I discovered the miraculous properties of homemade bone broth in my early 20’s, when I was working as a household assistant for a family friend with Lyme disease. When she received her diagnosis, she was determined to do everything in her power to eradicate it as quickly as possible — including making some major dietary changes. She started shopping only at the local organic co-op to make sure her body was getting the best nutrients possible, and holistic remedies played a big part in her healing.
I learned volumes from working for this family. Sharon taught me so much about nutrition and would always invite me to eat lunch with her, and the dishes we made were amazing. One thing she’d have me do year-round (not just in the winter!) was to make giant batches of bone broth. Chicken bones are incredibly nutrient-dense and rich in minerals like calcium, magnesium, potassium, and phosphorus. Most of us don’t get enough of these minerals, and bone broth is a delicious way to incorporate them into our diet.
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One day I came down with a cold and Sharon brought by some of the bone broth I’d just made for her. It was my first time trying it, and it was delicious. And I’m not joking when I say it kicked my cold to the curb. So I’m going to tell you how I make bone broth (the Sharon way) to keep your body functioning in tip-top shape!
Quality Ingredients
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This is the most important part of your bone broth-making journey: quality ingredients. If you don’t make your broth with good ingredients, you won’t reap all of the potential benefits. I recommend spending the extra few dollars to get chicken that’s pasture-raised on small, local farms.
I generally buy a whole chicken, cook it, and save the leftover carcass to make bone broth from. The co-op that Sharon and I used to shop at actually sold organic, high-quality bone broth starter packs — for about $2-$3 you could get a small package of chicken discards to use for making bone broth. This was my favorite way to do it because they included gizzards, liver, and other nutrient-rich parts of the chicken that normally get discarded. But if you can’t find this option anywhere, a high-quality chicken carcass is totally fine.
Aside from the carcass, I always include organic veggies and herbs. The exact veggies you use can vary depending on your personal preference — sometimes I save whatever veggie scraps I have (kale stems, onion skins, broccoli stems) in a freezer bag until I have enough to use in bone broth. If you don’t have scraps, no worries — I’ll tell you what ingredients you can use below!
How To Make It
Ingredients
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1 high-quality chicken carcass
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1 whole yellow onion, skin removed, chopped in half
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3 whole carrots, chopped in half
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3 celery stalks, chopped in half
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1 bunch parsley
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A few sprigs of thyme
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A few sprigs of oregano
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5 cloves garlic, whole
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¼ c black peppercorns, whole
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Sea salt to taste (add 1-2 tsp at the beginning and more at end if necessary)
Directions
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Place all ingredients except for the fresh herbs into a large soup pot. Fill with filtered water until the carcass/bones are just covered.
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Place the pot on the stove and bring to a boil.
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Reduce heat to a simmer and cover. Check occasionally and skim foam off top.
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Simmer for 2+ hours. If I start this in the morning and am at home, I’ll just let it simmer all day — you really can’t go too long!
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In the last 30 min – 1 hr of cooking, add the fresh herbs.
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Remove all the solids from the bone broth. I like to do this using 2 large spoons or a spoon and tongs to remove all the large solids, and I strain the rest through a fine-mesh sieve into another pot (this will remove the smaller solids like peppercorns, onion skins, herbs, etc.).
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Let the broth cool, then store in your favorite tupperware/pyrex containers. I usually keep one in the fridge and freeze the rest — it will last up to 6 months in the freezer if frozen properly.
When you serve, heat the bone broth up on the stovetop and serve with a pat of grass-fed, high-quality butter — my favorite is Kerrygold!
Have you made homemade bone broth before? Are you going to start? Let us know in the comments!
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