Bone Appétit! — Chicken Bone Broth Recipe
Bone Appétit! — Chicken Bone Broth
Adapted from a recipe by Kimi Harris
Eating broth or stock made from chicken bones has many health benefits including improved digestion, bone and teeth health, immune health, brain health, and much more. No wonder Grandma made homemade chicken soup when someone got sick! Here’s a great bone broth/stock recipe for you to try…BONE Appétit!
Ingredients
- 1 chicken carcass (or a bag of drumstick bones from the freezer*)
- 1-2 pound of raw drumsticks or chicken legs
- 3-5 chicken feet**, optional
- Gizzards (if in cavity, take out of the cavity of the chicken before cooking)
- 4 carrots, scrubbed and cut into 3 inch pieces
- 4 celery stalks, washed and cut into 3 inch pieces
- 1 onion, peeled and cut in half
- 1 bay leaf
- 15 peppercorns optional
- A few sprigs of thyme, optional
- ¼ cup of apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Dump all the ingredients into a large stock pot and cover with water about an inch or two above the top of the ingredients.
- Optional Step: To draw out more of the calcium from the bones, let the pot sit in this state, as is, for an hour at room temperature.
- Bring to a low simmer and cover. You should never boil stock. Keep it at a very low simmer for 3-24 hours, skimming any foam that may rise to the top.
- The longer you simmer, the more flavor and minerals leach out into the water. 12 hours seems to work well; don’t go past 24 hours or it will become bitter and too dark.
- Once done, cool slightly and then pour through a colander. You can further strain the broth by pouring through cheesecloth.
- You can also make this using a slow cooker, using the same directions as above and cooking on low.
*Whenever I make drumsticks or any other type of chicken on bone, I stick the bones in a freezer bag and place them in the freezer until we have enough to make a pot of stock. Although it seems a little strange at first to save bones that people have eaten off, a 12-hour simmer is going to kill any “cooties”. But if you would rather, just have your family cut their meat off the bones.
**Regarding the chicken feet, some find this practice barbaric, however, remember that using all parts of the chicken show proper respect to the chicken. The feet are an excellent source of gelatin. You can find chicken feet at Asian stores or from local farmers.
