When I tasted this homemade bone broth, I questioned why I ever bought the boxed stuff from the store. It’s so easy. It enlivens every meal I add it to with a taste that isOUT OF THIS WORLD. Not to mention the way my apartment smells when it’s stewing…
holy. moly.
Let’s learn to cook a nutritious broth and bring dimension to your everyday meals.
benefits of homemade bone broth
Making your own bone broth has a lot of benefits and just about zero drawbacks. Since it is also extremely simple to make, you HAVE to try it at least once.
I’m sure that your life will be changed forever when you experience the flavors AND favors that this broth presents you with…
It’s cheaper to make it yourself.
We all know that store bought bone broth is priced for kings and queens only.
BUT with just a few ingredients, you can make a great quality broth for a fraction of the price you would pay at the store.
For chicken, you’ll get the biggest bang for your buck if you buy a chicken whole instead of buying the individual chicken breasts, thighs, legs, etc. And the bones you’ll need for this bone broth are added in… basically FOR FREE.
If you are using pork or beef, you can often find meat bones for sale at a local butcher.
It’s environmentally responsible.
It’s easy to forget that a nicely packaged boneless chicken breast was previously attached to a bone. It’s even easier to forgo the fact that most of those bones get tossed in the trash simply because it’s not worth the marketing and shelf space for a grocery store’s revenue.
We unconsciously contribute a huge amount of food waste. And we don’t even want to consider how disrespectful this is to the animal that gave its life to be our food. Practicing eating as much of an animal as we can may help correct parts of our food system, while also helping out our bank accounts.
Purchasing products with their bones in tact assures that bones don’t go to waste AND that you never buy overpriced bone broths again.
Who knew that living in gratitude to creation can be easy and so accessible?
YOU get to be in charge of quality control!
When you make your own bone broth, you know the quality of the ingredients that went into it. And you get to control how long the broth stews for, ensuring you get the most nutrition out of the broth.
the easy peasy preparation process
In the amount of time that you’ve spent reading this, you could’ve had every prepped, on the stove, and ready to go.
No, I’m not kidding. And I’ll tell you my secret to getting it all ready so quickly.
There’s no need to get to fancy when chopping the veggies.
I generally cut the garlic cloves in half, quarter the onions, the chop the celery and carrots into thirds. That’s all there is to it!
This get’s all of the vegetable to a size that allows them to fit nicely in the pot break down easily over time.
The bones can be clean or still have a small amount of meat on them. Nothing needs to be done to them.
And when that’s all in the pot, you’re ready to go!
There are optional ingredients that you can add…
The advise I have about adding any of these extras is to only add these extras if you know what you are planning to do with the broth after it’s made.
Adding them now makes it less versatile when you go to cook with it later.
You don’t want to go through the trouble of making a broth with extra ingredients if it’s not going to fit with the meal that you prepare with the broth…
If you’re not sure what recipe the broth is for yet, maybe stick to a more basic broth. You can always create a more dynamic flavor later.
I once used a pre-salted broth to make a pre-packaged stuffing mix that was also salted. So it turned out super duper salty…if there’s even a slight chance you will use your broth similarly, maybe consider skipping the extra seasonings while making your broth.
You’ve been forewarned.
Just to make your life EVEN EASIER…I don’t usually peel the garlic or onions! It’s absolutely not necessary. I have heard of people leaving the peels in because it makes the broth a richer color. I’ve never heard anything about it changing the flavor.
let’s get that broth stewing!
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After you’ve added all of the ingredients to your pot, fill the pot with water. I usually fill mine until it’s about an inch away from completely full. Turn your stove on medium-high until the water gets to a low boil.
At that point, turn your stove all the way down so that the water is just barely simmering. That’s where it will stay for 12-24 hours!
While the broth is simmering, it might lose some volume as the steam evaporates. That’s fine so long as the contents remain fully submerged. Having a lid on the pot keeps the water from evaporating too quickly. I usually only need to top it off once. Just check it every once in a while and you should be fine.
If you’re leaving it overnight, I would suggest filling it back up to that inch mark right before you go to bed.
I wouldn’t leave it on the stove for more than 24 hours, just because it’s not necessary.
12 hours of stewing may be good enough to extract a lot of nutrients from the bones and veggies. Leaving it longer is only going to improve the nutritional content.
As the broth simmers, the bones release collagen, other nutrients, and minerals. I probably leave mine for around 16-18 hours, and it always comes out super rich and delicious.
so now what?
You can use it immediately, or let it cool on the counter to room temperature before refrigerating or freezing.
If you choose to freeze it, leave an inch or two of room for expansion in your container. We don’t want cracked containers and broth all over your freezer. That would be annoying.
ALSO…Be careful not to pour the super hot broth into glass jars – the temperature difference between broth and jar will crack your jars too. Let the broth cool in the pot before dishing it out to store.
what do you do with the vegetables after you strain out the broth?
There are SO MANY ways to use those vegetables. You don’t have to throw them away!
A lot of the times, they get tossed because on their own, they don’t have much flavor. Some of their nutritional value and most of their flavor has mostly gone into the broth.
They are still full of fiber and vitamins and 100% still edible. They’ll be quite soggy. So if they are going to be repurposed into food, I would look up a recipe to use them in rather than just trying to eat them as is.
Some of my favorite ways to use the veggies:
There are lots of ways to not throw those veggies away – don’t waste, be economic, and have respect for your food.
Is it bad if it’s a little bit chunky when it cools?
No! That’s just the fat solidified, which adds nutrition and a rich flavor when you go to use your broth.
recipe
Ingredients
1 Chicken Carcass (I’ve never tried beef or pork broth. So I can’t comment on a portion size.)
1 Celery Stalk, chopped in thirds
5 Carrots, chopped in thirds
3 Onions, quartered
4-8 Garlic Cloves (depending on your taste), chopped in half
2 Tablespoons Salt (optional)
2 Teaspoons Pepper (optional)
2 Bay Leaves (optional)
*Measurements are approximate, feel free to tweak according to preference*
Instructions
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I post content weekly on skills that I’m learning. I hope that they will help you on your journey of finding joy and confidence in your kitchen.
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