I’ve always made my own chicken stock, but a couple of years ago I started making crockpot chicken bone broth. I didn’t realize all you had to do was increase the cooking time from 4 to 24 hours and add apple cider vinegar. It tastes so much better than store bought, and I can use it in multiple recipes. Bone broth is an incredible super food and helps heal gut issues.
According to Dr. Axe, if you consume bone broth, it will:
- Treat leaky gut syndrome
- Overcome food intolerances and allergies
- Improve joint health
- Reduce cellulite
- Boost immune system
Wellness Mama has a great article on the benefits of bone broth. Learn more here.
Why buy expensive broth when you can make it at home? When you make crockpot chicken bone broth you know where your ingredients come from and it’s much cheaper.
The new trend is to drink a cup of bone broth every day. I just don’t enjoy drinking it every day, but when I’m feeling down in the weather it tastes great. So how do I incorporate it into my diet? By making a big pot of soup, goulash or chili every weekend and take it to work for my lunches.
How to make Crockpot Chicken Bone Broth
Crockpot chicken bone broth takes about 24 hours to make, but it only takes about 10 minutes to throw together. I don’t allow anyone to throw away their chicken bones when a chicken is roasted. As we finish eating we put the bones in a freezer bag add the chicken carcass and all goes into the freezer until it’s time to make the bone broth.
Using 1 whole chicken and 1 chicken carcass makes for a beautiful, jellylike broth. Cut up your vegetables. Quarter your onions and be sure to include the skins; onion skins bring out a lovely color in your broth. Cut the garlic in half and don’t worry about peeling your carrots and include the celery leaves too.
Making Crockpot Chicken Bone Broth
Throw the chicken, chicken carcass and vegetables into a large crockpot. Add 1 gallon of filtered water and 2 tablespoons of raw apple cider vinegar. The vinegar leaches the minerals out of the bones for a very nutritious broth.
Add a teaspoon of salt, peppercorns and bay leaves and bring to a simmer. Simmer about 24 hours. Skim off the foam and throw away.
Much less evaporation occurs when using a crock pot over a stock pot. Strain the bone broth. The broth needs to cool down as quickly as possible, so bacteria doesn’t grow. Putting the hot broth in refrigerator right away isn’t good either. Instead add some ice to the broth to cool down, but not too much you don’t want to water the broth down.
Storing Bone Broth
Let the broth sit in the refrigerator for about a day, this will allow the fat to solidify. Scrape off the top layer of fat and throw away.
I recommend using glass containers to freeze your chicken bone broth. Use various sizes: 2 cup, 1 cup and 1/2 cup glass containers; pour some broth into a couple of ice trays; 1 ice cube equals 1/8 of a cup of broth. If you don’t have glass containers you can freeze in freezer bags, just make sure the broth is completely cooled.
CROCKPOT CHICKEN BONE BROTH
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken freerange
- 1 chicken carcass
- 2 onions, quartered
- 2-3 carrots, roughly chopped
- 2-3 stalks of celery, roughly chopped include leaves
- 1 head of garlic cut in half
- 2 tsbp raw apple cider vinegar
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt
- 8-10 whole peppercorns
- 1 gallon filtered water
Instructions
- Put the whole chicken and chicken carcass into the large crockpot2. Roughly chop the vegetables, add to the crockpot3. Cover with a gallon of filtered water4. Add raw apple cider vinegar, bay leaves, salt and pepper to the crockpot.5. Turn the crockpot to the low setting for 24 hours6. Strain the broth, add some ice, but not too much to cool the broth down quicker. Put in a glass jar and refrigerate overnight.7. Scrape off the solid fat from the top and throw away. Store in various sized glass containers and freeze.
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