’Tis the season for rich, heart-warming soups. There’s no better way to start than with homemade beef broth. It’s so EASY because you assemble the ingredients, set it, and forget it.
Try our recipe Chas’ French Onion Soup using the homemade beef broth from this recipe.
Why It Works
Stock bones
The magic to hearty beef broth is great stock bones. It’s the foundation of the broth. The other ingredients help but without great stock bones, you’ve got weak flavorings that leave you disappointed.
We started this beef broth with the bones left over from a rib roast that we enjoyed for my brother-in-law Phil’s birthday. David and Mary (my parents-in-law) roasted the ribs for a long time until the meat was falling off the bone.
The ribs were mouthwateringly delicious and so tender. So it follows that the broth we made from these bones was just as tasty thanks to excellent foundational soup bones.
Umami
Alex has discovered the power of soy sauce and shiitake mushrooms to add umami flavor to the broth. He adds a couple of shiitake mushrooms and a couple tablespoons of soy sauce every time now. The extra glutamates make a difference.
Extra Umami Beef Broth
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Ask for good stock bones from the butcher. They usually store them in the back so you may not see them waiting in the display case for you.
Getting a diverse mix of knuckle and marrow will add a lot to your broth, providing flavor and gelatinous goodness.
Using a pressure cooker speeds up the cooking time. It also allows you to set it and walk away.
Servings: 6 people
Calories: 41kcal
Equipment
- Chopping Board
- Knife
- Instant Pot
- Sieve
Ingredients
Instructions
- Collect all the ingredients for the recipe.
- Chop the celery and carrots into 2-inch (5 cm) pieces.
- Peel the onions. Chop them in half.
- Put all the ingredients directly into the pot. Add water until you just cover the ingredients. We’re using an Instant Pot (also called an Instapot). You can also put it into a giant stock pot.
- Set the Instapot to the Soup setting on Low Pressure and Normal. Turn it on and come back once it's done. If you’re using a traditional stock pot, then turn the heat on until the pot boils, then lower the heat until simmer. Allow to cook for at least 3 hours.
- When the broth is done, it should be dark brown. Put a strainer over a big bowl. Strain the broth. Discard the ingredients.
- Enjoy your beef broth! You can serve it alone with salt and vegetables. Or you can use it in a recipe like Chas’ French Onion Soup.
Notes
- You can throw just about any old vegetable in there that’s been hanging around the fridge. But don’t slack off with the stock bones. Get the best you can find!
- We got inspiration from Elise at Simply Recipes. Check out her How To Make Beef Stock recipe.
Nutrition
Calories: 41kcal | Carbohydrates: 8g | Protein: 1g | Sodium: 363mg | Potassium: 214mg | Fiber: 2g | Sugar: 3g | Vitamin A: 3500IU | Vitamin C: 6.2mg | Calcium: 35mg | Iron: 0.7mg
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How Long Does This Beef Broth Last?
Thanks to Marcy for a great question. In the past, I have left the broth in the fridge for 3 days without any problems.
Beyond 3 days, I always reboil the broth, which means I won’t drink it by simply reheating in the microwave.
Usually, this isn’t a problem since I often use the broth in another recipe like Chas’ French onion soup or coconut curry soup.
In the rare cases where I am making a huge batch and want to store the broth for months, I will freeze the broth. I portion it into yogurt containers (yay for recycling!). If freezer space were an issue, you can even store it in ziploc baggies and flatten them before freezing. They stack particularly well.
Um, this is called umami BEEF broth but you don’t list beef in the ingredients. And yet you show it in the pictures. How many pounds of beef bones did you use? Can dried mushrooms be used? Thanks!
I believe it was about 4 pounds. Sure, you can add beef. I didn’t have any on hand since I used scraps to make the broth. But if I had beef, I’d only use something like chuck which does well cooking low and slow. You can brown the meat first before you add in with the rest of the ingredients.