A Foolproof Recipe for Chicken Bone Broth + Why you Should Drink it
After posting this picture on my insta stories last week, I got a lot of requests for the bone broth recipe and how/why I drink it. It's a "prep recipe" in my cookbook Nourished, but I thought I'd share it with you here so you can benefit from all it's goodness too!
Broth is not only the base for a good soup, but if made with healthy organic animal bones, it can have numerous health benefits for your immune system, digestive system, skin, joints, and more. For this reason, I suggest finding an organic, pasture raised chicken either from a natural foods store in your area or a local farm. The process of simmering bones and vegetables in water for a long period of time draws out all the incredible minerals and collagen from the bones into the broth. Collagen consumption is one of the main reasons people want to include bone broth in their diet. When you just cover the bones and vegetables with water and don't use too much water, the broth will gel once cooled. This is a good sign! The more gelatinous, the more concentrated the benefits are.
In this picture I froze my broth in single servings to more easily drink when we are sick, or I sense my gut needs a little extra support. I used this silicone mold. Just place 1-2 pucks in a saucepan and heat with some pink salt. If you want to get really fancy and give an added immunity boost, combine some grated fresh turmeric or a few dashes of turmeric powder into a blender along with broth, a squeeze of lemon and a tab of kerrygold butter. Blend until frothy and you've got yourself a turmeric bone broth latte! SOO GOOD!
Another way to store bone broth is in glass jars. However, make sure you only fill the jars 3/4 of the way full, because the liquid will expand when frozen. I have shattered many a glass jar by not doing this!
Note: I don’t add any salt to the broth when I make it so I can better control the salt content when making another dish with it.
Ingredients
1 whole organic chicken
1 cup water
2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
1 teaspoon peppercorns
2 bay leaves
3 carrots, roughly chopped
3 celery stalks, roughly chopped
3-4 garlic cloves, skins removed
1 large yellow onion, quartered
Note on vegetables: I’m a big proponent of no food waste. Because of this, I’d suggest saving all your vegetable scraps throughout the month from cooking other recipes. Onion tops, the ends of carrots, squash peels, wilted veggies in your crisper, throw them all into a gallon-sized plastic bag and save in the freezer until it’s time to make broth. If you do this, you can skip the fresh vegetables called for in the recipe and just dump one bag full of vegetable scraps in with the bones when cooking.
Instructions
Place thawed, uncooked chicken into your slow cooker. Pour in filtered water and set on low for 4-5 hours. Gently remove the meat from the bones and save the meat for another meal. Alternatively, you can roast the chicken using this recipe. We love to use the shredded meat to make enchiladas, nachos, chicken salad, or a chicken sandwich. You can plan to use it within the week or freeze the chicken for later.
Once you’ve removed all the meat from the bones, throw the bones back into the water. Pour in apple cider vinegar, peppercorns, and bay leaves. Add vegetables, whether fresh or frozen scraps. Add enough water so that everything is covered. Cook on low for 12-24 hours (the longer you let it cook, the more nutrients will be drawn out of the bones and vegetables.
Turn the slow cooker off and allow the broth to cool. Remove all the vegetables and bones with a fine mesh sieve or slotted spoon, pressing on them to remove all the liquid. Strain the remaining broth and bottle into glass jars. Broth can be frozen and thawed when ready to use. When freezing in glass, be sure to leave room for expansion so your glass doesn’t break.
For the Instant Pot — simply add all ingredients to the pot, fill half way with filtered water, and set to manual at 120 minutes. Slow release is best.
BONE BROTH LATTE RECIPE
1-2 pucks of frozen broth, thawed and heated in a saucepan
1/2 teaspoon fresh or ground turmeric
a generous squeeze of lemon
pink salt
1/2 a tablespoon of butter (I love kerrygold brand!)
Place all ingredients in a blender and blend until frothy. Adjust salt and other seasonings to your preference. Enjoy immediately!
Need some encouragement for why your time in the kitchen and around the table matters? I wrote a mini-eCookbook filled with 30 gluten and dairy free recipes + encouragement along the way.