How to Make Bone Broth {Healthy Living}

I have been making bone broth for years. My method has changed during that time as I’ve tweaked it to suit our tastes and needs. In this post I will show you how to make bone broth using an organic, zero waste method.

# Be flexible with the vegetables and bones you use

Each week, I order an organic fruit and vegetable box from Abel and Cole. In addition, I add a 2 kg organic chicken with innards and 300g of organic chicken. I used to order two additional boxes but I found that I was wasting veg that wasn’t getting eaten. So I’ve scaled back until I have taught myself the requisite skills to cope with more than one box.

The fruit and veg change each week and I am slowly learning to rethink my idea of a traditional roast dinner, trying instead to be more flexible with the vegetables I serve with the roasted chicken. This week, the company sent me some lovely freebies: a book, a couple of drinks and a handy dandy meal planner – it is as if they knew!

This week I will be using the potatoes, beetroot, greens, broccoli and cauliflower with the chicken, and this will give me all I need to make some beautiful rich bone broth.

# Keep all the peelings and left overs in the fridge to use

Delivery is on a Thursday, and I cook the roast that night. I keep the offal and any peelings or end bits from the veg I use and I pop it all into a box in the fridge for the next day:

# Use a slow cooker

Friday morning I dump it all into a slow cooker. Slow cookers are perfect for this as they use very little electricity and are very safe to leave on the side without attending for hours on end.

# Use every part of the vegetable including onion peelings and broccoli stems

I include the onion and garlic peelings as well, which helps create a richer colour and taste:

I also check my fridge for any veg that might not get used up. This week I had some lamb’s lettuce and celery:

# Don’t forget to use herbs, dried or fresh,

And then I go outside to harvest my herbs. I always have bay leaf and rosemary at hand on account of a couple of mature bushes of both. As my herb garden becomes more developed I will have a wider choice available to me. Herbs add a depth of flavour which is so delicious and nutritious:

# Use every bit of the carcass, including skin and gristle

Lastly, I strip the bones of any left over chicken, which I give to Harvey as a treat, and the bones and skin are thrown in with the veg and herbs:

Then I add boiling water, salt and pepper and turn my slow cooker onto high for about an hour. After an hour or so, I turn it down to low and leave it in disturbed for about twelve hours. If it isn’t too stinky, I’ll leave it bubbling away overnight.

# Beware, vegetables of the brassica kind do not always smell good boiling away 😬

This week I had used some greens and broccoli stumps, which are notoriously smelly, so I turned it off just before I went to bed. I couldn’t bear the thought of waking up to that horrible smell the next day. If I had left out the broccoli and greens it would have smelt delicious and I would have done it for much longer. Peculiarly enough, once it has cooled down and been strained, it does not even have a hint of either a smell or taste of the green veg (thank goodness!).

# Always double strain for a clearer broth

I strained the stock through a large colander and again through a small fine sieve into a couple of jars:

The jars are left in the fridge until the evening when I make some home made chicken noodle soup for dinner:

How do you make your bone broth? Do you include anything I haven’t?