Homemade Beef Bone Broth Recipe
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The best Homemade Beef Bone Broth Recipe that is SO easy to make. Learn how to make bone broth in your crockpot, instant pot or on the stove. Healthy, nutritious and delicious!
Once you give this Easy Beef Bone Broth a try, you’re never going back to store bought broth. Homemade bone broth is so simple to make and SO delicious.
While bone broth takes a while to make (it needs at least 10 hours) it’s really not difficult to make at all.
I’m all about simplicity when it comes to recipes, and while you can add veggies, herbs, and more to your bone broth – all you need are some bones and water!
What is Beef Bone Broth?
Bone broth is a rich, nutrient dense broth that comes from bones and water simmering low and slow for many hours.
Bone broth is the SAME thing as chicken stock or broth. Some broths or stocks are cooked longer than others
Why You’ll Love this Beef Bone Broth Recipe
- Easy to make: No unnecessary steps here. If you can turn on your crockpot and use a strainer – you’ll be able to make this!
- Delicious – This beef bone broth is so rich and flavorful. It’s amazing what good quality bones and water can do!
- Simple ingredients – All you need to make homemade bone broth are bones and water! You can add veggies and herbs for more flavor but it’s not necessary.
Beef Bone Broth Ingredients
To make beef bone broth, you really only need beef bones + water.
You can also add herbs and vegetables like carrots, celery, or onion, but it’s completely unnecessary.
Homemade Bone Broth Tools
crockpot, strainer, airtight containers (for storing)
You can find substitutions for all of these ingredients below in the green shaded substitutions box.
How to make Beef Bone Broth
Beef Bones require a little bit of prep to ensure you get perfect broth. Here’s how to make it:
- First, preheat your oven to 450. Roast the bones for about 20 minutes. This helps the bones release any impurities and adds flavor to the broth.
- Add roasted bones to your crockpot (see below for instant pot/stove top instructions), fill it up with water, and let it cook for 16-18 hours on low.
- Once the broth cooks for about 16-18 hours (10 hours at minimum!) you’ll want to strain the broth with a strainer to get the bones/any big pieces of veggies out.
- You can stop here and use the broth as is but I prefer to strain it again. Using a nut milk bag or a cheese cloth, I will strain the broth again to remove any random fragments or pieces that may have escaped.
- This is what the broth looks like after it has been strained twice.
- Beef broth often has a lot of fat that comes on top of it. We recommend chilling it for 2 hours until the fat hardens and skimming the solidified fat off the top. This step is optional but highly recommended.
- You can repeat this step 3-4 more times and reuse the beef bones.
It seems like a lot of steps, but it’s really not difficult to do at all!
How long should I cook beef bone broth?
You should cook bone broth for 10 hours at minimum. Bone broth is best when cooked for 16-18 hours.
Bone Broth Recipe Substitutions
Bones – You can use any bones.. chicken, beef, or turkey will all work. We also have a Turkey Broth, Homemade Chicken Broth, Instant Pot Bone Broth, and Crockpot Bone Broth recipe.
Veggies – Carrots, celery, onion, and garlic add flavor to the broth but are not necessary
Seasonings – You can add salt, pepper, or whatever other herbs you’d like to the broth. We love to throw thyme + rosemary into our broth!
Apple cider Vinegar – Some people add apple cider vinegar to their broth to help coax the nutrients out of the bones. This is not necessary, but if you’d like to add it – feel free!
What are the best bones for bone broth? I like to use organic grass fed bones. Try to find local butchers or check out sites like The Organic Butcher or Greensbury. Butcher Box also carries beef bones!
Making Tallow: You can follow this tutorial for How To Make Beef Tallow from your bone broth!
How to use this Beef Bone Broth Recipe
There are so many ways to incorporate bone broth into your routine. Here are some ideas:
- As the base of a our favorite Lemon Chicken Soup
- Pour it in a mug and drink it up! It’s packed with protein + veggies and so cozy.
- Add to sauces or stir fry’s for flavor
- Use in place of water or regular cooking stock
- Freeze it to have for a quick dinner or meal (or for when a cold comes on!)
How to store Beef Broth
Bone broth will last 6-7 days in your refrigerator. If frozen, it can last up to a year – but I’d recommend using it within 6 months for freshness!
You can freeze bone broth, and you probably will have to because this makes a lot! For all my freezing tips, check out my post on How To Freeze Soup.
I freeze my bone broth in these containers or ice cub trays. These silicone molds for soup are also a great way to freeze bone broth. You can also use plastic containers or glass jars.
Freezing in glass: I don’t like to freeze in glass because I find sometimes the glass can explode. I prefer these containers. To freeze in glass, fill the bottle leaving about 1-2 inches of room – do not fill to the top because the liquid will expand as it freezes. Put them in the fridge and allow them to completely cool.
Once they have been in the fridge for at least 5 hours and are cold, you can transfer to the freezer. I leave the lids off and allow the jars to freeze completely, then add the lids on.
To defrost, I simply take out and put in the fridge the night before, or run under warm water.
Ice cube trays: I also like to freeze bone broth in ice cube trays. This is perfect for when you’re making a dish and only need a little bit, but don’t want to defrost a whole jar!
How long does homemade bone both last?
Bone broth will last 6-7 days in your refrigerator. If frozen, it can last up to a year – but I’d recommend using it within 6 months for freshness!
Homemade Beef Bone Broth FAQs
Why Homemade Bone Broth is Much More Affordable
Making your own bone broth is so much more affordable. Here’s the math breakdown:
- $13.99 for 4-5 lbs of bones
- I reused the bones 4 times and it gave me a total of 12 16 oz containers of bone broth.
- 14/12 = $1.16 for 16 oz of organic grass fed bone broth
- Stores sell bone broth for $6.99-$10.99 so it’s SO much cheaper to make your own
Recipes that Use Beef Bone Broth:
Here are some of our favorite ways to use bone broth:
- Butternut Squash Soup
- Leftover Turkey Soup (make Turkey Broth and use it up!)
- Lemon Chicken Soup
- Slow Cooker Pot Roast
- Whole30 Italian Wedding Soup
- Slow Cooker Chicken Stew
Looking for other healthy slow cooker recipes? Check out these Healthy Crockpot Recipes!
Homemade Bone Broth
Ingredients
- 4 lbs beef bones
- 8 cups water approximately – fill your crockpot to the top
- 1 cup carrots optional
- 1 cup onion optional
Instructions
Crockpot Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450. Add the bones to a large baking dish. Roast the bones for about 20 minutes. This helps the bones release any impurities and adds flavor to the broth.
- Add all ingredients to a crockpot*, cover with filtered water and cook on low for 18-20 hours (12 at minimum). You may need to adjust the amount of water depending on the size of your crockpot. You can fill to the top of the crockpot.
- Once cooked, allow the broth to cool slightly, and run through a fine mesh strainer into a large pot or container. (This will just be easier to do if it is not scalding hot).
- Optional, but recommended: I often strain my bone broth through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth a second time to catch any miscellaneous small bones or fragments.
- Beef broth often has a lot of fat that comes on top of it. Once you have strained the broth, we recommend chilling it for 2-4 hours until the fat hardens and skimming the solidified fat off the top. This step is optional but highly recommended.
- You can repeat this process 3-4 more times and reuse the beef bones.
Instant Pot Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450. Add the bones to a large baking dish. Roast the bones for about 20 minutes. This helps the bones release any impurities and adds flavor to the broth.
- Add all ingredients to your instant pot. (You can use any size instant pot!) Cover with filtered water to one inch under the max fill line. Set your instant pot to sealing, High Pressure for 120 minutes. It will take 30 minutes to come to pressure.
- Allow the pressure to naturally release from the broth for 1 hour when it’s done cooking, then manually release the remaining pressure. You do not want to manually release the pressure any sooner as you will lose a lot of liquid
- Allow broth to cool slightly (about 1 hour), and run through a strainer into a large pot or container. (This will just be easier to do if it is not scalding hot).
- Optional, but recommended: I often strain my bone broth through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth a second time to catch any miscellaneous small bones or fragments.
- Beef broth often has a lot of fat that comes on top of it. Once you have strained the broth, we recommend chilling it for 2-4 hours until the fat hardens and skimming the solidified fat off the top. This step is optional but highly recommended.
- You can repeat this step 3-4 more times and reuse the beef bones.
Stovetop Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 450. Add the bones to a large baking dish. Roast the bones for about 20 minutes. This helps the bones release any impurities and adds flavor to the broth.
- Add all ingredients to a large soup pot. Cover the bones with filtered water, cover the pot and cook at a low simmer for at least 12 hours (16-18 is best). You may need to adjust the amount of water depending on the size of your pot. You can fill it to about 1 inch under the top of the pot.
- Once cooked – allow broth to cool slightly. Run through a strainer into a large pot or container. (This will just be easier to do if it is not scalding hot).
- Optional, but recommended: I often strain my bone broth through a nut milk bag or cheesecloth a second time to catch any miscellaneous small bones or fragments.
- At this step, the broth is ready to use. If you'd like to blend the veggies and add to the broth you can.
- Beef broth often has a lot of fat that comes on top of it. Once you have strained the broth, we recommend chilling it for 2-4 hours until the fat hardens and skimming the solidified fat off the top. This step is optional but highly recommended.
- You can repeat this step 3-4 more times and reuse the beef bones.
Where do you get beef bones that cheap? I can’t find at the store and online there $40 plus.
We get them from a local butcher! Ask around at your grocery store – they might have them at the meat counter!
Can you use bones from cooked beef or does it need to be from uncooked beef?
Yes, if you use bones from cooked beef just skip the roasting!
I made it with beef bones and the marrow syatted to ooze out and it has a Interesting smell. I’m so grossed out by it. Is it supposed to do that? It came out dark. And I added seasoning and acv to it with not much of a change in the pungent smell. What is that mean? Is it not good? Or is that how it’s supposed to smell when slow cooking for 18 hours? I’ve done this on the stove and simmered all day then added more water and that’s never happened. I’ve never had the marrow explode from the rib or the arm shank. Im afraid to serve this. Help please.
There’s nothing wrong with it! totally safe to eat. Make sure you strain it.
Any tips for making the broth darker? I followed instructions exactly but it’s not a very rich broth. Should I roast the bones longer or have more bones (I was only able to get my hands on 3)? Appreciate the easy to follow recipe!
There are a lot of variables that would impact the color of the broth, but just because yours doesn’t look ‘rich’ doesn’t make it any less nutritious. the water to bones ratio could impact the color, as well as the type of bones and quality of the bones. Next time you could try adding more bones to the water but I don’t know that it would impact it and I dont think that you did anything wrong!
In the process of making beef bone broth…after 18 hours, chilled the broth, skimmed fat layer off. I now have a crock pot full of gelatinous broth that I’m reheating to strain. Was I supposed to strain before letting the fat surface for removal?
The instructions and photos clearly say to strain the broth after cooking. Then if you’d like to cool and skim the fat you can. cook broth, strain it through a fine mesh strainer. Cool for 2-4 hours, then skim fat if you’d like.