Recipe for bone broth

Homemade slow cooker bone broth is incredibly easy to make! All it takes is patience since it needs to simmer for close to 24 hours. You can make it on the stovetop, however, my favorite way is using a pressure cooker to make bone broth because I don’t have to watch it and I can just use the slow cooker option. Set it and forget it! That’s the beauty of allowing your crockpot to do the work for you. Start it in the morning, and it’s ready the next morning!

Making Your Own Bone Broth

There are some important things to consider when making your own bone broth. First, choose the boniest bones you can find – beef knuckles, chicken necks, oxtails, and chicken feet – to obtain the most nutrients from your finished broth.  Also, add an acid like apple cider vinegar to the cooking process to help leach out the minerals and collagen from the bones.
Once you’ve made your broth you can drink it in a mug as a warm drink (it takes like rich chicken soup), use it as a base for gravy/sauce or soups/stews, cook veggies in it. It is also freezer friendly. However you choose to eat or drink your good bone broth, know that you are optimizing your health with each delicious sip!

What is bone broth?

If you aren’t familiar with bone broth, I’m sure I can guess your first question.  What is bone broth? Is it the same stuff I buy on the shelves at the store?

The short answer: nope.

The longer answer: Bone broth is liquid made from boiling animal bones and connective tissue. It differs from broth you buy in the grocery store because of the longer traditional cooking method that draws out the minerals and amino acids (building blocks of protein). Bone broth will usually be thicker and more gelatinous.

You get the benefits of chicken bone broth and the flavor, but without the excess sodium and added preservatives from store bought bone broth. You can use broth as a base for soups, sauces, and gravies. Some people drink it on its own.

Difference Between Broth and Stock

In general, the difference between broth and stock boils down to their primary ingredient. Animal-based stocks are made using bones. While broths are made using bones, meat and skin. Bone broth combines the best of both worlds: bones, meat, and sometimes skin or other tissue go into the recipe. In addition to these base ingredients, stocks and broths may contain aromatic vegetables, and broths are usually seasoned with salt (and sometimes pepper) as well.

Stock is made with mostly of leftover bones and a small amount of meat (whatever sticks to the bones) and then simmered for 3 to 4 hours.

Bone broth is similar to stock in that it contains mostly bones with a small amount of meat. But the main difference is that bone broth is simmered for a very long time – 24 to 48 hours. It is the long cooking time that allows as many minerals and nutrients to be removed from the bone and into the broth. In fact, the bones in your broth have been leached of nutrients so much they should crumble when pressed lightly. Vegetable based stocks and broths do not contain any meat or skeletal material. Instead, veggie stocks sometimes include meat-free gelatin as a thickener.

Health Benefits of Bone Broth

The collagen content in bone broth is what makes it worth the extra prep time. Our bodies produce collagen naturally, but as we age we create less and less.  There are many possible benefits of bone broth. Healthy Skin, improving gut health, improved joint pain, stronger bones and muscles, and reduced stress.

Better hydration

The high water content in bone broth helps you stay hydrated. Water makes up 70% of the body and impacts virtually every bodily function.

Improved sleep

Bone broth contains small amounts of the amino acid glycine, which may promote relaxation and deeper, more restorative sleep.

Collagen boost

Collagen is the most abundant protein in your body. Its braided, chain-like structure helps it strengthen a variety of tissues, including skin, bones, muscles, and tendons. Bone broth is naturally high in collagen. But more research is needed that eating collagen-rich foods will help your body make more of the protein.

Reduced inflammation

As you can see, bone broth has a whole host of nutrients that are promoting health in many ways. Here is a quick breakdown of all the benefits you may receive from drinking bone broth.

• Enhance immune support
• Strengthen bones and teeth
• Support cartilage and protect joints; helps with joint health
• Build and repair muscles
• Improve skin elasticity and reduce signs of aging
• Regulate blood sugar
• Heal gut lining and repair leaky gut syndrome
• Improve digestion and overcome food intolerances and allergies
• Decrease IBS, Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis and acid reflux symptoms
• Reduce fatigue and improve sleep
• Boost nutrient absorption
• Support detoxification
• Decrease inflammation and joint pain
• Reduce appearance of cellulite
• Support a balanced microbiota
• Lose and maintain weight

Questions

Which bones should you use in bone broth?

To get a super gelatinous bone broth, chicken feet work really well! However, they can be hard to find.

The most affordable way to get bones is to save the bones from the meat that you cook. I keep a bag in the freezer and of veggie scrapes from my meals.  Also, keeping a bag of whatever animal bones (chicken bones, turkey bones, beef bones) in the freezer you have used during the week simply add bones from meals into it. When it’s time to make bone broth, I grab the bones and veggie scraps I need. It’s a simple trick.

Should I skim the layer of fat off the bone broth? 

I believe this is a preference.  I actually like the fat in the broth because I believe it gives the homemade broth a added flavor.

Can you make bone broth without apple cider vinegar?

Yes, apple cider vinegar is not essential to making bone broth and even without it you will end up with a rich and nourishing bone broth. Not using apple cider vinegar will not impact the outcome of this recipe. However, apple cider vinegar, is great for naturally enhancing the extraction of collagen and other nutritious elements.

Can I leave meat on bones for bone broth?

Yes, in fact leaving a small amount of meat and skin on the bones will increase the flavor of your bone broth and will make it taste a lot like the classic meat broths you are used to. I always try to include a bit of meat and skin in my 24 hour bone broth if I can.

Why does my bone broth not gel?

If you are finding that your bone broth does not gel, you maybe adding too much water to your pot.  A good rule of thumb is to add enough water to just cover whatever bones you have, and don’t add more water than that.  

You may not be using bones that are rich enough in joint and cartilage. However if you are using bones that are rich in joint and cartilage and are still not getting a good gel, you may not be cooking your bone broth for long enough to pull out the gelatin in sufficient amounts. Make sure you are using apple cider vinegar snice it’s very acidic and helps to break down the bones so the minerals are released into the water. This should help it gel. The higher quality your type of bones the better your broth will turn out. Grass-fed and organic bones, feet, cartilage, etc. are known to be higher in all the beneficial stuff — more collagen, more minerals, more healthy fat. 

When you’re using food as medicine, you want to use the best.

So, if you’ve been using conventional bones without gelling success, try using higher quality bones next time and see what happens.

Is it safe to cook bone broth overnight?

When cooking bone broth in a crock pot on low, it is safe to leave it cooking overnight. Make sure that your crock pot is not close to anything else on the counter though, and make sure that you leave about 1 to 2 inches at the top of the slow cooker so that the broth does not bubble over during the night. Your slow cooker must be set to low, I don’t recommend leaving your crock pot on high overnight.

Do you have to cook bone broth for 24 hours?

You do not have to cook bone broth for 24 hours, however I have found that cooking it for a long period of time (24 hours) provides the best results and pulls out the most nutrients and gelatin. Just keep in mind that it won’t be as rich after the shorter cooking time.  If you don’t have a long time, you may use an instant pot to use high pressure to speed up the process of making your bone broth by processing it for 120 minutes.

Can I cook bone broth in an instant pot?

Yes! There are two options on the instant pot to use. Just the high pressure option or the instant pot has a slow cooker option so you can just use that! Put all your leftover chicken bones in (if using chicken) and cover with enough water that everything is fully submerged.

The Instant Pot is amazing in many, many ways… not the least of which is basically guaranteeing that I make broth on the regular.

Because of the magic of pressure cooking, you can cook bones + water for less time and still get broth that gels!

It is absolutely amazing to me that I can put bones and water in my Instant Pot after dinner is cleaned up and have a rich broth ready before I go to bed!

Hands-down, the Instant Pot is my preferred tool for making broth — over the stove top and slow cooker.

Can I cook this on the stove top?

Yes! Just bring everything to a boil and turn it down to a low simmer. Maybe give it a stir every few hours so that nothing gets stuck to the bottom during the cooking process. I do not recommend leaving it to cook on the stove overnight while you are sleeping though.

Tried my crockpot bone broth recipe?

Please leave me a rating and review below.  I hope you found this guide on how to make bone broth in a crock pot helpful. Please leave a comment or review and let me know how yours turned out!

Also if you need another immune boost try out this recipe!

XO

Shirlene RN BSN