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How to Make Affordable Bone Broth Using Beef Feet
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If the rising prices of beef bones for making bone broth exceed your grocery budget, you will be delighted to learn how to make affordable bone broth using beef feet.
Yes! Beef feet! They are rich in collagen, and when you cook them, the beef feet create gelatin. The resulting highly-gelatinous bone broth soothes our digestive systems and nourishes our skin, hair, and nails.
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Affordable Bone Broth Made with Beef Feet
Beef feet often costs as little as $2.00 per pound, which is significantly cheaper than other beef bones that can run in excess of $5.00 per pound and even up to $15.00 per pound. The price difference between $2 and $15 is significant!
Many grocery stores will carry beef feet. But if you can’t find them at your local market, chances are that any ethnic grocery store will sell them.
How to Make Your Beef Feet Bone Broth Gelatinous
Beef feet makes extremely rich and gelatinous bone broth, thanks to the high amount of collagen they contain. However, no matter what type of beef bone broth or any bone broth that you are making, the key to success is following a few simple steps:
- After browning your bones in the oven, soak them in your stockpot for one hour. Cover your bones with water mixed with some type of acid, such as wine, fortified wine, vinegar, or lemon juice. Acidulating the water will help to leach the collagen from the bones. Make sure you have just enough water to cover your bones.
- After soaking the bones for one hour, add the rest of your ingredients and add water to cover. (For a list of recommended ingredients, consult the printable recipe.) DO NOT add excess water. Having too much water dilutes the potential of the gelatin to form.
- Place your filled stockpot on the stovetop, bring everything up to a boil, then immediately turn the temperature down to its lowest setting.
- Allow the bone broth to simmer on low for 12 hours.
If you follow these simple steps, your bone broth should be quite rich in gelatin once you strain and cool it.
More Beef Bone Broth Recipes With or Without Beef Feet
Making beef bone broth with beef feet is the perfect option to create an affordable collagen-rich bone broth. And it can never hurt to throw in a beef foot when making any type of bone broth to give it a collagen boost.
For more ideas for how to make an assortment of bone broths, including a traditional beef bone broth made in the slow cooker, stovetop, or the Instant Pot, be sure to check out the following videos.
Bone Broth in the Slow Cooker
If you make bone broth in the slow cooker, remember that bone broth likes to simmer at a low temperature. So set your slow cooker on warm or low for the simmer time.
Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
When you make bone broth in the Instant Pot, you will set the internal temperature to “Low.” However, even at this setting, the temperature in the Instant Pot will be higher than the temperature at which bone broth generally likes to simmer.
But don’t worry. Your bone broth will still be gelatinous, just maybe not as gelatinous as how it would turn out in the slow cooker or on the stovetop. However, even though you will lose a little bit of gelatin, your required simmer time to make bone broth will drop dramatically to just two hours. That’s a great trade-off!
Bone Broth on the Stovetop
Although it does require a bit of babysitting, one of my favorite ways to make bone broth is the old-fashioned way on the stovetop, just like our grandmothers did.
Or, if you go way back, our ancestors could have made bone broth on the wood stove top or over an open fire outside in a big cast iron pot! Making bone broth on the stovetop is probably the closest thing to foolproof that any recipe can ever be!
More Bone Broth Tips
I cover a wide range of bone broth topics in the videos below that will probably answer every question you have ever had about bone broth! 😉
You’ll learn:
- How to use bone broth
- What’s the difference between broth, stock, and bone broth
- What are the best bones for making beef bone broth
- What is beef gelatin, and why it’s important
- And lots more!
Making Other Types of Bone Broth
In addition to beef bone broth, you can make all different types of bone broth, including a simple chicken bone broth that uses the carcass leftover from a roast chicken.
Chicken Bone Broth
The following chicken bone broth recipe literally costs pennies to make! (And be sure to check out the video below, where I share my favorite “secret” ingredient to add to chicken bone broth.)
Fish Bone Broth
Want a thyroid-loving bone broth? Then look no further than fish bone broth. This bone broth takes no more than 45 minutes to make and uses nothing more than a fish carcass and some veggie scraps.
So next time you are at the market, ask your fishmonger for the carcass of a fish. He’ll probably sell it to you for about $2.00!
Pork Bone Broth
If you want to know the secret to smooth, wrinkle-free skin, you’ll want to make and drink pork bone broth. Like bone broth made from beef feet, pork bone broth is very inexpensive and literally tastes like what some have described as liquid bacon! Yum!
Turkey Bone Broth
And when Thanksgiving rolls around, don’t forget to save your turkey carcass and make turkey bone broth!
Looking for Bones for Making Beef Bone Broth?
If you can’t find beef bones in your neighborhood supermarket or farmer’s market, check out US Wellness Meats for a variety of grass-fed beef bones that will help you make a nutritious and gelatinous beef bone broth.
- Use discount code MARYNEST and my link to save 15% off regular-priced items on your US Wellness Meats order. You can shop for a variety of products, including:
This post is not sponsored. I’m a long-time customer of US Wellness Meats because I have always been impressed by the quality of their products. Check out my US Wellness Meats unboxing video to see the types of products you can get, including bones for beef bone broth!
Download Your Free 36-Page Pantry List
As you incorporate more bone broth into your recipe and meal planning repertoire, you will be well on your way to creating a traditional foods kitchen.
I’m here to help you on your journey with an extensive list of the traditional foods you can make and purchase to stock your pantry. Be sure to download my free 36-page Traditional Foods Pantry List for a comprehensive eBook that is full of links to recipe videos, helpful articles, and more!
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In the following members-only video, I talk about the importance of cooking with traditional fats, specifically animal fats.
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Affordable Bone Broth Using Beef Feet
Equipment
- 10 Quart Slow Cooker Optionally, you can use a smaller slow cooker or make this in a stockpot on the stovetop.
- 1 Pair of Tongs
- 1 Baking sheet or roasting pan
- 1 "Spider" Skimmer or Strainer
- 1 Large Mesh Strainer
- 2 Half Gallon Jars with Lids Optionally, you could use 4 quart-sized jars with lids.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds Beef feet
- 6 large Beef neck bones
- 1 cup Marsala or other fortified wine You can also use regular wine, vinegar, or lemon juice. If you use vinegar or lemon juice, use no more than 1/4 cup.
- 6-8 cups Vegetable scraps, including those from onions, carrots, and celery Alternatively, you could use one whole onion, 2-3 carrots, and 2-3 stalks of celery. You can leave everything unpeeled, but chop them up before adding.
- 1 large Dried bay leaf
- 10 whole Peppercorns
- Water
Instructions
- Place the beef feet and neck bones on a baking sheet or in a roasting pan, and place the sheet or pan on the middle rack of an oven preheated to 425°F. Roast feet and bones for 45 minutes or until nicely browned.
- Transfer the feet and bones to the liner of a slow cooker.
- Deglaze the baking sheet or roasting pan, and add the deglazed liquid to the slow cooker.
- Scrape the baking sheet or roasting pan free of any bits of fond. (Fond is the brown bits still left on the pan after deglazing.) Transfer this fond to the slow cooker.
- Add just enough water to the slow cooker to cover the bones.
- Add Marsala to the slow cooker.
- Allow the feet and the bones to soak in the acidulated water for one hour.
- After one hour, turn the slow cooker to high and bring the mixture to a boil. Skim off any scum that rises to the top.
- Add the vegetable scraps or vegetables along with the bay leaf and peppercorns.
- Add additional water to cover everything, but DO NOT add any more water than needed.
- Cover the slow cooker and turn the temperature to Warm or Low. You will have to experiment with the temperature since every slow cooker is different.
- You only want to see small bubbles in the bone broth as it simmers. You DO NOT want your bone broth bubbling.
- Simmer the bone broth for 12 hours.
- After 12 hours, remove the feet, bones, and vegetables from the slow cooker and strain the bone broth. (See video.)
- Decant the bone broth and refrigerate or freeze. Your bone broth will stay fresh for one week refrigerated without the fat cap or two weeks with the fat cap in place. (See video.) You can freeze the bone broth for up to 12 months.
Video
Notes
Shop for items used in this blog post or video
Favorite Bone Broth Making Supplies
- 7-Quart Slow-Cooker
- 8-Quart Slow-Cooker
- 10-Quart Slow-Cooker
- Fat Separator (Clever kitchen device to help you decant bone broth)
- Stainless Steel Strainer (Also called a spider strainer)
- Flour Sack Towels
Favorite Kitchen Supplies
- Favorite Aprons
- Whisk
- Silica Gel Packets (Helps keep moisture from building up in your mix)
- Cast Iron Dutch Oven
- pH Strips (Helps you check on the acidity of your vinegar)
More Kitchen Supplies with Discount Codes
- Mockmill Grain Grinder (for making homemade flour)
Learn more about Mockmill electric grain mills for making fresh flour and their Flake Lover's Flaker that flakes whole grain in minutes.
Use promo code MARYSNST for a one-time 15% off Masontops and Breadsmart products on Amazon.com.
Amazon Shop and Shopping Guide
- Visit Mary’s Nest Amazon Shop
- Visit my Shopping Guide page
Get up to 15% off for stocking your Traditional Foods Pantry and equipping your Modern Pioneer Kitchen, including discounts from US Wellness Meats, Farmhouse Teas, Lehman's, Masontops, Cultures for Health, Survival Garden Seeds, Redmond Real Salt, Plan to Eat, and More!
Recommended Reading
Disclaimer:I am not a medical doctor, a medical professional, a dietician, or a nutritionist. All content found on the MarysNest.com website, including text, images, videos, eBooks or eGuides, social media, or other formats, were created solely for informational purposes only. The content is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified healthcare provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition or proper nutritional advice. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have watched in a video or read on this website. Use caution when following the recipe in this video. The creator and publisher of this video and website will not be held responsible for any adverse effects that may arise from the use of this recipe and method or any other recipe and method on this website or corresponding video channel.
You have really done your homework Mary
I’m enjoying the videos.
I just see you have discounts for cooking.
Good for you
Thanks for your patience and your thoroughness including your research and experience in dealing with a variety of people.
Enjoyed looking at your garden with your son and the snapshot of your husband.
God certainly has you here for a purpose.
I can see the value of the beans with sauces and gravies .
Thanks too for the tips on using a container for scraps to go into the freezer.
Many thanks. I have a lot of videos to watch.
I’m 75 yrs but needed this info to improve gut health, brain health and immune health.
Carol from thevBahamas.
Hi Carol,
Thanks so much for your kind words. I’m so glad we’re on this traditional foods journey together! 🙂
Love and God bless,
Mary