For those who don’t know, miso paste has a deeply savory flavor with a toasted and salty sweetness that’s delicious. It’s often described as having a pungent aroma and rich, earthy taste reminiscent of mushrooms and parmesan. Miso paste gets its unique flavor from a two-step fermenting process in which soybeans are cooked, combined with salt and koji (a fermented rice culture), then allowed to ferment for several months or even years. Longer fermentation produces a stronger, deeper flavor.

At Asian grocery stores, you can find a variety of miso pastes with differing fermentation periods. For example, white miso is only fermented for two to eight weeks and has the mildest flavor, while red miso can be fermented for over a year, giving it a more pronounced and salty tang. Any type of miso paste is fine to use. However, it’s best to choose the right one according to how salty you prefer your chicken broth. To incorporate miso paste into your chicken broth, mix it with a small amount of warm broth first, whisk until smooth, and then add it to the main pot. This will help prevent clumps and ensure even flavor distribution.

If you want to become a better home cook, stop buying pre-grated bags of Parmesan cheese and start buying blocks of fresh Parmesan. While there are many reasons to buy a whole block of fresh Parmigiano-Reggiano, arguably the best reason is to save the rind for broth, stock, soups, and pasta sauces. If you’re not using your leftover rinds in chicken broth, you’re missing out on some major umami-packed flavor.

Parmesan cheese has a distinct, rich, sharp, and nutty flavor, offering a complex and nuanced profile to whatever it’s in. The rinds are so flavorful because they are a concentrated form of the cheese’s aging process. As the cheese ages, the outer layer becomes more crystallized and salty, contributing to the rind’s deeply developed flavor. Furthermore, the air-drying process concentrates the salty flavor even more, essentially creating an umami bomb of savory goodness.

Parmesan rinds will elevate the savory flavor of your chicken broth to the next level. They will also help slightly thicken the broth, giving it a subtler and creamier consistency. Start building your stockpile of Parmesan rinds and stash them in the freezer. Store them in an airtight container in the freezer for up to a year and drop them into your chicken broth whenever you need some additional flavor.

If you’re shopping for pantry ingredients that can supply loads of flavor, dried mushrooms deserve a place on your grocery list. Dried mushrooms are an excellent, low-effort way to incorporate deep, earthy, umami flavor into your chicken broth.

Dried mushrooms are simply dehydrated mushrooms that can be plumped back up after resting in warm water. Their flavor is far more concentrated than that of fresh mushrooms due to the drying process, which reduces water content and increases the concentration of the naturally occurring glutamate compound that triggers the umami sensation. Once they are fully rehydrated, you’re left with a plump mushroom and a concentrated mushroom stock. To add them to chicken broth, give them a quick rinse under cold water to remove any dirt or debris that may have accumulated, then just drop them into the broth — it’s that easy!

You can keep the dried mushrooms boiling in your chicken broth, depending on how strong you want the flavor to be. Afterwards, you can dice them up and use them as a vegetable in whatever soup you’re making. The savory flavor and meaty, chewy texture is delicious. In grocery stores, you’ll find dried mushrooms sold in a variety pack, which usually contains shiitake, cremini, and porcini. Dried shiitake mushrooms have the most umami flavor, so if you want to buy a single variety, shiitake is the best option for the most nuanced flavors.

Herbs are an obvious choice for your chicken broth, but simply adding one sprig of thyme or rosemary won’t do much. If you’re going to add herbs, do it right and make sure to include a substantial amount so you can let their flavor shine. Most professional chefs will tie herbs together with a string, often called a bouquet garni, which translates to “garnished bouquet” in French. This bundle of herbs typically contains a mixture of parsley, thyme, and bay leaf. However, you can use whatever herbs you prefer.

If you’re looking to veer away from the commonly used herbs like rosemary and thyme, switch it up and try one you’re not familiar with. Marjoram is a great option for chicken broth. This herb has a sweet and earthy flavor with notes of pine, citrus, and mint. Tarragon, also known as estragon, is the perfect choice to add a bit of complexity to the broth. This perennial herb has a unique citrus and licorice taste with light spiciness. If you want to incorporate more delicate herbs such as dill, cilantro, and chervil, it’s best to add them after the chicken broth has finished cooking to preserve their fresh flavors and vibrant green colors.

Most of the time, when you smell a delicious aroma wafting from a kitchen, it’s probably some type of allium being sautéed in butter or olive oil. Alliums, also known as flowering onions, are part of the Allium genus, which encompasses a wide variety of ornamental flowers and culinary herbs. The most common culinary alliums are onions, garlic, shallots, leeks, and chives — all of which are excellent at adding major flavor to chicken broth.

It’s almost second nature to add an allium to chicken broth, whether it be a whole yellow onion or sliced scallions. Besides the chicken, these vegetables are often the starting point for the broth’s flavor. To quickly release the natural flavor and oils of alliums, professional chefs gently sauté them in the stockpot with fat until translucent and tender. Once they’re softened, you can add the water, chicken, and whatever other flavorings you wish to incorporate. If you want to keep it simple, you can skip that step and just add diced or chopped onions, shallots, or garlic to the pot without sautéing them; either way, you’re still going to end up with a delicious chicken broth.

From fronds to seeds, fennel is a perfect way to add major flavor to your chicken broth. This vegetable is known for its intense anise and licorice flavor. The most pronounced licorice flavor comes from the fronds of the fennel, while the bulb has the distinct anise flavor.

Most recipes just call for the bulb. However, the entire plant is actually edible and delicious in chicken broth. To get the most out of this vegetable, it’s best to slice the bulb and sauté it in fat to release its natural oils, then add it to the pot. For the green leaves, you can simply chop them into smaller pieces and add them directly into the chicken broth to simmer away.

If you don’t have access to fresh fennel, you can use its seeds to flavor your chicken broth, too. All you have to do is add them to your chicken broth at the beginning or near the end of the cooking. For a more intense flavor, you can grind or toast them in the oven before adding them.

Cooking a batch of chicken broth to make a bowl of pho, laksa, or tom yum? If so, you’ll need a bundle of fresh lemongrass to get things started, as it’s a key aromatic ingredient in Southeast Asian broths, stocks, and soups. This veggie is known for its bright, citrusy flavor, often described as a combination of lemon, mint, and ginger. It adds a tangy, slightly floral note to broths that remains relatively understated in flavor.

Lemongrass is a must-buy item in Asian grocery stores. When shopping, look for stalks that are heavy and firm, with pale yellow coloring and green leaves. Avoid purchasing lemongrass that appears bruised or soft, as this could indicate a rotten interior.

To prepare it for chicken broth, there are several methods you can use. Regardless of the technique, you’ll want to trim off the base of the bulb, the green leaves at the top, and peel away the outer two layers. The easiest way to use it for chicken broth is to cut the lemongrass into batonnet, then gently crush it with a meat tenderizer or the back of a knife before adding it to your broth. You can also thinly slice it into rings and grate it with a microplane to infuse flavor more quickly.

One of the simplest ways to impart major flavor to your chicken broth is by adding a slice of kombu. For those unfamiliar with Japanese cuisine, kombu is a type of seaweed, specifically dried kelp, used to enhance the flavor of broths, stocks, soups, and sauces. It’s the key ingredient in dashi, a flavorful stock that serves as the foundation for various Japanese dishes. Kombu has a salty, savory, and subtly sweet taste with a deep umami flavor. It is often recognized as one of the main ingredients that trigger the umami reaction, making it excellent for giving your chicken a delicious savoriness.

You can find kombu in the dry ingredients section of most Asian grocery stores, where it is sold in long sheets that can be chipped away and tossed into broths. To use kombu for chicken broth, soak it in cold water for 20 minutes to soften the seaweed and remove any excess sand. After soaking, simply add a piece to the pot during the simmering process and remove it before serving. Incorporating kombu into your chicken broth is a foolproof way to add rich, deep flavor with minimal effort.

For those who haven’t used fresh turmeric before, it can seem a bit daunting to use in the kitchen. Most people are accustomed to seeing turmeric in their immunity-boosting shots or ground into a fine powder. However, fresh turmeric isn’t intimidating at all. This root vegetable is incredibly easy to use in the kitchen and makes a perfect addition to chicken broth if you’re looking to infuse intense, vibrant flavor. Turmeric has a warm, earthy flavor with a slightly bitter, spicy, peppery, and mustard-like taste, often described as a balance between ginger and cumin with a more musky flavor. It’s extremely popular in curries, soups, and spice blends due to its distinct taste and bright yellow-orange hue.

When added to chicken broth, the spicy flavor cuts through the richness, contributing a playful balance of freshness to the savory notes. To use fresh turmeric in chicken broth, you can either grate it or chop it and combine with other aromatic ingredients like onion, garlic, and ginger. To maximize flavor, sauté turmeric in oil before adding it into the pot. If fresh turmeric is unavailable, ground turmeric is perfectly acceptable — simply add a teaspoon directly into the broth and stir until fully dissolved. Turmeric has a very strong impact on any dish, so be sure to add it in small increments until you reach your desired flavor.

Novice home cooks often stick to basic spices like black pepper, dried chili, and bay leaves. While those spices are perfectly fine, it’s time to step outside the basics and experiment a bit. Explore your spice cabinet and consider incorporating unique spices like cinnamon, star anise, sesame seeds, and cardamom into your chicken broth.

Many cultures create exquisite chicken broths using spices that aren’t typically found in the average American kitchen. For instance, in a traditional Vietnamese chicken pho broth, known as pho ga, you’ll almost certainly find a sachet floating in the pot filled with cloves, fennel seeds, cinnamon sticks, star anise, and coriander seeds. This combination of spices imparts a unique flavor and incredible fragrance that elevates the dish to the next level. All it takes for you to add some major flavor to your chicken broth is a little digging around in your spice cabinet and a bit of openness to new spice combinations.

Soy is a fantastic example of a salty, savory, umami-rich ingredient that you can add to your chicken broth for a flavor boost — plus, you probably already have it in your pantry! Soy sauce is made from a combination of soybeans, wheat, salt, koji (fermented rice culture), and water. The sauce undergoes a two-stage fermentation process that develops its unmistakable salty and savory flavor. This period lasts 6 months to a year, depending on the desired flavor and quality. 

You can find a variety of soy sauces at Asian grocery stores, each with different levels of fermentation and saltiness. It’s always handy to have different types at your ready, such as Joseon ganjang— a Korean soup-based soy sauce — or lao chou, a dark Chinese soy sauce. Both are great for adding a deep, salty flavor to chicken broths. If you’re gluten-free but want that unique savoriness, you can use tamari, a Japanese gluten-free alternative to soy sauce that’s excellent for chicken broth.

When incorporating soy sauce into chicken broth, it’s best to do so after it’s finished simmering. Once you’ve discarded all of the chicken bones and vegetable scraps, add teaspoons of heat until you’ve achieved your preferred flavor.