🧂 Chicken stock
Allergen note
Chicken is not a common allergen, but stock often contains celery, an allergen listed in the EU, and store-bought stocks and cubes can include wheat, milk, soy or mustard. Read the label, or make stock at home from ingredients your baby already eats.
How to serve
From 6 months, use homemade unsalted stock to cook rice, lentils or vegetables, or to thin purées, but don't give it in place of breast milk or formula. Once your baby manages lumpier textures, offer thick, lukewarm soups with finely shredded chicken and soft vegetables.
Preparation
Simmer chicken bones or pieces with onion, carrot and celery for 2 to 3 hours without salt, strain through a fine sieve and skim off the fat. Refrigerate for up to 3 days or freeze in ice-cube trays. Stock cubes and most ready-made broths are very salty, so skip them before 12 months and choose low-salt versions after that.
Texture and choking risk
Strained stock is a liquid, so the main concerns are tiny bone fragments and hard bits of vegetable or herb stems. Strain it well, check any chicken you put back in the pot for bones, and offer it by spoon or open cup with your baby sitting upright.
Starting ages are typical guidance for healthy, full-term babies who show signs of readiness. Your paediatrician may advise differently, especially where there is a family history of allergy.
Recipes with chicken stock
Track first tastes and reactions
Log when your child first tries chicken stock, note any reaction and see it in the allergen tracker.
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