You have probably heard about the many health benefits of bone broth, especially for your keto diet. But do you know how to make bone broth yourself?
The good news is, making bone broth is super easy. It does not require many ingredients either. Aside from the bones, you only need to add a few veggies and herbs.
You will find many variations of bone broth recipes online because it is not exact. But if you want an easy guide on how to make bone broth for keto, check out this recipe from Keto Culinary below.
Although it calls for roasting the bones first some people don’t even bother with that but it generally gives the broth a better flavor if you do. You want to make sure you don’t burn the bones as this will give the broth a bitter flavor.
It’s best to use organic grass-fed beef bones, organic lamb bones or organic chicken bones if you can. You can even make it from bison, venison or fish bones. Bones from the healthiest animals will give the most health benefits.
Is there lead in bone broth from animal bones?
Some people worry about lead that may be drawn out of the bones by the long simmering. Yes lead! It still persists in the environment and it’s know that once lead gets into the bodies of animals it is stored in the bones.
The long slow simmering of bones can draw toxic metals out of the bones which ends up in your broth. The view of some experts like Dr. Sarah Ballantyne and Chris Kresser is that the nutrients in the bone broth and a healthy diet can protect against lead toxicity.
Calcium, for example, can prevent the absorption of lead. There is some evidence that the amino acid glycine which is found in reasonably high levels in bone broth can help with the elimination of lead from the body.
In any case they point out that the lead levels found in a published experiment done with home made bone broth made from organic chicken bones were below the EPA’s threshold of concern.
In contrast to this the Weston A. Price foundation concluded that the organic chicken used in the experiment must have come from a very polluted environment and another experiment done by a local farm using organic chicken and beef bones showed no lead in the broth.
This shows that you should only buy your bones from a reputable source.
How to Make Bone Broth
Ingredients
• 6 – 7 pounds of grass-fed organic beef bones. (joints and other cuts of bones with lots of connective tissues)
• 1 leek
• 1 tbsp. peppercorns
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 carrots
• 2 garlic heads
• 2 onions
• 3 tbsp. apple cider vinegar
Directions
1. Pre-heat the oven to 350ºF. (175ºC approx). Place the bones in a roasting pan and the vegetables in a separate pan. Roast the animal bones for up to 20 minutes and then remove from oven. Continue to roast the carrots, onions, and garlic for up to 45 min.
2. In a large pot, combine all ingredients together. Add filtered water and cover. Simmer very gently on low heat for 12 – 48 hours.
3. Cool the pot and then strain the broth. Place in the refrigerator until the broth sets to a jelly consistency. Remove the top layers of the fat. Use some of the broth for making soups or sauces or simply just sip it.
Check out this video demo of how to make bone broth:
