Basic Bone Broth or Stock Recipe
Fill a stock pot (anything from 6 quarts to 5 gallons—whatever you have that fits on your stove!) with soup bones, chicken carcasses, fat trimmings, and vegetable scraps (peelings, carrot tops, etc). I also suggest adding a pound or so of washed chicken feet for every 2 gallons of stock pot space. This will significantly increase the gelatin content of your broth.
Generally speaking, you will probably want to keep beef, pork, and chicken bones separate so you can have each of the three types of broth. There is nothing wrong with mixing them, but you may want to preserve the differences in taste. Beef has a stronger flavor than chicken, so beef bones will produce a darker, more pungent tasting broth which may not be appropriate for meals like chicken and dumplings. Likewise, if you want to make things like dark brown gravy or French Onion Soup, you will want to use pure, dark beef stock, not part-chicken stock. Pork broth is in-between in color and intensity, and I often use it interchangeably with the other two.
Pack everything loosely, not cramming it in, but not allowing too much free space either. Add some coarsely chopped vegetables, such as carrots, celery, parsley, and onion, to improve flavor and color of broth. Shift as necessary to fill in the gaps between the large bones. You are going for “not too swimmy” so that your broth doesn’t come out tasting watery. You will get the hang of this by recognizing when you achieve rich flavor and by seeing whether your broth turns to jello in the refrigerator, which it will if you use enough bones and cook them long enough.
Cover the bones and veggies with cool water, leaving at least 1” at the top of the pot to allow expansion of the water when it is hot. Be sure all the bones are covered with water, pushing them down if necessary. If they seem to want to float, let them, but move things around about halfway through so all the bones are exposed to the hot liquid for a long time.
Add one teaspoon of apple cider vinegar per gallon, adjusting accordingly for how full you have your stock pot. This helps to draw the minerals out of the bones.
Bring the pot slowly to a boil on around medium heat. Skim any foam that rises off and discard. Cover, and reduce heat to a gentle but visible simmer and cook for 24-30 hours. No need to stir or season. Just simmer.
**If you have meaty bones you are hoping to glean meat from, I suggest removing them after about an hour of simmering to pick the meat off. This is done for two reasons: 1. The meat will become rubbery if overcooked, and 2. The bones will begin to disintegrate, making deboning very difficult if you wait until the end. If you don’t get to the demeating process in time, don’t worry too much. Your stock will still have lots of good protein in it at the end, and your dog (or cat) will get an extra treat when you turn the bones (and meat) over to him!
After 24-30 hours of simmering, turn the heat off and let your broth cool. Working with boiling liquid is pretty dangerous, so I like to let mine cool for 12 hours or so before handling it. **If you plan to do a second batch with this set of bones, cool it just enough to safely handle it, a few hours perhaps. Keep it covered while it is cooling to prevent contamination.
Next, strain the bones and veggies out of the liquid. I recommend a mesh net sieve or colander to catch all the bits of bone that may have disintegrated. When you get to the very bottom of the pot, go ahead and discard the portion of the stock with lots of sediment. This is bits of bone and does not have very good texture. Keep the fat layer on the broth, as it will help preserve the finished broth for long-term storage in the fridge. Broth stored in a clean glass container with an undisturbed fat layer will keep several weeks in a cold fridge. Alternately, you can freeze the broth and store it frozen for a year.
I almost always do a second round of broth from the same set of bones. Just repeat the whole process after smashing the bones back down into the pot a bit. You will find that they settle, anyway, and you don’t need as much water the second go-round. The second broth won’t be as rich or gelatinous, but it still makes a great nutrient-dense substitute for water in various savory recipes, and it’s a great way to capture more value from your soup bones.
When you’re done with the bones, discard them (aka give them to your pets, or your neighbor’s pets—once they are cool, of course!).
**A note on the vegetables: I know it seems very strange and wasteful to throw away perfectly good vegetables. But they have been boiled for 24+ hours, so their texture is basically mush, and many of the nutrients and flavor have been transferred to the broth. If you have chickens or pigs, give them the veggies. Your dog or cat might even like them with a little salt.
At this point, you may season the broth with salt and pepper, but don’t go overboard, as this is just stock, meaning you will make other things with it and can always season it more later. Refrigerate or freeze. I like to reserve some for making soup with the meat I picked off the bones for dinner that day. I don’t like doing all that work and having nothing to show for it at supper!
A well-made broth will turn jelly-like when refrigerated due to the presence of gelatin, found in connective tissue. If it does turn out watery, just pack your pot more densely next time. To salvage a watery-tasting broth, boil it uncovered until it is reduced by 1/3.
Hi, Jerica!
Thank you so much for your detail on homemade broth, especially the ratio of chicken feet to gallon of space in the stock pot. My question has to do with washing the feet. Is it necessary to “skin” the feet? I have found on some sites that skinning is necessary for hygiene, but, boy! how very tedious that is!!! I have still never gotten much gelatin from my chicken stock, which is VERY frustrating. The last time I put in about 2# chicken feet in my stock pot and STILL didn’t get gelatin, and I simmered it for about 3 days! The flavor was marvelous, but still no gelatin. I was careful to use pastured chicken bones. I can’t remember where I got the chicken feet, but I think they were also pastured.
Another site I came across recommended immersing the stock pot in a basin of ice to quickly cool it so that pathogens do not begin to form by letting it sit, say, overnight to cool before transferring it to storage. Regarding storage, I freeze my stock in ice cube trays. Each cube is about an 1/8 cup. Then I put 8 frozen cubes in a sandwich bag for a one-cup measure and vacuum seal several 8-cube sandwich bags in a large, heavy mill vacuum seal bag which I then vacuum seal, date and freeze. I have the option of a ready measured small quantity of broth for a sauce or a larger quantity for a soup.
Best regards, Kathleen K from Pittsburg, TX
Kathleen,
I never skin the feet, but I have heard of the practice, reasons given including to extract more nutrients or for cleanliness. I just give them a good scrub with a vegetable brush and simmer them for 30 hours, then I leave any sediment at the bottom of the pot for the dogs. As for the sanitation concerns, I don’t think much would survive in my pot of broth after that amount of cooking! Also, I cook the feet so long that they fall apart, so I don’t think there are any issues with extraction of connective tissue.
If you are having trouble getting a good amount of gelatin, you may try the following: 1. Add a little apple cider vinegar (see recipe for amount). 2. Pack your pot more densely with bones, etc. They shouldn’t be able to swim at all. This will concentrate the minerals and gelatin extracted and make it solidify when it is cold. 3. If you do the above and you still don’t get gelatin, try reducing the liquid by 1/3 by boiling it uncovered with a fan on.
You know you’re boiling it long enough if the bones become soft enough to crush with your fingers. If this is not happening, try cooking it longer (I usually do 24-30 hours). If none of these things help make the broth turn jelly-like in the fridge, you may have some kind of hard water issue. Just for experimentations’ sake, try using only filtered water to see if your results are the same. It could have to do with mineral concentrations if your water is very high in minerals…
I often let my stock sit in a pot overnight to cool, but I am careful to leave it covered tightly and letting it simmer covered for a little while before turning off the heat and leaving it covered. I’m sure this isn’t foolproof, but I’ve been doing it for years and never had any problems. Boiling something for 30 hours is pretty sure to get rid of any nasties that might have been present.
Thanks for your reply! I wish you luck on your next batch of broth!
Jerica
Jerica,
Have you ever canned the cooked broth in a pressure canner for long term non-refrigerated storage? If so, please share your success.
I have VERY limited experience with pressure canning and have never tried canning a meat product. I have heard of lots of folks using pressure canning for broth, though, and am willing to try it some day! Best of luck!
Can you make veggie broth with veggies? Add chicken feet?
Hi Amy, I don’t have much experience making a pure vegetable broth (though I’m not 100% sure that’s what your question means…), but I DO add veggies to my broth if I have them. In fact, I purposely save things like corn cobs, squash tips, potato peels, and onion roots to toss in there when I’m making bone broth. I would say other than for culinary delights, a pure veggie broth would not be as advantageous in terms of nutrients, and it would not contain any gelatin, which is one of the main benefits of broth. I think veggies add delightful flavor and extra nutrients to a good bone broth base. 🙂
Before I hit “enter,” it occurred to me that maybe your question pertained to using bone broth in recipes that call for veggie broth, and to that I would say, go for it!
If you do this in a crock pot how would you adjust the water and time of cooking
Hi Joy, the general rule for water is: put bones in first, then just cover with water. You don’t want the bones “swimming” around loosely in the pot, lest the broth taste very watery. Same goes for crock-pot brothing! As far as cook time, if you use the low setting, I’d say leave it for 20+ hours. On High you might be able to be done at 12 hours. Also, with crock pot, I would definitely plan to make a second run on the bones. Make the first batch, then pour/strain the liquid, then refill the crock and go again. Hope this helps! 🙂
What do you do if liquid boils very low during the night and veggies look black? Just pouring more water in and cooking longer?
I would definitely try adding water again. I once made a batch of homemade and home-grown tomato sauce and overcooked it to the point where it was quite dark. I thought I had nothing else to lose, so I added water back to it, and it was the best tomato sauce I had ever made LOL! I suppose it was like roasting the tomatoes… in reverse! 🙂 Let us know how it turns out!
Thanks so much Jerica for the easy to follow recipe. We’re trying it now!