Beef Bone Broth
Homemade beef bone broth is a frugal and natural way to get more collagen into your diet. This warming bone broth recipe is perfect to consume whenever you could use some extra nourishment.
Equipment
- Casserole Dish for roasting bones
- Steamer or colander for draining broth
- Mason Jar for storage
Ingredients
- 2-3 lbs beef bones knuckle, marrow, shank, joints or oxtail
- 3 tbsp extra virgin olive oil for roasting the bones
- 2 carrots medium size
- 2 stalks celery
- 2 onions
- 3 cloves garlic
- 6 cups filtered tap water
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar
- 2 dried bay leaves
- 1 tsp salt pink Himalayan or sea salt
- ½ tsp ground black pepper
Instructions
- Place your beef bones in an ovenproof dish and drizzle with olive oil before placing in the oven. Cook in the oven for 1 hour at 180°C/350°F, turning the bones over halfway through.
- Whilst the bones are roasting, roughly chop up the carrots, celery, onions and garlic. If your vegetables are organic then you can leave the skins on.
- Once the bones have finished roasting place them into the slow cooker (I use a Crock Pot).Alternatively, you can make your broth on the stove top and use a large saucepan/ stock pot with a lid.
- Add all of the other ingredients to the slow cooker, along with approximately 1.5 litres (6 cups) of filtered water.The amount of water you will need depends on the size of your pan. Leave space of at least an inch or so at the top, so that it doesn’t boil over.
- Set the temperature to high.Once it has begun to bubble, turn the temperature down to a lower setting and allow it to simmer for 12-24 hours.You can pretty much leave it once you have lowered the heat to a simmer. However, you may want to check on it every now and again to give it a stir, or to add some more water if the level starts to look low.
- Once the bone broth is ready you will need to drain the liquid from the solid ingredients.I use my steamer for this task, so the solid ingredients are caught in the top colander section and the liquid drains through to the saucepan part below.To avoid splashes you may want to use a large spoon to scoop out the solid ingredients first. Then pour the remaining liquid slowly into the colander.If you don’t have a steamer then a colander, or sieve, sat over another large saucepan will also work well.
- Once you have your liquid bone broth you will want to store it in a mason jar, or similar glass container with a lid.Bone broth can be stored in the fridge for up to a week, or the freezer for up to 3 months.If you are planning on freezing your bone broth, be sure to leave a gap of a couple of centimetres at the top of the jar, as the liquid will expand when it is frozen.
Notes
Recipe FAQs
How much does this recipe yield?
This depends on how much water you are able to add to your slow cooker. Typically if I add 1.5 litres (6 cups) of water to the slow cooker, it will yield 1 litre (4 cups) of bone broth.
However, I do usually top it up with more water once or twice over a 12-24 hour period. This is because some of the water will be absorbed by the vegetables and some will evaporate.
Do I have to roast the bones first?
You can make bone broth using raw beef bones. However, roasting them first will provide more depth of flavour.
How many times can I reuse the bones?
Once you have separated the solid ingredients from the liquid broth, you can then return the solid ingredients back to the slow cooker and fill it back up again with water, salt and apple cider vinegar to repeat the process.
You can make several batches of bone broth using the same bones and vegetables!
If you don’t want to make another batch straight away, then you can freeze the beef bones and reuse them again at a later date.
What should I do if a layer of fat forms at the top of my bone broth?
If you use marrow bones then some of the bone marrow will melt during the roasting process. If you leave any of the jelly like marrow inside of the bones then it will form a layer of fat once the bone broth has cooled inside the storage container.
You can just spoon the fat layer off the top before using your bone broth. I then store this fat separately and use it for cooking things like roast potatoes to add extra flavour.
Nutrition
Calories: 135kcal | Carbohydrates: 10g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 11g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 8g | Sodium: 639mg | Potassium: 245mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 4g | Vitamin A: 5191IU | Vitamin C: 7mg | Calcium: 48mg | Iron: 0.4mg
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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