How to Make Beef Stock



How to Make Beef Stock in a crock pot using our favorite beef stock recipe. Use this EASY, delicious and nutritious homemade beef stock for all of your favorite gravies, soups and sauces.

Why You should Go Thru the Hassle of Learning How to Make Beef Stock?

beef stock

The long, slow cooking of leftover meat and bones dissolves collagens and gelatins and results in a wonderful bone broth, full of flavor and nutrients to be used in recipes. Because crock pots cook things slowly, they are perfect for making stock. This homemade beef stock recipe is wonderful on its own to settle a sore tummy when your child is sick. You can replace up to half of the water in your rice recipes with stock to make it more nutritious and much tastier. This recipe for homemade beef stock is one of our favorite healthy crock pot recipes.

The words “broth” and “stock” are used interchangeably in may cookbooks for good reason, the differences between the two are very small. In general, “broth” is a home cooking term while “stock” is used more for professional cooks. In general, broth is made from the meat of an animal while stock is made from leftover bones mainly with less meat. Using bone gives stock a more gelatinous texture and greater clarity. Broths tend to be thinner and cloudier. Stocks which include the added bone and often vegetables are more nutritious as well as better for digestion than broth.

Why You Should Make Homemade Beef Stock - The Nutritional Benefits of Stock

Homemade beef stock is extremely nutritious, containing the minerals of bone, cartilage, marrow and vegetables as electrolytes, a form that is easy to assimilate. Vinegar added during cooking helps to draw minerals – particularly calcium, magnesium and potassium – into the broth.

The gelatin in this homemade beef stock recipe is especially beneficial. Gelatin acts first and foremost as an aid to digestion and has been used successfully in the treatment of many intestinal disorders including hyperacidity, colitis and Crohn’s disease. Although gelatin is not a complete protein, it acts as a protein sparer, allowing the body to more fully utilize the complete proteins that are taken in.

Learning how to make beef stock will add immensely to the flavor of your cooking. In European cuisines, rich stocks form the basis for exquisite sauces when combined with herbs and/or wine. If you make beef stock, your cooking will be delicious and nutritious.

Make Homemade Beef Stock in Bulk and Store It to Save Time

This homemade beef stock recipe can be made in bulk and stored until needed. Clear stock will keep about five days in the refrigerator, longer if re-boiled. In the freezer it lasts at least six months and we have used it up to two years after making it.

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You may find it useful to store your stock in pint-sized and quart-sized containers so that you can defrost just what you need for a recipe. If space is at a premium in your freezer, boil your stock down for several hours until it becomes very thick and syrupy. This concentrated stock can be frozen in small containers or zip-lock bags and thawed easily in cold water. After thawing, simply add water to turn it back into stock.

Be sure to label your homemade beef stock with the date and what kind it is (regular- reduced – concentrated, includes fat) because it will all look the same once it is in your freezer.

How to Make Beef Stock – Tips

As with all stocks, it is important to start with cold water. At the ingredients warm in the water, their fibers open slowly, releasing their juices to add flavor.

As with all of our recipes, use only organic and/or free-range ingredients from reliable sources.

Preparation time : 30 minutes

Cooking time: 24-48 hours

Yield : 4 quarts of stock

How to Make Beef Stock – Ingredients

  • 4 lbs Beef marrow and knuckle bones
  • 3 lbs meaty rib or neck bones
  • 4 quarts cold filtered water
  • ½ cup vinegar (any type)
  • 3 stalks celery, chopped
  • 3 onions, chopped
  • 3 carrots, peeled and chopped
  • 1 tsp dried peppercorns, crushed
  • 1 tsp Thyme (or several fresh sprigs) optional

How to Make Beef Stock – Procedure

  1. Place beef bones in a crock pot and add remaining ingredients except for thyme and peppercorns
  2. Turn your crock pot on to “high” and let it go for at least 8 hours before opening lid and skimming the scum that has come to the surface off. If you are using meaty bones, you can remove the meat at this point to use in other recipes.
  3. Add the thyme and peppercorns
  4. Turn your crock pot on to “low” and let it go for at least 24 hours and up to 72 hours – it will look like brown mush – but don’t worry - after straining, it will look and taste wonderful!
  5. Strain stock thru a large colander into a large bowl. You should have a rich brown liquid in the bowl.
  6. Fill pint and quart sized containers with stock, using a tea strainer to remove any last little particles.
  7. Let the stock cool before skimming the fat off the top (if you like, nothing is wrong with the fat, but the best clear sauces are made with chicken stock from which the fat has been removed)
  8. Label stock with the date and store or add veggies and the meat you removed earlier for an easy beef vegetable soup.

Source for How to Make Beef Stock

This homemade beef stock recipe was inspired/adapted for crock pot by Maria from Nourishing Traditions by Sally Fallon with Dr. Mary Enig, page 122

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