Are you wondering why your bone broth doesn't taste that great? Find out how to make bone broth that not only is great for you, but is great tasting too!
Plus we've got a sure fire chicken broth recipe for you as well.
As a Nutritional Therapist that specializes in digestive health issues, I ask all of my clients to start making homemade bone broth.
The reactions I get are nothing short of well… entertaining.
“Bone what? Broth? Um, what’s that?”
“You want me to use actual BONES? Really?”
“Chicken feet? Are you SERIOUS?!”
“Can’t I just get it in stores?” (Hint: The answer is “no”.)
These are just some of the more common reactions.
As crazy as it might seem to those of you who’ve been making bone broth for many years, the fact is that most people are new to it and somewhat intimidated by it.
If you’re my age (41), or younger, it’s HIGHLY UNLIKELY your mother made real, homemade bone broths. Rather, she probably bought them in a store from a box, a can or God forbid, a bouillon cube.
Well thanks to the real food movement, millions of people are finally getting it – most store-bought broths are NOT real broths. They are full of chemicals (even the organic ones) that mimic the flavor of real bone broth.
They’re also starting to understand that real homemade broth is a nutritional powerhouse, full of anti-inflammatory, gut healing and immune supporting nutrients.
And now, so many people want to learn to make broths the RIGHT way, like their grandmothers and great-grandmothers used to do.
It’s not complicated! But if you’re new to making bone broth, it can be a little overwhelming when you first start. So I want to share 5 tips to help you overcome any hesitations and get you started with making bone broth at home.
If you would prefer to buy bone broth, Kettle and Fire is a great place to buy it.
5 Tips For Making Bone Broth
Tip #1: You don’t have to use feet.
Or gizzards. Or heads. Or tails. Or any parts that gross you out.
Sometimes we traditional food bloggers forget that not everyone is hard core into traditional food and that not everyone is super psyched about using things like feet.
I don’t blame you.
BUT it’s definitely good to use them!
You see all those animal parts that tend to make people cringe are rich in collagen. Collagen comes from the Greek word “kolla” which literally means “glue” and it’s the substance that in many ways keeps us glued together. It’s made up of proteins that form the strong but pliable connective tissues in things like tendons, ligaments, cartilage, joints, skin, and our digestive tract.
You can actually see proof of a collagen-rich broth when it cools. It will literally gel and jiggle like homemade Jell-O.
This is a good thing! That gelling comes from gelatin, which is simply collagen that has been broken down during the simmering process. Gelatin has many health benefits but in particular, it has been prized for centuries around the world for its ability to help ease gastrointestinal problems.
It’s one of the many reasons that historically, cultures used all parts of animals, not just bones, when making broths.
But I get it. You might be grossed out by those things. No big deal.
Just start with a simple chicken broth from a whole raw chicken or a chicken carcass that you’ve roasted at home.
In time, when you get comfortable with a simple chicken broth, you can gravitate to adding in more collagen-rich parts.
Tip #2: 5 simple steps that begin with the letter S.
Soak.
Skim.
Strain.
Simmer.
Store.
Memorize that and in a short time, you won’t even need a recipe to make a broth. Just about every homemade bone broth follows that simple formula.
Use my simple chicken broth recipe as an example (you can see this after the final tip.......
Tip #3: Use a crockpot instead of the stovetop
For many, using a crockpot saves a lot of time. You might also be uncomfortable leaving your stove top on for long periods of time. I will also add that many in the broth-making community are raving about the use of an Instapot pressure cooker for making broth. I haven’t tried this yet so I can’t comment on it from personal experience. One reason I prefer a stove top pressure cooker (Adrienne LOVES this stove top pressure cooker) is that I like to make HUGE batches of broth at once, something that can’t be done in a crockpot or pressure cooker.
But if you’re just starting out, you’ll definitely want to start with smaller batches. In that case, a crockpot is perfectly fine. Basically, throw the bones in the crockpot, fill it up with water, turn it to the “low” setting and let it go until you’re ready to strain it.
Most people skip step 1 and 2 when using a crockpot and that’s OK. I get it. It’s the 21st century. Not everyone has time to soak the bones for an hour, skim it, and adjust the heat to get the perfect gentle simmer (which will often take some time to find the exact right setting on your stove top).
The only negative about using a crockpot is that you won’t be able to set the temperature to get the perfect gentle simmer which creates a nice, gelatinous broth. Most crockpots usually only have 3 settings – high, low and warm.
Usually both the high and low settings will boil liquids while the warm setting keeps it just below a simmer. That being said, I’ve had many people report to me that despite this, their broth gelled beautifully. Creating gelatinous broths can sometimes be a hit or miss.
Which leads me to tip #4…
Tip #4. Don’t be a perfectionist about it!
So many people get all crazy if you don't do it this way or that way.
You say bone stock, I say bone broth. For the most part the words “stock” and “broth” are used interchangeably. Some say a bone broth is cooked for less time than a bone stock and some say the complete opposite.
Other differences in opinion include how long to simmer broths for, whether or not to roast bones first and techniques for creating a gelatin-rich broth.
Listen, I don't care if you can only simmer your broth for one hour, if that’s all the time you have.
I don't care if it doesn’t form gelatin.
I don't care if you don’t roast the bones first and I don't care if all you have are a few chicken bones.
Heck, I don’t even care if it doesn’t taste good! You can always flavor it after the fact with things like salt and pepper, soy sauce or fish sauce and other spices and herbs. Some folks prefer blander broths for this very reason.
And I certainly don't care if you call it a stock or a broth. Call it a “brew” or "stone soup" if you want! Just put what you got in a pot, simmer it for as long as you can... and good things happen.
It will be infinitely better than anything you can buy in a store.
Tip #5: Make Delicious Soups!
OK, you've got some delicious homemade chicken broth. Now what?
Well, you can certainly add some chicken meat and veggies to your chicken broth and voila...chicken soup.
Honestly though, I NEVER make chicken soup anymore. It’s just, well, I find it SO BORING!
And that’s one of the many reasons I wrote Fearless Broths and Soups
Included are 60 simple recipes for a wide variety of different soups. As the tagline says, I truly wrote this book for “real people on real budgets.”
It’s geared to all you stressed out moms and dads and workaholics trying to figure out how to eat well with limited funds and time. Which is pretty much everybody these days, right?
And it has lots of soup recipes made from chicken broth so you’ll have plenty of choices.
Here’s a summary of the different chapters:
- Simple recipes for the most basic homemade bone broths
- 20 quick and simple Broth for Breakfast recipes for those rushed morning hours
- 10 Creamy Vegetable soups including Potato Leek, Butternut Squash and a Carrot-Apple with Cinnamon
- 10 Asian Noodle soups including Thai Coconut Curry, Vietnamese Pho and Burmese Mohinga
- 10 Soup from the Sea recipes including Cioppino, Clam Chowder and Bouillabaisse
- 10 Simple Sausage and Meatball soup recipes including Italian Meatball and Portuguese Kale
How Long Can You Freeze Homemade Broth for?
You can store your homemade broth in the freezer for about 6 months in the back of a regular freezer, or for 12 months in a deep freeze. After that point, you can still consume the broth--it will be safe to eat, but the flavor may be diminished somewhat.
What You Will Need for the Homemade Chicken Broth:
- Raw Chicken (or raw whole chicken parts, cut up) or chicken carcasses from a roasted chicken, meat removed
- Vegetables, coarsely chopped - carrots, celery, and a medium to large onion
- Apple Cider Vinegar
- Filtered Water to Cover Chicken (read this post on how to make your water safe)
Optional Chicken Parts:
- Chicken Backs
- Chicken Feet
- Giblets (but not the liver) - these include the neck, heart, and gizzards
Recipe Notes and Substitutions for Making Bone Broth
- Chicken Option: Instead of a whole raw chicken, you can use either raw whole chicken parts, cut up, or 1-2 chicken carcasses from a roasted chicken, meat removed.
- Trim Healthy Mama: If you are on the Trim Healthy Mama plan, this recipe will fit in as an "S."
NOW....here is the sure fire recipe......
Making Bone Broth - 5 Tips for Awesome Homemade Bone Broth and a Sure-Fire Chicken Broth Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 whole raw chicken
- vegetables (coarsely chopped – 2-3 carrots, 2-3 stalks celery, 1 medium to large onion)
- 2 Tbsp apple cider vinegar
- filtered water (to cover chicken)
Optional chicken parts:
- 1 - 2 chicken backs
- 1 - 2 chicken feet
- giblets (but not the liver – giblets include the neck, heart and gizzards)
Instructions
- Soak: Place chicken and/or chicken carcasses and optional parts in bottom of stock pot and cover with cold water and add vinegar. Let sit for 30-60 minutes. Soaking bones in cold water with a little vinegar helps to pull the minerals from the bones. This is not mandatory and if you’re short on time it’s OK to skip it.
- Skim: Bring to a gentle rolling boil and skim any scum that forms on the surface. True to its name, “scum” is not very pleasant looking but it can’t hurt you. Simply skim it off with a ladle or a small mesh strainer which will easily latch on to the scum. Once you’ve skimmed the broth add in your chopped vegetables.
- Simmer: Turn the temperature to low and simmer very gently, covered, for 4-24 hours. The key is to GENTLY SIMMER and not boil the bones which can prevent gelatin from forming (but won’t ruin the broth). So once the water has come to a boil and the scum is skimmed, immediately turn down the heat. Simmering should only be slightly perceptible – a few bubbles rising to the surface here and there are a good indicator of a nice, gentle simmer.
- Strain: Let the broth cool to about room temperature. Strain broth from bones, parts and veggies using a fine mesh strainer.
- If using a whole chicken, remove the chicken and place on a cutting board. Remove the meat from the bones and save for use in meals.
- Store: Ladle the broth into your storage containers. If you’re filling glass jars that will be stored in the freezer, always leave a few inches of headspace at the top of the jar. Broth will expand when frozen and can crack glass jars if they’re overfilled. Store in fridge for up to 7 days. Freeze whatever you won’t use within a week.
Nutritional information is provided as a courtesy and is merely an approximation. Optional ingredients are not included and when there is an alternative, the primary ingredient is typically used. We cannot guarantee the accuracy of the nutritional information given for any recipe on this site. Erythritol carbs are not included in carb counts since they have been shown not to impact blood sugar.
Have you made homemade bone broth? If so, what kind?
If not, why not?
Craig Fear is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner (NTP) and real food blogger. In addition to his video e-course, he also just released his second book, Fearless Broths and Soups. Craig's other interests include hiking, playing his guitar, travel, hanging out with his golden retriever, Lipton, and rooting for his beloved New York Giants. He also loves coffee and claims to be only mildly addicted to it. You can connect with Craig over on his blog, Fearless Eating, on Facebook, Pinterest, and on Instagram.
I love making bone broth. I found a local poultry farm that will sell the raw chicken carcasses that remain after they cut up the chicken pieces. I use these with chicken necks to make rich bone broth.
I have also taken to keeping a container in my freezer where I keep carrot peelings, onion skins, etc from the weeks meal prep. Then when I make my bone broth I have lots of veggies to add. It works great!
That's a great idea about the peelings--I have thought about that. Are they all organic?
I think it awful that you would turn people off from organic chicken (or any meat). Yes, you can find organic meat broths, if you just find the "truthful" brands. Check the ingredients! By learning a lot about organics, you can know what's bad and what's good. And with that, I have to mention this:
Most factory farms, of which there are tons of, in this country, give two shots to all their animals. Antibiotic shots (because they live in filth), and hormone shots (to make them grow bigger...faster), and if THAT'S not enough to keep you eating regular meat, all factory farmed animals are fed GMO (genitically modified organism) grain, which goes into you also!
Now if something that sounds like that, genetically modified, doesn't bother you, to put into your body, than I suggest, don't bother with organic meats. Me, I don't even bother eating meat at all, because I know I can get the same vitamins, minerals, protein, and the good kind of fat, from other food sources. Of course, if I can find a good "truthful" brand of organic meat on sale, then I will eat it. But usually, the prices are very high.
Hi again. Sorry but I'm confused. Where did I turn people off from organic chicken or any meat? Actually it's not my writing--it's another writer--but I didn't see that he did that. Thanks!
....My home is in Wales and any real Welsh soul will have thrived on Cawl since childhood !
Welsh lamb is used when the cutlets and are trimmed to reduce the fat content but the bones alone make a splendid basis for broth.
It is made by extracting the nutrients from the bones of lamb most usually by a long slow simmer .---home grown vegetables are added. Any bones can be used and the cawl gets better by letting it get cold ,skim off any fat .and re-heating . Dumplings can be added too and it Improves even more the next day! It tastes better still accompanied by the harp and is a fine basis on which to build a rugby team!
Iechyd da!
CAWL (Pronounced as COW with an L at the end!)II
Are there other ways to freeze the broth besides using glass jars?
Sure you could do plastic bags and ice cube trays.
Ugh, plastics! Mess up your hormonal balance. Has anyone not seen all the articles around, where countries, states, and even cities, are trying to outlaw plastics? Look for the reason why, next time you see one. I get my favorite organic grocery store, Harris Teeter, to put my groceries in paper bags, and avoid all plastics, as much as possible.
Yes, I agree that plastics are a problem and I try to limit them as much as possible. Just wanted to offer an option--do you have any other ideas that would help? I think cubes made in non plastic ice cube trays could work.
I learned to use bones to make broth out of necessity, (note poverty in childhood), and I liked the flavor more than boxed or canned as I matured (I'm 52 now). It's lovely to see this "new" movement, but honestly, bone broth is ancient!
I make chicken, (whole, with meat removed,- sometimes roasted previously - it simply removes the nutrients and doesn't add to the broth that much more, use the meat for a fun dish while broth simmers!), turkey (has more depth and richness than chicken, yum), beef (bone joints - cartilage yeah! marrow - fattier yum!), and pork joints and trotters (feet) delicious in ramen.
A week without broth is a sad week for me:(
Great post, thanks.
Thanks for your lovely comment! I didn't write the post (I'm the blog owner) but I so wish we had made broth when I was young! Wasn't even a thought in our Standard American Diet house :(. Hope to see you around again!
How to get rid of Alcers in stomach should I use bones broth? Thank from Timothy
Sorry I can't medically advise.
I’ve made chicken and beef bone broth for years. Why do I have sediment at the bottom of a jar once I have stained it twice. I use natural or organic chicken bones and grass fed beef bones. Might my strainer not be fine enough? I always pour off leaving the sediment to discard. Help!!
Hi Arlene,
It definitely depends on the type of strainer you're using. A fine mesh strainer would certainly help. You could also pick up some fine mesh cheesecloth too. That said, a little particulate matter at the bottom of your broths is fairly normal. I wouldn't stress it!
I never knew about broth making until the internet (wasn't around when I was younger) I would have made this all the time when my kids were young to reap the benefits feel sad I did not have the knowledge but I am making up for it now, make it all the time to use in many recipes, also give jars of it to my now left the roost children to use as they do not have the time. So many abundant uses and health benefits.
I wish I was one of your "left the roost children" ;).
So, if someone is 41 or younger, chances are their mom never made bone broth?? My son's are 43 and 40 and their mom,,,, aka me, has been making bone broth for 40 yrs, at least! My mom did for all of her soups and I do as well. I use chicken and turkey mostly. Great article otherwise!!
I personally know nothing about when people started making broth more often these days (I didn't write the post...it was a guest post), but I wish I had grown up in a house like yours!
I have been saving roasted chicken bones in the freezer until I had enough to make broth with. My question is if I want to add the chicken feet, do I need to do anything with them first, or would I just put them in raw at the same time with the cooked bones?
I have never used them but there are lots of informational posts on the internet. I think you could prob add them with everything else but many posts are talking about pre-boiling and removing claws.
I didn't realize "bone broth" was a thing until I started looking up Instant Pot recipes. I've actually been making this for years with turkey carcasses in my 18 quart roaster. You can get a lot in one of those and don't have to worry about having your stove on. The feet and vinegar, however are new to me. Where might one get chicken feet? I didn't realize how good it can be for joints. I have severe arthritis in my knees and if this will help, I'll definitely make it more often.
HI there - I've seen some online but it's not an easy thing! Interestingly, we had a Chinese friend years ago who thought he should start a business taking chicken feet from the US and selling them in China b/c they LOVE them there!
Is there a difference in how you prepare if you use the "gross" parts? If so please do tell. If I'm going to go through all this trouble then I would like to get the MOST benefits as possible. Thanks for your post, super grateful!!! 🙂
I don't think so - thanks for the kind words!
I clicked on both the LEARN MORE in the bone broth 101 box and the
"Click here to learn more about How to Make Bone Broths 101."
Neither click results in showing me a recipe.
Hi there. I'm so sorry you are having that problem. Actually I am as well.....but in Safari it works. In fact, in Chrome I'm not seeing social sharing buttons in the recipe card, but I see them in Safari....are you using Chrome? Mobile or desktop? I have my IT guy looking at it so anything you can tell me would help. Thank you!
You said jar it and freeze it but can you home can it as well?
Yes!
I Want to use a whole raw organic soup chicken. So i would cut up the whole chicken into pieces to make the broth, then what do i do with the chicken and vegtables once broth is done if i want to make soup right away???
You mean you are making it w/ the whole bird and not the bones? Most people just do the bones.
The article says to use a whole raw chicken - it is not very clear - does the raw meat need to be removed first? Or can you just use the whole raw chicken?
You can do either!
So if I use a whole chicken and have it boil for 10-24 hours do I need to remove the meat at some point? Or I can leave it on? What will it happen to the meat after 10 or 24 hours?
Hi there. You can leave it on as best as I can tell - this was a post written by someone else. Thanks for reading!
How about using organic turkey bones for Bone Broth? Is it as nutritious as Chicken? I have digestive issues and have been drinking organic bone broth from a box, simmered with turmeric and it immediately helps my tummy. I am excited to start making my own. With celiac, I cook all my food organically and eat grain free. Why are nutritionalist not putting us on bone broth? Is bone broth good for underactive thryoid?
Thanks for your blog!
I think turkey should be just as nutritious! I guess nutritionalists don't all know? Bone broth is supposed to help the gut so since the gut drives so much it would make sense that it should help support the body that way. Thanks for reading!
I have been making it for years. My recipe said to simmer for 72 hours. I use my stove top. It does much better than my large crockpot, which cooks down the liquid.
It would be much more convenient if I could get the benefits from 12-24 hours.
Have you considered a pressure cooker?
Yes you can then eat the chicken after making the broth but it is pretty spent and not so tasty as all the goodness is now in the broth and the meat is depleted. May be if you only cook the whole bird for a short time it might work, but the real object is to get the best nutritional broth possible.
Hi. Why don't you use the liver?
It can add a strong taste to the stock.
I have just begun my first bone broth using chicken bones left over from 2 roasts... wish me luck! You mentioned a whole chicken can be used instead of the bones... Am I right in thinking you can then eat the chicken once the broth has been made?
Sure!