Believe it or not, this was my very FIRST blog post that I had ready to go. I just never ended up posting it! I’m actually glad I didn’t, because I’ve learned so much about making bone broth in the last few years! It has always tasted good, but we’ve found ways to up the nutritional factor quite a bit! I’ll tell you WHY it’s so important to drink bone broth (whether it be chicken or beef bones), but I have to say first that this is probably in my top two things that are most important in a home. First thing I always recommend is to get rid of sugar. It’s pretty much the devil. When I discovered that sugar actually FED my lyme disease, it got thrown out the door!! But right behind that would be to add nutrient dense bone broth to the menu. Why, you ask? Oh, well, let me tell you!
- IT’S PACKED WITH NUTRIENTS AND VITAMINS. Our food supply is so devoid of nutrition in this day and age that it is wreaking havoc on the health of our families. I don’t apologize anymore for being very limited in our diet. It’s important. End of story. By simmering the bones, you pull out crazy amounts of nutrients and vitamins that are very much lacking in the rest of our food supply. We also do not drink dairy in our home since we all have differing levels of sensitivities to it. Because of this, I love that I have a great calcium rich staple.
- THE GELATIN IN BROTH HEALS THE GUT. Raise your hand if you have tummy issues. You should all be raising your hands, in case you were wondering. My issues stem from many, many years of massive doses of antibiotics, but even if you’ve been eating a crazy, nutrient dense diet your whole life, it would be nearly impossible to not have some form of leaky gut. We come into contact with so many toxins each and every day, whether it be in our water, air, food, plastics, or cleaning supplies. They can’t be avoided, and the toxic load affects our gut health. The gelatin in the bone broth helps to seal the gut and keep it healthy! Gut permeability is connected to pretty much all that ails us human folk…food allergies/sensitivities, depression, constipation, and even autoimmune diseases.
- COLLAGEN! Broth is a great source of collagen, which helps with healthy nails, hair and skin! I’m all for anything that helps with natural beauty support!
- IT MAKES EVERYTHING TASTE BETTER! Putting bone broth in rice, vegetables, homemade soups, or even drinking it by itself is delicious! My friends and family always rave about my soups since they have so much flavor!
- IT’S COST EFFECTIVE. I can make a massive amount of bone broth for about $20, and that’s saying something in this crazy, expensive Bay Area. This is BY FAR the cheapest way that I’ve found to bulk up the nutrition value of your diet. It’s a great filler for meat and more expensive protein options as well. It’s incredibly filling, which is a huge plus when your children are perpetually hungry!
Here’s the recipe! I’ll post some pictures and eventually a video for you guys, but for now, this should do the trick. My recommendation is to bite the bullet and get those feet. It definitely ups the “ick” factor, but it’s worth it. It helps increase the amount of gelatin and collagen, and it creates a very robust, flavorful broth. And this is HUGE…only buy good quality, organic chicken for bone broth. You’re pulling everything out of the bones, and you don’t want to be pulling a bunch of toxins out while it’s simmering! I honestly wouldn’t make this until you take the time to get some good quality, organic (and hopefully local and pastured) chicken!
Ingredients
- 5-6 Organic chicken backs or necks
- 1-2 Dozen organic chicken feet (optional)
- 3 Large organic carrots
- 3 Stalks organic celery
- 2 Organic onions
- 1/4 Teaspoon peppercorns (optional)
- 2 Tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 Bunch organic parsley
- Small fine, mesh strainer to fit in top of mason jars
Instructions
- Put everything except the parsley in a large pot.
- Cover chicken and vegetables with only 2-3 inches of water covering them
- Let sit for 30-60 minutes so the ACV can prepare the bones to cook
- Turn burner on high and bring to a boil
- Skim any foam off the top (I rarely see much if I’m using good quality bones and meat)
- Bring down to a low simmer so you barely see any bubbles
- Let simmer for 6-24 hours
- 30 minutes before finishing, wash the parsley and throw it in the pot with the almost finished broth
- Turn off broth and let it cool to almost room temperature before straining and storing
- Once the broth has cooled off a bit, put the strainer in the top of the mason jar and use a 2-4 cup pyrex measuring cup to pour broth into mason jars
- Make sure to let the broth cool to room temperature before storing it in the freezer
- Once refrigerated, you can skim the fat off the top when cooled
- Enjoy the broth by itself or in your homemade soups, stews, and recipes!
Notes
If storing in the freezer, do not fill the mason jars more than 2/3 full!!
First, you gather all the lovely chicken goodness. Don’t fear the feet, people. Just do it. Throw it all in a pot.
Roughly cut up all the veggies and throw them on top. Big chunks, folks. No need to spend time on this. They will be mushy and useless when it’s done, so no sense in chopping nicely!
Throw the veggies on top of the chicken.
Fill up the pot with water only a couple of inches above the chicken and veggies. If you overfill, you will not get a very gelatinous broth!
Bring it to a boil and then let it simmer on VERY low for 6-24 hours. Throw in the parsley for 30 minutes before you’re done, and then let it sit until it’s about to room temp. When you’re ready to put it into mason jars, take a fine mesh strainer (metal so it doesn’t melt any plastic!) and put it on top of the mason jars like pictured below. My broth isn’t done, so I’m using water. Shhhh. You get the picture.
And then you should have at least a gallon of delicious broth! If you want to make this in large batches and freeze, that is great! Just make sure to get more chicken than is listed in the recipe. I have a 5 gallon (yup, you read that correctly) stainless steel pot that I use most of the time to make large batches, because we go through it so stinking fast. For my last batch, I used 6 chicken backs, 2 packages of necks, and 4 dozen chicken feet. Play with it, and see what works! If you run into any problems, let me know so I can help you trouble shoot. Enjoy!!