How to Make Turkey Bone Broth

How to make turkey bone broth in your Instant Pot, slow cooker, or stove top. Use the bones from your Thanksgiving turkey to make bone broth!

Bone broth is a part of my daily diet, and I absolutely love making it myself.

Not only is bone broth delicious, but it is also packed with nutrients that are difficult to get anywhere else.

The process of making bone broth extracts the collagen and gelatin from the bones so that we are left with a powerfully healing broth.

Collagen and gelatin are the building blocks of our connective tissue, skin, bones, joints, hair, nails, and are also essential for the health of our gut lining.

For those who suffer from gut issues, and or have been trying to heal leaky gut, bone broth is a miracle elixir for repairing the tissue of the digestive tract, thereby improving digestion, a healthy gut microbiome, and overall health.

If you have a leftover turkey carcass from Thanksgiving, or have stock-piled bones from cooking chicken, beef or pork, you can easily make bone broth in your pressure cooker, slow cooker, or on the stove top.

Let’s hop to it!

How to Make Turkey Bone Broth in the Instant Pot:

1.) Carve the turkey to the best of your ability, getting as much meat off of the bones as possible. It’s completely fine to leave meat on the bones (in fact, it adds flavor to the broth), but for the sake of being able to optimize your leftovers, get off any meat you want to save for sandwiches, burritos, enchiladas, etc.

2.) Break down the bones by removing the wing and leg bones, and place them in your Instant Pot. Break down the rest of the carcass as well so that you can compress the bones down, rather than having them fill up the entire pot.

3.) Add anything else you would like, such as chopped onion, garlic, celery, carrots, apple cider vinegar, etc. to flavor the broth. My turkey was stuffed with onion, garlic, and celery, so I simply added the already cooked veggies in with the bones.

4.) Once the bones are broken down, cover them with water (I like using filtered water from my Berkey). Make sure the bones are covered with an inch or two of water.

5.) Secure the lid on your pressure cooker and set on high (Manual) for 2 hours. Leave the vent sealed. Once the pressure cooker has gone through its whole cycle, allow it to go into keep warm mode for at least 30 minutes (I let mine sit for a few hours). Use the quick release to release any remaining steam. Open the lid.

6.) Remove the large bones, chunks of fat or meat that are easy to get to. Save any remaining meat to make soup!

7.) Place cheesecloth over a large pot. Slowly pour the bone broth over the cheesecloth to get out any remaining chunks. Note: You can absolutely do this by yourself…just make sure the cheesecloth is large enough so that it doesn’t fall off the sides of the pot while you’re pouring the liquid.

8.) Lift up on the sides of the cheesecloth to remove it. You now have amazing bone broth!

9.) Transfer the bone broth to sanitized jars. Secure the lids and refrigerate.

As the bone broth cools, it will thicken and form a gelatinous substance. Not only is this normal, but this is a sign you have extracted a great deal of collagen and gelatin from the bones. In essence, the more gelatinous your broth becomes, the more healing it will be.

So don’t try to toss out the gelatin layer. This is why we have made bone broth in the first place.

Stove Top Instructions:

Follow steps 1 through 4 above, using a large stock pot instead of a pressure cooker. Cover the pot with a lid and place on stove top over high heat. Bring to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a rolling boil and allow bones to continue boiling for about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking for at least 12 hours, up to 24.

Resume Steps 6 through 9 above.

Slow Cooker Instructions:

Follow Steps 1 through 4 above using your slow cooker. Secure the lid on the slow cooker and cook on Low for 18 to 72 hours. 

Resume Steps 6 through 9 above.

Optional Add-Ins:

While bone broth is flavorful and delicious on its own, you can absolutely add more ingredients to flavor it and make it even more nutritious.

Consider adding onion, garlic, celery, carrots, turnips, parsnips, 2 to 3 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar or fresh lemon juice, and/or dried herbs.

How to Remove Fat From Bone Broth:

The easiest way to deal with fat in bone broth is to simply refrigerate the broth and allow the fat to collect and solidify at the top. Once solid, you can scoop it out.

Try not to scoop out the gelatinous substance below the fat, as this is all of the collagen which is so great for you!

As an alternative, you can skim the fat off the surface of the broth while it’s still warm using a large spoon after you’re finished cooking it. Carefully tilt the pot to one side and wait a few seconds while the liquid settles. This will allow the fat to collect into a corner.

At this point, you can use a large spoon to scoop out the fat. I don’t find this to be the most efficient method, because not only are you not getting much of the fat, but you’re also likely removing some of the liquid and collagen. 

What Type of Bones Can I Use To Make Bone Broth?:

You can apply this tutorial to beef, chicken, or pork bones in addition to turkey bones (or goose or wild game bones if you have them!!).  Just be sure you have enough bones to make a decent size batch of broth so that you’re maximizing the output of your efforts.

I like to save my chicken bones after roasting a whole chicken by freezing them in a zip lock bag. I simply add more bones and wait until I have 3 or so carcasses before making bone broth out of them. This way, I can make a large batch in one go.

Do You Have to Roast The Bones Before Making Broth?

If you’re using raw bones that you picked up from a butcher, it is best to roast them before using them to make bone broth. To do so, spread them on a baking sheet and roast at 400 degrees F for 30 minutes.

What to Do With Bone Broth:

• Drink it!
• Make soup, stew, or chili out of it
• Use it instead of oil for cooking
• Use in curry, and/or other sauces

My cookbook, Paleo Power Bowls, is now available! CLICK HERE to check it out. Thank you for your support!

If you make this recipe, please feel free to share a photo and tag me at @The.Roasted.Root on Instagram!