My recipe for Affordable Homemade Chicken Bone Broth gives a ton of yield: 80+ cups! Are you ready for that much bone broth?
Incase you didn’t know, bone broth is expensive. I’ve figured out how to make it affordable, delicious and easy.
You can spend around $6.99 for 2 cups of Kettle and Fire Chicken Bone Broth or Epic’s Homestyle Savory Chicken Broth. That’s $3.50 a cup! Even making homemade bone broth, though less expensive, can still be costly.
* Before you go any further, make sure you check out my “Top 5 Hacks to Affordable Bone Broth” to get the most out of your bone broth!
I spend, on average, $53 to make 80+ cups of chicken bone broth. That’s .64 cents a cup!
That is about 80% less than Kettle & Fire and Epic. And if that wasn’t enough to get you excited, my recipe also generates perfectly cooked meat.
When you look at the cost of making my Affordable Chicken Bone Broth and then consider you’re also getting around 5 1/4 lbs of meat off the ingredients, it’s like winning the lottery!
Having the proper tools makes everything so much easier.
For years, I used a large spoon to skim off the scum. It took forever and I lost valuable broth in the process. It finally dawned on me that there was probably a tool for this sort of thing. The fine-mesh skimmer is now one of my favorite kitchen utensils EVER. I had plenty of hand held fine mesh strainers, but this was entirely different. Do yourself a favor and get a skimmer for your kitchen.
I make my bone broth on the stove… screw the InstaPot!
The Cuisinart 20-Quart Stockpot is the best. I also use the Belgique 16-Quart Stockpot to hold the first batch while the second batch is cooking. I’ll spend a total of 24 hours making two batches. I’ve had countless people suggest I get a pressure cooker, specifically the 8 Quart InstaPot (Instant Pot). InstaPots may be the latest cool gadget but they just don’t make enough broth to make it worth my while. I eat bone broth almost every day in one form or another and I don’t want to make bone broth every week!
Worried about histamine reaction or intolerance?
Got leaky gut or colitis? Are you on a SCD or GAPS diet? If you answered yes, you need to make a meat broth that isn’t cooked longer than 6 hours. You should consider making one of Dr. Kellyann’s bone broth recipes. Her broths are meat based and are cooked for a minimum amount of time so it’s considered low histamine. My favorite resource for anything gut related is Breaking the Vicious Cycle by Elaine Gottschall.
Helpful Hints:
- Remember to be flexible with your ingredients, buy what’s on sale and don’t be afraid to combine chicken and turkey; mixed poultry bone broth is divine!
- Your budget should be $1.99/lb to $2.99/lb for your chicken/turkey parts. If you are collecting chicken/turkey bones in the freezer, throw them in and you can cut down on the raw meat you’ll need. I use a 1:1 ratio. One pound bones for 1 pound meat/bones.
- If your broth doesn’t gel (gelatinous collagen makes it gel) it’s OK. It’s still beneficial and magical. You can simply add powdered gelatin (I like Great Lakes Gelatin) to make it gel or powdered collagen (I like Great Lakes Collagen) to your broth after the fact.
- When using a whole turkey, roast it as normal, take off the meat and then use its carcass for broth. When using a whole chicken, put it in raw.
- Freezer space is key to this recipe. I invested in a Chest Freezer. It’s been invaluable in helping me not cook all the time and it allows to me buy in bulk when things are on sale. I love my chest freezer.
- This recipe makes UNSALTED Bone Broth. You’ll need to add 1/2 tsp of celtic sea salt for every 3 cups of broth to generate a tasty SALTED broth.
*WARNING* Wear an apron… Seriously!
On a side note, speaking of helpful hints, wear an apron when you’re making bone broth. I burned my stomach a few years ago.
I was simply stirring the broth and moving the bones around when I splashed myself. When I told my mom, she asked me why was I cooking naked. (I’ve raised my mom to always “go there” as her default when she’s dealing with me.)
For the record, I was wearing a t-shirt. She sent me a giveaway logo apron from Sotheby’s because she works there but that wasn’t much of an upgrade from the t-shirt. I might as well have been naked in that thing. I needed a real “Proper Bad Ass Apron”
Enter, my hero.
He got tired of seeing me burn myself (yes, I did burn my stomach a second time) and told me to order not one but TWO custom aprons of my choice from Hedley & Bennett for my xmas present this year.
I was so excited, I quickly pushed buttons and ordered my aprons before he could change his mind. The problem happened because, in my excitement and haste, I neglected to check the spelling of my embroidery request.
Instead of my apron saying, “anosmic chef”, it said “ansomic chef”. Massive FAIL.
To make things worse, I didn’t even notice it. My friend pointed it out. Once I saw what I had done, I quickly and not very expertly, unpicked and “re-embroidered” the misplaced “s” and “o”.
I’ve decided I like it better this way. That’s what I’m telling myself anyway.
Bone broth is one of the best things you can eat and one of the most inexpensive dishes to make, if you do it right. I hope you enjoy my recipe and hints. I’m looking forward to hearing your feedback and answering your questions.
Affordable Homemade Chicken Bone Broth
Equipment:
2 large stockpots, 16qt or 20qt
hand held fine mesh skimmer
hand held fine mesh strainer
colander
tongs
8 cup pyrex measuring cup
freezer safe containers. I use around 20, 3-cup glass mason jars.
Ingredients
- 15 chicken feet
- 15-20 lbs wings, backs, necks, legs or whole bird *chicken or turkey
- 8 whole carrots (snapped in half)
- 8 stalks celery (snapped in half)
- 2 whole onions (quartered)
- 2 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar
- 1/3 cup whole peppercorns
Instructions
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Place all meat, bones and feet into stock pot. Add apple cider vinegar. Cover with water. Fill to the top, covering everything. Make sure to leave enough room for the vegetables
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Bring to a boil, then turn heat down to medium low. You want a simmer, not a boil
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Start removing the scum with your fine mesh skimmer. You'll need to do this off and on for 30-40 minutes or until the scum bubbles have stopped foaming to the top
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Add carrots, celery, onions and peppercorns
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After 1 hour, take out all legs, thighs, and/or whole bird. Let cool and remove the meat. Place all bones back into the stock pot. Season and freeze all meat for later use
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Reduce the heat to low. You want a slow simmer. Leave uncovered and cook for 11 more hours
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You may need to add in more water if the level drops below the bones. You want to see a reduction of the water level but adding too much water back into the pot will reduce the broth's ability to gel
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When finished, strain the broth through a colander into a separate stock pot. Set aside and let cool. Once cool, put the lid on and refrigerate
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Put all ingredients back into the original stock pot. Fill with water until ingredients are covered by 1". Add 2 cups of apple cider vinegar
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Bring to a boil. Reduce to a slow simmer on low heat. Leave uncovered and cook for 12 hours. Again, you may need to add water making sure the ingredients stay covered
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Remove and discard ingredients using tongs. Combine both batches. Use the 8 cup pyrex measuring cup to pour the broth through the hand held fine mesh strainer as it goes into the freezer safe containers
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Start enjoying benefits of your delicious and affordable chicken bone broth.
Recipe Notes
*This recipe makes UNSALTED Bone Broth. You'll need to add 1/2 tsp of celtic sea salt for every 3 cups of broth to generate a tasty SALTED broth.
I have a HUGE question….after I put the broth in the jars and store in fridge- on the top I see big layer of white grease. What I have to do with it???🤔. Please help
The easiest thing to do is, once it solidifies, simply take a spoon and scoop it out. Easy peasy! Do leave some in for flavor. You’re just trying to avoid a huge mouthful of fat 😬. You can keep the fat in an airtight container in the fridge to flavor other dishes or to cook with. Or you can toss it. Whatever you’re in the mood for.
I’ve been lucky have not burned myself, yet.
I am very jealous!
First, I’m assuming this is NOT organic and that’s why you can make it cheaper. Also, try proofreading your own article too.
Hi Karol! Yes, it IS organic!!! Shopping sales and at Trader Joe’s can be a game changer. (TJ’s is always $1.99/lb for ORGANIC chicken legs!) You might need a chest freezer for when the sales hit but you can do it! I currently have 7 ORGANIC 20+ lb Mary’s Turkeys in my chest freezer. They only cost me $25 each from Natural Grocers. That’s how you do it!
Your bone broth only costs you 64 cents per cup if you throw away the meat you take off the bones–which I’m sure you don’t. The cost of the meat shouldn’t be figured into the cost of your broth, since the meat will be used for other recipes. Thanks for the post.
Hi labwriter! Thanks for taking the time to write to me. I’m slightly confused by what you’re saying so forgive me if I’m not hitting your concern on the head.
In my recipe, I instruct to take off all the meat after an hour cooking in the pot. All the bones go back in and continue cooking for the double batch of broth.
The cost of the broth yields not only broth but cooked meat. Because of that, it’s a highly affordable way to make bone broth. If you want to calculate the true value, the cost of the broth would be even less because there’s over 5 lbs of cooked meat it creates.
I hope I answered your concern. You can also try reading my related article for further clarification: https://ezjolife.com/top-5-hacks-affordable-bone-broth/
Enjoy! Dia
I don’t have a freezer right now. I have heard that you can freeze the bones and use again. Do you know if that is true?
I don’t see why not! I’ve always frozen the bones before I use them (as I collect them) but I’ve never frozen the bones after one batch. Seems like a very good idea. Please let me know how yours comes out!!