Look at that beautiful golden goodness, it's like liquid gold.
Actually it is $$$ in your pocket if you make it yourself! Not to mention how good it is for your body too!
Even the good bone broth in the store isn't as good as what you can make at home, or as nutritious and it saves a ton of $$$ making it yourself!
I just looked up how much Kettle & Fire grass fed bone broth is for a 32oz container...$11.99!!!!!!!!!!! Yikes!
I go through 5 of those on average a week! That's $60/ week...just on broth!
It's so easy to make at home once you get the hang of it and just plan ahead a little.
Back in the day I bought pastured chickens, because I had a farmer to source them from and he was super cheap. Then life happened and I just started buying chickens at the meat market, they were hormone and antibiotic free, cage free. But, I just couldn't bite the bullet and pay $20+ dollars for a tiny little chicken to get pastured (sometimes I'm cheap, and not always on the best things). When I started thinking about how much good bone broth costs I quickly realized that paying $20 for a chicken and then making broth was way cheaper than buying lower quality chicken and buying broth, that wasn't even as good.
So, I'm back to making broth on a pretty much weekly basis to keep me stocked.
I want to show you how easy it is to do, so you can start eating higher quality meats for cheaper than you can lower quality meat(because you're going to make some bone broth too;). Save money and give your body and health a significant boost in nutrients!
Sourcing Your Ingredients
Find a source for pastured chickens, pork and/or beef. They have to be given some feed, make sure it is organic/non-gmo and preferably pea protein, not soy, also antibiotic/hormone free.
If you don't have access to a local farmer easily, check out Market Wagon. I just tried them for the first time and it was amazing!!! I'm really loving having 99% of my groceries delivered to my doorstep, for cheaper and it's higher quality.
On Market Wagon's website you put in your zip code (they aren't everywhere yet) and there are multiple farmers in your area-ish (mine were all within about a 2 hour radius of my home), you have to read their descriptions to make sure that it is the quality you are looking for, not all farmers on there have pastured animals. Pick what you want, your desired delivery day and pay.
The farmers deliver to a central Market Wagon location, then they have drivers that deliver to your porch. You can easily order from multiple different farms and there is way more than just meat! They text you the day of your delivery and let you know where you are at in the delivery order, so you kind of, sort of have an idea of when they will be there. They leave your food in very lightly insulated grocery bags with an ice pack. If it's summertime you're going to want to get it off your porch ASAP so it's not completely thawed.
Making Your Broth
For the veggies, I always cringed when I would spend $10 on veggies for broth at the store and then just throw them away.
There's a way around that though! Keep a big container in the freezer and throw all your onion skins/ends, celery ends or soggy pieces, carrot peels and ends/or if they get old, garlic skins, parsley/thyme/rosemary stems and ends and ginger peels in it as you're cooking on a daily basis. That way when you're ready to make broth you have plenty of goods, you don't need to go buy anything!
Water, you want to make sure you used filtered water, I have a reverse osmosis system at my house for now, so I use water from there.
I also like to add chicken feet to my broth for extra collagen. I use chicken feet with my pork bones as well.
You can use fish bones also for asian inspired recipes, just make sure they are wild caught and a fish that is low in metal toxicity (ie. don't use tuna)
What To Cook Your Broth In
Stainless steel or ceramic is best.
If you have a ceramic crock pot that works great! You don't have to worry about leaving a burner on.
Place your thawed chicken in the crockpot ( I use my instapot trivet when I'm using my crockpot to put the chicken on for this step), turn on high for 1 hour, then down to low for 3-6 hours (depends on the size of the chicken), you want to be able to pull the meat off easily with a fork.
If I'm in a hurry I don't even season it, just throw it in and go.
If I'm wanting to brown and crisp the skin to eat I'll sprinkle with salt, pepper, a little thyme, basil, onion powder, garlic powder or press several fresh cloves right on top of the chicken. You can put 5-6 pats of butter on top too, or drizzle a little avocado oil over the top. Once it is done cooking, put the chicken on a cookie sheet and into the oven under the broiler for a few minutes to crisp the skin.
If you aren't wanting to eat the skin there's no need to brown it, go ahead and pick your chicken, set aside the meat and everything else (skin, bones, gristle, fat, juices) goes back in your cooking vessel of choice. I don't bother roasting my chicken bones.
Throw in some of your frozen veggie scraps you've been hoarding, don't pack them in, just dump about to the top. It's usually about one gallon size bag that fits into a crockpot.
If you don't have any rosemary or thyme stems in your scraps you'll want to add a few sprigs of fresh or some dried is fine too. I like peppercorns and salt in mine. And if I have dried mushrooms and seaweed on hand I dump some of those in as well. Several bay leaves are a great addition also!
If you have chicken feet throw 2-3 of those in for extra collagen (this picture shows an entire pound of chicken feet, I didn't have room in my freezer to put some of them back in. A few glugs of apple cider vinegar with the mother (like Bragg's) to help extra nutrients from the bones.
Fill crockpot to top, Ninja Foodi to the fill line or a stockpot several inches over the top of the veggies.
Every crockpot is a little different. You want your broth to simmer, not boil, so play with it, I usually started on high and when it started to boil, turned it to low. Let it go for about 12 hours for chicken, 18 for pork, 24-48 for beef (if small bones stay on lower end of time, if larger go with the higher end)
In the Ninja Foodi
Sidenote: I was super excited when I bought my Ninja a few weeks ago, but in my excitement I forgot to look and see what the pot was made out of...wah, wah...it's not a problem if it isn't chipped, but it's usually neurotoxic metals under the ceramic, so as soon as it gets chipped it's dangerous. BUT...they make a stainless steel insert, YAY! I've ordered it, but it hasn't come in, I can't even begin to tell you how happy I am that I don't have to get rid of this amazing kitchen appliance!
Pressure cook your chicken on high for 20-30 minutes depending on size with 2 cups of water in the bottom. If you want to brown it, use the aircrisp at the end. Pick your chicken then to cook the broth set on slow cook, low for 12 hours.
On the stovetop
Put your chicken in a large, deep stockpot. You need to be able to completely cover the chicken with water and still have several inches to spare at the top. Low boil until chicken is done. Remove the chicken, if it falls apart strain it, remove all the meat and return everything else to the water. Don't dispose of this water! This is going to be your broth! Add in all your veggies and seasonings and bring to a low boil for 12 hours.
If you have bones from the butcher, or just bones that you've saved from other meals, I would roast them, it brings out more flavor (I'm just lazy when I've picked a chicken and don't do it and my broth tastes fine, but feel free to roast those too!) place them in the oven on 400F to brown them lightly, turning as needed. Add them to a pot, slowcooker or whatever you are using and proceed as normal.
After it's done cooking, this strainer is what I use to start scooping out my veggies and bones. Don't throw them away just yet though! Put them in a big bowl and set aside.
Once I get the majority of the veggies and bones out I line up my jars, with a canning funnel and the strainer in it and start ladling out the broth into jars. If you are going to freeze, use freezer safe jars or leave 2-3 inches of head space (I can't tell you how many jars I've broken before I've gotten the hang of it) leave the lid just sitting on top(not screwed on) and make sure the jars aren't touching each other in the freezer until they are frozen solid.
You can reuse the bones. Chicken bones I only reuse once, but bigger bones from beef or bison can be used 3-4 times.
The finished product can look very different, don't be alarmed! Also, don't remove the fat! It may congeal in the fridge, that's a good thing, it means it's loaded with collagen! It may be clear, it may be cloudy, cloudiness can be from cooking at too high a temp or just from a lot of collagen.
If it isn't flavorful enough, from putting in too much water, simply leave it on to simmer down without a lid and it will become more concentrated.
Use fresh within 4-5 days or cool completely on counter, move to fridge, and then to freezer.
I don't can mine, I read once that cooking at a high boil (or pressure canning) causes MSG to form naturally. And, I want to avoid that.
From 1 chicken carcass and bag of veggies I usually make two batches and get about 7 quarts of broth. Just load the everything you strained out (bones, veggies and herbs) back in the pot, add some more herbs and water and do it again.
Make sure you are using bones from pastured animals, everything the animal has consumed is concentrated in the bones. If you need a meat source checkout Market Wagon for farmers in your local area that may provide high quality meat. If you use my link you will receive $20 off your first order if you are new to their site!
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