Great Adventure Homestead

Recently, I have been sharing a few of my favorite soups. And in those recipes, you’ve found that I prefer to use homemade chicken bone broth! However, some of you have asked if this recipe can be adapted for beef or pork, so I thought I would update my original post and share it with you!

By the way, the answer to your question is a resounding YES! To be honest, you can even use fish bones! Yes, I said fish bones!

Your body will still get the same beneficial nutrients that aid the healing and sealing of your gut. It can also help your joint and skin health too!

There’s nothing better than the delicious and wholesome goodness of homemade bone broth! Why you ask? Well, when you’ve been feeling under the weather, haven’t you felt better after eating some chicken soup? There’s a reason for that!

While bone broth is not difficult to make, it does require time…

Your chief ingredients are bones, water, vinegar, and salt to taste! And when it comes to using the carcass of a chicken, make sure you include everything! The bones, the skin, neck and the gizzards! Even the feet if you are so inclined!

You also have some optional items you can include in your bone broth such as carrots, celery, onions, garlic and your favorite herbs! Adding these items gives your broth your own unique twist!

So, how do you make homemade bone broth? Let’s get started!

How to make Homemade Bone Broth

Here’s the Essential Ingredients You’ll Need:

• 1 large or 2 small chicken carcasses (If you’re using beef, pork of fish bones, fill the pot or slow-cooker with the bones, leaving enough space for any optional items you want to use, then cover with water)
• 4-12 cups of water (1-3 liters)
• 1-3 Tbsp. of apple cider vinegar (Red Wine Vinegar works well too)
• 1 Tbsp. of salt – adjust to taste

Optional Ingredients:

• 3-4 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2-3 celery sticks, coarsely chopped
• 2-3 onions, peeled and coarsely chopped
• 2-3 whole garlic cloves
• 1 tsp whole or crushed black peppercorns
• a few branches of your favorite herbs (my go-to choices; rosemary, thyme or parsley)

Let’s put it all together:

• You’ll want to put all the essential ingredients in a large pot or slow cooker
• Next add in any optional ingredients you desire.
• Heat on high until the broth starts to boil, then reduce the heat to low. You should only see very small bubbles in the center of pot.
• Cook at low temperature for a minimum of 6 hours, but as much as 24 hours.
• Once the broth is ready, let cool for an hour or two.
• Next, you’ll want to strain your broth by using a metal colander. Using a cheesecloth is optional at this step. I usually strain the broth right into canning jars with a wide mouth and a mesh strainer.
• Once the jars are filled, you can keep them in the fridge for about 4-5 days.

Some key points about homemade bone broth:

• High temperatures can corrupt the gelatin in your broth, so make sure the water is barely simmering.
• Beware! Some slow cookers do not have a low enough setting, so you may want to use a large pot on the stove or find a different slow cooker that grants you the ability to control the temperature better!
• If your broth doesn’t gel, it could simply mean you didn’t let it simmer long enough… just try cooking it longer next time!

Here’s some helpful kitchen tips:

• If you have more bone broth than you can use in say, 4-5 days, you can freeze it. Divvy up your delicious broth into small canning jars – making sure you leave an inch at the top of each jar to allow space for the liquids to expand, thus preventing your jars from breaking.
• Use ice cube trays to freeze your bone broth into handy cubes that are easy to reheat.
• Drink up the bone broth by the cup (or canning jar) or use it to make sauces, soups and stews.
• Use water you’ve used to boil veggies to make your broth and make good use of the nutrients lost from the veggies – they’ll now be in your broth!
• Each time you have chicken, beef, pork or fish, keep the bones and freeze them. Before long you’ll have enough to make a new batch of homemade bone broth!

Here’s to your health!

Until next time,

Peace, love and happy homesteading!

~ Sheri

P.S. (Thank you for using my affiliate links. I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you! Mom and I appreciate your support! ❤)