When you’re spending time cooking a meal for friends and family, you want it to be enjoyable. You want to hear what a good job you did, how delicious the food was, and if you’ll share the recipe.
You also want the food you’re preparing to be healthy and nourishing to the body. Am I right?
Right. Today, I want to talk about making homemade bone broths and using them to not only nourish the body but increase the taste of your food too!
The Problem Is That Your Food Is Bland
Let me guess, you’re trying to cook healthy food for your family, but you keep coming up with meals that tend to be a wee-bit tasteless.
There’s nothing worse than being disappointed in a new meal because it’s not as good as you hoped. I know, I’ve had that happen several times!
You can add salt, butter, herbs or spices, but you can only use so much of that.
Newsflash! Water Doesn’t Have A Flavor
The one other ingredient you’re probably using in a lot of your meals is water.
Anytime you cook rice, pasta, quinoa, or orzo you cook it in water, right? Any time you’re making soups, you add some water, correct?
Well, water doesn’t have a flavor so when you cook food in it, it’s not adding anything to it. You need something that will give your food some “umff”, some “pizazz”!
The Answer Is To Substitute Delicious, Nutritious Bone Broth In Place Of Water
The answer to your tasteless problem is stock. It can be veggie, chicken, beef, or fish broth. It really doesn’t matter because simply replacing water with it will enhance the taste of your food, hands down.
Besides helping your food taste better, it’s so healthy for you. Stock is made from simmering the bones, vegetables, and organ meats (if you choose) in water for 24-36 hours. This process pulls the nutrients and minerals from the bones and tissues of the animal and puts it into the water. Then when you cook with the stock, you’re consuming all that good stuff in a form that easy to digest!
You’ve heard that you’re supposed to eat chicken noodle soup when you’re sick right? Well, that’s because it gives your body nutrition so it can heal itself and help you beat that virus.
When it comes to stock, you have two options.
- Buy it in the store
- Make it yourself
I’d recommend the later because it’s fresh, cheap, and definitely more healthy!
If you don’t know where to begin when it comes to making your own stocks, don’t worry! I’ve got 4 great recipes for you below!
4 Recipes For Homemade Bone Broth
For each of the recipes below:
Combine all ingredients in a large crockpot, heat on high. Cover until boiling. Reduce heat to low and simmer for 3 hours. Remove bones, add grass-fed gelatin or collagen if you’d like, let cool and remove any meat to use later. Return bones to crockpot and simmer on low for 24 hours. Strain broth and store in the refrigerator. Keeps for 1-2 weeks. Freezes well.
If you’re in a crunch for time or you don’t want your whole house smelling like broth, I’d suggest using an InstaPot instead of a crockpot!
Vegetable Stock
Ingredients:
- 2 TBSP. butter
- 3 sliced onions
- 3 chopped carrots
- 3 chopped celery sticks
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 3 TBSP. apple cider vinegar
- 4 quarts of water
Chicken Stock
Ingredients:
- 1 whole chicken carcass or 2-3 pounds of bony chicken parts (necks, backs, breastbones, wings, legs and feet)
- chicken organ meats (heart, gizzard, liver)
- 2 TBSP. butter
- 1 large sliced onion
- 2 chopped carrots
- 3 chopped celery sticks
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3-4 quarts of water
Beef Stock
Ingredients:
- 4 pounds of beef marrow and knuckle bones
- 3 pounds of meaty rib or neck bones
- 2 TBSP. butter
- 3 large sliced onion
- 3 chopped carrots
- 3 chopped celery sticks
- several sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 4 quarts of water
Fish Stock
Ingredients:
- 3-4 whole carcasses of non-oily fish (including heads)
- 2 TBSP. butter
- 2 large sliced onion
- 1 chopped carrots
- several sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 bunch of parsley
- 1/2 cup dry white wine
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3 quarts of water
This post was originally written on March 21st, 2012 and has been updated.
I notice you put Apple ciders in all your bone broth…I use kombucha,elderberry for beef, mango for chicken or vegetable… Fish Broth?? not sure on that taste, never did it… Ham broth for navy bean soup? Guys love ham and navy bean soup up here… It is a big seller here..
Love the variety. I’ll have to try the fruits in my stocks the next time I make them. And I never thought about using kombucha instead of vinegar to pull the minerals from the bones. I bet that would work great! Thanks for sharing!
Do you simmer the vegetable broth for 24 hours as well, and then throw out the vegetables?
Yes, Lillian, only I throw the veggies in with my dogs food! She loves them, and they’re healthy for her! You can also compost them instead of throwing them in the trash, though.
Thank you for sharing the great recipes! I spent the weekend making the beef broth and then finished the job using mason jars and my pressure canner to for easy grab and use. Am thinking the mason jars will work nicely as a gift in a get well basket with some mixed lentils and other goodies.
I agree Sherri! Maybe you could include a gift tag on the mason jar that has a recipe that uses the broth! Thanks for sharing your idea!
Thanks for the recipes. I have been making my own chicken broth/stock for years with seasonings that we worked out and I make it using a chicken carcass, but is there a difference between stock and “bone broth”?
I’m especially looking forward to trying your beef recipe; I haven’t had success with making my own before.
I don’t think so, Shelly. From my understanding, they mean the same thing and are interchangeable. Good luck with your beef broth!
I’m just learning about all this stuff 🙂 BUT, I’m a vegetarian. The vege broth you are describing is just as good for you as the bone broth for minerals? And, why do you throw the Vegas out? They aren’t edible when done? Thanks!
I’m not sure that I’d say that the veggie broth is just as good as bone broths as far as mineral content goes. Bones contain minerals and the process of making stock (adding the vinegar) helps to pull the minerals out of the bone and into the stock so we can utilize them. I think for the veggie broth, it helps the taste of food (compared to cooking with water only) and it does increase the amount of some vitamins and minerals that are pulled from the vegetables into the stock… I’m just not sure it’s as much as a bone broth would have. Another benefit to the bone broths is that collagen is pulled from the bones and into your broth which is super healthy for your body. You won’t get that from veggie broth alone, but you can add it to your veggie broth with this grass-fed beef collagen supplement. Great lakes is a great brand, but so is Vital Proteins.
And, yes, you can eat the veggies if you want. I don’t because I’m hoping I’ve pulled as much of the nutrients as possible out of them and into my stock. After the stock, they’re only good for the fiber they contain. They’re basically cooked to death once your stock is finished so I compost mine or you can feed them to your chickens if you have them.
Hope that helps a bit, Tania, and thanks for your comment!
How do you make “bone broth” as vegetarian, meaning without any bones?
Just follow the recipe in the post for the veggie broth, Laurie. Hope that helps!
I always use chicken broth for cooking rice or anything where the water would remain in the dish – but for things like spaghetti where the water is poured off, I don’t want to waste the broth. Would you save it to reuse?
How long would these last in the freezer?
I would say around 6 – 12 months. I’m not 100% sure on that as we use ours fairly quickly, but most things are good in a freezer 6 – 12 months when packaged appropriately.
I throw in some whole carrots when I make mine, after a few hours 6-10hours I pull out the carrots, celery, onion And whizz them up with some tablespoons of broth and make a yummy baby food purée with them.
Sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing!
I’ve always wanted to make my own recipe but I haven’t had the best of luck. I’m now drinking Au Bon Broth and I’m liking it so far. It’s really delicious and tasty and it’s organic. It just has the right mix of ingredients that’s right for me. I’m also liking it because of the almost instant effect of it to my sleeping issues.
Thanks for sharing, Cameron. I’m glad that brand of bone broth is helping you in a noticable way!