Bone broth is a traditional healing food used by every culture on earth. Each with its own herbs, spices and vegetables, and flavor profiles. So comforting and nourishing. It really is liquid gold.
When I first learned about the benefits of bone broth I found lots of recipes online and tried a few. Hardly any had herbs and veggies so the results didn’t actually taste great so it didn’t make me excited to sip on it and add it to a recipe. My version is packed with flavor so that you will enjoy drinking it straight or with a good squeeze of lemon juice and will look forward to using it in recipes and sauces.
This broth is a powerful healing food for boosting the immune system, improving gut health, speeding up healing from chronic or acute illness, and more! Read more about the food-as-medicine benefits below the recipe.
Easy Stove-Top Chicken Bone Broth Recipe
Makes: ~4 quarts (but you can make less or more)
Prep time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 4-6 hours
Ingredients:
2-3 lbs of cooked/roasted bones (a full gallon-sized ziplock bag)
*see note about bones below*
3-4 carrots, roughly chopped
4 stocks of celery, roughly chopped
1-2 onions with peel, washed and roughly chopped
6-8 cloves of garlic, with peel, roughly chopped
1-2 teaspoons of chopped fresh ginger
A few bunches of your favorite herbs: I like to make it with thyme, rosemary or cilantro. (I use what I have on hand so the flavor profile changes, for this batch I used thyme and cilantro)
2-3 tablespoons apple cider vinegar (ACV)
salt & whole peppercorns (to get a clearer broth)
Optional - Dried or fresh mushrooms or any kind. When I made this batch I had some foraged hen of the woods/maitake mushrooms so I added some.
*Note about Bones:
Whenever you have eaten any meats on a bone, put the leftover bones in a ziplock bag in the freezer. You can also add washed celery bases, onion peels and other veggies/herb trimmings.
Once the bag is full (I use a 1 gallon/3.78 liter-sized bag), you have enough bones for a batch of this broth. In our house, it is mostly roasted chicken wings bones (one of my son Diego’s favorite meals), chicken backs from rotisserie chicken, and occasionally a few lamb/pork rib bones (YUM).
I don’t recommend using raw bones because the flavor won’t be good and you won’t get as many nutrients out of the bones.
If you don’t want to wait for leftover bones to make a batch of broth, visit your butcher and ask them for bones. Then, lightly oil and salt the bones and roast them in the oven at 350 Fahrenheit/175 Celsius until golden brown, about 25-35 minutes depending on the bones and oven. Any bones will work but try to make sure the animals lead the best lives possible. I recommend organic/pastured/locally raised whenever possible.
Directions:
Stove Top:
Give all your vegetables and herbs a wash and give them a rough chop and set aside. I leave the garlic and onion peels on for more flavor (I learned this working in high-end restaurants for many years).
Place the bones and apple cider vinegar in a large stockpot and cover with filtered/spring water (I don’t recommend tap water) and bring to a boil.
Amount note: This recipe yields about 4 quarts but you can make a smaller or bigger batch depending on what you have on hand. Making broth is not a perfect science, let it be more intuitive. You can use my recipe as a guide but add what you like and make it your own. Listen to what your body is craving at the time (and what needs to be used in your fridge/garden).
First you will decoct the bones to extract all the nutrients from the bones. Bring to a rolling boil on medium high for about 30 minutes. This will make the fat/scum/foam go to the top, these are congealed proteins. Turn the heat down to a slow simmer. Using a large spoon, skim what has floated up into a bowl to discard. Then, cover and simmer for 3-4 hours on low. Stir occasionally and skim off the oil and foam from the top if more appears. If the water evaporates, add more to keep the pot full.
After 3-4 hours, add the chopped veggies and herbs and cook for another 1-2 hours. This will give your broth amazing flavor.
After it’s cooked for 4-6 hours in total, let it cool so that it’s easier to handle and strain with a sieve. I usually strain it the next day. Then, store the broth in jars, containers or ice-cube trays for smaller portions (or a combo of all 3). I don’t recommend freezing broth in glass jars, when it freezes it expands and almost always breaks the jar (learned this the hard way…).
Lastly, always label and date your broth so you know how long it’s good for. The broth will keep in the fridge for about a week and in the freezer for 6 months.
Crock-Pot/Slow Cooker Alternative:
Just like above, but in a crock-pot on low. It’s harder to a hard boil to remove the scum with this method but the it’ll still come up slowly and need to be skimmed off.
Bone broth can cook for a minimum of 4 hours to a max of 12 hours. I’ve experimented with different lengths of time and have found that broth that cooks for longer has a less desirable taste so I’m less excited to use it in everyday cooking. My recommendation is 4-6 hours to get a rich broth with the best flavor.
Food-as-medicine properties of bone broth:
1. It benefits the gut’s microbiome and lining.
“All disease begins in the gut” was said in Ancient Greece many moons ago and is still very true today. In TCM, we believe the longer you cook something the easier it is to digest, so because this broth is cooked for 4-6 hours it makes an amazing digestive tonic. Bone broth has the building blocks we need to heal the lining of our gut.
It is also rich in antioxidants and its anti-inflammatory effects make it the perfect food-as-medicine for anyone struggling with IBS, diarrhea, constipation, and other digestive issues.
2. Nourishes the skin, hair, nails, and connective tissues
Bone broth is very rich in collagen making it excellent for our skin, hair, nails, ligaments, and tendons. I recommend it to anyone who has chronic issues with their joints or feels like they recover slowly in between workouts.
3. It is deeply healing for anyone who is sick or is living with a chronic disease. And a wonderful tonic to stay well.
From a Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) perspective, bone broth nourishes a person's qi, blood, yin, and essence. As we age, we naturally lose yin and blood so boosting these energies is key to helping us feel our best as we age. Long-term illness and chronic conditions also deplete our yin, blood, and essence making this a powerful healer and health tonic.
In TCM, there are 2 kinds of essence. Post-heaven essence and pre-heaven essence. In Western terms, pre-heaven essence is our DNA which is inherited from our parents and is finite. Pre-heaven essence also can be seen as our backup energy we can tap into when we’ve burnt through our post-heaven essence. Post-heaven however, is an energy that can be cultivated and boosted in order to preserve our pre-heaven essence and slow down aging.
4. Bone broth boosts the immune system.
Since bone broth is so healing for the gut, it also is an amazing tonic for our immune system. Our immune system lives mostly in our guts. Bone broth is hydrating, easy to digest and has a lot of protein. This makes it a wonderful immune tonic whether you’re recovering from a virus or trying to prevent catching one by boosting your whole system.
