When we enjoy a whole chicken for dinner, I love to save the chicken bones to make a broth (or is it stock) for later to be used to make a soup base!
Awesome infographic found at www.craighitchenstherapies.com. I believe when I make my broth, chicken or beef, it’s a broth/stock hybrid because for the most part I’m using leftover bones, so that would constitute a stock, as I’m not using much of the meat at all. But I do have some meat and fat left on the bones, and I’m throwing in some meat I won’t be using for anything, so that constitutes a broth. Sooooo Bone Broth it is to be called here on out!
Anyways, my chicken bone broth is great tasting! Even before I add in the additional vegetables and herbs for some yummy chicken egg noodle soup. It has great flavor to it because the chicken bones are pasture-raised and roasted! However, when I make a very healthy bone marrow broth, the taste is not so good on it’s own…
I will show you both my chicken bone broth recipe as well as the bone marrow bone broth, as they’re pretty much the same process! The above chef from bon appetit says not to use bone marrow, but if you do a quick google search, bone marrow is roasted and eaten itself as a healthy meal and the broth from it is known to be very very healthy! Read on below for some (hopefully) knowledgeable bone broth insight!
Remember growing up and just being a kid in life and then out of nowhere you get a sore throat, or cough or head cold starts to creep in. Maybe even it’s the more unbearable flu? And before chicken soup was ripped-off as the remedy for the “soul” it was first used as the remedy for these exact illnesses?! And it still is! Why is chicken soup the go to? Secret to be revealed… it’s what’s in the broth! The photos below were from a day when Nico had a bit of a fever and I saw he was coming down with something. We went outside to get some fresh air, sunshine, to just play but relax in nature and have a bowl of chicken soup! He felt better very quickly!
I remember back to my school lunches, I LOVED chicken noodle soup day! To my young, public-school-cafeteria-raised palate, the “soup” was so salty good, featuring watery liquid, maybe two pieces of some square looking what might be chicken, paired with a half a sandwich… stale white bread with the most simple thin spread of peanut butter. All of it most likely packed with some nonsense of sodium, sugar, preservatives and who knows what else. I was young, didn’t know any better. Today, I’d be scared of it!! And so today, when it’s time to cook up a healing broth, I am well aware that the broth must begin with a healthy, pasture-raised grass-fed meat. Chicken, in this case, not raised using any antibiotics or steroids, no harsh chemicals to be absorbed into the fat and bones. We’re using bones that are incredibly healthy, packed with nutrients, minerals and so much more! The bones are roasted, then simmered in water, pulling out those healing and healthy elements! The collagen, the gelatin, the marrow, the amino acids, the minerals, the vitamins…. so when you eat or drink or slurp the broth, you’re taking down a powerful elixir to boost the immune system, support the growth of probiotics and expel toxins! That’s why it’s good to get some bone broth,whether by itself if it’s tasty enough to take down alone, or in the form of a soup or stew, when you’re feeling sick! Love this infographic by www.wiseapetea.com
It’s not just for when you’re feeling ill, but also when you’re feeling good! Bone broth is great to eat due to the nutrition it provides as a whole! All the essentials coming from the bones have some fantastic qualities. All the material from the cartilage and tendons, minerals such as magnesium, silicon, calcium, and phosphorus that are available in such a chemical composition that makes them easy to absorb by the body. There are glycosaminoglycans like glucosamine, chondroitin, sulphates and hyaluronic acid, to help your joints be flexible and stay youthful! And how about the Collagen! You’ve probably heard of it before, to keep you looking young and fabulous! Look at some of these great infographics on collagen and glycine below!
So making your own broth is always ideal! Always best! You already know that pasture raised chicken is what you need after you cooked and enjoyed your Whole Roasted Chicken! So now as you’re readying yourself to make some healing bone broth, you’re happy to know your broth is going to be more effective and healthier than buying a canned or boxed store bought version of stock or broth. No added preservatives, corn starch, wheat, yeast, MSG, sugar or intensely high sodium! You know you’re going to have the highest quality bone broth! Soooo much better than what I had 20-some years ago as I sat in the Westview Elementary Cafeteria slurping down my soup before the loudest lunch lady who ever lived would scream at us for no reason whatsoever. Even today, my memory of her is scarier than the soup.
Below is a quick and easy recipe to make your own bone broth! Great infographic found at www.fatburningman.com It’s very similar to what I do here in this recipe. As I mentioned at the beginning of this blog post, simply using last night’s dinner, a leftover carcass of chicken bones , you’ve got some fantastically healthy nutrition coming your way with bone broth! 
Below I show a photo of our leftover Whole Roasted Chicken. I stripped the whole chicken of it’s meat the best I could after our family only eating half!
I then place a ton of bones, along with some meat I won’t end up eating, on a baking sheet.
There’s the good chicken meat ready to be saved to be used for a future recipe, Chicken Egg Noodle Soup! This blog is actually about broth and not soup, although I keep mentioning soup. We’re making the soup next!
Roast in oven at 350 for about 30 minutes.
Place in slow cooker with celery, carrots, onions, garlic cloves, 1-2 tbsp Apple Cider Vinegar, bay leaf, some thyme, rosemary and parsley. I don’t add any salt or pepper at this point as you can add it later when you’re making your soup! Allow the bones to soak in water with 2 tbsp of Apple Cider Vinegar! The vinegar helps expel the goodness you want from the bones! I wrote about the goodness of ACV on it’s own, here we get to add it to our food!
Add all the ingredients, then crock pot this on high for four to six hours for chicken bones. Longer the simmering the more you get the bones breaking down. You can do this on the stove, if you’re watching it, for less time. Two to four hours. Beef bones do take longer for a beef broth! But really you can’t overdo the simmering! Unless you’ve simmered for a week, but ain’t nobody got time for that!
Strain the pieces from the liquid and there’s your broth!
And this broth is super good! I never worry too much about the need to “skim” as the pasture-raised meat typically makes that fat that rises to the top… healthy fat! More on “skimming” here — > Important to Skim? I do refrigerate the broth and then when the fat rises and solidifies, it actually protects and seals the broth nicely. I remove that layer of fat in one piece and don’t use it in any of the soups! Fat removed perfectly and easily!
Now… as for making a broth using bone marrow. Bone marrows are super nutritious and packed with all the goodness I mentioned above, collagen, glycine, more so than chicken bones. Supplements are even sold in stores and online! Maybe the supplements will help but I think the real thing would offer more of what you’re looking for! However, broth from just bone marrow isn’t tasty. From the site kettleandfire.com she nailed the flavor description. It tastes oily, like trying to take down coconut oil! Screenshot below…
Here’s a fantastic blog about tasting roasted bone marrow here www.Thehealthyfoodie.com Regarding eating roasted bone marrow, I’m with her with the oddness, it seems so… not my thing. It’s very fatty, although, extremely healthy! I’ll try one day. She did however enjoy the bone marrow broth, while I did not. I felt I was having a cup full of melted fat! I will say this, with all honesty, I took down this cup below of bone marrow broth in the morning after feeling not so good. Sore throat and coughing all night long, I made this bone marrow broth specifically to see if it would prevent any flu coming on… I felt better throughout the day! The following day I was fine! There might be something to this!! (Disclaimer… I was also drinking lots of water and having ceylon tea with added turmeric and ginger. I attack my illnesses, going on the defense best I know how when I feel them coming on.)
Do the same as you did with the chicken bones. Roast in oven for about 30 – 40 mins
There’s the roasted bone marrow! I could’ve taken a spoon or fork and given it a try. But I didn’t. Google it, you’ll see all the meals that come up. It actually looks fancy if you’re ordering in a restaurant!
Bone marrow broth to be used for soup or stew! Look at the layer rising to the top, that fat will harden, solidify and protect the broth in the fridge! You can actually turn the jar upside down! Don’t freeze the broth in the glass jar, it will crack and break! I’ve never had any luck with frozen glass. I plan to use this broth soon, but if to freeze, put in a plastic freezer safe container. You can use the same recipe using beef bones then simmering in water and vegetables, to create beef broth just like the chicken broth above!
| Prep Time | 20 mins |
| Cook Time | 2-6+ hours |
| Servings |
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- 2-3 lbs leftover chicken carcass or beef bones or beef bones plus marrow bones or just the bone marrow
- 2 tbsp Organic Apple Cider Vinegar using the vinegar aids n pulling out the healthy nutrients!
- 2-3 cloves garlic I remove the peel but you don't have to cut them
- 1 onion red or white, cut in quarters
- 2-3 carrots not too necessary but do add sweet flavor
- 2-3 stalks celery leaves and all, can be broken to sections to fit in pot
- 1 tbsp parlsey
- 2 tsp thyme optional
- 1 tsp rosemary optional
- 4-6 cups water depends on how many bones you have, but you want enough water to submerge the bones
Ingredients
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- Collect the bones to be used, stripped of any meat leftover if you're planning to eat that meat or use for a soup.
- Lay across baking sheet
- roast at 350 F for about 30 minutes
- Remove from oven. Place in crock pot or stovetop pot.
- Fill with water and add Apple Cider Vinegar
- Allow to sit for about 20 minutes to let ACV do its work
- Add remaining ingredients, turn on crock pot to high or stove top to med-high
- Let simmer/slight boil for 2-4 hours on stove, 4-6 hours in crock pot for chicken broth, longer if you want. For beef or marrow bones, much longer is preferable, 10 - 24 hours best to get all the goodness from bones!
- If you see some fat collecting at top, you can skim it but I usually don't see too much during the simmering process, however I do see plenty when the marrow bone broth is finish and solidified. That's when you can remove the top layer of fat. Place in jars with about an inch space at top and put in refrigerator for a week or freeze for six months.