Bone Broth Chicken Soup

Bone Broth Chicken Soup

During the winter months, I love to make soup! It’s a comfort food for me. It reminds me of my grandmother. She would always have homemade soup for us whenever we went there. She would use chicken backs and neck bones from the local butcher (they would give you the bones for free in those days). My grandmother would boil the bones for a very long time.

Bone broth has many healthy benefits.  The process of boiling bones for a very long time releases many compounds like collagen, glutamine, glycine and many immune boosting minerals. Bone Broth can treat leaky gut syndrome, overcome food intolerances, improve joint health, reduce cellulite, boost your immune system, and help with sleep. I recommend buying organic chicken bones because the chickens are pasture-fed and free from GMOs which brings out all the health benefits of the bone broth.

I tried many way different ways of making bone broth. On the stove top, boiling just the bones in water. In a crockpot with just the bones and water. And finally my favourite method, in a crockpot loaded with vegetables and the bones.

Ingredients 

For bone broth 

• 2 pounds of chicken bone
• 3 carrots
• 3 celery stalks
• 1 to 2 medium onions peeled and cut in half
• 4 cloves of garlic
• 1 teaspoon of Himalayan salt
• 2 to 3 bay leaves
• 4 sprigs of fresh thyme
• 5 to 6 sprigs of fresh parsley
• 1 ½ teaspoon of oregano
• about an ½ inch piece of fresh ginger, cut in to small pieces
• 2 tbsp. of turmeric
• Raw apple cider vinegar

Directions 

• Cut the vegetables just to fit inside the crock- pot.
• Add about 2 tbsp. of apple cider vinegar to the water, this helps draw out the nutrients from the bones.
• Fill crock-pot with water, leave enough room for water to boil.
• This part is the most important. Heat slowly. Put your crock-pot on low heat to simmer.
• Simmer for 24 hours. Adding water when possible.
• If not making soup, remove from heat and let it cool. Discard solids and strain the rest.
• Let stock cool at room temperature.
• Use within a week or freeze up to 3 months.

Ingredients 

For chicken soup

• 2 carrots, peeled and chopped
• 1 celery stalk chopped
• 2 to 3 Roma tomatoes peeled and chopped
• ½ tsp Himalayan salt
• ½ tsp of cracked black pepper
• ½ tsp dried thyme leaves
• ½ tsp dried oregano
• ½ cup of brown rice (uncooked)
• ½ wild rice (uncooked)
• 2 to 3 raw chicken breasts

Directions

• On the stove top.
• In a large stock pot add the bone broth. You may want to only use only half of the bone broth and freeze the rest. In that case you will need to add about 4 cups of water.
• Add all the ingredients to the bone broth.
• Bring to a boil and then reduce heat to simmer.
• Cook for about 45 minutes.
• Remove the chicken and shred or cut into bite size pieces. Once the chicken is cut up add to the soup.
• Enjoy!

Sources:

Dr. Axe Bone broth benifits for healthy digestion