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Bone broth has absolutely exploded in terms of popularity, over the last few years. Once a strange, niche food – it is just about as mainstream as McDonald’s. Multi-million dollar companies have sprung up seemingly overnight, especially with the rise of diets like the Paleo Diet and Keto Diet, and there is even bone broth made for dogs now.
But with all this rapid popularity, has come an influx of less-than-great imitator products. It can be hard to know what exactly to buy. So we aggregated tens of thousands of online reviews, ate the bone broth produced by different, various brands, and came away with our top choices. Here are our picks, for the best bone broth on the market.
Our Top Pick
Beef Bone Broth Soup by Kettle and Fire
Kettle and Fire makes one of the best bone broths on the market – no question about that. With over 240 stellar online reviews, and coming from grass-fed animals – it’s a delicious choice. Highly recommended.
Other Great Picks
Organic Bone Broth By Pacific Foods
This great organic bone broth from Pacific Foods has over 140 stellar online reviews, and tastes great. It’s affordable, saves you tons of time from having to make bone broth yourself, and is organic – what else could you want? Definitely recommended.
Bonafide Provisions Organic Fresh-Frozen Chicken Bone Broth
The USDA-certified organic bone broth from Bonafide Provisions is tasty, well-made, and high-quality. While it is pricier than some options out there, we believe it is worth the extra money, Definitely recommended.
Nona Lim Bone Broth Heat & Sip Cups
If you like Ramen, you’ll likely love these heat and sip cups. We love how fast they are to eat, and also the fact that it’s slow-simmered for 30 hours – giving it that tough-to-pinpoint flavor that can’t be faked. Recommended.
LonoLife Grass-Fed Beef Bone Broth Powder
This grass-fed bone broth powder from LonoLife has over 600 glowing online reviews, and was one of our favorites that we tested. It tastes great, and is also super-convenient. Definitely a top pick.
Bare Bones Bone Broth Instant Beverage
This cool instant beverage from Bare Bones is an interesting alternative to traditional bone broth. We thought the taste was slightly less than expected, but that’s not uncommon with an instant beverage. Definitely recommended if you are pressed for time, or are traveling.
Epic Artisanal Bone Broth
Epic is well-known for their great protein bars, but their bone broth is equally delicious. We loved the jalapeno flavor in particular, but there are many great tasting varieties. Sold in a convenient, large jar, it is ready-to-use. Highly recommended.
Bare Bones Beef Bone Broth
Bare Bones has been delivering high quality bone broth for years now, and they always have great tasting stuff. Whether you want to consume this by itself, or as part of a soup or stew – it’s delicious. Highly recommended.
InstaBroth
Made from pasture-raised cattle, this instant bone broth has a whopping 380+ glowing online reviews. It’s ready in an instant, and – notably – it also contains less sodium than most other bone broths on the market. Definitely recommended.
Kitchen Accomplice Bone Broth
This very affordable bone broth has 80+ stellar online reviews, and is minimally processed, with no artificial ingredients. A perfect choice, for the budget-minded. As a concentrate with a long shelf life, it’s super easy to make to drink on its own or use as a concentrate in a recipe.
What Is Bone Broth?
Bone broth is a warm, rich, highly nutritious stock made by simmering the bones and connective tissue of animals. It’s made by a slow process, usually simmering for over 20 hours with herbs and spices. Because of its delicious taste and reported health benefits, it has become a staple in the kitchen and in diets across the world.
Bone broth is versatile and can be made with different animals. The marrow and connective tissue such as hooves, chicken feet, gizzards, and fish fins can also be used in making this hearty stock. Cartilage and tissue add compounds such as chondroitin sulfate and hyaluronic acid to the broth, which promotes healing.
How To Make Bone Broth
While bone broth may seem like a complex food to make, the cooking process is quite simple. A large batch of bone broth is made with one gallon of water, 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar, 2 to 4 pounds of animal bones, sea salt and peppercorns to taste, as well as a variety of herbs.
All ingredients are placed into a slow cooker, large pot, pressure cooker, stock pot, or instant pot, then brought to a boil on the stove top. After it reaches a boiling point, it is reduced to low heat on a simmer for approximately 24 hours (the longer the better). The broth is then strained through a strainer and stored. Bone broth can be used in a handful of recipes or drank on its own.
Is Bone Broth A New Product?
Bone broth has recently become a best seller in markets across the globe, but it is actually a prehistoric food–it’s been a piece of tradition since the beginning of recorded history. Wasting a part of an animal was unheard of, and so bone broth became a common food, even amongst hunters and gatherers.
Of course, the packages you see on this list are relatively new products but what’s inside has been around for centuries. This says a lot about the benefits of this vitamin and mineral-rich food.
What Are The Health Benefits Of Bone Broth?
Bone broth is highly nutritional and contains a ton of vitamins. Animal bones are rich in magnesium, calcium, potassium, phosphorus, proline, iodine (in fish bones, which is great for healthy thyroid function), and more. The bone marrow contains vitamin A, zinc, omega 3, and omega 6 fatty acids, boron, and manganese. It’s not always easy to get these vitamins in one fell swoop, and bone broth helps tackle that as it simmers and releases the nutrients.
Bone broth helps maintain a healthy digestive system, including gout and leaky gut, helps keep the immune system in check, aids with joint pain as an anti-inflammatory, and can even lead to weight loss, since it is a low-calorie food. There have been theories that bone broth can even help you relax since it contains the amino acid glycine, which promotes sleep.
Is Drinking Bone Broth Healthy?
Some people choose to use bone broth in a recipe to replace standard stock, others choose to drink it as is. The benefits are the same no matter how you ingest it, but some individuals, especially those turning to bone broth to aid weight loss, drink a cup of it straight up. It’s a terrific snack between meals and we’re sure your body would agree.
Sip on it throughout the day in a coffee mug, mix it with your oatmeal, make a warm soup– the options are seemingly endless. Since bone broth is not a processed food full of preservatives, you’re simply doing a great thing for yourself by choosing this as your snack (or beverage).
How Does Bone Broth Taste?
Bone broth tastes similar to a well-made stock. It can be salty, based on the sodium content, but it’s usually rich and can have a pleasantly full, slightly oily texture. The great thing about bone broth is the versatility.
Some brands add vegetables and herbs such as garlic, onion, mushrooms, thyme, bay leaves, and cloves to their broth to give it more flavor. While it does not taste vinegary, bone broth does contain apple cider vinegar, which helps break down and release the nutrients from the bones. Once you purchase bone broth, you can easily amp it up by adding your favorite veggies and flavor.
What Bones Are Used To Make Bone Broth?
Bone broth can be made with a variety of animal bones– it’s simply your preference. If you’re pescatarian, you can even find fish-based bone broth. Bone broth is often made with beef bones, marrow bones, chicken, and turkey bones.
Some brands and chefs have branched out and use pig’s feet, meaty bones like oxtail, shank, short ribs, neck bones, and even cow’s or chicken feet. For fish bone broth, non-oily fish such as cod or snapper, are usually the top picks.
Are There Different Types Of Bone Broth?
There are a few types of bone broth. The most popular types are beef broth and chicken broth. Fish broth has also become a popular option for pescatarians. Beef bone broth is often used to make beef stew, as you would use beef stock, while chicken bone broth is used to make chicken soup, as you would chicken broth.
With the many quality brands producing bone broth, some have gotten creative in making it as convenient as possible. You can easily find instant bone broth, reduced-sodium bone broth, bone broth powder, and even ready-to-eat sip and heat broth in a cup.
How Long Does Bone Broth Last?
A rich and savory batch of bone broth can be stored and kept in a few different ways, all with different toss-away dates. A fresh pot of bone broth will last 3-4 days in the refrigerator. Sealed bone broth, such as the products listed above, have a longer shelf life and will display the expiration date on the packaging.
You can also freeze your bone broth for nearly a year and if stored with a proper preservation process in a jar, can be kept in the fridge for 6 months. If you only want to use bone broth in small, frequent doses, a good trick is filling an ice tray with the broth and using it as needed. Many packaged brands of bone broth will also have tips and instructions for proper storing, but the freezer is always a great idea.
Is Bone Broth Expensive?
Like many food products, all brands are different and thus priced differently. Bone broth is an affordable, delicious food that sometimes can get a bit pricy, based off of the quality of ingredients and the convenience of packaging. Bone broth typically bosts between $8 and $40, but the broth priced on the higher side comes with multiple servings.
Our list of best bone broth considers pricing and we make sure you will get a bang for your buck as well as a quality product.
What Can I Make With Bone Broth?
You can make so many delicious meals and snacks with bone broth, as it is an extremely versatile food and ingredient. There are a ton of bone broth recipes out there, both online and in cookbooks, but to give you an idea, here are some dishes that use bone broth.
Chicken and gnocchi soup, beef stew, cheesy panade with beans, market risotto, french onion soup, chicken ramen, chicken pot pie, and savory oatmeal. This is such a small list amongst the many recipes out there for a delicious, easy, healthy meal. On a detox diet? Bone broth is a highly recommended staple for detox diets and fasting.
Where Can I Buy Bone Broth?
Purchasing a quality bone broth is incredibly easy since they are being sold nearly everywhere. Shopping online will give you a great number of options (listed above!), but you can find packaged, fresh, or frozen stock in the grocery store, farmer’s market, health food store, and sometimes the local butcher.
Quality bone broth is made with quality bones so many producers know where their ingredients are coming from. It’s not difficult to find an organic, ethical brand of bone broth.
The Best Bone Broth
There you have it – our top picks for the best bone broth. Purchasing a quality bone broth for an affordable price is easy and the health benefits from this wonderful food are top-notch.
We love how versatile and delicious bone broth can be and we stand by these brands to give you the best bone broth on the market.
There are lots of options out there in the world of healthy eating, so be sure and check out our other top kitchen product reviews.