Bone broth was once a nutritional secret reserved only for the most exclusive celebrities, but is now enjoyed around the world! The incredible benefits of bone broth can help to provide you with a radiating and youthful appearance without compromising on your health. In fact, bone broth has a wide range of health benefits that make the delicious broth great for those looking to lose weight too!
Turkey bone broth has a delicious flavor that can be enjoyed during holiday seasons for a festive, healthy treat. The commonly enjoyed chicken broth and beef bone broth can sometimes become a bit repetitive if you are eating them every week, so knowing how to make turkey bone broth can enable you to enjoy a wider range of meals and flavors!
In this blog post, we will be teaching you everything you need to know about making turkey bone broth. From the needed ingredients to the helpful kitchen tools, you will be perfecting your homemade broth in no time.
What is Bone Broth?
Bone broth is a liquid that is derived from boiling animal bones and joints together in water. After simmering for a few hours, you will be left with a flavorful bone broth that contains plenty of essential nutrients needed for the healthy appearance of your skin and body! Animal bone and joints contain a protein called collagen that helps to maintain skin elasticity - reducing wrinkles and fine lines associated with aging.
Bone broth is often used in cooking like stock or, alternatively, it can be consumed as a drink in its original liquid form as part of a bone broth fast.
Health Benefits of Drinking Bone Broth
There are so many health benefits to be enjoyed from drinking different types of bone broth! The main ones include the following:
- Collagen helps to smooth fine lines and wrinkles, adding a youthful appearance to the skin.
- Great for improving gut health due to a high amount of essential amino acids.
- Beneficial for the key components of your immune system.
- Can aid weight loss due to its filling yet low-calorie content.
- Regular bone broth consumption can improve joint function.
Turkey Bone broth: What is it?
Specifically, turkey bone broth is a liquid that comes from simmering turkey raw bones and connective tissues (which can have bits of meat still attached or not) in a large stockpot filled with boiling water.
Cooking Materials for Homemade Turkey Bone Broth
In order to successfully make homemade turkey bone broth, you will need to have access to the following cooking materials and kitchen tools! These include...
Stockpot
For homemade turkey broth, you will need a large stockpot or slow cooker that will be able to hold the turkey as well as any bay leaves, seasonings, or dried herbs. This stockpot will need to be large enough to make bone broth, so make sure you work out whether you can comfortably fit your turkey, turkey bones, or connective tissues in the stockpot with enough space for water first.
Mesh Strainer
A fine mesh strainer is a fundamental tool needed to successfully make bone broth. These will most likely be available to purchase at any local supermarket or you can also order a mesh strainer online. You will need a mesh strainer in order to efficiently separate the bone broth from the physical ingredients in your stockpot.
Essential Ingredients to Include in your Turkey Bone Broth
To make a basic yet delicious turkey bone broth, there are 5 key essential ingredients that you will need. Once you have perfected this classic turkey bone broth recipe, you can start experimenting with flavors and seasonings a bit more! If this is your first time making turkey bone broth, we highly recommend sticking to this traditional recipe.
Roasted Turkey Carcass
The main and most important ingredient is of course the turkey itself! If you have turkey leftover turkey carcass bones, joints, or connective tissues, these will work well. If your bones still have some meat on them, this is fine too and will actually add some extra flavor to the bone broth!
Wine/Apple Cider Vinegar
White wine or apple cider vinegar will help to add flavor to your turkey bone broth. For those making the bone broth as part of a healthy diet and lifestyle, we recommend add apple cider vinegar instead of wine.
Herbs
Your selected herbs can include parsley, bay leaves, as well as rosemary, and thyme! Adding these herbs to the large pot whilst its simmering will help to release the maximum amount of flavors in the turkey bone broth.
Salt
Season with salt to add some extra flavor to your turkey bone broth, especially sea salt! If your turkey trimmings and leftovers were already well-salted, you may wish to add only a small amount of salt to your bone broth.
Onion and Garlic
Onion and garlic will complement the delicious taste of the turkey bone broth and will give a beautifully aromatic touch to your bone broth. Feel free to add any extra vegetables like carrots and celery too! We recommend using one or two large chopped-up onions and around 6 garlic cloves, though these can be adjusted according to personal taste preferences.
Turkey Bone Broth Recipe
This turkey bone broth recipe can be prepared in just 10 minutes and will need 10 hours of cooking time to allow the bones to successfully simmer.
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Prepare your turkey carcass to fit in the stockpot. The best way to do this is to break off some of the bigger bones found in the legs and flatten the rest of the body. Whilst some turkey bone broth recipes recommend having around 6 pounds of roasted turkey bones and meat, you can alter this based on how much bone broth you want (as well as how strong you want the taste of turkey to be).
- Once your turkey bones are in the stockpot, add the rest of the ingredients in too. You can add the herbs and seasonings to taste.
- After that, pour 7 quarts of cold water into your stockpot. We recommend using filtered water but normal water will work as well. Try to fill the stockpot to around 2 inches below the top of the pot to really saturate your turkey bones.
- Next, you will want to bring this mixture to a boil for around 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. It is important not to over-boil your bone broth as you may end up losing too much liquid.
- After boiling for 20 minutes, bring the stockpot down to a gentle simmer. This part of the cooking process will help the turkey bones, meat, and connective tissue to naturally release their healthy amino acids and proteins, like collagen. The cooking time for the simmering bones process is long, it is recommended that you leave the stockpot to simmer for around 8 to 10 hours, so make sure any children are not left unaccompanied in the kitchen.
- Make sure to check on your simmering turkey bone broth during this cooking time to make sure it is processing well. You may need to add some more water to your stockpot if a lot of it has evaporated from the heat.
- Once this simmering period is over, pour the liquid through a fine-mesh strainer to separate your turkey bone broth from the hard ingredients. Depending on the size of your stockpot, you may choose to strain these straight into mason jars or for bigger quantities, into a large bowl first.
- Place the turkey bone broth-filled mason jars into the refrigerator to allow them to cool down.
Pro tip: Let the bone broth-filled mason jars cool a bit first before placing them into the refrigerator. This helps to avoid raising the fridge’s temperature as the broth will be very hot when first strained. - As the bone broth cools, you may notice a 'skin' on the top of your broth. This is simply where the fat has risen to the surface, which is completely normal. In fact, this shows that you have used gelatin-rich bones! When the bone broth is re-heated, this fat will dissolve back into liquid. The fat from the turkey bone broth can actually be good for you, especially if you are on a ketogenic diet. However, if you’d like to remove it, simply scoop off this fatty surface.
- Enjoy your turkey bone broth by itself or as part of a turkey soup. The bone broth mason jars can also be frozen for a convenient instant pot turkey broth meal!
Conclusion
In summary, making bone broth is a useful way to use up any turkey dinner prep leftover meat, such as leftover thanksgiving turkey carcass! Bone broth has a wide range of health benefits, from improving the youthful and clearer appearance of your skin to aiding digestive issues caused by poor gut health. Many people also love the delicious flavor of bone broth and how easily it can be incorporated as a basis in other meals - notably within soup cuisine.
Though delicious and nutritious, the cooking process for turkey bone broth is very long and may not be compatible with everyone's lifestyle, especially if you do not feel comfortable leaving the pot to simmer overnight. If that is the case for you, check out Proper Good's range of bone broths for several lifestyle diets such as gluten free and low sodium!
Proper Good bone broth pouches are ready-made and can be cooked in as little as 90 seconds. With just as high nutritional value, Proper Good's bone broth options are a fantastic alternative for those on the go or not quite ready to make their own yet!
