Bone broth has been through the full wellness cycle: ancient staple, forgotten food, trend, hype, backlash, and now something closer to a reasonable assessment. The reality is that it’s a nutritious, versatile cooking ingredient with some genuine benefits and some overclaimed ones. Making it yourself is straightforward and produces a result far superior to anything in a carton.
Key Takeaways
- Bone broth is rich in glycine, proline, and gelatin, compounds that support the gut lining and provide amino acid building blocks for collagen synthesis.
- The joint health benefits of collagen peptides have the strongest evidence base: a 2024 meta-analysis of 35 RCTs found small-to-moderate effects on joint pain and function.
- Gut health claims for bone broth are biologically plausible but have limited direct clinical evidence. The amino acids it provides are genuinely useful; whether they reach the gut lining in meaningful amounts from a cup of broth is less certain.
- Homemade bone broth is far higher in collagen and gelatin than commercial cartons, which vary enormously in quality.
The Recipe
Makes: approximately 2 litres
Active time: 15 minutes
Cook time: 8 to 24 hours (or 3 hours in a pressure cooker)
What You Need
1 to 1.5kg bones (chicken carcasses, beef knuckle bones, or a mix), 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar, 2 carrots (roughly chopped), 2 celery stalks (roughly chopped), 1 large onion (halved, skin on), 1 head of garlic (halved across the middle), 1 bay leaf, a few peppercorns, a sprig of thyme, cold water to cover (approximately 2.5 litres), 1 teaspoon salt.
How to Make It
If using raw bones: Roast them first at 200°C for 30 minutes until browned. This step is optional but adds significantly more flavour.
In a pot: Place bones in a large stockpot. Cover with cold water. Add apple cider vinegar and let sit for 30 minutes. Bring to a boil, skimming off any grey foam. Reduce to the lowest possible simmer. Add vegetables, garlic, bay leaf, and peppercorns. Simmer for 8 to 12 hours for chicken bones, 12 to 24 hours for beef or pork.
In a pressure cooker: 3 hours at high pressure.
When done, strain through a fine-mesh sieve. Season with salt. Let cool, then refrigerate. A good bone broth will gel when cold — this is the gelatin from collagen and is a sign you’ve extracted well from the bones.
What Makes a Good Bone Broth
It should gel. If your finished broth doesn’t gel when cold, you didn’t extract enough collagen. Knuckle bones, feet, and chicken carcasses have the highest collagen content.
Apple cider vinegar matters. Acid draws minerals out of the bone matrix into the broth. Over a long cook time it makes a measurable difference to mineral content.
Low and slow is better than fast. A rolling boil makes a cloudy, greasy broth. A bare simmer produces a cleaner, more collagen-rich result.
What Bone Broth Actually Does
For the Gut
National Geographic’s review of the evidence notes that the anti-inflammatory properties of bone broth have shown promise in animal models of colitis, and that glycine and gelatin can support the gut mucosal lining. Direct clinical evidence in humans is limited. The amino acids in bone broth (glycine, proline, arginine) are genuinely useful for gut lining maintenance, but whether a cup or two per day provides therapeutic amounts is uncertain.
For Collagen and Skin
Bone broth provides glycine and proline, the primary amino acids in collagen. Your body can use these as raw material when synthesising collagen. Research on bone broth’s direct effect on skin is limited, though the amino acids it provides contribute to the body’s overall collagen synthesis capacity.
For Joints
This is the area with the strongest evidence. A 2024 meta-analysis of 35 randomised controlled trials found that collagen supplementation produced small-to-moderate improvements in joint pain and function. Bone broth provides collagen-related compounds, though at lower concentrations than the supplements used in trials.
How to Use It
Bone broth is most useful as a cooking ingredient rather than something to drink straight.
Soups and stews: Use as the base for any soup. It adds body and depth that commercial stock doesn’t match.
Grains: Cook brown rice, farro, or quinoa in bone broth instead of water.
Sauces: Reduce with herbs and a splash of wine to make a pan sauce for roasted meat or fish.
Braising liquid: Use for braising chicken thighs, beef short ribs, or pork shoulder.
Drink it as a warm beverage if you like it — season with salt and add a pinch of turmeric and black pepper. But its highest-value use is as a cooking medium.
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