Chicken Bone Broth

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There’s something deeply comforting about having a batch of Homemade Chicken Bone Broth simmering away in the kitchen—or even better, already stocked in the fridge. It’s a total workhorse.

Use it as the base for soups, cooking grains, sautéing vegetables, or just sipping straight from your favorite mug. This nutrient and mineral rich staple adds deep, satisfying flavor and feel-good vibes to your everyday meals.

How to Make Chicken Bone Broth

Making chicken bone broth is easy, all you need are a few basic ingredients, a slow cooker or pressure cooker, and time. Start with high-quality chicken bones like carcasses, wings, and necks (bonus points for chicken feet, which add extra collagen). Add filtered water, apple cider vinegar to help extract minerals, and aromatics like onion, carrot, and celery scraps to help boost the flavor.

Cook the broth low and slow in a crockpot for up to 36 hours or use an Instant Pot to cut the time down significantly. You’ll get a deeply nourishing, mineral-rich, collagen-packed broth with a silky texture and rich flavor. Once strained through a fine-mesh sieve, it stores beautifully in the fridge or freezer.

Feel Good Vibes

Not just a comforting drink and a flavorful addition to meals—nutrient dense bone broth is a good source of protein along with many other health benefits.

• Joint Health: Bone broth is a great source of collagen, glucosamine, and chondroitin, which are essential for maintaining healthy joints. 
• Digestive Health: The broth contains gelatin, which can soothe and protect the gut lining. It also provides electrolytes and amino acids that support digestion. 
• Immune Health: Bone broth is rich in amino acids like glycine, which can boost the immune system and help fight off infections. 

Why It Takes 36 Hours

The long simmer time allows the collagen to fully release from the bones, giving your broth that luxurious, silky mouthfeel and rich roasted flavor.

While some recipes suggest roasting the bones beforehand, I’ve found it often results in a bitter stock—this version skips that step while still delivering incredible depth of flavor.

Recipe Tips & FAQs

Need It Faster?
No worries—you can speed things up with an Instapot. The pressure cooking environment extracts collagen much faster, making it a great option if you’re short on time.

Can I use roasted bones instead of raw?
You can, but in this recipe I recommend raw bones. Roasting can sometimes make the broth bitter if it’s overdone.

What if I don’t have veggie scraps?
You can use fresh onion, carrot, and celery instead of scraps—same quantities apply. For next time, keep a ziploc bag in the freezer and whenever you cook add any onion, mushroom, carrot and celery scraps to the bag. Please be judicious though. This is not a trash bag. Most other vegetable scraps are not going to make your stock taste better.

What do I do with the ingredients once I strain the broth?
The solids left in the strainer should be composted if possible. It is worth it to grab the rehydrated shiitakes (if you use them). They’re a great addition to soups and sautéed veggies if you slice them thinly.

Why is there jelly on top after chilling?
That’s a good sign! It means your broth is rich in gelatin. Once heated, it will melt into liquid gold.

How do I avoid getting a cloudy broth?
Skim and strain your broth. You’ll want to skim the foam off the top of the broth about 4 hours after starting the recipe, and then make sure to strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer when you’re done cooking it. A cloudy broth won’t taste bad, but it is considered better quality when it’s clear.

Where can I find chicken feet and kombu?
These ingredients are readily available at most Asian grocery stores. If they aren’t available, don’t worry. These ingredients are optional.

Ingredient Substitutions

• No chicken feet? Don’t worry, it’s an optional ingredient.
  
• No turkey neck? Substitute with additional poultry bones.
  
• No dried shiitakes? Try dried porcini, fresh mushroom stems or you can skip them altogether—your broth will still be rich and flavorful.
  
• No kombu? It’s optional—just leave it out if you don’t have any on hand.
  
• No apple cider vinegar? Use white wine vinegar or lemon juice to help extract minerals from the bones.

Storage and Shelf Life

• Fridge: Store bone broth in the refrigerator for up to 7 days
  
• Freezer: Store for up to 3 months in the freezer.
  If freezing in glass jars, leave 1 inch of headspace to prevent cracking. Look for the freeze-fill line just below the threads on mason jars.

Bone Broth Serving Suggestions

• Replace your morning coffee routine with a cup of nourishing bone broth.
• Great for soups! Try it in my Chicken and Mushroom Wild Rice Soup recipe.

Final Thoughts

Lately I’ve been replacing my morning coffee with a cup of Chicken Bone Broth. It all started when I began working out with a personal trainer and didn’t feel like my body could handle a cup of coffee— not even decaf— after working out so hard. And with the weather turning cooler as well, it’s been really satisfying to sip on a cup of warm, cozy broth.

This probably sounds like a very foreign concept to most people, but drinking chicken broth or chicken stock can be very satisfying. I remember back in my early 30’s I discovered that nothing made me feel better after a night of overindulging on mezcal and Palomas than a mug of salty chicken stock. Now that I’m in my 40’s, I’ve ditched the tequila and mezcal but held onto the broth addiction. 10/10 I’d recommend this life choice!

Have you made this recipe? I’d love to hear what you think of it. Please leave a comment below and share your experience with the community!