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24-hour Slow Cooker Chicken Bone Broth (or Turkey!)

Name: 24-hour Slow Cooker Chicken Bone Broth (or Turkey!)
Prep time: 15 min
Cook time: 1440 min
Ingredients: 1 3.5-5 lb. carcass free-range organic chicken or turkey or 4lbs of leg/wing bones, previously cooked; 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice; vegetables of choice: 2-3 carrots, 2-3 celery stalks, 1 onion, 1 garlic head or a few cloves, etc.; herbs of choice:2-3 sprigs of thyme, oregano, bay leaves; filtered water to cover the carcass/bones (approx. 4-6 quarts depending on your size pot)

By: Alison Marras

February 3, 2017

(updated March 23, 2023)

4.87 from 15 votes

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What’s Inside: Follow these steps at home to make gut-healing 24-hour slow cooker chicken bone broth. Made with chicken bones (or turkey), vegetables, fresh herbs, and lemon juice, this homemade bone broth is rich in flavor and nutrients. It is also AIP diet-friendly, Paleo, and Whole30 compliant.

Aerial view of slow cooker bone broth in a mason jar. The jar doesn't have a lid on and is sitting on a wooden cutting board.

As a holistic nutritionist, I love to create delicious food that fills my body with comfort and joy, as well as a heap of goodness. This Slow Cooker Chicken Bone Broth also tastes great with turkey bones! You can drink it on its own, but it also makes a great base for smoothies and healthy homemade soups. If you’re interested in more gut-healthy cooking, you’ve come to the right place and can check out my Paleo Gut Healing Cookbook for more tips.

Let’s talk bone broth. Is this just another health or food trend? NO! This is here to stay and I’m so happy it is. This is an old old old remedy, there’s really nothing new about it. If your Grandmother used to make you broth or chicken soup when you were sick – you know what I’m talking about. The benefits are truly amazing.

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Drinking or incorporating bone broth and healthy homemade soups regularly into your diet is so supportive to gut health. You can buy bone broth, however, it can get pricey to buy so often. Making it at home is best because you know what’s in it AND it takes very little effort to make. With only 15 minutes of prep time, the rest is leaving it alone. It might sound intimidating but I promise you it’s not.

If this has you wondering how to add bone broth to your diet, then try an easy soup made with chicken bone broth. Or a fruity blueberry smoothie filled with the goodness of chicken bone broth.

tip!
Make broth-making a routine by cooking a whole chicken on Sundays for dinner and use the carcass to make bone broth for the week!

Aerial view of chicken bone broth in a mason jar. The jar doesn't have a lid on and is sitting on a wooden cutting board. There is also a dish cloth and herbs laying next to it.

Benefits of Bone Broth

Heals the gut: gut health is the epicenter of your overall health, period. Illness, disease, symptoms such as poor skin or hair, weak or painful joints, etc. (the list goes on!) can be traced back to gut health because that’s where your digestion is. The saying “you are what you eat” is WRONG – you are what you DIGEST. And if you have a gut imbalance, leaky gut, poor digestion, IBS, whatever you’d like to call it – the rest of your body is going to feel out of whack because it is. It’s like if the house of your foundation has a crack in it. So this is the #1 benefit of drinking bone broth.
The collagen, glycine, marrow, glucosamine, chondroitin, and amino acids are POWERFUL in naturally detoxifying your body, building blood and healing and repairing joints and other inflammation.
Trains your body to burn stored fat naturally and to stabilize blood sugar – these are pinnacles in longevity, maintaining your healthy weight and energy.
It’s delicious and you can really make it your own! Try different herbs and vegetable combos to personalize your bone broth (and add minerals). If you like soup, you’re just drinking it in a mug. I love having this as an “afternoon snack”, it gives great energy and is really soothing on the belly.

Read: 5 ways to include more bone broth in your diet regularly here.

Aerial view of the bone broth ingredients in a large white dutch oven. The liquid is clear and a little cloudy. You can see plenty of herbs, bones, a garlic and an onion in the pot.

Key Ingredients

To make this delicious and nutritious homemade chicken bone broth, gather up the following ingredients:

Cooked Bones: This recipe is specific for poultry, you can use a 3.5-5lb. chicken or turkey carcass, or a stockpile of bones from wings, breasts, drumsticks, etc. adding up to about 4lbs.
Optional: 2-3 chicken feet, scrubbed
Acid: Use 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar or lemon juice which helps the good stuff (amino acids, etc.) come off and out of the bones and into the broth.
Vegetables of choice: I recommend 2-3 carrots, 2-3 celery stalks, 1 onion, and a 1/2-whole head of garlic. Just a rough tear or chop works, you’ll be straining these veggies out later so no need to get fancy!
Herbs of choice: Dried or fresh works, but I highly recommend some fresh sprigs of thyme, oregano, and 1 or 2 bay leaves *no need to add salt.
Enough filtered water to cover: approx. 4-6 quarts depending on the amount of bones and size of your pot.

How to Make This In Your Slow Cooker

This chicken bone broth take 24 hours to cook in the slow cooker. But don’t worry, it only takes 15 minutes to prepare and you can walk away and let it cook and marinate overnight.

To a 10-quart slow cooker, add the bones/carcass, apple cider vinegar or lemon juice, vegetables (you don’t need to chop much since you’ll be straining them out anyway), and any herbs you’d like to add.
Fill with filtered water just enough to cover the top of the carcass.
Seal and set your slow cooker for at least 24 hours on low to simmer.
When complete, carefully remove the bones and veggies with tongs or large utensils. Strain the broth into glass jars. If you want to freeze the jars, fill them 3/4-way so they don’t burst.

Nutritional Therapy Practitioner Tip: Heat in a mug and drink 1-2 cups a day for amazing results in your digestion, skin, energy, and more!!

5 mason jars of varying sizes filled with homemade bone broth. They all have lids screwed on top. 2 of the jars are small and are stacked on top of each other.

How to Store Homemade Broth

Refrigerator: You can store the broth in the refrigerator for up to 7-days in an airtight container (I recommend mason jars).
Freezer: You can freeze the broth for several months, up to 6-months in a closed mason jar.
For convenience: Freeze some bone broth in silicone ice trays, pop them out and store them in a jar or freezer bag to use quickly and conveniently as a cooking liquid, for sipping, or in smoothies!

Storing Tip: Measure your freezer to see how many mason jars and what size jars a shelf can hold so you can stock it with broth!

Side view of a mason jar with no lid on, filled with slow cooker bone broth. It is sitting on a wooden cutting board.

Recipe Tips

Wiggly broth? If you notice gelatin forming on the top when it’s cooled, that’s more than okay… it’s GREAT! That means you have an extra juicy batch, it will dissolve when you re-heat it to drink. It’s also totally okay if you don’t find that, every batch is different.

What’s with the fat? If you have a “fatty” top when your broth starts to cool, that’s also normal! USE IT. Skim it off and store it in a small container to use as “Shmaltz” which makes a tasty cooking fat.

Using a funnel when you strain and pour will make for less mess!

FAQs

When is the best time of day to drink bone broth?

If I had to choose, I think the morning is the best time. This is the time of day your body is at it’s best and can properly absorb all the nutrients in your glass.

Should I add salt to my chicken bone broth while it cooks?

The short answer is NO. I recommend you season it to taste when you are turning your broth into soups or drinks. This is just to avoid an overconcentration of salt.

Can I drink this bone broth without heating it up?

Technically you can – but I like to warm mine if I am drinking it on its own. I don’t bother warming it up if I am turning it into a smoothie though!

Hungry For More Body Loving Broth and Healthy Homemade Soups?

If you loved this Slow Cooker Chicken Broth you may now be wondering how to add bone broth to your diet? Check out this list of drinkable goodness that will put your homemade bone broth to delicious and nutritious use:

Blueberry Cardamom Bone Broth Smoothie (AIP, Paleo)
Chicken Florentine Bone Broth Soup (AIP, Paleo, Whole30)
Weeknight Bone Broth Ramen (Paleo, Soy-Free)
Creamy Sausage Potato Soup (AIP, Paleo, Whole30)
30-Min Greek Instant Pot Chicken Stew (AIP, Paleo, Whole30)

If you tried this easy Slow Cooker Chicken Bone, please consider leaving a star rating and comment below. Did you try it with Turkey?

Or you can tag me, @foodbymars, on Instagram and Facebook. I love seeing your creations!