I’m thankful I can admit that my healthy and green process is just that – a process.
Because I truly can’t believe that a foodie like myself bought chicken broth for years. Finally within the past six months I started making my own bone broth out of turkey and chicken bones. I have no idea what took me so long.
I love making my own stock because:
- It’s unbelievably easy,
- It uses food I would typically dump in the garbage (like poultry bones and veggie scraps),
- It saves a lot of money,
- It tastes great,
- It freezes well, and
- It makes my home smell delightful.
Image courtesy of Nkzs
Typically I use Alton Brown’s recipe for Chicken Broth. For an incredibly simplified version, add poultry bones to a stock pot, cover with water, add vegetables and herbs, a splash of apple cider vinegar, and simmer for hours.
As a way of being resourceful and using my food scraps, I tend to save poultry bones in a Ziploc bag in my freezer. I also save carrot peels, the ends and leaves of celery, onion peels, as well as limp (and not so fresh) carrots and celery in Ziploc bags in my freezer. When I’m in a broth making mood, I pull everything out of the freezer and it simmers with the fresher ingredients.
It’s a fantastic way to reuse undesirable food scraps.
Favorite bone broth tale
Once I started making bone broth last summer, I was hooked. So much so that on Thanksgiving Day, I took my parents’ turkey carcass to my home. It definitely felt a little strange – in a “you know you’re green when …” sort of way – but they were going to pitch it. The carcass ended up yielding more than two dozen cups of broth!
What is bone broth?
To explain what bone broth – or stock – is, it’s simply boiling bones with other ingredients that add subtle flavors. While boiling, the bones release gelatin – and that makes the broth a powerhouse at fighting sickness.
Once you’ve finished simmering everything, strain and pour your broth into glass containers. Store in the refrigerator for up to a week or freeze to thaw and use later.
Talk back
Do you make your own bone broth? What veggie scraps do you like to use?
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lydiapurple says
I love making my own broth or stock…. i love to cook a pot of veggie and chicken ‘garbage’.
Btw, my favorite way to use up celery greens (a broth can only take so much celery…) is to make celery pesto. Simply throw the celery greens, some garlic, olive oil, almonds or pine nuts and salt to taste into the food processor until smooth. It needs to sit overnight in the fridge for the flavors to combine….Store in the fridge for up to a week.
And, I love your new years goals and the simple very useful posts!
Cindy McE says
Good Morning! I started making my own broth a couple of months ago. Here’s how I do it. On Monday’s we have a whole chicken (cooked one way or another) . So on Monday night I put the lovely bones in my big ol’ slow cooker, throw in veggies and herbs and add water to cover. Oops forgot the acv. Then I turn it on and go to bed. The next day, I strain and either put in glass jars or freezer bags. I took the turkey from my mom’s house, too! I really enjoy your blog. Thanks so much for doing it!
Brenda says
I do this especially with turkey carcasses, but I can the broth. Then I have a good broth to use for whatever I need later. I also can my leftover chicken or turkey meat into pint jars for use in soups, stews, and recipes later. It saves me much needed freezer space.
Evie says
So, after I have cooked my chicken in the crock pot, there is still something in it worth boiling? Doesn’t it cook out the first time around? I need more info! Also, what do you do with the juice that cooks out of a turkey on Thanksgiving? Need suggestions!
Hilary Kimes Bernstein says
Since the stock is made with poultry bones that have already been cooked – in the oven, in my case – I imagine that the Crock Pot cooked chicken bones would be the same. Wellness Mama offers a lot of great tips in her post: http://wellnessmama.com/5888/how-to-make-bone-broth-tutorial/
I turn my turkey juice – and all of the giblets and neck – into gravy. Here’s an easy recipe: http://www.foodnetwork.com/content/food/recipes/ree-drummond/t/tu/tur/turk/turkey-gravy.html
Glamgran says
I have made my own poultry broth for many years, but only discovered recently that in order to get the full benefit, extracting the glucosamine from the bones takes a full 24 hours of simmering