Crockpot Bone Broth

A glass jar of golden brown broth sitting in front of a slow cooker and vegetables on a marble bench top.

Crockpot bone broth is such an easy way to take roast chicken leftovers and turn them into a nourishing base for so many recipes.

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Course: Soup

Cuisine: New Zealand

Keyword: chicken bone broth, crockpot bone broth, slow cooker bone broth

Servings: servings

Calories: 50kcal

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Equipment

1 Slow cooker

Ingredients

1 Roasted Chicken Frame (bones + skin)
2 medium onions
2 medium carrots
2 stalks celery
1 handful thyme
1 litre water

Instructions

Place all the ingredients into your slow cooker
Cook on high for 12-24 hours
Strain the bone broth using a fine mesh strainer. For a clearer bone broth you can lay cheese cloth or muslin cloth insode the strainer.
Cool then store in glass jars in your refrigerator for up to five days.
Optional: Skim the fat. Once cooled you should see two distinct layers in your bone broth jars. At the top there will be a hard layer of fat, this can be removed if desired. Below will be the bone borth which should be golden in colour and have a jellied consistency.

Notes

Yield: 600-700 mls
Collagen extraction: Collagen/gelatin is what will give your bone broth a gel jelly-like consistency. Collagen extraction from bones requires heat and time, the lower the heat the longer the time. I find my slow cooker on high for 24 hours yields the best bone broth. At this setting, my slow cooker is at a continuous simmer which is perfect for collagen extraction.
Limit the liquid: You just want enough water to surround and just cover the carcass and vegetables. More than this and you just end up with more dilute bone broth.
During cooking you want the volume to reduce by approximately one-third so you will end up with approximately 600 millilitres of bone broth.
Salt: Don't salt your bone broth during cooking. Otherwise, you can end up with a salty broth that is high in sodium. I find it best to store the bone broth un-salted, then season it when you are using the broth to create a dish.
If you have used my crockpot roasted chicken recipe, leave the juices from roasting the chicken in your crockpot to get an even more flavorful broth.
To make bone broth you really only need bones, water, heat and time. You can of course flavor your broth by adding vegetables, aromats and herbs. You can also make bone broth with any bones. Beef bones, lamb bones, turkey bones and fish frames all work but will all have their own flavour profile.
Herbs: I usually use thyme in my broth, but parsley and rosemary also add a nice flavor.
Salt: You might notice there is no salt listed in the ingredients. I do not salt my bone broth and instead, season it when I use it.

Nutrition