I have memories from childhood of the scent of turkey broth simmering on our stove. Every Thanksgiving my mom would take the carcass from our Thanksgiving turkey and make broth with it. The whole house would fill with the scent of turkey broth– it made the house feel warm, comforting, and like you wanted to curl up under an afghan with a cup of it cradled in your hands. 

I love making homemade chicken broth, and my kids love eating it, but I never liked that I had to leave my stove on, simmering all day long. It always had to search for a chunk of time where I knew I’d be home all day, so I didn’t have to keep turning the stove on and off every time I left the house.  Then I discovered… You can cook chicken bone broth in your crockpot!

Another recent discovery? Ask your butcher if they have any chicken bones and they’ll often give you a huge bag of bones (with tons of meat left on it) for free! My world has been rocked by this discovery! No more waiting to have enough chicken bones piled up in our freezer! The same goes for beef bones for beef bone broth. Just call your butcher a day or two before you want to pick up the bones and they’ll usually collect a bag of them for you!

The Hubs recently asked the butcher for chicken bones for me and came home with this huge bag of scraps. It was enough to make bone broth 3 times!

 I make at least one batch of broth a week now. It’s simple and takes just a couple minutes of prep time… and your house smells delicious for hours!

So… How do you make homemade chicken broth in your crockpot you ask? Really, it’s simple! Eyeball everything and if there are flavors you like or don’t like add a bit more or take away!

How To Make Chicken Bone Broth In Your Crockpot:

Ingredients:

•  The carcasses of 1-2 chickens
• Splash of Apple Cider Vinegar 
• 2-3 carrots
•  2-3 stalks of celery
• 1 onion
• 2-4 cloves of garlic
• Water

You ready to see how easy this really is?

Step 1: Put your chicken in your crockpot. Drizzle a couple of tablespoons of apple cider vinegar on top. 

Note: some people like to roast their chicken bones first, others like me, just throw them in the crockpot raw. Both make delicious broth and add different dimensions to your broth. Add chicken pieces with extra cartilage– like chicken feet and backs  for more “bone broth”  benefits.

Step 2: Peel 1 onion. Cut it in half and throw it in your crockpot. (So easy right?)

Step 3: Wash a couple of carrots, cut into large chunks and add them to the crockpot. 

Step 4: Wash a couple stalks of celery, cut into large chunks and add them on into the party!

Step 5: Like garlic? Peel a few cloves, give them a pop with your knife to crush them a bit and release the flavors and… you guessed it! Add it to the crockpot!

Step 6: Cover all your ingredients with water! The more bones you have compared to water the stronger broth you will get. 

Step 7: Set your crockpot on high for 24 hours (my crockpot only goes to a maximum of 20 hours so I add a few more hours on after it’s been going for awhile). 

The smell of chicken broth is going to permeate your house… and your going to want some! Really you can start eating your broth after it’s been bubbling away for a few hours, but the longer you leave it to cook, the more the flavors will intensify!

After 24 hours your broth is going to look something like this… not very appetizing right? 

BUT strain it using a mesh strainer, cheese cloth or a coffee filter and you will get broth that looks more like this!

Look at the color of that broth! Doesn’t it look so delicious??? Trust me, it is. There is no comparison between store bought chicken broth in a carton and homemade chicken broth!

Store leftover broth in an airtight container in your fridge for a few days, freeze it or even can it! A sign of really good bone broth is when it turns jelly like when cooled, so if this happens to your broth you’ve done great! It’s caused by all of the cartilage that is in the broth. 

So… what can you do with chicken bone broth?

• Sip it in a mug
• Use it for chicken noodle soup
• Add it as a base for other soups and sauces
• Substitute it for water when cooking rice or quinoa
• Use it in risotto

You could follow this same recipe with beef bones or a combination of beef and chicken bones for beef bone broth or chicken and beef bone broth. 

Chicken soup isn’t just good for the soul! It’s also good for your health! Cultures across the world have been making bone broths for centuries. These broths are not only flavorful. They are also easy to digest, nutrient-dense and boost healing.

Bone broth is also known to:

• Heal leaky gut
• Improve the quality of your hair, skin and teeth
• Increase immunity
• Improve digestion
• Reduce allergies
• Reduce cellulite
• Reduce joint pain and inflammation
• Much more!

Creating homemade chicken bone broth in your crockpot is a fabulous, basic cooking skill to have in your arsenal of culinary tools.

Tell me… have you ever made homemade stocks and broths? 

Like this post? Make sure to check out the other kitchen basics in our Back-To-Basics series.