Simple Bone Broth

I don’t know if it’s because it’s chilly outside or the fact that I am now a country wife with a very country life, but I am really enjoying cooking a broth every week.

I make a big pot of soup every week to use for a few lunches and having homemade broth just makes it that bit more special as well as nutritious and saves money! Have you ever looked at how much organic, fresh bone broth is?? I’m not talking about the stuff that can sit on the shelf for months without going off. I mean ‘real’ bone broth. I haven’t priced mine but I would like to guess that it costs me less than $2 to make this recipe, which lasts me a week, and that’s while using half of it in a soup!
 

The gelatin in bone broth is what makes it beautifully gelatinous once cooled down. Don’t worry, it will turn to liquid again as soon as you heat it, but I find it so satisfying to see that lovely wobble once it’s cooled. Gelatin is amazing for our joints, skin and gut health and is much easier than you think to add to your diet. Check out our Turmeric Mango Coconut Gummies recipe for more gelatin information.

I keep all my offcuts from veggies throughout the week, skin, ends, the lot! And save them in the fridge, to use as my base. This means I’m not using nice new vegetables just for a stock and there’s no waste in my kitchen at all.

It’s really important when you make broth or stock that you use filtered water. Due to broth being cooked over such a long period of time, the volume of water decreases, which in turn, can increase the heavy metals unfortunately already present in most tap waters. Not a great thing for our bodies, so make sure you either filter or use mineral water if possible. 

You can of course just have a cup of broth with a little sprinkle of salt and squeeze of lemon, but if that’s too extreme for you, just add a scoop to your bolognese, chilli, or use it as the base for a soup.

I hope you enjoy this basic recipe. It is so easy to make your own broth. You don’t need to spend all that money on premade broth, and once you’ve done one batch, it’s easy to keep it going every week.

Jen xx

Simple Bone Broth

Makes 1.25L-1.5L broth

Paleo, GF, DF, RSF

Prep time + tidy up: 20mins

Cook time: Low – 6 hrs. High – 3 hrs

Ingredients:

1kg grass fed beef bones – Marrow bones/knuckle bones

1-2 stalks of celery – roughly chopped, tops included

1 onion – roughly chopped, skin included

1-2 carrots – roughly chopped

2 litres filtered water

2 tbsp apple cider vinegar

1 bay leaf

Sprinkle of black peppercorns

Sprinkle of Himalayan rock salt 

Method:

Preheat your oven to approx. 140 degrees. Place the bones on a large baking tray. Lightly drizzle with oil and place in the oven for 30 minutes or until well browned.

Meanwhile, place all the vegetables in a slow cooker.

Place the browned bones on top.

Add the filtered water. You want enough water so it sits just below the bones so adjust as needed.

Add the remaining ingredients, pop the lid on and set either to ‘low’ for 6 hours or ‘high’ for 3 hours. Check on the broth and water level every couple of hours. Top up if necessary.

Once cooked, use some tongs to remove the big bones and discard. Then pour the rest of the broth through a fine sieve into a large bowl or jug. Transfer the strained liquid to jars or airtight containers, cool and then place in the fridge.

Once the broth has cooled it will become nice a gelatinous. This is a great thing and means there’s lots of gut loving gelatin in there. There will also be a layer of fat separated on top. You can discard this but I highly recommend you keep it to help seal the broth as well as add extra delicious-ness to your soups and meals when using the broth. You can separate it and use it as a cooking fat also.

Tips and tricks

I make broths regularly so throughout the week, I keep a container in the fridge and put all the end of my vegetables, onions, garlic skins etc into it. Then I use those for the broth instead of fresh vegetable. No waste!

If you end up with broth overload in the fridge, freeze some into big ice cubes then pop them in a container in the freezer. They are perfect little portion sizes for adding to meals or just use the lot to start a soup.

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