How To Make Bone Broth
For centuries, almost every culture in history has made healing bone broths to strengthen the immune system, fight off infections and provide a rich source of nutrition. You can read all about the healing powers of bone broth and why you should consume it in my post HERE.
How do I make bone broth?
It’s super easy! Let me show you 🙂
Ingredients:
Bones from healthy, pasture raised animals
Any bones of any animal will work. The amount of bones is not important. The key to a perfectly gelatinous bone broth is in the ratio of bones to water that I will explain in the directions. The more bones you use, the more bone broth you will have. The less bones you use, the less bone broth you will create.
Here’s some examples of bones I like to use:
- Chicken or turkey carcass
- Beef bones or bones labeled soup bones
- Lamb bones
- Pork bones
- Fish heads or fish carcass
- Chicken or turkey feet
- Oxtail
*Ask your butcher or chop larger bones into smaller pieces, ideally 2 to 3 inches thick. Smaller bones expose more bone marrow and allow for easier absorption into broth.
Vegetables or vegetable scraps
I usually use:
- 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 2 celery ribs, broken in half or in thirds
- 2 carrots, broken in half or in thirds
- 2 cloves garlic, peeled
- handful of fresh parsley
1 – 2 tablespoons Apple Cider Vinegar
This helps draw the minerals out of the bones.
Water
The amount of water you need depends on the amount of bones you have. You need just enough water to completely cover the bones.
DIRECTIONS:
If you are using beef or lamb bones, roasting the bones first will produce a much better tasting bone broth. Roast them at 400 degrees F for 45 minutes to an hour.
1. Place your bones in a large stockpot (like THIS).
2. Pour 1-2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar over the bones.
3. Add just enough water to completely cover the bones.
This is important! Adding too much water is the most common mistake of making bone broth. Often times, too much water is the reason why your bone broth did not gel.
4. Let sit for one hour. The apple cider vinegar will help pull the minerals out of the bones.
5. After the hour is up, add any vegetables, if using.
6. Turn the stove to medium high and let the water come to a slow boil.
7. If any foam floats to the top, skim it off.
8. Turn the heat down to the lowest possible setting, cover and let cook for a minimum of 8 hours (if you are using vegetables, strain them out after 3 hours. They can make the broth bitter if they are left in the broth for too long). It takes time to pull all the wonderful nutrients and minerals out of the bones so be patient! Follow the recommend times below for the best tasting and most nutritious bone broth. Letting the bones cook any longer than 3 days can sometimes result in a burnt tasting broth.
- Chicken and turkey bones: 8 to 24 hours
- Beef, lamb and pork bones: 12 to 72 hours
- Fish heads and fish bones: 4 to 24 hours
9. There should always be just enough water to completely cover the bones. If you need to add any more water to your pot, add hot water only.
10. Once your bone broth is done cooking, remove the lid and skim off any foam that has risen to the top.
11. Strain the bones, vegetables and herbs out of the broth.
12. Let cool.
13. Store in a container. Bone broth keeps for 5 days in the fridge. It also freezes very well and keeps for months in the freezer. I usually freeze half my bone broth and keep the other half in the fridge to use for the week.
Notes: You can also use your crockpot to make bone broth! Just place bones and any veggies/herbs in your crockpot, cover with just enough water to cover the bones. Turn to low, cover and let cook for the recommended times!
Do you consume bone broth regularly? Bone broth from healthy, pasture raised animals is the best way to “heal and seal” your gut. And good gut health is the cornerstone of health.
I try to consume a cup of bone broth every single day. I just warm some on the stove, sprinkle some sea salt and pepper in it, put it in an insulated mug (I loveTHIS one) and sip on it throughout the day. Do you have a favorite way to consume bone broth?
