What you need:
- Bones -Any type! (Leftovers from a meal you’ve made is better, with cartilage and some meat still on there, but you can buy these too)
- 1 onion
- 2 large carrots
- 2 celery stocks
- 2 bay leaves
- 3 cloves of crushed garlic
- Salt and pepper to taste
- Add all ingredients to a crockpot, fill with water so there is enough to cover everything
- Cook on low for one full day (20-24h).
- Strain out broth and enjoy!
I used leftover bones from a very large thanksgiving turkey (23lbs!), I’ve now made 3 batches to use up the whole carcass. So I can’t say exactly how many bones to use but the scraps from a small turkey or chicken are usually fine or you can use the bone from a ham for a different flavour.
I make mine in a crockpot but you can cook it on the stove also if you have a large enough pot.
For the veggies, I listed what I used but you can experiment here with what you like (or what’s going bad in your fridge!). You can also save your veggie scraps for a few days and then use these. The most important thing for your veggies and garlic is to leave the skin on- even for the onions! The skin contains lots of great immune boosting compounds like allicin which is a natural antibiotic as well as other flavonoids and probiotics which promote immune health. So just wash and chop the veggies small enough to fit into the pot nicely.
Once you have added everything into the crockpot and waited 24h, your house will smell delicious. All you have left to do is strain out your broth. If you have cheese cloth, this is best to use, but you really don’t need it. Most things are in large chunks anyways so it’s easy to strain.
Now you have your bone broth!! I store this in jars in the fridge then sip on it in a mug or bring it in a travel mug. You can also use the broth for a soup and add in other ingredients, or use it in cooking as low calorie substitute for creams and butters.
If you want to take the fat out, put it in the fridge- the fat will harden on top, you can then scrape it right off.
