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 leftover Thanksgiving turkey to make the best bone broth!

Bone broth is a regular 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 that is packed with health benefits.

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, homemade turkey stock made with leftover turkey bones is a miracle elixir for repairing the tissue of the digestive tract. This improves digestion, promotes a healthy gut microbiome, and enhances overall health and immunity.

Not only is this turkey bone broth recipe a great way of making great use of the whole bird, it is also so rejuvenating for your body! Ideal during the holiday months when mealtimes can be a little more indulgent than normal.

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

Use it in leftover turkey soup or as a soup base for all kinds of recipes! Or you can do as I do and drink a mug of warm bone broth regularly.

My favorite method for making homemade bone broth is using the Instant Pot, because it is relatively quick and I don’t notice a difference in quality compared to the other methods.

Nevertheless, let’s go over three ways to make homemade turkey stock!

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, a splash of 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 Water Filter). 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.

You can also perform this step using a fine mesh strainer. Just be sure it is fine enough to separate out the tiny bones.

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. It also accounts for the richer flavor of homemade stock as compared to a basic broth.

Stove Top Instructions:

1. Pick any remaining turkey meat off of the leftover turkey carcass and set it aside to use in soup or for other recipes. 
2. Transfer the bones to a large stock pot such as a Dutch oven. In order to get the carcass to fit, you will need to break down the bones at the joints so that they can pack down in the pot. 
3. Add fresh vegetables such as chopped yellow onion, garlic, celery, carrots, apple cider vinegar, etc. if you’d like. These additions bring more flavor to the broth but they are not mandatory! 
4. Cover the bones with enough water so that they are fully submerged. I make sure my bones have at least one inch of water over them.
5. Cover the large pot with a lid and place on stove top over high heat. Bring the homemade turkey bone broth to a full boil. Reduce the heat to a rolling boil and allow the mixture to continue boiling for about 10 minutes. Reduce the heat to a simmer and continue cooking for at least 12 hours, up to 24. Check on the bone broth the next morning and follow Steps 6 through 9 above.

Slow Cooker Instructions:

1. Remove any remaining leftover turkey meat off of the leftover turkey carcass. Set it aside to use in soup or for other leftover Thanksgiving dinner recipes. 
2. Transfer the bones to the bottom of your slow cooker. In order to get the carcass to fit into the crock pot, you will need to break down the bones. It is easiest to do this by twisting the bones out of their joints so that they can pack down in the slow cooker. 
3. Toss in any additions you may enjoy such as onions, carrots, bay leaves, etc.
4. Cover the bones with enough water so that they are almost entirely covered, if not covered. Pay attention to the water level as you don’t want to fill the crock pot too full.
5. Secure the lid on the slow cooker and cook on Low heat 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 gelatinous texture is where all of the collagen and gelatin is housed. This is what 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 bones, chicken bones, 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.

I have a separate tutorial on this site for Chicken bone broth, but the basic concept is the same regardless of the kind of homemade bone broth you make.

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.

This applies to chicken bones for chicken stock or beef bones for beef broth as well.

How Long to Cook Bone Broth:

I imagine you’re looking for the cooking time for each method of preparation. I have included the cooking times for each method below.

It is important to note that the longer the bones simmer, the more collagen and health benefits will be extracted from them.

For this reason, I typically recommend setting aside plenty of time to be sure you’re getting the most out of your bone broth.

• Instant Pot: 2 hours on High Pressure
• Stove Top: 12 to 24 hours
• Slow Cooker: 18 to 72 hours on Low heat (I typically go with 24 hours).

​In each instance, you can set up the recipe the night before and finish the process the next day.

How to Store Bone Broth:

Once cooled, store bone broth in sanitized jars in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.

You can freeze bone broth in freezer-safe containers for up to 3 months.

Remember that liquid expands as it freezes, so I don’t recommend freezing it in glass jars.

Can I Freeze Bones For Later Use?:

If you intend on making marvelous gelatinous bone broth out of your picked-over turkey carcass, but you don’t have time immediately, no sweat.

Simply freeze the bones in large zip lock bags or a freezer bag until you’re ready to prepare the recipe.

What to Do With Bone Broth:

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

And that’s it!

An incredible base for soup and a brilliant use for Thanksgiving leftovers, this homemade turkey broth makes the most out of the leftover meat and leftover carcass.

Keep the magic of your holiday meal going by making the best soup!

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