Healing Foods: Bone Broth
- Tracy
- Feb 23
- 4 min read
Every New Year’s, instead of a resolution, I choose a word to focus on for the year. This year I chose the word “nourish”. One of the ways I am bringing this word into my life is by choosing foods that are deeply nourishing and bone broth is high on my list of nourishing foods. I use it in one way or another almost daily, so I like to keep a good supply in the pantry. I made a fresh batch this morning and it is sitting on my countertop cooling off before I put it away. I love knowing that I can make this delicious and nutritious food - it is so easy and so low cost.
Before I tell you how I make my bone broth, let’s learn a little bit about why I think it is such a wonderful and nourishing food ( or click here to skip to the recipe).
The difference between bone broth and stock is that bone broth is cooked for a longer amount of time. The longer cooking time allows more of the bone and collagenous tissue to break down and impart into the broth. And this is where its health benefits come from, the high amounts of collagen and minerals that are pulled from the bones as they break down. Collagen is known to promote to gut healing; help keep joints healthy; promote strong muscles and bones; is beneficial for the skin; and contains glycine, which aids in sleep and mental clarity.
There are many ways to enjoy bone broth. My favorite way is to simply heat some up and put it in my coffee mug to sip instead of coffee or tea. I especially love to do this on a cold, winter day or if I feel a cold coming on. It also makes a great base for soups and stews, and gives a nutritional and flavorful boost to rice. Just use broth instead of water to cook your rice. I use it to sauté my veggies and anywhere else I would use stock.
If you prefer to buy bone broth, there are lots of great options. I love Kettle & Fire’s Turmeric Chicken Bone Broth and order it whenever it goes on sale at Thrive Market.
You can make bone broth from any type of bones: chicken, fish, beef, pork, lamb, etc. The recipe that follows is for chicken, but you can use the same recipe using whatever type of bones you’d like. Some people like to combine types of bones but I prefer to keep mine separate.
*Note: if you are the type of person that likes precise measurements and detailed instructions, I’m sorry. That is not how I cook. I’m more of a “throw it in, eyeball it, make it differently every time” type of cook. There are plenty of recipes on the interwebs that can provide you with more detail.
First, gather your ingredients. You can either purchase the ingredients or you can collect them over time. This is my preferred method because it makes use of veggie scraps and ends that would normally go into the compost, making the bone broth basically free! I keep a Ziplock bag in the freezer and any veg ends and scraps (just make sure they are clean and in good condition). I also toss in any leftover veg, mushrooms, and herbs that I know I won’t use up before they go bad. These are the veg I use:
carrot
celery
mushrooms
onions
garlic
bay leaves
potato & sweet potato
tomato
(OK, I don’t use tomato or potato. I’m allergic. But I would if I could! I’d also use peppers and chilis)
If you are using frozen scraps, put them in the fridge for a day or so to thaw before making your broth.
I save all of my bones in separate bags in the freezer until I have enough, and enough time, to make broth. Steak for dinner? Roast chicken? Save those bones!!! Chicken feet are great sources of collagen, throw a few in if you have them. I also save the necks, gizzards, and organs when I make turkey. For my most recent batch, I used the bones from sous-vide lemon pepper half chicken that came in this week’s Hungry Root order.
We had the chicken for dinner, then I pulled the remaining meat from the bones and put in the fridge to use for stir-fry the next day and put the bones, along with the skin and all of the pan juices right into the crock pot. On top of this you can your veggies, a good splash of cider or red wine vinegar, some salt, and cover with hot water. I also like to throw in a leaf of kombu for flavor and to add iodine, a nutrient I need since I don’t use iodized salt. Turn your crock on low and let it cook for at least 6 hours. I like to let mine simmer for 24-48 hours. If you do this, make sure to check your water levels as some will evaporate. Add hot water as necessary. Your house is going to smell amazing!
When you’re ready to finish, strain it through a fine sieve and dispose of the solids. I feed mine to the barn cats but some people mash up the bones and add it as a topper to their dogs food. Make sure the bones are soft enough to mash, if they splinter at all do NOT feed them to your pets. Also be aware that onion and garlic ar
not good for dogs so, if you’ve got a lot of onion and garlic in your scraps, it’s probably best to keep it away from your dogs.
A full 8 quart crock pot will make approximately 9 pints or 4 quarts of broth. You can freeze it in jars or pour into ice cube trays or muffin tins to freeze in smaller amounts. If you want to make it shelf stable, you’ll need to pressure can it. You can find instructions on how to safely pressure can broth on the USDA website or Ball Canning website.
Note: I do not season my broth with spices because I like to have the option to season however I want at the time I use it. Spices can also turn bitter with the longer cooking time. For my favorite sipping broth I add a little sea salt, garlic powder, turmeric, and ginger. So warming and nourishing!
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