Homemade Bone Broth

Maybe you’ve already heard about how good bone broth is for gut health, but maybe you haven’t. It’s true! While you can buy quality bone broths, making your own will likely lead to a more wholesome & nutritious superfood broth… and you literally use parts of the chicken or beef that you would discard anyway, so it feels “free”. I’m always more motivated to make my own during the winter… give it a try!

What is Bone Broth?

Bone broth is just the liquid that is left over after you simmer meaty bones and connective tissue in water for an extended period of time. In addition to bones, connective tissue, and joints, bone broths often contain vegetables, herbs, and spices as well as wine or apple cider vinegar.

Vegetables, herbs, and spices give flavor to bone broths, and could have additional health-boosting properties.

An acidic ingredient, like wine or apple cider vinegar, helps break down the protein in connective tissue and collagen to produce a gelatinous, protein-rich broth. And it's that protein that you're after when you drink broth, which will help build the lining of your intestinal walls.

While you can use it as a base for soups, stews sauces, gravies, etc… it's traditionally sipped on as a restorative food/drink. That is, people traditionally sipped broths with the intention of mitigating an illness, like a cold, or restoring and maintaining general health. It’s always comforting on cold days!

What ingredients do I need?

Good bone broth gets its characteristic gelatinous structure from collagen. And collagen comes from the connective tissue in meat, ligaments, and on bones. So, for a good-flavored broth that's also rich in protein and gelatin, select a wide variety of bones that include some joints as well as meaty bones.

  • For beef bone broth and beef stock, use knuckle and neck bones, shanks and oxtails. You can also use marrow bones, too. But, be careful, as too much marrow makes for poor flavor, greasy texture and no gel.

  • For chicken bone broth, use a whole chicken, chicken feet, the frame of a roasted chicken, or chicken backs and wing tips.

  • For turkey bone broth, use the frame of a roasted turkey, turkey backs, wing tips and feet, if you can find them.

  • For pork, use ham hocks and pork neck bones. If you're lucky enough to find them, you can also use pork trotters, too.

Ingredients

  • 3 pounds bones (chicken, beef, pork, lamb etc.)

  • 2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

  • 1 cup white wine

  • 12 cups water

  • 2 bay leafs

  • 1 tablespoon black peppercorns

  • finely ground real salt

  • there are other great foods/flavors to add like ginger, carrots, mushrooms, onions, celery, garlic, etc

Equipment

  • Heavy Stock Pot (or InstaPot, Crock Pot, etc)

Instructions

  • Heat the oven to 400 F, and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

  • Arrange the bones on the baking sheet, and drizzle with extra virgin olive oil. Next, roast them for 30 minutes, or until slightly brown. Turn half-way through to promote even cooking.

  • Using a pair of kitchen tongs, transfer the bones to a heavy stock pot. And then pour in the wine and water. Drop in the bay leaves and peppercorns.

  • Bring the pot to a boil over medium-high heat, and then immediately turn the heat down to low. Simmer, uncovered, at least 8 hours and up to 16 hours. Skim any foam that appears at the surface of the broth.

  • Strain the broth, and season it with fine sea salt as you like it. Serve immediately, or pour it into jars and store in the fridge up to 1 week and in the freezer up to 6 months.

Notes

On Your Timing: Chicken bones and other small bones take less time, and large bones like beef bones require a longer simmer.

how to get started

  • Roast your bones first. Roasting bones caramelizes their proteins and releases some fat. And that means a richer and more robust flavor for you.

  • Use wine for a touch of acidity. An acidic ingredient like wine helps to balance the flavors in bone broth, and gives better flavor than apple cider vinegar.

  • Use enough water to just cover the bones, but not too much more. Bone broths achieve their gel and high protein content because they tend to use less water than the amount used for meat broths and traditional stocks.

  • Spoon off any foam or scum that rises to the top, while it's mostly made of protein and is fine to eat, it can make your broth cloudy and muddy the flavor.

how to get a good gel

  • Bring your kettle to a boil, and then immediately turn down the heat to a slow simmer. Simmering broth at a low temperature means better clarity, better flavor and a less greasy broth. The right temperature is also key in making sure your broth gels.

  • Simmer bone broth for several hours, not days. Simmering your broth for too long may make the gelatin break down, and it can release histamines to which some people experience sensitivity. You'll still get plenty of protein and loads of flavor with a shorter simmer. And you won't waste energy in the process.

how to develop great flavor

  • Add medicinal and culinary spices at the beginning. Black pepper and tough, woody herbs like dried bay, and dried roots like astragalus need time to release their flavor so add them to the pot with your bones.

  • Add roasted garlic and onions at the beginning. You can toss onion halves and garlic in with your bones when you roast them, and they'll give your broth fantastic flavor.

  • Add vegetables at the end. Vegetables like carrots and celery can give broth a lovely flavor. But, they can also make your broth taste overly sweet, tinny or like overcooked vegetables. And no one wants that! Add them in the last 20 to 30 minutes of cooking for the best flavor.

  • Add leafy herbs at the end. Leafy herbs like parsley, savory and basil can give it a beautiful punch of flavor. Unfortunately, they'll lose all their vibrance if added to early. So add them in the last 10 minutes of cooking, or right when you take the pot off the heat.

finishing your broth

  • Strain the hot broth into glass containers, and allow at least 1 inch of head space (or 2 if you plan to freeze the broth).

  • Degrease your broth by letting it sit and spooning off any fat that floats to the surface. Or transfer it to the fridge, and the fat will rise to the surface and coagulate as it cools. Lift off the fat with a spoon or fork before you eat it to avoid a greasy, unpalatable broth.

Jessica Sanford