Sunday Soup: Homemade bone broth you can make in your oven
A hands-off approach for a broth you can sip on, or use as the base for future soups
In one of our very first episodes, “Don’t send flowers, send soup!” Kari and Sonya made a shocking discovery: each makes broth in a very different way. Kari revealed that she “bakes” her bone broth in the oven, while Sonya typically simmers hers for hours on the stove. As is often the case, it was very clear that there’s more than one method for achieving excellent homemade broth.
Let’s begin with the basics: what’s bone broth? It’s broth infused with the flavor of slowly cooked bones (and possibly vegetables); the process yields a flavorful liquid that can be sipped like tea or used as the base for soups, stews, and other recipes. Bone broth can be made from leftover bones from roasted or rotisserie chicken, or it can be made with fresh chicken or beef parts from your favorite butcher or grocery store. If you’re using fresh meat, for extra richness, roast the bones on a sheet pan at 450°F until they are toasty and browned. Transfer the roasted bones to your soup pot, then splash the hot pan with vinegar, scraping those golden bits off the bottom to add them to your stockpot. A bit of meat on your bones goes a long way in adding more flavor, and don’t toss the leftover chicken skin either. Choosing cheaper cuts like chicken backs, wings, or drumsticks deepens the flavor; and adding a handful of chicken feet to your pot creates a luscious texture thanks to all that extra collagen.
One important detail: don’t add salt to bone broth. We think of it like unsalted butter – it’s a component for future dishes where you’ll want to control the salt levels. If you’re planning on sipping your bone broth for a nutritious immune boost, then season your broth with high-quality sea salt or Himalayan salt as you’re making it.
Broth is personal; it’s an ever-changing practice that should work for you! Below, we’re sharing Kari’s bone-broth recipe. She makes it an easy with minimal ingredients, and by placing the whole pot in the oven at a low temperature overnight. While we’ve provided a recipe, honestly, we’ve found that no two pots are ever the same, but each one is inevitably a success. The more often you make broth, the more you’ll discover the flavors that you enjoy. Experiment with what intuitively feels interesting, and above all else: make your broth work for you.
RECIPE: OVEN-BAKED BONE BROTH
Ingredients:
Bones of 3-4 roast chickens or a mix of chicken parts (see headnote)
1-2 Tablespoons apple cider vinegar
Filtered water, as needed
Essential equipment:
Large Dutch oven or sturdy oven-safe pot that can be snuggly wrapped with tin foil
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 250°F.
Fill your pot with chicken bones, whether they’re straight from the freezer, just roasted, or fresh from the butcher.
Once you’ve added your bones to the pot, add enough water to cover the bones by at least 2 inches. For what it’s worth, we’re always trying to max out the bones we add to broth, so if there are a couple of exposed pieces, try to push them down… but also don’t stress it, the broth always turns out delicious.
Add apple cider vinegar; this will help the collagen in the bones break down and adds a boost of flavor.
Cover the pot with a lid and place in the oven for 6-10 hours. The longer it bakes the more concentrated the flavor. Baked broth can happen over the course of a day, or you can bake your broth overnight and wake up to the house smelling like a delicious pot of chicken soup.
Strain the solids from the liquid: this process is best done by situating a large strainer over a heatproof bowl in your kitchen sink. Use tongs to move chicken parts to the colander, then gently tip the pot of broth into the strainer. Let the broth drip for a while before moving the bowl safely out of the sink.
Your “liquid gold” is now ready to use. Store it in the fridge for up to 1 week, or in the freezer for up to 6 months.
If you try out this technique for bone broth, we’d love to hear about it!
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