Roasted bones and unpeeled vegetables are used in this slow-cooked bone broth, giving it a much richer flavor and darker appearance. Use peeled vegetables and skip the roasting phase for a broth that is a lighter hue. The richer it becomes as it simmers longer, but don’t let it simmer for more than 48 hours at a time because the flavor may become bitter. Make sure that half of your bones, such as chicken wings, feet, or backs, are high in collagen. When serving, season with more salt if desired.
| Prep Time: | 15 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 45 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 8 servings |
Ingredients
- 3 pounds assorted chicken bones
- 6 cloves garlic, unpeeled
- 2 unpeeled carrots, cut into chunks
- 2 stalks celery with leaves, cut into chunks
- 1 onion, unpeeled and quartered
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black peppercorns
- 12 cups water, or as needed
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F (200 degrees C).
- Place chicken bones, garlic cloves, carrots, celery, and onion on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Toss to coat.
- Roast in the preheated oven for 30 minutes, stirring halfway through.
- Transfer roasted bones and vegetables into a 6-quart slow cooker. Add vinegar, bay leaves, salt, and peppercorns. Cover completely with water and cook on Low for 24 to 48 hours, adding 1 to 2 cups more water during the cooking process, to keep bones submerged.
- Strain broth using a fine mesh strainer. Pour into jars and refrigerate until ready to use.
- I like to save leftover chicken carcasses, bones, and vegetable trimmings in the freezer, and when I have enough I make a batch of broth.
- The bone broth should gel upon refrigeration, however if it does not, it is still very nutritious! Just use less water and/or more collagen-rich bones.
- To easily remove fat from the broth, refrigerate and remove the hardened layer on top using a spoon. Leaving the layer of fat on top helps seal and preserve the broth.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 414 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 6 g |
| Cholesterol | 143 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 30 g |
| Saturated Fat | 8 g |
| Sodium | 376 mg |
| Sugars | 2 g |
| Fat | 29 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
Actual restaurant chef here, with a sanitation license. Solid technique mostly, but there is no reason to not peel veggies unless you leave yellow onion peels on to color chicken stock. Carrots, celery, onions, and leeks (especially those guys) are usually full of dirt, bugs, and probably ammonium nitrate and pesticides. If you didn’t watch a hippie grow it, peel it. And definitely cut the ends off. Garlic can stay unpeeled if you’re tossing it after, but that’s it. Strain it a second time through cheesecloth while warm or it will be cloudy. And there’s no need to cook any kind of stock more than 12 hours or so, even on a very low heat like this. I know “bone broth” has been a great marketing tool lately, but it’s literally stock. No established health benefits beyond comfort and a nice wallop of vitamins and minerals. But flavor for days. And please do your research, folks. Collagen is something your body makes. You can’t just drink it and have hair and nails like a Kardashian on prom night. As far as stock and soup are concerned, collagen and gelatin from bones and connective tissue contribute flavor and mouthfeel, that’s about it. If you want it to be more luxurious and more gelatinous, or if you’re trying to make aspic, add an equal amount of beef or chicken feet. No, you don’t have to eat them. Unless you’ve already had a hot dog. But the pros have been doing this for centuries.
I was so excited to try to make bone broth. I saved various chicken bones in the freezer then bought chicken feet for the last bit of weight. After starting the recipe, I was thinking this is not worth the time, considering the roasting of the bones…the slow cooker on the counter, saving bones…..So after cooking for 32 hours I didn’t have a desire to mess with it too much so I dumped the cooked broth into a large vessel, covered it and placed it in the fridge. It turned to jelly. That’s a good thing!….so I have read. No fat on top, which was interesting. I heated it up a couple of days later (to thin it out )so I could distribute into jars, gave it a taste…it was fantastic! I can see why people served this as a soup! It was so deep, rich, and full of flavor and totally worth the effort! I’ll save every chicken bone for now on!
This is so easy! I freeze carcasses from rotisserie chicken and make this about once a week. I store in Mason jars in the freezer, leaving an inch of headspace in the jars to allow for expansion as it freezes. I will never buy store chicken broth again!!
I tweaked the recipe. According to what ingredients I had. But came out great!
Easy since you don’t have to mess with the veggies much.
To those wondering how long this lasts….if you let a layer of fat harden on top of the broth, this essentially “seals” the broth from air and it can last several weeks in the fridge. That said, I always use mine up well before then, or I put the extra in the freezer for up to 2-3 months. If your broth isn’t sealed with the fat layer, use within 5 days.