But recently, bone broth has undergone a popularity renaissance thanks to its value as a superfood!
The benefits of bone broth go beyond its cooking convenience. The bones are packed full of nutrients and goodness, which slowly infuses the broth over a long simmer.
Bone broth has been linked to an improved immune system and can potentially aid weight loss.
While bone broth can have many benefits, it’s important to enjoy it as part of a healthy diet! In this guide, we’ll explore why you should enjoy bone broth and how to make it at home.
Quick Answer: The Benefits Of Bone Broth
Bone broth is made by simmering bones in water for a long time. As they simmer, the collagen, amino acids, and proteins of the bones break down. They infuse the broth with their goodness, for an easy nutritional boost to your favorite meals.
Bone broth can be made with beef, chicken, pork, or other meaty bones. It’s a slow process but an easy one — you simply leave the heat to get to work! Once the bones have given all they can give, strain your broth and enjoy!
Why You Should Add Bone Broth To Your Diet — The Benefits Of Bone Broth
Bone broth is made using whole bones and a long slow simmer. This process allows all the good things from the bones to infuse into your broth, giving you a punch of nutrients with every sip.
Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of drinking and eating bone broth:
Bone broth contains plenty of collagen, which can improve the health and strength of nails and hair.
Collagen is also linked to anti-aging properties. It can help reduce the appearance of wrinkles and add bounce and elasticity to older skin.
And one more collagen benefit — collagen can strengthen the connective tissue and the joints, for easier movement even as you age.
Bone broth is also full of amino acids. Broken down in the broth, these amino acids can be absorbed quickly, getting to work in your body.
Amino acids are able to strengthen and rebuild tissues, bones, and muscles. This can help fight against osteoarthritis.
The amino acid glutamine is found in bone broth. This can help support the intestinal barrier, making it easier to digest food and reducing stomach complaints.
A boost in amino acids can also help the immune system, making you less likely to fall ill.
Glycine is another amino acid found in bone broth. Glycine has been linked to better sleep, which means sipping bone broth at bedtime might help you sleep deeper and wake up refreshed.
Bone broth contains electrolytes such as calcium, sodium, and magnesium. These can help balance your body for better function.
Thanks to the rich blend of electrolytes, bone broth can help you get back on your feet after heavy exercise.
Bone broth is high in proteins, which help you feel fuller for longer. This can stop you from snacking, making it easier to lose weight. Especially as bone broth has a high number of proteins compared to calories!
If you make your bone broth with veggies (which we recommend) then you’ll also be getting a dose of vitamins and minerals.
These are some of the nutritional benefits of enjoying bone broth, with help from Cleveland Clinic and Medical News Today. Now, let’s explore some other reasons for making bone broth part of your diet.
Bone broth can be used as a quick and convenient base for soups, stews, sauces, and more.
But you can also enjoy bone broth on its own! Try sipping on a cup of bone broth before bed.
Making bone broth is low effort but delivers high rewards. It might need a long cooking time, but the hands-on prep takes less than 15 minutes!
Tips And Tricks For Making Bone Broth At Home
Bone broth can be purchased in-store, which is a great way to quickly add bone broth to your diet. But the best way to enjoy bone broth is by making your own.
Homemade bone broth is high in nutrition, low in preservatives and salt, and cost-effective.
To get your hands on high-quality bones for your broth, speak to your butcher. They can help you find the right mixture of bones, and even prepare some of the larger bones.
The recipe we’ve listed below is for making bone broth on the stovetop. However, you can also make it in the slow cooker!
Once you’ve roasted your bones, cover them with water and a touch of vinegar, and bring them to a simmer with the HIGH setting.
Simmer for 24 hours, then add your onions and carrot, and simmer for another 24 hours.
There are no exact timings for making bone broth, although longer is typically better.
If you can simmer your broth for over 24 hours, the collagen and nutrients have more chance to break down and infuse.
However, if you only have 6 hours, then you can still make a pretty good bone broth! It just won’t have the same nutritional punch of a longer simmer.
Bone broth is done when the liquid is golden brown and the bones have started to fall apart. When the bones are breaking, you know all the nutritional goodness has left them.
How Do You Store Bone Broth?
Homemade bone broth can be stored either in the fridge or in the freezer. Bone broth can be stored in the fridge for up to 5 days. It lasts for roughly 6 months in the freezer.
We recommend making a big batch and storing your bone broth in the freezer. It’s a slow process, so the best way to make the most of the long simmer is with a huge batch.
Store in small measurements, so you can defrost just enough for one recipe at a time.
You can also try storing your bone broth in ice cube trays! Freeze your bone broth in an ice cube tray and you have a convenient flavor boost for soups and stews.
To boost storage space in your freezer, reduce the bone broth by half using a long simmer over a low heat.
Once you’ve defrosted the bone broth, add extra water to thin it out before using it. This is particularly useful if you’re using the ice cube trick!
Bone broth can also be purchased in shelf-stable cartons in stores and online. These cartons are incredibly convenient, especially if you don’t have 24 hours to simmer your own broth!
As they typically have a long life, we recommend keeping a carton or two in storage.
How Do You Use Bone Broth?
Once you’ve packed your freezer full of bone broth, you might be wondering just what to do next!
Bone broth is a highly versatile ingredient. Once you’ve started adding it to your meals, you won’t want to stop!
Bone broth makes an excellent base for soup. It adds more flavor than water and has more nutrients than stock. If you’re making chicken soup to fight off a cold, try adding bone broth.
Bone broth is also a must-have ingredient for anyone who loves Asian cuisine. Bone broth can be used to make pho or ramen, or your favorite noodle soup.
As well as soup, bone broth can be a fantastic flavor base for stews and curries.
It has a deep and warming taste that can be adapted with new seasonings, herbs, and spices. Try adding bone broth to a chili or a curry!
Basically, any time you might turn to stock or water, use bone broth instead.
But bone broth can be used as more than just an ingredient in a recipe. Bone broth can be enjoyed on its own as a relaxing and warming drink.
Sip on a cup of bone broth before heading to bed, or during a tiring afternoon.
Ingredients For Bone Broth
The ingredients list for bone broth is very simple. The key is, unsurprisingly, the bones! Let’s take a look at what you need to make bone broth:
2 pounds of bones. If you want to up the nutritional blend of your bone broth, use a mixture of bones. Beef bones such as short ribs, oxtails, neck bones, and marrow bones are all good choices. You can also use pork bones and chicken bones. If you’ve enjoyed a rotisserie chicken, keep the carcass for bone broth!
3 quarts water plus more to cover. For the best flavor, use filtered water. However, any clean water will do.
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. Apple cider vinegar is our preferred choice, but any vinegar will do. Just keep in mind that a different vinegar will alter the flavor slightly.
1 large carrot. Adds flavor and extra nutrients.
1 large onion. Adds flavor and extra nutrients.
Salt and pepper, to taste. You can play around with different seasonings such as thyme, star anise, and bay leaves. However, different seasonings will change the overall flavor of the broth. For the most versatile broth, stick to salt and pepper.
These measurements will make roughly 2 ½ quarts of bone broth, but you can scale the recipe up and down as needed.
Essentially, all you need is bones and enough water to cover them, plus a touch of acid and some seasoning!
How To Make Bone Broth
Making bone broth is a long process — but an easy one. Once everything is in the pot, you basically let the simmer do its work.
Rinse the bones under cold water and pat dry. You want to wash away any impurities that might affect the quality of the broth, without cleaning off all the goodness.
Arrange the bones on a baking tray, and roast them for 30 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roasting the bones isn’t entirely necessary, but it adds depth of flavor to the final broth.
Place the bones in a large stockpot and cover with the water and apple cider vinegar. Leave the bones to sit in the water and vinegar mixture for around 30 minutes.
Bring the water to a simmer. You’ll need to use a high heat to get the water simmering, but once you’ve achieved a rapid simmer, turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
Leave the pot simmering, uncovered, for one hour. Check the pot occasionally to skim off any foam that floats to the top. You might need to add more water, to keep the bones covered.
After one hour, add the salt and pepper, cover the pot, and leave it to simmer on the lowest heat for 24 hours.
Add the onion and the carrots. Leave to simmer for another 12 to 24 hours, until the broth is a rich golden color, and the bones are starting to fall apart. Add extra water as necessary to keep the bones covered, and skim off any foam that rises to the top.
When you’re happy with the color of the broth, take it off the heat and leave it to cool slightly before straining. Once you’ve strained the broth you can use it right away, refrigerate it for up to 5 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months.
Conclusion
Bone broth takes an underappreciated ingredient — bones — and transforms them into a kitchen staple.
Thanks to the high levels of proteins and amino acids, bone broth can potentially help you lose weight, look younger, and feel better.
Bone broth is also a delicious alternative to stock. Although making bone broth might be a slow process, it’s really easy to do with minimal hands-on work.
And because bone broth freezes well, you can make a large batch to enjoy as needed.
Frequently Asked Questions
What Recipes Can I Make With Bone Broth?
Any time you might use water or stock in a recipe, try replacing it with bone broth. Bone broth can be used in soups, stews, curries, and chili. You can also use bone broth to make gravy and mashed potato, in stroganoff or noodle dishes!
What Is The Bone Broth Diet?
The bone broth diet is a 21-day diet plan. During the bone broth diet, 5 days are spent eating a low-carb paleo diet. The other 2 days are fast days when followers eat nothing but bone broth.
The bone broth diet is designed as a quick way to lose weight, but it has yet to be proven as an effective diet in the long term.
The Benefits Of Bone Broth (Plus How To Make Your Own)
Recipe by Lana RiveraCourse: Uncategorized
Servings
4
servings
Prep time
30
minutes
Cooking time
40
minutes
Calories
300
kcal
Ingredients
2 pounds of bones
3 quarts water plus more to cover
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
1 large carrot
1 large onion
Salt and pepper, to taste
Directions
Rinse the bones under cold water and pat dry. You want to wash away any impurities that might affect the quality of the broth, without cleaning off all the goodness.
Arrange the bones on a baking tray, and roast them for 30 minutes at 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Roasting the bones isn’t entirely necessary, but it adds depth of flavor to the final broth.
Place the bones in a large stockpot and cover with the water and apple cider vinegar. Leave the bones to sit in the water and vinegar mixture for around 30 minutes.
Bring the water to a simmer. You’ll need to use a high heat to get the water simmering, but once you’ve achieved a rapid simmer, turn the heat down to the lowest setting.
Leave the pot simmering, uncovered, for one hour. Check the pot occasionally to skim off any foam that floats to the top. You might need to add more water, to keep the bones covered.
After one hour, add the salt and pepper, cover the pot, and leave it to simmer on the lowest heat for 24 hours.
Add the onion and the carrots. Leave to simmer for another 12 to 24 hours, until the broth is a rich golden color, and the bones are starting to fall apart. Add extra water as necessary to keep the bones covered, and skim off any foam that rises to the top.
When you’re happy with the color of the broth, take it off the heat and leave it to cool slightly before straining. Once you’ve strained the broth you can use it right away, refrigerate it for up to 5 days, or freeze it for up to 6 months.
Hey! I’m Lana, the original Soup Chick! I decided to create this website as I am a massive soup fan. I will literally make soup for every occasion. Whether a friend is under the weather, has the flu, or I just want to try out something new in my slow cooker!
I hope that you can find some really interesting and different soup recipes to try out with my site. I know I’ve had a lot of fun curating and trying them all, and I hope that you do too!
