Introducing a real food superstar you can make while you sleep!
I love bone broth! I love it because
- It’s so good for you
- It’s so cheap to make
- It’s so easy to make
- It’s so tasty
- It’s so easy to feed to my family
Even when life is hectic, even when we’re living on the bus, even in the heat of summer, bone broth is a constant in my kitchen. First I’m gonna tell you how to make bone broth, then where to sneak it in so you get some of this goodness in your menu every day!
How to Make Bone Broth
Next time you debone a chicken or roast a chicken, or enjoy a t-bone steak or a big, old roast,
- Throw the bones into your crock pot
- Add water up to the brim
- Add a few tablespoons of vinegar or lemon juice (helps draw out goodness)
- Cook on low for at least 8 hours (I start mine in the evening so it’s cooking all night)
- In the morning, strain stock through colander
- Divide finished stock between glass jars (leave 2 inch head space if freezing)
- Cap and put in fridge or freezer for later use
Oh, sure, you can get all fancy and throw in veggies and garlic and spices, and you can skim the fat for use elsewhere, and you can condense it for fuller flavor or to conserve space in the freezer, and I’ve done all of that. But this is the basic technique that’s easy enough I get it done even in busy seasons. With a recipe this simple, I’m rarely without broth on hand, and I use it frequently to increase nutrition in the meals I serve. With the help of some of my fellow real food bloggers, I present:
10 Ways to Enjoy Broth Every Day
- Cook Pasta in it
- Cook Rice in it
- Use it as a base for favorite soups (instead of the bullion cube+water)
- Sip a mug with your meal (aids digestion and the feeling of satiation)
- Use it (in place of water) to dilute your baby’s pureed veggies.
- Use to moisten and add flavor to mashed potatoes (Tip from Debra)
- Use in white sauces and cheese sauces if you run out of milk
- Make your own “Cream of…” Soup (Tip from Tiffany—I do this, too!)
- Dehydrate it to make your own bullion (technique on Loving Our Guts)
- Freeze it in ice cube trays and add just a few to your breakfast smoothie for days when it’s too hot for hot dishes
(yesterday’s smoothie with bone broth ice cubes, kefir, raw egg yolks, frozen berry mix, flax seed, and coconut oil. Didn’t taste the bone broth at all!)
Of course, the main thing I use it for is in soups—hello! We love Chili, Cheeseburger Soup, and Chicken and Dumplings (recipe in my book), and they just don’t have the flavor or depth of nutrition without homemade bone broths.
So, you ready to add bone broths to your real food journey? You can find more detailed directions for both chicken broth and beef broth made from soup bones (which involves some extra steps) in my book, Real {Fast} Food, and you can read more about the nutritional benefit of bone broth in this post.
Tomorrow we’re talking about reducing and properly preparing grains so we can continue to enjoy them in our diet!
Thanks Trina for all the encouragement and ideas! I’ve put a scoop of dried Bone broth in my Gluten free banana muffins mix. I’ve also mixed dried Bone broth in with a whole bunch of grated sweet potatoes in my gluten free pancake mix. Both are YUMMY! God Bless + Be Well!
Oh, yum! way to up nutrition, Ingrid!
Hey Trina. I have a bunch of turkey bone broth and chicken bone broth that I made in my Instant Pot (much faster than the slow cooker method) and then I canned it. I’m just wondering if you knew if that causes it to lose its healthy factor? Since it is cooked under high pressure for 90 minutes. If you think canning it will make it less effective on the healthy scale, I’ll have to just start freezing it in cubes and bags. Thoughts??
Donna, I don’t know if pressure cooked stock has the same nutritional value as slow simmered broth, but I DO know that canning will not alter the nutritional value of broth at all. Good job getting broth ready for easy use and regular ingestion!
Hi. You keep mentioning nutrition. How is bone broth nutritional? Thank you.
Mike, that’s a loaded question! My knowledge on the benefits of bone broth has come from the book Nourishing Traditions. Fascinating read!
The next batch of bone broth I make I’m going to add some Thai Fish Sauce just for kicks and see how that tastes, I’m going to start with a TSP in a 6qt crock pot, I’m going to start out small as that Fish Sauce is potent stuff !
I am making this as we speak! I have a bunch of apple cider vinegar fermenting, but it isn’t ready for use. I checked your post for an alternative…yay Lemon Juice!
Nikki–you rock! Yeah for taking action and building this habit!
Did this for the first time tonight. Looking forward to tasting it tomorrow! Thanks so much for posting the how-to. 🙂
yeah!! Whatcha gonna make with it?
Chicken Noodle Soup with veggie-noodles, carrots and peas and potatoes and garlic and… chicken. 🙂
I made two crock pots full for church. Apparently if you make bone broth out of a whole chicken’s bones, then you have a huge pickle jar’s worth of broth. So… we have plenty. Heh heh.
I never thought about putting some in smoothies! I have been using a ton in my homemade baby food lately. 🙂
I use homemade broth in just about everything. 🙂 When I roast a chicken, half the time it is because I have run out of broth and need the bones to make some more.
Oh, how I need to get back in the habit of this. Love the tips of ways to use it.
I love homemade broth! I usually roast a whole chicken, debone it when it’s done, and then make broth out of all the skin and bones. I add a giant onion, some real salt, acouplebay leaves, and some peppercorns.
Oh, and I roast the chicken in my crock pot and then throw everything back in the crock pot to make broth overnight. Sometimes I let it cook for 24 hours and that makes the most rich broth. I freeze it in mason jars.
I think I can manage this one without an outcry from my husband. His biggest critique of my cooking when we married was lack of flavor. 😉 Thank you so much for sharing all of your tips and ideas! Do you treat bone broth like chicken stock and substitute it in recipes? I hate buying chicken stock, it’s so expensive.
Yes dear, stock and broth are the same thing! 🙂
Fabulous! I’ve always hated the idea of cooking an entire raw chicken just for the sake of stock, I’d much rather use up the bones. 🙂
Stock and broth are different. Stocks are made with bones and broths are made with meat (sometimes bones added).
Jessica, thanks for making that clarification!