Nourishing chicken bone broth (simple slow cooker recipe)

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Learn how to make nourishing chicken bone broth in your slow cooker. This simple, delicious chicken bone broth recipe is a staple in our home. It’s incredibly nourishing, versatile and tasty. Using basic ingredients and left over chicken bones and frames, this recipe is a great way to reduce food waste and save you money whilst giving your immune system a boost this winter!

Bone broth is a highly nutritious stock that is made by cooking animal bones and connective tissues for a long period of time. This releases valuable nutrients and minerals.

Why do we love making and using bone broth in our home?

Bone broth is a real staple ingredient in our home, we use it to boost the nutrient density of foods such as homemade soups, curries, stews, sauces, rice and quinoa. There are so many benefits of bone broth, and adding it to dishes couldn’t be simpler with my tips on making, storing and using bone broth. Slow cooker chicken bone broth is so easy, you can just ‘set and forget’ and let the slow cooker do the work! If you don’t have a slow cooker, you can also follow this method and cook your homemade broth on the stove top.

What are the health benefits of chicken bone broth?

Some of the benefits of consuming bone broth in the diet include:

• Excellent source of collagen for skin and joint health
• Extremely healing for the gut and helps to boost your gut health
• Supports the immune system
• Rich in many nutrients including amino acids, calcium, phosphorus, vitamins A, B2, B12 and E, plus omega-3, glucosamine, iron, selenium and zinc.

The nutrient content of bone broth depends on the ingredients and their quality. It is recommended to use a range of animal bones including joint bones, marrow bones and connective tissue.

How to save money and reduce food waste when making chicken bone broth

Back when I started making bone broth, I really struggled to find a source of good quality bones, and the bones I did find cost a premium.

I figured that the easiest and cheapest way to make bone broth at the time was to buy cuts of chicken with bones such as chicken thigh, wings and drumsticks. The meat can then be cooked to your liking, and the leftover chicken bones can be saved and frozen for later use.

Fast forward a few years and I started to really think about our food budget and how to get the most nutrient dense, high quality and ethical chicken bones for a reasonable price. I have found that the answer is to buy a good quality whole chicken and either cook it whole with my simple roast chook recipe and save the frame and bones, or break down the carcass into individual cuts and use the frames and leftover bones to make chicken bone broth. I make a large batch of bone broth once every 2-3 months.

Buying chicken this way saved so much money and I also learnt a new skill! Additionally, eating in a way that uses as much of the animal as possible (‘nose to tail eating’) reduces waste and is much more sustainable. This has become the main way we buy and use chicken in our home.

What does this look like from start to finish?

I buy a few whole birds at a time from an ethical source, fresh not frozen. These birds are considerably more expensive, but when utilised this way, work out to be very affordable. I hone my butcher skills and break down the chickens into the different cuts,. I freeze these cuts and the chicken carcasses ready to use later. Adding chicken wings or chicken wing tips is a great way to boost the amount of collagen in your homemade chicken bone broth.

Before using the chicken carcasses for homemade bone broth, I make a quick batch of chicken soup such as my nourishing chicken and cannellini bean soup. This allows me to remove and use as much meat as possible from the chicken frame.

I then use the chicken carcasses and leftover frozen bones from previous meals to make a huge batch of nourishing chicken bone broth in the slow cooker.

Can you use any kind of vegetables in chicken bone broth?

You can add other ingredients such as celery stalks or vegetable scraps/peelings. Tossing in vegetables that are starting to look a bit sad in the fridge is a great idea. I usually try and only use what we have already in our fridge or garden when possible.

How to make chicken bone broth in the slow cooker

To make my chicken bone broth, I simply add my chicken frames, leftover bones (you can use cooked bones or raw bones), carrots, onions, garlic, peppercorns, bay leaf/leaves, apple cider vinegar (or lemon juice) and salt to my slow cooker. It is really important to add apple cider vinegar to your bone broth, as the acidity helps to break down the collagen and draw minerals out of the bones, making them available for absorption.

Cover with filtered water

Cover the ingredients with filtered water. I generally use around 3L of water, but just ensure that you add enough water to submerge all your ingredients.

As always, it’s important to use filtered water when making your own bone broth, if possible.

‘Set and forget’ your slow cooker

Set your slow cooker to low and cook for 12-24 hours. This slow and low cooking will break down and release the nutrients from the chicken bones. The apple cider vinegar really helps with this process.

After 12-24 hours, the bone broth is ready to switch off and cool down. For a rich broth, you can remove the slow cooker lid and allow to simmer for another hour.

Once cooled to room temperature, or just enough to handle, strain the broth using a fine mesh strainer into a large bowl. You can strain out all the fine particles using a muslin cloth or similar, but I don’t find this necessary.

Strain your chicken bone broth

Funnel the bone broth into clean glass jars that are suitable for freezing. I like to use these repurposed Vegemite jars as the glass is nice and thick. The plastic lids aren’t suitable for my preserves but are great for using in the freezer – thank you Alex for your Vegemite loving ways!

When filling jars for freezing, ensure that you leave roughly 2cm below the top of the jar as the broth will expand as it freezes.

How to store bone broth for later use

I always freeze some bone broth in ice cube trays. Once frozen, I place the ice cubes in freezer bags/ziploc bags and store them in the freezer for up to 6 months. This makes it really easy to add to the pot when cooking things like rice, quinoa, curries and sauces. You can also simply defrost, heat and enjoy on a cold morning, YUM!

I label and freeze the jars of chicken bone broth ready for quick and easy use in recipes.