Bone broth or bone stock is one of the healthiest and most affordable fluids you can add to your diet. Bone broth is loaded with nutrients that assist with your health, providing particular benefits to the following:
- Gut health
- Joint health
- Bone and tooth health
- Healing from an illness
The first step is to source healthy bone from chicken or beef (I recommend Vibrant Farms for this). There is a difference in taste and nutrient profile between chicken and beef. Broth can technically be made with any bone (or in combination), including lamb, pork, fish, etc. As a personal preference, I typically make chicken or turkey broth to drink as a beverage and beef broth to use for cooking — best with rice, quinoa or sweet potato mash.
Making the Broth
When making bone broth, I will typically roast two full chickens for dinner. After serving dinner, I will pull all the remaining meat from the chicken carcass and store in a glass Pyrex storage container for future use.
Recently I have switched over to a pressure cooker for simplicity. I will do the same as what follows with the slow cooker but I would only cook for 3 hours. I will put the bones in the slow cooker, add 2 tablespoons of organic apple cider vinegar, add water to about 1.5cm from the top and put on HIGH setting for approximately two hours (or until it begins to boil). Then I change to LOW setting to simmer for the remaining time. You can skim off a bit of fat when you go to lower the temperature as well.
With a slow cooker I typically stew chicken bones for 12-16 hours and beef bones for approximately 24 hours, as a general rule. Within about 2-4 hours of completion, I will add vegetables into the mix. This is completely dependant on your preferred taste and what is available.
Storing & Using the Broth
When time is up, I will strain the broth and pour it into mason jars, allowing it to cool on counter. After cooling, the bone broth goes directly into fridge, where I will store it for approximately 3 days.
I chop the remaining meat into salads and mix with rice, quinoa, sweet potato and vegetables (such as corn, peas, carrots, celery, cauliflower, broccoli, or onions). This is often the kids’ lunch the next day. In the morning, I will warm this up together with the broth and place in their thermoses.
If you want a deeper look into the health and science behind bone broth, you can watch the following video from Dr. Kaayla Daniel, “Bone Broth and Health”:
Buena Suerte!
