What is the difference between stock, broth and bouillon?
Four words that overlap, what each one traditionally means, what the labels in a UK supermarket actually indicate, and whether bone broth is anything different.
- Difficulty
- beginner
- Time
- 6 min
- Read
- 3 min
Short answer
Stock is made mainly from bones and is unseasoned, gelatinous and meant as an ingredient. Broth is made mainly from meat and vegetables, is seasoned, and is meant to be drunk. Bouillon is simply the French for broth and on a UK shelf means a concentrated seasoning powder. Bone broth is a long-simmered stock with a marketing name.
These words are used interchangeably by supermarkets, by recipe writers and by chefs, which makes them nearly useless as labels. The distinctions are still worth knowing because they map onto real differences in what the liquid can do — whether it will set to a jelly, whether it can be reduced without becoming inedibly salty, and whether it tastes of anything on its own.
Step by step
- Stock: bones, unseasoned, made to be reduced.Simmered from bones with some aromatic vegetables. The point is gelatine, which comes from collagen in the bones and connective tissue and gives body and a coating quality. Traditionally it carries no salt, precisely so it can be reduced hard without becoming a salt lick.
- Broth: meat and vegetables, seasoned, made to be eaten.Simmered from meat rather than bones, seasoned, and served as it is — Scotch broth, chicken broth. Thinner in body than a stock, more flavoursome straight from the pan. Reducing a broth concentrates its salt, so it is a poor base for a sauce.
- Bouillon: the French word for broth, but a powder on a British shelf.In the UK, 'bouillon' on a tub means a concentrated seasoning powder — salt, dried vegetables, yeast extract, flavourings and often a fat. It is a seasoning, not a stock, and it is usually the saltiest option available.
- Bone broth: a long-simmered stock with a wellness label.Bones simmered for eight to twenty-four hours, often with a splash of vinegar, then sometimes seasoned and drunk. It is a stock made for longer. Claims about collagen supplementation and joint health are not well supported — the gelatine is digested into amino acids like any other protein.
- Judge what you have by whether it sets when cold.A liquid that sets to a wobbling jelly in the fridge is rich in gelatine and will give sauces body and gloss. One that stays liquid is a flavoured liquid, which is fine for soups and risotto but will not make a sauce cling.
- Choose by the job.Reducing to a sauce or a jus: unsalted stock, ideally one that sets. A soup, a risotto or a braise: broth or seasoned stock is fine. Seasoning something that already has plenty of liquid: bouillon powder or a stock pot.
Tips
- Consommé is a clarified broth — stock or broth cleared with an egg-white raft until it is completely transparent. It is a technique, not a fifth category.
- Dashi is the Japanese equivalent and takes twenty minutes rather than four hours: kombu seaweed and dried bonito flakes steeped in hot water. Worth knowing when you want savoury depth in a hurry.
- 'Fresh stock' in a supermarket chiller is usually closer to a light broth than to a chef's stock, and it is salted. Taste before reducing.
- Chicken feet, wings and pork trotters give far more gelatine than a carcass alone. That is the difference between a stock that sets and one that does not.
Questions people ask
Is bone broth better for you than ordinary stock?
There is no good evidence that it is. It is a nutritious, low-calorie savoury liquid containing minerals and protein, which is genuinely worth having in your diet, but the specific claims — that drinking collagen rebuilds joints or skin — do not survive scrutiny, because collagen is broken down into amino acids during digestion just like any other protein. Drink it because it is good, not because of the claims.
Can I use broth where a recipe says stock?
Usually, with one caution: broth is seasoned and stock traditionally is not, so anything that will be reduced needs tasting as you go and seasoning only at the end. In a soup or a stew where there is no reduction, they are interchangeable. In a jus reduced to a quarter of its volume, using a salted broth will produce something inedible.