How to Make Bone Broth (Slow Cooker, Instant Pot, Stove)

Forget buying expensive bone broth from the store. Make your own homemade bone broth with simple ingredients for a fraction of the cost. I’ll show you how easy it is in this tutorial.

Homemade Bone Broth

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Got leftover chicken, turkey or beef bones? How about vegetable discards like onion peels, celery tops, or carrot tops? Don’t throw them away! Save them to make your own homemade bone broth.

Homemade bone broth is so easy to make, and it can be used as a base for soups (such as this Minestrone Soup), sauces and even as a cup on its own with a bit of salt and green onions (like a miso soup). I use homemade bone broth to add a layer of flavor to my Cauliflower Rice too.

Let me show you how easy it is to make your own homemade bone broth and why it’s worth it.

Why Homemade Bone Broth?

Minimize waste

Instead of throwing away chicken, turkey, or beef bones, you can reuse them and cut down on waste. You can also save vegetable discards like celery tops, onion peels, and carrot tops to use in making bone broth.

Store the bones and vegetable discards in a food container or bag and keep it in the freezer until you’re ready to use them. I find that in making so much of my own homemade meals, I can stock up vegetable discards in particular really quickly to use to make bone broth.

Save money

Store-bought bone broth can cost anywhere from $3 for 16 oz tor upwards of $6-8 or more for organic brands. Make your own with bones you’ve already used in other meals and vegetables discards or even fresh vegetables for way less money. 

Control the ingredients

When you make you own bone broth, you control the ingredients. You can omit the salt, use organic ingredients, grass-fed or pasture-raised bones, and even add spice or other flavors to your broth. You also don’t need to worry about artificial flavors or preservatives like store-bought bone broth.

Get extra nutrients

Homemade broth is packed with nutrients such as gelatin, amino acids, glucosamine and collagen. Rather than take a collagen supplement or amino acid supplement, you could get your nutrients with homemade bone broth.

Flavor your food

Rather than use water or store-bought broth, use your homemade bone broth to flavor sauces, soups, stews, rice, pasta, potatoes (it’s delicious as a substitute for milk or cream in mashed potatoes), risotto, and even beef tacos.

How to Make Bone Broth

Best Bones to Use for Bone Broth

Which animal bones are best to make bone broth?

Generally, beef bones and chicken bones will be the easiest, and you can even use a variety of bones you have from chicken, beef, pork, etc. Fish broth has a very different flavor so I don’t suggest mixing it with beef or chicken. 

Personally, I cook mostly with chicken and beef and tend to use those bones for my homemade bone broth. I often buy whole chicken as it’s cheaper and to have the leftover chicken carcass to use to make bone broth. 

Beef Bones

The best beef bones to make broth are marrow bones, knuckles, oxtail, shank bones, short ribs, and beef ribs. Beef oxtail and short ribs tend to make the richest beef broth flavor as they have more marrow.

How to Make Bone Broth

Chicken and Turkey Bones

The best chicken bones to make broth are chicken feet, legs, wings, neck and back, and whole chicken carcass. Save those chicken wings, feet, and drumstick bones when you make meals in a freezer bag or food container and store in the fridge to make bone broth later.

Pork Bones

The best pork bones to make broth are the neck, feet, and tail bones. In particular, ham hock is a great option as the pigskin has lots of flavor.

Lamb Bones

The best lamb bones to make broth are the legs, shank, neck and rib bones. 

Fish Bones

The best fish bones to make broth are the heads and spines. Stick with white fish like bass and cod bones. Oily fish like salmon or tuna may make the fish stock too oily. 

How to Make Homemade Broth

Ingredients

  • Bones (chicken, turkey, beef, lamb, etc.) – use about 1-2 lbs of bones
  • Carrots – these can be whole carrots or carrot discards like the peels, tops, and bottoms
  • Celery – these can be whole celery stalks or discards like the bulb or celery tops
  • Onions – this can be a whole onion (without the papery skin) or onion discards like the top, bottom or layers of the onion
  • Bay leaves – this aromatic herb will give bone broth a delicious flavor
  • Peppercorns – use whole peppercorns so it’ll be easier to strain, it gives the broth a subtle flavor
  • Garlic – cloves with outer skin peeled off
  • Apple cider vinegar – the acidity in vinegar helps to extract the minerals from bones
  • Water – preferably filtered or distilled water
Homemade Bone Broth

For beef bones, you could cook longer at 36 hours. It’s important to give it time to cook for this long period to bring out the flavors from the bones, vegetables, and aromatics. 

Cooking Methods

There are different cooking methods to make bone broth. Here are some options: 

  • Slow Cooker: Add all of the ingredients to a Crock Pot on low heat for about 24 hours on low heat. You can also use an Instant Pot with the Slow Cook option. Use the +/- button to adjust the setting to lower the temperature and cook for 24 hours.
  • Instant Pot: Add of the ingredients to an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours. The high pressure helps to speed up the cooking process so you can get bone broth in a fraction of the time with the same rich flavor. 
  • Stove Top: Add all of the ingredients to a large stock pot on the stove for 24 hours on low heat. I personally don’t advise leaving the stove on, unattended while sleeping, so unless you have someone who can watch the stove overnight, opt for a Crock or Instant Pot.

When it’s done, let it cool off for a while and then strain it through a fine mesh strainer to remove bones, vegetables, etc. 

How to Make Bone Broth

Tips and Tricks

I suggest not adding salt when you make the stock. I prefer my stock without salt so I can use it as needed for whatever recipe I need that calls for bone broth or stock.

Save the bones to use again. I often reuse bones to make at least one more batch of bone broth with new vegetables and aromatics. The flavor might be less intense but it still works. 

For a richer flavor, you could put the bones in a roasting pan or baking sheet first for about 30-45 minutes in the oven at 400 degrees F. Add the roasted bones to a slow cooker or Instant Pot and then follow the recipe.

Storage

When it’s cooled to room temperature, store bone broth in airtight containers or Mason glass jars in the fridge for up to 5 days. After that, don’t let them go to waste, freeze them for a longer shelf live. 

You can freeze bone broth in in ice cube trays. After you’ve poured them into ice cube trays, and let them freeze overnight, remove from the trays and place in plastic bags or freezer-safe food containers for up to 6 months. Each ice cube is about 1-2 tablespoons and great to use in soups, stews, and sauces. 

How to Use Homemade Bone Broth

There are so many ways to use homemade bone broth: 

  • Use it for soup and stew recipes
  • Add to uncooked rice or cauliflower rice instead of water while cooking for extra flavor
  • Add to mashed potatoes instead of milk or cream along with butter for a rich flavor 
  • Add to chili, sauces, and even homemade marinara for added flavor
  • Drink a cup of warm bone broth with a little sea salt and some fresh herbs like rosemary 
How to Use Bone Broth

Bone Broth vs. Stock

So what’s the difference between bone broth and chicken or beef stock? They’re pretty similar and made pretty much the same way with a key difference. Bone broth is simmered for much longer.

Typically, bone broth is simmered for 24 hours or more to get more nutrients from the bones like collagen. Stock is usually simmered for a shorter time, usually 4-6 hours. The taste might be similar, but bone broth tends to have a richer flavor.

Because it’s cooked longer, bone broth usually has a layer of gelatin (that jelly-like substance) on top of the broth once it’s cooled. This is where so many of the nutrients of the bones is from.

If you’re in a rush, you could follow this recipe and simmer the broth for 4-6 hours to make stock instead. But if you have the time, it’s best to let it go for at least 24 hours.

Video Tutorial

Watch this video tutorial to learn how to make your own homemade bone broth. It’s so easy and I’ll show you some time-saving tips to help you get it done faster.

Homemade Bone Broth

Homemade Bone Broth

Don’t Mess With Mama
Learn how to make homemade broth with leftover bones and simple ingredients in your kitchen. It's so easy and costs way less than store-bought versions.
4.95 from 37 votes
Prep Time 5 minutes
Cook Time 1 day
Total Time 1 day 5 minutes
Course Soup
Cuisine American
Servings 3 pints per batch
Calories 373 kcal

Equipment

  • 1 Slow cooker
  • 1 Fine mesh strainer

Ingredients
 
 

  • 1-2 lbs chicken, turkey, beef or lamb bones preferably with cartilage and feet (lamb and pork bones can also be used)
  • 2-3 carrots largely chopped
  • 2 stalks celery largely chopped
  • 1 onion largely chopped
  • 1 bay leaf
  • filtered water
  • 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
  • 1 tbsp whole peppercorns optional
  • 2 cloves garlic optional

Instructions
 

  • In a medium to large crockpot, add bones, carrots, celery and onion and fill with filtered water to the top of the pot.
  • Add the vinegar to the pot, cover and cook on low for 24 hours.
  • Turn off heat, and let cool to room temperature.
  • Strain broth through a cheesecloth or fine mesh strainer.
  • Store broth in glass Mason jars and refrigerate for up to 1 week or freeze to use at a later time. Can be kept in the freezer for several months.

Notes

Alternate Cooking Methods
  • Add of the ingredients to an Instant Pot or pressure cooker. Cook for 2-3 hours. The high pressure helps to speed up the cooking process so you can get bone broth in a fraction of the time with the same rich flavor. 
  • Add all of the ingredients to a large stock pot on the stove for 24 hours on low heat. I personally don’t advise leaving the stove on, unattended while sleeping, so unless you have someone who can watch the stove overnight, opt for a crock pot or Instant Pot.
  • For beef bones, you could cook longer at 36 hours. It’s important to give it time to cook for this long period to bring out the flavors from the bones, vegetables, and aromatics.

Nutrition

Calories: 373kcalCarbohydrates: 10gProtein: 29gFat: 23gSaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 113mgSodium: 157mgPotassium: 583mgFiber: 3gSugar: 4gVitamin A: 7145IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 68mgIron: 1.9mg
Keyword bone broth
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6 Comments

  1. I have not made bone broth…ever, so am looking forward to trying it, I just need to gather enough bones though.. I’m curious about the chicken feet. How the heck do you wash them good enough to put them into the pot??

    1. Yes, you add root vegetables like carrots, celery, onions, etc. to give it flavor. I usually add a clove or two of garlic and some peppercorns too for a little added flavor. Give it a try and let me know how you like it.

  2. Just reading the other day about how bone broth could possible help heal your teeth and gums issues as well. Seems like this is a wonderful elixir I will be making this up soon. Thanks for the easy recipe too.