My Favorite Bone Broth Recipes
Bone broth is made by simmering the bones and connective tissue of animals. This forms a stock for making soups, sauces, and gravies. It can also provide a nutritious drink.
Bone broth dates back to prehistoric times, when hunter-gatherers turned otherwise inedible animal parts like bones, hooves, and knuckles into a broth they could drink.
You can make bone broth using bones from just about any animal — chicken, pork, beef, veal, turkey, lamb, bison, buffalo, venison, or fish. You can even make a Vegan version (aka No-Bone Broth!)
Bone Broth is SO healthy, and there are so many ready-made versions. But nothing beats a homemade bone broth; it’s easy to make, you can control the ingredients, and it’s much more cost-effective than any store bought version.
Keep reading to learn my favorite recipes for chicken, beef, and vegan bone broth! With all of these options, you are sure to find one that you enjoy!
Chicken Bone Broth
Ingredients
Bones and carcass of 1 chicken (Hot Take: Make it easy and use a whole rotisserie chicken! Just pluck off the meat and use the meat in another recipe.)
12 cups filtered water
2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 generous pinch each sea salt and black pepper (plus more to taste)
Directions
To a large pot or Dutch oven, InstantPot or Crock Pot, add the bones, sinews, and skin from a whole roasted (i.e. rotisserie) chicken
Top with filtered water until generously covered ~ about 12 cups. This should reduce down by about 1/3 or 1/2, leaving you with 6-8 cups of bone broth.
Next, add in a bit of salt and pepper to season the broth, if desired.
Finally, add apple cider vinegar.
Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer and cover. Cook for at least 10-12 hours, or until reduced by 1/3 to 1/2. The more it reduces, the more intense the flavor will become and the more collagen will be extracted.
Strain and discard the bones. Either use immediately or store and freeze up to 1-2 months.
Beef Bone Broth
Ingredients
10 pounds beef bones - preferably a mix of marrow bones (femur bones) and bones with meat on them (usually available from most butcher shops or butcher sections of your local grocery)
4 large carrots, chopped into 2-inch rounts
2 medium onions, quartered
2 whole heads garlic, halved crosswise
6 stalks celery, cut into 2-inch pieces
4 bay leaves
¼ cup black telicherry peppercorns
2 tablespoon raw apple cider vinegar
Directions
Blanch the bones. Divide the bones between two large stockpots and cover with cold water. Bring to a boil over high heat and simmer for 15-20 minutes before draining and rinsing the bones with water.
Roast the bones and the vegetables. Ok, so the bones have been blanched. Now, preheat the oven to 450 degrees F. Transfer the bones and vegetables (carrots, onions, garlic, celery) to the roasting pans. Don't pile them all on top of each other- use two roasting pans. Roast for 30 minutes before gently tossing the bones and vegetables, and roasting for an additional 15-30 minutes more.
Transfer the bones and vegetables back to the stockpots. NOTE Make sure you wash your pots after the bones were blanched and drained. Transfer the bones and vegetables back to the stock pots and scrape up any remaining bits and juices remaining in the roasting pan using a metal spatula and a little water, if needed. Transfer to the pot with the bones.
Boil the bones. With the bones and vegetables divided between the two pots divide the bay leaves, peppercorns, star anise, cinnamon sticks, and apple cider vinegar between the two pots. Fill each pot with approximately 12 cups water, or until bones are fully submerged. Cover the pots and bring to a low and gently boil.
Simmer the bones. Reduce heat to low and simmer, with the lid slightly ajar, skimming any foam or excess fat, occasionally. Simmer for at least 8-12 hours, ideally 24 hours (do not leave the stove running overnight. Simply cool and store in the refrigerator and continue to simmer the next day). Add more water if needed to make sure bones and vegetables remain fully submerged.
Strain the bones. Once the bones have simmered and your broth is ready, you will need to strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Set aside the broth to cool and allow the bones to cool.
Don't forget about the meat. Whether you eat the meat still left on the bones in a bowl of soup or in sandwiches, I can almost guarantee that there is a TON of delicious meat waiting to be picked from the bones. Don't let it go to waste! Discard the meat-free bones and vegetables.
Skim the fat from your broth (optional). Add a couple handfuls of ice to your beef broth to expedite cooling and cover with a lid. Transfer broth to the refrigerator and allow broth to cool fully. The result will be a hard, thick layer of fat and a bottom layer that is your bone broth (which should look like gelatinous brown jell-o). If desired use a fork to scoop off the top layer of fat. This will leave behind the healthy bone broth, minus the fat.
Store your bone broth. Bone broth stores well in the refrigerator for approximately 5 days. If you make a large batch, I recommend freezing smaller batches in the freezer for up to 6 months.
Vegan “Bone” Broth
Ingredients
2 onions, peeled and diced
1 head of garlic, peeled and sliced in half
3 large carrots, scrubbed clean and chopped into small pieces
4 large celery sticks, scrubbed clean and chopped into small pieces
1 tablespoon peppercorns (pink or black)
small handful fresh parsley
small handful fresh thyme
small handful fresh sage
3 bay leaves
1 small box shiitake mushrooms (approx 4-6oz), sliced thin
1 small piece fresh turmeric root, sliced in half
3 inch piece of fresh ginger root, sliced thin
2-3 pieces kombu seaweed, 5 inches in length each
4 quarts water
2 TBS extra virgin olive oil
Directions
Add extra virgin olive oil to the stock pot and cook onions, carrots, celery, garlic, mushrooms until softened.
Add all other ingredients to stock pot and cover with 4 quarts water. Cover, bring to a boil, slide lid half off, and simmer for 1 hour.
Remove from stove top, let cool, strain through a sieve into a second large pot.
Pour into glass jars, cap and refrigerate or freeze, following proper liquid freezing protocol to ensure no glass is broken in the process.
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