When I first started making homemade bone broth, I couldn’t believe how easy it was to do. I had been spending anywhere from $5 to $10 on store-bought bone broth, that we would use instantly and go through quickly. I thought there was some magic trick to making bone broth and I imagined some crazy process of stripping bones and turning it into soup. No, I couldn’t have been more wrong! Bone broth is such a natural food to make. Simply take bones, add water, add apple cider vinegar, and simmer for a long time. In this post I show you two ways that we make bone broth from scratch at the homestead.
Health benefits of Bone Broth
You may be wondering why grocery stores are stocked with bone broth now a days. The making of bone broth dates back to when our ancestors wanted to use every part of an animal for nutrition.
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Bones contain high amounts of collagen and cartilage. Collagen and cartilage are both used today to help fight bone and joint issues from arthritis to even cancer.
Bone broth is also healing to your gut and digestive system. It contains electrolytes that aid in your body’s ability to assimilate and absorb nutrients.
I drink bone broth just about every day. And I do notice a difference in my hair, skin, and nails after drinking bone broth consistently. So, no matter which nutrient your’e hoping to get from a bone, you’ll get that and more by making your own bone broth from scratch.
Here is a complete list of bone broth benefits from the Medical News Today newsletter.
Grab our favorite Duvall Homestead Bone Broth Recipes here:
Roasted Butternut Squash Soup with Bone Broth
Homemade v. Store-Bought
Today, much of the food we see on the shelf at a grocery store is processed and lacks a lot of nutrients from the source. Even meat can be stuffed with antibiotics, hormones, and other harmful products or chemicals.
Being from an accounting and finance background, I can’t help but understand why our food in today’s world can be so bad. In my opinion, it boils down to two main reasons – money and accessibility. Processed food, and food that contains filler ingredients, can be made in bulk at a lower cost. And for someone who lives near farms it may be easy to find grass-fed meat, but for someone else they may have to travel hours to get wild fish or organic berries.
So it’s for these reasons that you just plain have to be really careful about what you buy and eat.
Bone broth from scratch will contain no additives, preservatives, or artificial ingredients. And my favorite part – it’s free!
Cont.
Obviously, we can’t all eat farm-to-table every day for every meal. And grocery stores are not a bad thing. After all, they bring higher quality food to us when we otherwise wouldn’t be able to get it. But, it is my opinion that knowing what we know today about food quality, it is important that we take control of our own health. Because honestly, I don’t really trust grocery stores or restaurants to do that for me.
Homemade bone broth is about as real and raw as you can get. It’s a very simple, and totally FREE, way to get some amazing nutrients in your body. These benefits can help strengthen your immune system and build a stronger digestive track so that when you do eat something more processed, your body can heal or handle it better.
John and I try to eat at least one food item that is fermented, soaked, or nutrient-dense like bone broth per day so that when we do encounter low-quality food or an illness, we’re better equipped to handle it. I also drank bone broth every day during my pregnancy.
You can see the gelatin you created in the bone broth in the top layer after the bone broth has been refrigerated.
Tips for making bone broth from scratch
You can use any meat bones for this. Chicken, beef, pork, fish, deer, elk, or whatever you have on hand.
Make bone broth part of your weekly routine by making a roasted chicken first and then using those bones for bone broth. Talk about a money savor!
Use an Instant Pot if you have to leave the house, if you’re going to make this overnight, or if you simply don’t want to have to worry about the stove. The Instant Pot will be on soup mode for 2 hours, and then go on warm mode for several hours after that. So it gives you more schedule flexibility.
Add herbs, and a few of my secret ingredients below for a tasty drinkable bone broth. But, you totally don’t have to do this. If all you have is bones, water, and vinegar, you’ll be just fine. I think I’m just addicted to drinking the bone broth by itself!
Don’t worry if there is meat left on the bones – that can just be strained out or used to make soup later. Plus it adds great flavor.
Give the remaining bones and meat to your chickens, they love picking at the bone!
Take your time. The longer, the better! An 18-24 hour simmer or best to extract all the nutrients from the bone. So we do three sets of 2 hours on the Instant Pot, plus about 12 hours of warm mode.
What to do with your bone broth
Make soup, chili, roasted chicken or beef, and use your bone broth every time a recipe calls for chicken or beef stock or broth.
Here are some of my favorite bone broth recipes:
Instant Pot Sausage Soup with Bone Broth
Beef Stew from Scratch with Bone Broth
How to Make Chicken Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
Place the bones in the Instant Pot and cover with filtered water until bones are just barely covered.
Add 2 TBSP of apple cider vinegar and gently stir.
Cover the instant pot and set the knob to sealing.
Press “soup” and set to 2 hours. When the two hours turn off, repeat the process for a total of 3 times (6 hours in soup mode). You can leave the Instant Pot on “warm” for several hours in between if you want.
Optional: for a drinkable bone broth, add flavors of choice such as herbs, lemon, mushrooms, carrots, celery, and dried cranberries before simmering. Add salt and pepper to taste.
How to make bone broth on the stove
Place bones in a soup pot over medium heat and cover with filtered water until bones are just barely covered.
Add 2 TBSP of apple cider vinegar and gently stir.
Set the temp to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 6-24 hours.
Optional: for a drinkable bone broth, add flavors of choice such as herbs, lemon, mushrooms, carrots, celery, and dried cranberries before simmering. Add salt and pepper to taste.
Secret Ingredients for a Tasty Bone Broth
You don’t have to add these ingredients, but doing so gives your broth a lot more flavor and more nutrients for that matter, too. Soaking your veggies, especially the root like the head of the carrot, is a sneaky way to get more veggies in your diet through the soup broth.
2 stalks of organic celery, chopped
Italian herbs – fresh, frozen, or dry
2 organic carrots, chopped
Handful of mushrooms
Half an onion
Garlic cloves or powder
Dried cranberries (the SECRET ingredient). This gives a nice sweetness to the broth that we personally love.
Whole or squeezed lemon
Storing your Bone Broth
Don’t make the same mistake I did, which was to put the bone broth in a gallon glass mason jar and straight in the freezer. This cracks the jar. You have to use a flexible plastic mason jar. So I use these BPA-free, safe plastic mason freezer jar and they’ve worked great for a long time.
Note: Make sure you allow your broth to cool before pouring in the jar. Piping hot broth will ruin the jar since it’s not made of glass.
If you made this recipe, share with me on Instagram @theduvallhomestead and if you can, leave a 5 star review below. It really helps to share the recipe with others who want to make bone broth!
Homemade Bone Broth
Learn how to make bone broth with this easy recipe. Never waste bones again, and you'll never have to buy soup stock again!
Ingredients
- Bones from chicken, beef, or pork. Feel free to throw some leftover meat in there too! No need to strip the bones off the meat.
- Filtered water
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- Optional for added flavor:
- Herbs
- Lemon
- Mushrooms
- Carrots
- Celery
- Dried cranberries
Instructions
How to Make Chicken Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
Place your bones in the Instant Pot and cover with filtered water until bones are just barely covered. Add leftover veggies or scraps to add flavor, as desired.
Add apple cider vinegar and gently stir.
Cover the instant pot and set the knob to sealing.
Press "soup" and set to 2 hours. When the two hours turn off, repeat the process for a total of 3 times (6 hours in soup mode). You can leave the Instant Pot on "warm" for several hours in between if you want (we leave it overnight, about 12 hours).
How to make bone broth on the stove
Place the bones in a soup pot over medium heat and cover with filtered water until bones are just barely covered. Add leftover veggies or scraps to add flavor, as desired.
Add 2 TBSP of apple cider vinegar and gently stir.
Set the temp to medium-low, cover, and simmer for 6-24 hours.
Notes
Tip: accumulate your leftover carrot heads, celery heads, onion and garlic skins, lemon, and other veggie scraps to go in your bone broth. Also, if you make something like BBQ chicken, keep the BBQ sauce on the bones! Makes the bone broth taste delicious.
Pint it for Later!
I hope you love your bone broth. Next time you make roasted chicken, be sure to save those bones.
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