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BONE BROTH RECIPE (nutrient rich, gelatin loaded). PALEO, SCD, UMASS IBD-AID

This flavor bursting recipe shows the nuts and bolts for making nutrient-rich gelatin loaded Bone Broth. It is very forgiving so improvise and adjust the ingredients to your liking. Use bones from roasted chicken pieces, or the carcass of a roasted whole chicken or Thanksgiving turkey! Use this broth in any soup or gravy and any recipe calling for meat-based broth. It can also be drunk as-is for a healthy supplement to your diet.
Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time8 hours
Course: Soup
Cuisine: Mediterranean
Author: Biome Onboard Awareness, LLC

Equipment

  • Slow cooker or
  • Instapot used as a slow cooker

Ingredients

  • 2 Roasted chicken carcasses  (about 2 lbs. of bones). Omit the skin and pan drippings unless the chicken is pastured. Omit these to reduce the fat content of the broth.
  • 1 medium Onion, unpeeled and quartered
  • 2 cloves Garlic, unpeeled and smashed
  • 2 ribs Celery, cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
  • 2  Carrots, unpeeled and cut into 1 to 2 inch pieces
  • 5 Sprigs fresh thyme, stem and all (or 2 tsp dried)
  • 5 Sprigs of fresh rosemary, stem and all (or 2 tsp dried)
  • 8 Sprigs of fresh parsley, stem and all (or 2 Tbsp dried)
  • 2 tsp Sea salt (omit or reduce for a lower salt preference)
  • 3/4 tsp Pepper
  • 1 Bay leaf
  • 1 to 2 Tbsp Organic apple cider vinegar (start with 1 Tbsp and increase the amount on later batches based on taste preference)
  • 2 to 2.5 qts Filtered water (enough to immerse above ingredients)

Instructions

  • Add all ingredients to a 6 quart (or larger) slow cooker.
  • Lid and cook on low simmer for 8 to 10 hours. The longer the cook, the more bitter the broth so start with a shorter time to learn taste preference.
  • Allow the broth to cool a bit so that nutrients on the lid condensate drop back into the broth.
  • Unlid the pot by opening it away from you to prevent burn from escaping steam.
  • Using a slotted spoon or tongs, remove the large pieces from the broth and plate them in a rimmed bowl.
  • To remove the remaining solids, use a ladle (or 2 cup glass measuring cup) to dip into the broth and pour it through a stainless-steel fine mesh strainer that has been placed over a large stainless-steel stockpot. Preferably do not use a plastic strainer as the heat of the broth could leach chemicals from the plastic into the broth.
  • Allow the broth to cool. Then lid it and place it in the refrigerator overnight until completely chilled.
  • The fat will solidify on the top surface. I always recommend to skim off this fat (even pasture raised chickens) because contaminants in the soil has been mentioned in the literature and those could be stored in the fat for pastured chickens. You can choose to leave the fat if you are certain the bones used are of high quality. Step 11 describes how to remove the fat from warm broth.
  • Concerning the solids removed from the hot broth, once they are cooled enough to handle, use your fingers to separate the bones and undissolved gelatin from the plated cooked vegetable mixture. Save the bones and undissolved gelatin as these can be reused one more time to repeat the entire process (or they can be frozen) for a second batch of broth. Toss the cooked vegetables after each batch. Toss the bones after the second batch. When making batches back to back, I combine both batches of bone broth in a very large stainless-steel pot and refrigerate overnight. Fat can then be removed as described in step 8.
  • To store Bone Broth:
    Bone Broth can be refrigerated for 4 to 5 days.
    Alternatively, freeze Bone Broth for extended storage in convenient sizes. A repurposed 20 oz. glass food jar is perfect. Fill glass jars just under the bend of the jar (and at least an inch below the top of the jar) so that it doesn’t break upon expansion from freezing. Ice cube sized portions are also convenient for some recipes.
  • For a fat-free broth, use one of these methods:
    Method 1: Allow the broth to cool. Then lid it and place it in the refrigerator overnight until completely chilled. The fat will solidify on the top surface which can then be scraped off and discarded.
    Method 2: While the broth is still warm, pour it into a glass grease separator (available at Amazon or kitchen stores). The separator allows you to pour the fat-free broth from the bottom. Preferably, do not use a plastic fat separator as the heat of the bone broth could leach plastic chemicals into the broth.

Notes

  1. Regarding the quantity of bones to use, if you aren’t yet into roasting a whole chicken (I wasn’t for about two years) just use lots of chicken part bones. Otherwise, you can use one chicken carcass and optionally add in breast, back, leg, or thigh bones frozen from other meals that have accumulated in the freezer.  I’ve read that the chicken feet are best for joint support, but sorry, I am not a chicken feet person. They had me at the clipping part…  are they joking?!?  If one does not have enough additional bones, still make the bone broth with whatever quantity of bones you have as it’ll become a vegetable type of broth with calcium and some bone broth benefits even though it may not gel.
  2. You can even omit the bones and make this broth using only vegetables for a flavorful nutrient-rich vegetable broth.
  3. Instead of whole vegetables added to the filtered water and bones, I add in peelings and herb stems that have accumulated in my freezer over time and then additional whole vegetables if needed (usually not necessary).
  4. Preferably use a stainless-steel vessel to make Bone Broth, such as an Instapot having a slow cook option. Traditional slow cookers have linings that can leach lead, especially with acidic foods. Manufacturers address this using cagey words like “Hamilton Beach specifications… prohibits the product from containing any measurable amounts of lead,“ accessed Jan 8, 2020. That’s a problem because “There’s no safe level of lead in your blood.” If you want more information on this, consider purchasing my 46 page book provided to participants in the Bone Broth Workshop and CME Course. This book contains thirteen Chapters that dives deep into all that is only summarized here.
  5. For those with histamine concerns, reduce the cooking time to 2 to 4 hours to reduce histamine levels. Rarely, you may not tolerate Bone Broth. To learn more about histamine, begin reading [Sánchez Pérez et al 2018].