bone broth---frozen bones?

[nukuspot]

I have 3 bags of frozen bones I got from the last time we bought 1/4 a grass fed organic beef cow. I want to make bone broth and I am getting excited. They are in the freezer right now. So question is: If I am going to make it in my crockpot, should I defrost the bones first or put them frozen right into the water?

[stephienoodle]

I've done both and it has worked just fine both ways.

[snguyen]

Just put them in frozen--works fine, less time.

[Shyentist]

I've done both, too.

Just make sure to blanch them, either way

[cristeen]

I actually prefer beef broth when the bones have been roasted first. So I would do that before popping them into the crockpot.

[kjbrown92]

I agree. Roast them first.

[Teenytoona]

Ditto on the thaw and roast them first.

[philomom]

I like to break the bones and they seem to snap better when frozen. So no, I don't usually thaw them beforehand. I just break them frozen and dump them into the crockpot..

[my_baby_love]

I also like it better when the bones are roasted first, so I usually thaw them and roast them before making broth.

[DesertFlower]

Hi, I just stumbled on this thread.

How do you roast the bones?

[Llyra]

I use frozen bones to make stock. I don't think it really matters all that much what you do-- it seems to come out fine no matter what.

Sometimes the bones have already been roasted, because I saved them from a cooked chicken or a cooked piece of meat. In that case, I just toss them into the pot frozen.

If they're "raw" bones, then I put them in a shallow pan, and stick them in the oven on 375 for about an hour. I wouldn't thaw first, but that's just laziness on my part. It doesn't seem to make any difference in the result, anyway. I mostly roast because it seems to add some nice color to the stock. I think just tossing them frozen into the pot would work just fine, too.

[cyclamen]

I like to roast them.  I also don't bother thawing, just dump them in my dutch oven and bake them until they start to brown, then boil.

[CherryBomb]

I like to thaw my soup bones.  I don't roast them first, I put them in raw.