Crockpot Chicken Broth

This is one of my favorite recipes to make! I love broth. Its great for recipes and also great just to drink as a healing tonic. (See my article: Wondrous Bone Broth) Making your own broth is a nice way to save money and have a healthier option than store bought. Its quick and simple. There’s something so comforting to me about sipping a hot mug of chicken broth. Here’s my recipe!

Ingredients:

• Leftover chicken bones or a chicken carcass from one small to medium chicken
• 1 onion, peeled and roughly chopped
• 1 carrot roughly chopped, no need to peel
• 1 bay leaf
• 1 sprig of fresh parsley, or 1 TBSP dried
• 1 sprig of fresh thyme, or 1 TBSP dried
• 1 rib of celery, roughly chopped
• sea salt to taste, not much more than a pinch or two
• pepper to taste, a pinch or two
• water

NOTE: If you do not have all of these ingredients, make it anyway! It will still turn out. I recommend using organic ingredients whenever possible. As for the chicken, I HIGHLY recommend using a chicken from a free range or organically fed chicken. You don’t want all of the added antibiotics and hormones from a conventionally raised chicken!

Directions

Remove all of the edible meat from the chicken carcass and place the bones and skin in your crockpot. Add the rest of the ingredients on top of the chicken and fill the crockpot almost to the top with water. Leave about half an inch of space to the top of the rim of the crockpot. Turn your crockpot on low and cook for a minimum of 8 to 10 hours.

This is a great recipe to do as an “overnight” process. I often will leave mine in the crockpot for up to a couple days just to cook all of the “goodness” from the bones.

If you are making this broth for a healing tonic, add 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to your broth recipe (before your begin to cook it). The vinegar will pull all of the nutrients from the bones!

When you decide that your broth is done, turn off the crockpot. Then strain the broth through some sort of sieve to separate the bones and vegetables from the broth. I use either a wire colander with a small screen or use cheesecloth to strain it through.

It can be stored in the refrigerator for up to three days. If you don’t think you will use it all before then, freeze it in whatever size containers you want. I often freeze mine in quart (4 cup) size containers since most of the recipes that I use it in call for that. Also, it can be frozen in ice cube trays. That size is great for making sauces or adding extra flavor to rice or veggies!

Enjoy the process! I think most people would throw away chicken bones. Its a great way to fully make use of what you already may have. It makes to house smell great and its a great way to be more self sufficient!

BE WELL!!!