5 Easy Steps To Make Bone Broth For Total Beginners

Can I Really Make Bone Broth If I Can’t Cook Well?

Yes, you can make bone broth even if you “can’t cook”. I created this website for my many “kitchen challenged” friends, so this post may come as a shock. I’m here to unravel the mysteries of home made bone broth.

First question you may be asking yourself is “What the heck is bone broth anyway?”. I can hear another friend thinking “ew, gross, bone broth?”

Bone broth is freakin’ delicious. It’s loaded with nutrients and goodness and happens to be perfect for many keto, lowcarb recipes. It’s a perfect foundation for low carb soups, chili, home made pho, ketogenic casseroles…basically, bone broth makes everything taste better and has many health benefits. Store bought broth just tastes like salty water in comparison.

What The Heck Is It?

Bone broth is broth made from roasted bones and its easy to make. So easy in fact, I’m including it in my 5 minute recipe list. Making bone broth takes very little active time on your part. The magic happens as it simmers for hours while you go off an get your laundry done.

How Do I Make My Own Bone Broth?

To make bone broth, you first need (you guessed it!) bones. Most standard grocery stores sell beef soup bones. You can also buy pork bones for making broth. Chicken bones aren’t for sale, but you can use leftover chicken bones to make broth. Since this website is for my friends who don’t spend time cooking, I’m guessing buying beef or pork bones will be the easier option. 🙂

The bones in the store are usually at the end of the beef section, but if you can’t find them, just ask the butcher. They are usually labeled as “soup bones” or “marrow bones”. They are less expensive than most cuts of beef. About two pounds should be plenty for your first attempt.

What you need:

About 2 pounds of beef soup/marrow bones.
Olive or Avocado oil
One large yellow onion
Bay leaves (optional for those of you who have nothing more than salt and pepper in your cupboards)
Crock pot
Cookie sheet
Salt, Pepper

To start, preheat your oven (that’s the large boxy thing in the middle of your stove) to 375 degrees.

Place the bones in a large bowl and drizzle them with keto-friendly oil. I use avocado oil. Olive oil works too. You want to lightly coat the bones with oil on all sides. Toss them around a bit in the bowl with a spoon or (gasp!) your hands.
Place the bones on the cookie sheet. I line mine with foil to make clean up easier. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper on them and place them in the oven. Roast them for 20 minutes. This is just to bring out the color not “cook” them. NOTE: You can skip the roasting part of this recipe however roasting really brings out the flavor in your broth. If you want to give the broth a fair trial, roasting is encouraged.
Cut up your onion. Nothing fancy needed here, just enough so the onion is in chunks. Place the onion in your crock-pot with the bay leaves. TIP: I save the ends of my onions from all the meals I make in a bag in the freezer and use these for my broth. If you aren’t cooking much, this may not be an option for you but I rarely make a meal without an onion so I end up with a full bag. You can save the “paper” or outside part of the onion too. That’s where most of the flavor is.
Place the roasted bones in the crock-pot and fill the crock with enough water to cover the bones. The water is going to be your broth, so I usually fill it as full as the crock-pot can handle.
Turn the crock-pot to the lowest/longest setting. On mine it’s “low” for 10 hours. Let the crock-pot simmer for at least 24 hours. I’ve simmered mine for 48 hours before. Longer means more flavor. Since your crock-pot will turn off after the time is up, you’ll just need to turn in back on. NOTE: If you don’t have a crock-pot you can do this on the stove using a large, heavy pot and the lowest setting on your burner to simmer the broth. It won’t burn the house down, I promise.

After 24-48 hours you’ll remove the bones and onion. You can use a strainer for this. Just pour the contents of the crock through the strainer into a large bowl.

It’s not going to look like the thin, watery stuff you get at the store. The broth will have lots of liquid fat in it. If you are eating keto (that’s why you are here, right?) I encourage you to leave the fat. Making broth with minimal seasonings (just the salt/pepper/bay leaves/onion) means it’s ready for any recipe. You’ll flavor it for the meal you are making.

I store my broth in the freezer in glass jars. You can use recycled glass jars from the store for this. Don’t fill the jar to the tippy top. Leave about an inch of space to allow for expansion as it freezes. You can also store in plastic containers or zip lock bags. Just make sure they are thick or double bag it in case it gets punctured in the freezer. Lay your zip lock bag flat in the freezer. This will take up less space and be easier to thaw when you need it. (I don’t have the broth picture in this post yet because mine is still simmering as i write this post.)

You can do it! I have faith in you! If you have questions, leave them in the comments. I’m here to help!

Let me know how yours turns out!