If you've been scrolling on the Internet for more than 5 minutes today, you've probably been made aware of how incredibly healing and nutritious bone broth is. What was initially part of the standard protocol of the modern-day Paleo diet, has now ventured into mainstream nutrition now that we're discovering the endless healing properties of bone broth for our intestinal lining, skin and digestive tract.

When you make broth from animal bones/tendons, you extract the hyaluronic acid. This is responsible for providing lubrication for the joints and pain relief from inflammation in the joints. It also contains high amounts of gelatin (delish, right?) which acts as a soft cushion between bones to help them "glide" without friction. The rich minerals in bone broth, such as collagen, are what makes this substance so incredibly healing for the gut, allowing things like inflammation along the intestinal tract to decrease and heal. It's a key player in treating things like leaky gut, food intolerances/allergies and can effectively boost the immune system.

Whether you're affected by digestion or skin issues, we can all benefit from including more bone broth in our diet. In fact, by replacing it for our morning coffee or even using it as your snack to get through that 3:00pm slump, we're serving our body that much better. This isn't to say that we can all go out and buy all of the low sodium chicken bone broth tetra packs and call it a day. When we do that, we aren't getting just nourishing chicken bone broth. We're also getting barley, yeast extract (aka MSG), dextrose (sugar), natural flavour (which can contain up to 50 different unfamiliar ingredients), canola or soybean oil (which is typically genetically modified). If that's not enough to turn you off, maybe this will.

That only leaves us to kicking it old school like our grandparents and making it from scratch. But first, here's a fun fact: my grandmother (who we refer to as "Baba" – a real treat if you've had the pleasure of meeting her), used to make homemade chicken broth for chicken soup every single week. I've also never met anyone who has consumed more raw honey than her. She also recently had a tumour-like lump on her leg which didn't get treated or removed due to her age, but, of course, it just magically disappeared ... Yup, that's my Baba – 93 years old and still kickin' with the mightiest immune system, thanks to all of the nourishing foods she put in her body throughout her life. If all of this hasn't excited you to make your own bone broth from scratch, perhaps the simplicity of the following recipe will.

One word: Crockpot (or is that two words?)

These things are so underrated. It's time to dive into your storage closet, dust this puppy off and put it to work! Seriously, making bone broth has never been easier or tastier. Not to mention, it's the best smell to wake up to in the morning! While you can make either Beef or Chicken Broth in the crockpot, we're doing Chicken Broth today but stay tuned for a Beef Bone Broth recipe in the future! Feel free to use it as a base for soup or pour it into a mug and sip 1-3 cups throughout the day!

Crockpot Chicken Bone Broth

Ingredients

1 chicken carcass (or lbs chicken neck/wings/feet -- which have the most collagen!)
2 carrots, chopped in large chunks
~2L water (enough to fill the crockpot)
3 ribs of celery, chopped in large chunks
1 large yellow onion, cut in large chunks
3 garlic cloves, whole
2 bay leafs
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (to draw out nutrients)
1 tsp salt
1 tsp black pepper

Directions

Place all ingredients in crockpot except for water and apple cider vinegar.
Pour in water to fill crockpot followed by apple cider vinegar.
Set crockpot to low heat and cook for as low as 12 hours but up to 24 hours (the more time, the better flavour/deeper colour)
When finished, use a large measuring cup and strain out contents, disposing of the veggies (there will be little nutrient value leftover anyway, unless you want to be adventurous and use it as a base for dehydrated crackers or something!)
Once strained, transfer to large mason jars. Let cool at room temperature for 20 minutes. You can either scoop off the layer of fat that forms (especially if you used a conventional chicken that may have consumed pesticide-sprayed grass/grains, as toxins are typically stored in the fat) or leave it.
When reheating, reheat 1 cup over the stove top.

What's your favourite crock pot recipe? Link it below!