Easy Homemade Chicken Bone Broth In A Crock Pot

Chicken bone broth is one of the first things I learned how to make when starting this homesteading thing. I use so much broth in so many recipes I thought it was perfect to learn how to make.

Since the first time I made it over a year ago, I have really perfected my recipe. I’ve found the seasonings that work, how long I should cook the broth, and how to store it so I don’t have to use it all at once.

Making bone broth, to me, is really rewarding as I am using every last bit of the chicken. We buy whole chickens from a family member that raises them so it’s important to me to honor the chicken by using every last bit of it.

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Bone broth is one of the most nutritious foods you can consume. I love drinking broth when I’m feeling under the weather or just want to feel healthy.

I love using broth in all of my meals, anything that calls for water I replace it with broth.

In mashed potatoes in place of milk, to cook rice in place of water, and there’s nothing like a good broth to make up some gravy. Okay, now I’m starting to get hungry!

What’s the difference between bone broth and regular broth?

Believe it or not there is a difference in regular broth, and bone broth.

Regular chicken broth is cooked for only a few hours with meat, bones if you want, veggies, and seasonings. This only has to cook for a few hours and really you just want the flavor to be extracted from the meat and veggies to turn into a useable liquid.

Bone broth on the other hand, essentially only requires bones, water, and time. With bone broth you want to extract all the nutrients from the bones filling the broth with vitamins, minerals, collagen. The way to do this is to cook it for a minimum of 24 hours.

Bone Broth in a Crock Pot

You can make your broth on the stove or in a crock pot. I prefer to make it in the crock pot because I can add everything, put the lid on and walk away. It is really that easy.

First I always start with the bones. Usually, I will cook a whole chicken in the crock pot, use the meat, and then throw the carcass back into the crock pot. But you can also save bones from different cuts of meat and save them in Ziplock bag in the freezer until you have a bag or two full, depending on the size of your crock pot.

Once you have the bones in the crock pot you can add in your veggies or veggie scraps. I save scraps from other meals, like skins from onions, tops of celery, carrot peels, garlic scraps and store them in a ziplock bag in the freezer and pull them out when I’m ready to make my broth.

Alternatively, I will just cut some veggies up and stick them in the crock pot.

Once I have the bones and veggies in, I fill the crock pot full of water up to the brim.

Then, I add in a couple tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, and a couple tablespoons of seasonings like Turmeric, Thyme, and Rosemary.

And that’s it! Place the lid on and set it to low for a minimum of 24 hours. Often I will let the broth go for 36 hours and it seems to make it the most rich and flavorful.

Gelatinous Broth

One of the beautiful things about bone broth is that you extract the collagen from the bones and turn your broth into a super nutritious broth.

If you want your broth to be more of a “gel-like” consistency aka get the most nutrients in each serving, you won’t want to fill your crock pot all the way to the top. You can simply fill the crock pot up until the bones are covered with water.

My broth has a very thick consistency but is not fully gel. Either way, you will get the benefits that come with bone broth.

How to Store Bone Broth

Currently, I am freezing my bone broth in glass jars in the freezer. I simply strain the broth into glass jars using a small reusable coffee filter, or a strainer like this, leaving an inch or so of head space at the top. You want to be sure to leave some space for the liquid to expand as it freezes.

I then let the broth cool completely on the counter. Once cooled, I place lids on the jars and place in the freezer.

Alternatively, you can store the broth in Ziplock bags and lay them flat in the freezer and once frozen you can stand upright for more space.

You can also can your bone broth. I would recommend following your pressure canner recipe book or you can find the recipe to can, here.

Store Bought Broth

I know this is supposed to be the recipe for from scratch bone broth but sometimes I’m all out and need broth right now! In those times I love to use Kettle & Fire broth. Kettle & Fire has amazing ingredients and they are one of the only broths I will heat up and drink straight, it is that good!

If you are looking for a broth to stock up on to use as back up, or you just want to try something new, try Kettle & Fire, you really won’t regret it!

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I love making bone broth, it adds such a great homecooked meal smell to the house, is healthy for you, and tastes amazing! I hope this encourages you to make your own bone broth.

As always, if you try this recipe, please share it over on Instagram and tag me @ourfaithfilledhomestead

Until next time,

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