My BEST Meat Stock/ Bone Broth Ingredients

Ok, Tender Friends, here it is...my BEST and "secret" meat stock/bone broth list of ingredients  I have stumbled upon this greatness, and I hope you enjoy it as much as I do! If I could attach an IV of this to my body, I would!

Tons of other vegetables go well in meat stock/bone broth, including zucchini, peas, etc. This is what I have on hand most often. 

Also, here's a brief explanation of the difference between meat stock and bone broth. I use my bones three times because I don't have livestock and need to use my bones as much as possible. The first batch I cook is actually meat stock, meaning that I only cook it for up to three hours. 

You only cook meat stock for up to three hours because the amino acids that heal leaky gut, proline and glycine, will be destroyed beyond that time period. So the first batch only gets cooked for that long.

But I reuse my bones and turn around and cook two batches of bone broth with the same ones. Because bone broth is cooked for a longer time, other nutrients are drawn out of them in greater abundance, just not the ones that specifically heal leaky gut. If you are healing from severe leaky gut, drinking only meat stock is recommended according to the “GAPS, Stage by Stage, With Recipes” book by the naturopath, Becky Plotner.

I started with what would be considered the “standard” bone broth recipe with the following ingredients:

Bones- I use chicken, beef, or pork, depending on what I have available. If I make a few whole chickens over the course of a month, I save the bones in a plastic bag and freeze them until I have enough. When we buy a half cow from a farm, we request for the bones and liver to be included when possible. Frozen bones are best, but as I said, I save my bones from chickens I’ve cooked.

Chicken feet- It can be hard to find chicken feet, as you’ll probably have to go to a farm for some since they’re not often sold at stores. However, if you can include the chicken feet, they are the best for adding collagen to the broth. I believe in eating your skin care rather than spending a ton of money on luxury products, and eating collagen-rich food makes you look younger!

Garlic- I use the garlic from our garden whenever possible. I use the whole bulb, crushed, even though many recipes call for just a few cloves.

Celery- I use a minimum of one stalk, chopped into pieces. More is better.

Carrot- I use a minimum of one, also chopped into pieces. More is better.

Fresh Rosemary from the garden if the season permits. Because the season does not currently permit, I am using rosemary from our garden that we dried out a few months ago and stored in a mason jar.

Fresh thyme from the garden if the season permits. If you do not have a garden, you can buy these herbs at the store. I recommend buying them fresh whenever possible. Dried herbs just don’t have the same flavor in broth.

Apple cider vinegar (1-2 Tbsp.) – There are many organic brands with the mother. This helps to pull the minerals out of the bones and imparts a delicious flavor.

Salt-I use mineral Rich Celtic Sea salt. I know that salt consumption is controversial, but I don’t personally consume any processed foods. So I am very liberal with my salt in my bone broth, because it pulls the minerals out of the bones and imparts a delicious flavor.

Crushed black peppercorn. I don’t have a special machine to crush the peppercorns, and simply pour them on a plate and then use a pan on top to crush them.

And now, for my “secret” ingredients!

1. Bay leaves. I can’t believe that I never thought of adding these myself. I got this piece of wisdom from the cookbook about the GAPS diet. I love bay leaves and add them to all of my soups, but simply never thought of adding them to my bone broth. They are a must-have.

2. Leeks! Okay, this is why I say I stumbled upon greatness. I baked a quiche that only used the white part of multiple leaks, but I did not want to waste all that green, especially after the effort of cleaning the whole week. So I froze the greens of the leek and took them out when I made bone broth. As with the bay leaves, once I started cooking my broth with leeks, I realized I would never go back.

Ok, I know there are recipes out there for ginger bone broth and all other sorts of delicious things. I just haven’t tried them because I can’t bear to fix something that’s not broken.

What ingredients do you use in your bone broth? Please let me know in the comments!

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