Making healthy and delicious homemade chicken bone broth is so simple. You can use the Instant Pot bone broth method or follow this tutorial to make bone broth the traditional way with a bonus super immune-boosting ingredient!
It’s important to note that I am not a certified medical practitioner. This post is not intended to diagnose or treat, but is for informational purposes only. Please contact your healthcare professional before introducing new herbal and natural remedies into your wellness routine.
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Quick Look at This Recipe
- ✅ Recipe Name: Homemade Chicken Bone Broth
- ✅ Ready In: Up to 24 hours
- ✅ Yield: One Gallon
- ✅ Calories: 26
- ✅ Tools: Stock Pot
- ✅ Freezer Friendly: Yes – seal in an airtight container. Freeze up to six months.
- ✅ Why You'll Love It: Quick, frugal recipe that uses up scraps you would otherwise throw away. Plus, a secret ingredient that further boosts the health benefits of nourishing bone broth.
- ✅ Tip: Save the scraps from your veggies in a freezer bag throughout the month. Add to the bag each time you cut the ends off or peel a carrot, chop the ends off celery, or skin and cut an onion or garlic (the skins turn your broth a nice dark golden color).
What Makes This Recipe Unique?
With a family as large as ours, we’re often cooking up roasted chicken recipes. Our favorites include the best whole roasted chicken recipe and buttery roasted garlic chicken. Since we raise and harvest our own chickens each year, this is a common source of protein for our family.
Regardless of whether you eat chicken multiple times a week or just once a month, here’s why you’ll love this homemade chicken bone broth recipe:
- Secret Immune Boosting Ingredient - Bone broth is already rich in amino acids that help boost the immune system, but this recipe aids the immune system two-fold with the addition of astragalus root. If you take astragalus preventatively, it can help ward off a cold or flu from ever starting in the first place. For more ideas on boosting the immune system, you might also want to check out my homemade probiotics.
- Resourceful - If you are raising chickens for meat (or purchasing pasture-raised chickens), then you want to make the most of your investment and use every part of the bird. Making chicken bone broth is a fantastic way to make a whole chicken stretch into multiple meals.
- Inexpensive - Since we’re using the bones leftover from our chicken dinner, plus veggie scraps from the ends of our celery, carrots, onions, and garlic, our chicken bone broth is nearly free!
- Convenient - This recipe can be easily preserved by freezing, canning bone broth or making homemade chicken bouillon to have ready whenever needed!
⭐ Featured Reader Review
@BeccaS1 says, "I’m making my very 1st chicken bone broth right now! Thanks for teaching us how!"
Key Ingredients
A full ingredients list, including measurements, can be found in the recipe card below.
- Chicken Carcasses - We recommend choosing quality pasture-raised chicken. Check our guide on decoding meat labels to understand standard labeling terms and shop confidently.
- Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) - Or use homemade apple scrap vinegar. Vinegar is an acidic medium that will draw out all the minerals, collagen, and gelatin from the bones. If you have a hard time getting your broth to gel, don’t skip this step!
- Veggie Scraps – Save the scraps from your veggies in a freezer bag throughout the month. Add to the bag each time you cut the ends off or peel a carrot, chop the ends off celery, or skin and cut an onion or garlic (the skins turn your broth a nice dark golden color).
Recipe Variations
- Vegetables - If you don’t have scraps to use, grab one carrot, one celery stalk, an onion, and a few cloves of garlic (about 4 cups of chopped veggies).
- Astragalus Root – This is an optional ingredient, but we love it for its super immune-boosting properties. You can buy dried astragalus root for this recipe.
Recipe Instructions
Step 1: Add chicken bones, vegetables (or vegetable scraps), garlic, astragalus root, water, and apple cider vinegar into your stockpot. Let the ingredients sit in the pot for about 15 minutes to allow the cider vinegar to start working.
Step 2: Place the pot on the stove over medium-high heat and bring it up to a boil. After about 15 minutes, you’ll start seeing a bit of scum rising to the surface. This is normal and is just the impurities from the vegetables or the chicken. Skim off as needed.
Step 3: Once the broth has come to a boil, reduce the heat to low, cover and allow it to simmer for up to 24 hours. The longer you can let it simmer, the more immune-boosting properties your broth will have.
Step 4: Turn off the heat and carefully strain the broth. If you want a really clear broth, you can strain it through cheesecloth, but this isn’t necessary.
Storage Instructions
Broth will store well in an airtight container for 3-5 days in the refrigerator.
If you need your broth to last longer, you can also freeze it in freezer bags or glass canning jars for up to six months (be sure to leave at least two inches of headspace).
For shelf-stable storage, learn how to can bone broth or make homemade chicken bouillon.
Ways to Use Chicken Bone Broth
There are so many clever ways to incorporate chicken bone broth into your diet.
- Use it as the liquid for steaming rice or cooking homemade egg noodles.
- Cook potatoes in broth, then reserve the cooking liquid to add back in for mashed potatoes and use the rest for gravy!
- Learn how to make cream of chicken soup using bone broth. Or, use this dry soup mix recipe to replace cream of anything soup!
- Ditch the box, and try this Instant Pot macaroni and cheese made with bone broth.
- Use bone broth to deepen the flavor of your favorite beef or chicken chili recipe.
- Need a flavorful base for an easy soup recipe? Bone broth is the ticket for Greek chicken and rice soup, Instant Pot tomato soup, rich and delicious Instant Pot Zuppa Toscana, and more!
- Use it to make a quick and easy pan sauce for roasted meats, vegetables, rice, and potatoes.
- Sip on broth throughout the day to add protein to your diet. Don’t enjoy the umami flavor of sipping bone broth? Make hot cocoa with it!
FAQs
Grandma sure knew what she was doing when she fed us chicken soup when we got sick. When you allow broth to simmer for a long period of time, it will offer health benefits from collagen, proline, glycine and glutamine released from the bones. It will also contain minerals that easily absorb into our bodies, including calcium, magnesium, phosphorus, silicon, and sulphur. Research also shows that bone broth can help with allergies, asthma, and arthritis. Because of the anti-inflammatory properties of bone broth, it’s very useful in building up a strong immune system and helps ward off the cold and flu.
Chicken bone broth is a broth made from the bones and small pieces of meat from a chicken. It’s simmered in a large pot with onions, carrots, and celery (otherwise known as mirepoix), usually seasoned with a bit of salt and garlic, and typically has an acidic medium added in before cooking to help draw out all the minerals.
Chicken broth is typically simmered for a couple of hours creating a chicken flavored broth to enhance the flavors of soups and sauces. Bone broth, however, is simmered for about 24 hours which allows the gelatin to be fully extracted for a richer flavor and greater nutrient profile with enhanced health benefits.
Did you try this homemade chicken bone broth recipe? If so, please leave a star ⭐ rating and your comments in the recipe card below. Then snap a photo and tag us on social media @homesteadingfamily so we can see!
Super Immune-Boosting Chicken Bone Broth
Equipment
- Large Stockpot with lid and strainer
Ingredients
- 2 Whole Roasted Chicken Carcasses with a bit of meat still remaining
- 4 Cups Vegetable Scraps celery, carrots, onions, and garlic
- 20 Pieces Astragalus Root dried
- ¼ Cup Apple Cider Vinegar or apple scrap vinegar
- 2 Gallons Water
Instructions
- Add chicken bones, vegetables (or vegetable scraps), garlic, astragalus root, water, and apple cider vinegar into your stockpot.
- Let ingredients sit in the pot for about 15 minutes to allow the cider vinegar to start working.
- Place the pot on the stove and bring it up to a boil. After about 15 minutes you'll start seeing a bit of scum rising to the surface, this is normal and is just the impurities from the vegetables or the chicken. Skim off as needed.
- Once the broth has come to a boil, reduce heat, cover and allow it to simmer for up to 24 hours. The longer you can let it simmer, the more immune-boosting properties your broth will have.
- Turn off the heat and carefully strain the broth. If you want to get a really clear broth, you can strain it through a cheesecloth, but this isn't necessary.
- It's now ready to use to make soups, stews, chili, sauces and so much more!
Notes
- Use it as the liquid for steaming rice or cooking homemade egg noodles.
- Cook potatoes in broth, then reserve the cooking liquid to add back in for mashed potatoes and use the rest for gravy!
- Use your broth in this homemade cream of chicken soup recipe. This recipe can also be modified to replace other canned condensed varieties of soup!
- Ditch the box, and try this Instant Pot macaroni and cheese made with bone broth.
- Use bone broth to deepen the flavor of your favorite beef or chicken chili recipe.
- Need a flavorful base for an easy soup recipe? Bone broth is the ticket!
- Use it to make a quick and easy pan sauce for roasted meats, vegetables, rice, and potatoes.
- Sip on broth throughout the day to add protein to your diet. Don’t enjoy the umami flavor of sipping bone broth? Make hot cocoa with it!
