Health Benefits of Bone Broth - with Soup Recipes
Bone broth is an extraordinary addition to your daily health routine. Bone broth supports improved immunity, healing the gut, healing sprains, strains and other muscle or joint injuries, it helps support weight loss, is imperative during cancer treatments or in cases of immunosuppression or autoimmunity. I could go on!
You can buy it at whole foods or a natural foods store, but HOMEMADE bone broth is best.
There is a recipe in my book, Food That Grows, lots of recipes on online, and here is my super-simplified, super easy recipe.
I roast a chicken for dinner then save all the bones to make stock. I just toss the bones into a zip lock bag in the freezer, sometimes from multiple chickens, until I am ready to make the stock.
Here is the method I follow:
1. Place bones of one chicken per gallon of stock desired in a large stock pot or a crockpot. Add 1 gallon of water (4 quarts).
2. Add 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar per gallon of water.
3. Add more water if needed to cover the bones. If on the stove bring to a boil, then turn down to simmer for 12 hours.
4. If using a crockpot turn onto low heat for 12 hours. You can also speed this all up using a pressure cooker.
5. BEFORE GOING TO BED FOR THE NIGHT - Check water level. Add more water to return to original volume.
6. After 12 hours add additional 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar per gallon of water and 1/2 tsp. of salt.
7. Simmer (or keep on low) for another 12 hours. Checking water level again if overnight. NOTE: The longer you cook the stock, the richer and more flavorful it will be and the more minerals you extract (chicken bones will completely dissolve in about 72 hours of cooking with additional vinegar).
8. When 24+ hours have passed (I always cook mine for 3 days) strain our bones through kitchen sieve and store in mason jars in the freezer. Be sure to leave ¾-inch space at the top to avoid jars cracking from expansion when they freeze.
9. Before serving heat to desired temperature and salt to taste.
Optional: add 1 TBS of pasture, grass fed butter to enhance the broth and round out your healthy fats.
You can also make stock form beef knuckle bones, lamb, turkey, fish etc.… ask Dr. Marshall for tips before trying these as they each have their own nuances.
More resources on bone broth....
“Science now validates what our grandmothers knew. Rich homemade chicken broths help cure colds. Stock contains minerals in a form the body can absorb easily—not just calcium but also magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, Sulphur, and trace minerals. It contains the broken-down material from cartilage and tendons--stuff like chondroitin sulphates and glucosamine, now sold as expensive supplements for arthritis and joint pain.
Gelatin was found to be useful in the treatment of a long list of diseases including peptic ulcers, tuberculosis, diabetes, muscle diseases, infectious diseases, jaundice, and cancer. Babies had fewer digestive problems when gelatin was added to their milk. The American researcher Francis Pottenger pointed out that as gelatin is a hydrophilic colloid, which means that it attracts and holds liquids, it facilitates digestion by attracting digestive juices to food in the gut.” - Taken from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon
How to Use Bone Broth in Cooking
I make all my soups and gravies from it. Mostly, I just drink it as a sipping broth with salt.
You can add herbs and veggies to it to make a simple soup as well – like carrots, onion, celery and parsley.
If you are going to make a GF grain from scratch, like quinoa or brown rice, it is great to replace the water with broth to cook these grains in.
Here are some recipes to use your homemade bone broth in!
Carrot Ginger Soup
Ingredients:
2 tablespoons butter
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 cup diced onions
1/2 cup diced celery
1/4 cup minced ginger
1 tablespoon minced garlic
1-pound carrots, roughly chopped
1 large yam or sweet potato, cut into 1” cubes
2 qts chicken bone broth
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
1 bay leaf
Chopped chives, for garnish
Optional for more fat/creamy texture 1 can full fat coconut milk
Set a medium to large stock pot over medium-high heat. Add the butter and olive oil to the pot. Once the butter is melted, place the onions and celery in the pot. Sweat the vegetables until the onions are translucent, about 3 to 4 minutes. Add the ginger and garlic to the pot and cook for 30 seconds. Place all of the carrots and yams/sweet potatoes in the pot and cook, stirring occasionally, until the carrots are lightly caramelized and start to soften, about 7 to 8 minutes. Add the stock, salt, pepper, and bay leaf to the pot and bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cook the soup until the carrots are tender, about 20 to 25 minutes.
Remove the bay leaf from the pot and using an immersion blender puree the soup directly in the pot or in batches in a Blendtec or Vitamix blender. Mix in coconut milk if you are choosing this option.
GF Chicken Noodle Soup
Occasionally I make gluten free rice noodles and add left over chicken meat and noodles to the hot soup for a warm GF chicken noodle soup. NOTE: do not store noodles in broth in the fridge – rice noodles will soak up ALL the liquid and become mush. Store the soup and noodles separately and combine only to reheat and serve immediately.
Ingredients:
1 med onion, diced
2 Tbsp. Butter
4 large carrots
4 celery stocks
2 quarts bone broth
½ tsp dried thyme, or 1 tsp fresh
5 cloves garlic, minced
8 oz rice noodles, best with spirals or linguini
½ lb. cooked chicken breast diced
½ cup parsley chopped
salt & fresh ground black pepper to taste
Melt butter over medium heat in a large stock/ soup pot. Add onions and sauté until soft and brown. Add carrots and celery and cook 2 additional minutes. Add bone broth, thyme and garlic and bring to a boil. Turn down heat and simmer for 20 minutes. Add chicken and cook additional 10 minutes. Add parsley and salt and pepper at end of cooking.
While soup is cooking boil water for rice pasta. Cook pasta as directed on the package. ( Do not cook pasta directly in the soup nor store soup with pasta in it. Rice pasta will turn to mush when stored in liquids.)
Drain pasta and toss with 2 Tbsp. olive oil.
To serve add 1 serving of pasta to a bowl and ladle soup over it.
African Peanut Soup
Ingredients:
1 recipe homemade salsa
2 tbsp. olive oil
8 cups homemade stock
½ tsp cayenne pepper
½ tsp salt
½ tsp fresh ground black pepper
½ cup uncooked short grain brown rice
14 oz can white beans
2/3 cup smooth peanut butter
½ cup cilantro, for garnish
Salsa Ingredients
2 med onion, diced
2 red or green bell pepper, diced
½ head garlic, minced
4 large heirloom tomatoes, diced
1 cup cilantro, minced
In large stock pot, sauté salsa in oil until onions begin to brown. Add stock and all spices and bring to a boil. Simmer 30 minutes. Add rice and beans and simmer 15 minutes more, until rice is cooked. Turn off heat and stir in peanut butter. Garnish with cilantro.
Try this: serve over half a ripe avocado in center of bowl for complete meal.
Health tip: Homemade stock or “bone broth” is one of the most delicious immune supporting ingredients in your kitchen. Boil bones of chicken, pheasant, beef, or wild game for 24-72 hours with splash of vinegar to extract health supporting minerals and immune boosting compounds. Bone broth is a great hoe remedy for the common cold, osteoporosis, recovery from strenuous exercise, menstrual cramps, cancer, and to add health in any case of chronic disease.