Bone Broth for Sipping
From the Cabinet
1 large sheet pan
Strainer
Liquid measuring cup
From the Fridge
1lb chicken feet
1lb marrow bones (2-3 bones)
1 chicken carcass
3 stalks celery
3 carrots
1 yellow onion
From the Pantry
1 bay leaf
Unrefined mineral salt (I use Redmond)
Black pepper
2 tbsp. Apple cider vinegar
Filtered water
How to Prepare
Set the oven to 400º F. Roughly chop three stalks of celery, three carrots, and one onion. Scatter vegetables, marrow bones, and chicken feet on a baking sheet. Drizzle about 2-3 tbsp. olive oil and 1-2 tbsp mineral salt.
Once the oven is heated, roast the pan of vegetables and bones for 15 minutes. After 15 minutes, take out and toss. Place the pan back into the oven for another 5 minutes.
While the sheet pan roasts, add the chicken carcass to the crockpot. Once fully roasted, add all contents of the sheet pan to the crock pot. Top with 2 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar, 1 tbsp. salt, 1 tsp. pepper, and a bay leaf. Fill the rest of the pot with filtered water. Return the lid to the crockpot and turn it on low. Cook for 24 hours.
After 24 hours, turn off the crockpot. Grab the strainer and mixing bowl. Place the strainer in the mixing bowl. After the broth has cooled slightly, use a sieve to spoon out the solids in the broth into the strainer. Set the bowl aside to accumulate broth drippings. Do not toss the solids! These drippings will be highly gelatinous and are worth saving.
With bones and vegetables removed, it is now time to pour the broth into the mason jars. Dip the liquid measuring cup into the crock pot of broth. Hold the sieve above the mouth of the mason jar as you pour the broth from the measuring cup to the jar. If freezing, be careful not to completely fill the jar as it will expand in the freezer.
You may have to rinse the sieve a few times when pouring broth as fat accumulates. A funnel can make pouring easier, but isn’t absolutely necessary. If you do not have a funnel, you can easily make one out of wax paper.
Lastly, pour the drippings from your mixing bowl into the mason jars. Strain through the sieve.
Bone broth in Chicken Coconut Curry (my favorite Lily Nichols recipe)
Refrigerate or freeze depending on how you plan to utilize your broth. It is good in the fridge for up to four days. Once cooled, a layer of fat will rest at the top. I prefer to keep this layer as it provides a creamier, more filling taste.
Personally, I like my broth for breakfast—warmed on the stove, poured in a mug, and drank alongside a plate of cheesy scrambled eggs. It is also great when added to dishes like curry, chili, or soup.
Tricks, Tips & Advice
Here are some things you can play with:
Use more / less bones
Don’t use a chicken carcass
Lemon rinds in addition to or in place of apple cider vinegar
Keep veggie scraps throughout the week and add to your broth.
My favorite add-ins are onion skins, lemon rinds, and cheese rind.
Use bones from a quality butcher or farm. I buy my chicken feet and beef marrow bones from Meadow Ridge Farm, a local buyers club.
I get my chicken carcasses from Darke Pines Butcher Shop.
It’s important to use good, filtered water. You wouldn’t believe what's in tap water. If you haven’t, look up your zip code on the EWG database. Then, buy a Berkey water filter. You won’t regret it. And no, a Brita Filter doesn’t count.
If you don’t have a crockpot, you can cook this on a stovetop on low for 12-24 or use an Instant Pot
Why Bone Broth?
The short answer? It’s good for your gut, skin, hair and nails. Bonus: It’s easy to make and affordable. But here’s the back story:
I started making bone broth in 2021 while trying to improve my hormonal health.
At the start of the pandemic, I moved from Brooklyn to my hometown in Indiana with my now husband. So much about my lifestyle changed. I went on daily walks in fresh suburban air, there were no weekend bar crawls, and we were all required to participate in family dinner every evening.
For once in my life, I stopped work at a reasonable hour to go eat with my family. Almost everything serve was home cooked and from the local butcher. I started to see a direct link of minimizing stress and improving my diet to my mental and physical health. My skin was clearing up, my periods were far less painful, and my anxiety was reduced.
When we came back to New York, our lifestyle slowly shifted back to urban madness. Work chaos ensued, the air in Bedstuy wasn’t quite as crisp, and we swapped family dinner for weekly hangs at the dive bar with cheap beers and good friends. My hormonal issues started to flare back up.
I decided to take charge. After taking hormonal birth control for over ten years, I decided to get off the pill and get to know my natural hormonal rhythm. I started buying better quality food and cooking at home more often. Lastly, I found an amazing esthetician, Cali. Alongside amazing skin treatment, she also suggested a variety of hormone balancing and gut healing solutions—one of them being bone broth.
I have to admit, I didn’t love the taste at first. It was like drinking soup without any of the good stuff. So much so, that I’d microdose the broth by adding it to my coffee. But over time I grew to love the taste. These days I drink it straight from a mug as if it were a cup of morning coffee.
Making bone broth is now a weekly ritual. After lots of tinkering with ingredients, experimenting with roasting, and trying different cooking times, I’ve learned how to make the broth a flavor I could not only stomach, but enjoy. This is the recipe I have shared with you above.
Drink it straight, add it to your coffee, or make bone broth hot chocolate. Enjoy!
