My homemade bone broth recipe for dogs is a healthy and flavorful elixir your furry friends will love. It’s super easy to make and calls for fresh ingredients like beef marrow bones, veggies, and herbs. When prepared correctly, it can be a great addition to your pup’s diet, providing nutrients and improving their overall well-being. Bonus: The broth smells so good that our dogs jump around excitedly every time I serve it!
Using the “endless” method for this recipe quickly turned it into a household favorite. A never-ending bone broth is great to have around not just for your dogs but for humans, too! It’s a comforting treat once soup season arrives and you’re hankering for easy soup recipes. Demand is always high and there’s never enough to last us a week, but I’m more than happy to share my batches of broth with the whole brood — humans and animals alike.
Once the entire household gets into broth, knowing how to make endless bone broth takes your food prep skills to a new level. And when you take the time to prepare homemade broth for your dogs, they’ll know you’ve gone the extra mile to give them tail-wagging good health. Keep reading to learn how to make bone broth for dogs, including special considerations to ensure your pup’s health and happiness.
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Why You’ll Love This Recipe
When I first started eating nose-to-tail, bone broth was one of the first recipes I learned to make. Recently, it’s become all the rage, with humans slurping up enough for its purported health impacts. Whether you’re simmering your own at home or buying a pre-made broth online, drinking bone broth is more than just a trend.
Nose-to-tail eating is a respectful way to use all animal parts, with little to zero waste. Your furry friends can greatly benefit from it, too! With my homemade bone broth recipe for dogs, you have complete control over what goes into the broth and use high-quality ingredients that may give your pups a range of possible health benefits that improve gut and joint health, as well as their immune system. Here are more reasons to love this recipe:
- Simple ingredients: Requires just 2 ingredients (not including water) you may already have in your fridge.
- Budget-friendly: A great way to use leftover bones, veggies, and herb scraps that would otherwise be discarded.
- Amazing flavors: Irresistibly rich and savory flavor from the bones and vegetables, and a naturally meaty aroma that’s sure to whet appetites.
- Basic kitchen equipment: Uses tools commonly found in most kitchens, including a stockpot or large pot, a pan, a slow cooker or stovetop, and a fine-mesh sieve for straining out the solids.
- Easy-to-follow directions: Follow 5 simple, straightforward steps, from prepping the ingredients to straining and storing the broth.
I’ve always found the history of bone broth fascinating and I’m happy to continue the tradition in our home and share it with others. One of our first Youtube recipe vlogs features this homemade bone broth recipe. It’s a fun blast from the past. Our daughter was so young back then!
How to Make Bone Broth Recipe for Dogs
Few things are more nourishing and satisfying than a homemade meal, whether it’s for you or your dogs. Simple, flavorful, and healthy, this bone broth recipe for dogs is a great addition to your pet’s diet.
Simmering the broth can range from 12 hours to 24 hours, but the actual time for prep and hands-free countertop cooking takes just 20 minutes or less. To start, simmer the beef bones in water with dog-safe veggies and herbs for 12 hours or overnight, removing any impurities before serving. Strain and let cool, then serve immediately as a nutritious treat.
Scroll to the bottom of this post for a printable recipe card with a full list of ingredients, measurements, and step-by-step instructions on how to make bone broth for dogs.
Ingredients You Need
Buying pre-made broth at specialty stores and online is convenient if you’re busy or don’t want to fuss over making the broth yourself. However, homemade bone broth is always the best option because you know exactly what goes in each batch. You don’t even need a laundry list of ingredients for my bone broth recipe for dogs.
- Beef marrow bones: Choose grass-fed beef for the richest flavor. You can also opt for goat or lamb bones. If you don’t have a local source, I recommend buying from US Wellness.
- Veggies and herb scraps (optional): For this recipe, I added some carrots, celery stalks, and rosemary sprigs for a sweet, herbaceous kick.
IMPORTANT: Most human recipes for bone broth contain garlic and onions. While they make the broth delicious, garlic and onions contain potential toxins harmful to dogs, according to the American Kennel Club. Only give your pet bone broth specifically formulated for canine consumption.
Variations
Homemade bone broth is a highly versatile recipe. It’s completely optional, but you can make it fun by adding more dog-friendly ingredients or trying other variations. Here are my favorite ideas:
- Use a mix of marrow, meaty, and knuckle bones. Tails and feet also make great additions that add extra collagen and gelatin to your broth.
- Add a small dose of raw, unfiltered, unpasteurized apple cider vinegar to help extract more minerals from the bones.
- Add more dog-friendly veggies like rainbow or baby carrots (instead of regular carrots), seasonal veggies like pumpkin and zucchini, sweet potatoes, green beans, broccoli, kelp, and chopped spinach or kale. This is best done for a normal batch of broth when you don’t need to strain out reusable ingredients for never-ending broth.
- Mix with additional canine-friendly herbs such as basil, oregano, parsley, and thyme.
- Freeze the broth in ice cube trays or molds and serve them frozen to help your pups stay cool during summer.
- Use your homemade bone broth for soups, dips, purees, sauces, and braising vegetables.
Step-By-Step Instructions
Now that you know how to make homemade bone broth, let’s get cookin’! Here’s an easy step-by-step process for making this bone broth recipe for dogs (that’s good for humans, too!):
- Prepare the ingredients. In a large stock pot, combine the beef bones with carrots, celery stalks, and rosemary sprigs. Pour in 3 quarts of water until boiling, then lower the heat to a simmer, maintaining for 12 hours or overnight. Skim off foam or any impurities that may rise to the surface during cooking.
- Let cool and strain. Remove from heat and allow the broth to cool, then strain through a sieve to discard the cooked ingredients.
- Serve or store. Serve immediately, store in portions in the fridge, or freeze the leftovers.
- Make “endless” broth. Strain the bones and separate out the vegetables, herbs, and any meaty parts you want to eat. Return the cooked marrow bones to the pot, toss in an additional 1 to 2 additional pounds of fresh meaty bones. Then, fill the pot with water again and start simmering another batch of broth. Repeat this process for a week or even up to a month (cleaning out the pot when needed), until the marrow is completely gone and the porous parts have disintegrated.
IMPORTANT: Never feed cooked bones to dogs. Cooking makes the bones brittle and more likely to splinter, which can cause serious injuries. Splintered bones can lead to choking or tears in your dog’s digestive tract, which is potentially life-threatening and may require emergency veterinary care.
Expert Tips
- Simplify the process. Reduce the simmering time by using an instant pot or pressure cooker to make the bone broth. Unlike traditional stovetop methods, you can make the broth in just 2 to 3 hours on high pressure, while still extracting the flavor and nutrients from the bones.
- Avoid seasonings. A bone broth recipe for dogs is prepared somewhat differently than bone broth for humans. Keep it dog-friendly by skipping the spices, seasonings, and salt.
- Carefully read the ingredient list on the pre-made bone broth package before serving it to your pup.
- Keep the tallow. Tallow rises to the top of the bone broth and solidifies at room temperature. This thick cap will safely seal the broth below and preserve it well for up to 2 weeks. Beef tallow is an excellent fat for cooking and frying. Your skin will love it too, so be sure not to throw it away!
How to Store This Recipe
Proper storage is key if you have a large batch of bone broth or want to save portions for later. Allow the broth to cool completely then transfer it into airtight containers in the fridge for 3 to 5 days.
This bone broth recipe for dogs also freezes well and can last up to 3 months when stored correctly in the freezer in freezer-safe containers or mason jars. You can also transfer the broth to ice cube trays, which is a great way to have single servings readily available. When ready to serve, thaw the frozen bone broth in the refrigerator overnight or defrost it using gentle heat on the stovetop.
What to Serve with Bone Broth Recipe for Dogs
There are a few things to remember when serving a dog bone broth. Once it’s cool and ready, you can strain the cooked ingredients from the broth and feed it to your pup, either as a treat or a meal topper. You can also serve it on its own as a refreshing drink.
Start serving in small amounts then gradually increase the serving size over time. Ask your vet for guidance and lean on their expertise when needed. Remember that bone broth is supplementary feed and not intended as a meal replacement. Pair it with your dog’s kibble or protein and veggies.
More Bone Broth Recipes to Try
If you make this bone broth recipe for dogs, please leave a review. I really appreciate each and every 5-star rating and comment!
Homemade Bone Broth Recipe | The “Endless” Method
Equipment
- Stock pot
Ingredients
- 4-6 pounds beef bones from grass-fed beef, goat, or lamb*
- ¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar lemon, or lime juice
- veggie and herb scraps optional, see note
Instructions
- Dry roast bones at 350 °F until lightly golden brown by placing the bones in a roasting pan or glass pyrex, (no butter or oil). Roast for about 20 minutes.**4-6 pounds beef bones
- In a large pot, add the bones and cover completely with water. Pour in vinegar or lemon/lime juice.¼ cup raw apple cider vinegar
- Bring to a simmer over low heat and maintain for 24 hours. Do not boil. Keep an eye on the water line, make sure the bones stay covered with water. Top off as needed.
- Add optional herbs and veggie scraps like onion, carrot, celery, rosemary, thyme, and/or oregano in the last two hours of the cooking time.veggie and herb scraps
- Remove from heat and let cool a little. If there is any film on top, skim it off. Strain contents through a cheese cloth or fine mesh strainer. Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, freeze for longer.
- To make ENDLESS broth: Strain the bones and separate what ever meaty parts you want to eat. Return the cooked bones to the pot and add an additional 1-2 pounds of fresh meaty bones. Begin the process again from step 2. Repeat this process over and over again all week (month?) long. You’ll see when the bones are done; there marrow will be gone and the porous parts will have disintegrated. Keep the cycle going by tossing the old bones and replacing with fresh meaty ones until you’ve had enough.
Video
Notes
Nutrition & Macros
To obtain the most accurate representation of the nutritional information in a given recipe, please calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients and amounts used, using your preferred nutrition calculator. Under no circumstances shall the this website and the author be responsible for any loss or damage resulting for your reliance on the given nutritional information.
Hello. When you say to simmer for 24 hours does that have to be non stop or can I stop the cooking process overnight and start it up again in the morning.
Thank you
Thanks for the question, Al – the simmer needs to be non-stop for the full period, or at least 18 hours minimum.
Have you adapted this recipe to Quick Pot?
Hi Rebecca, I’m not familiar with a “Quick Pot” and haven’t adapted this recipe for that appliance. Usually, brands will give general guidelines on how to adapt standard stovetop recipes to their unique appliance. I suggest you ask the company or search for articles that teach how to adapt recipes for the specific tool you have. Since this broth recipe is so simple, it shouldn’t be difficult to modify at all!
You say “simmer, but do not boil” Is there a reason for that? Wouldn’t it concentrate the broth even more to keep boiling the liquid away and adding more throughout the process? thanks. ralph
I understand your thinking but long-time broth researchers like the Weston A Price Foundation and Sally Fallon Morell who wrote Nourishing Traditions consistently recommend a long cooking period over low temperature as a way to best preserve the quality of nutrients and mineral content.
Yes, I’ve heard that using apple cider vinegar helps pull more nutrients from the meat. My question is will the broth have that vinegar taste to it when it’s done? I’m worried to add it to the broth. My husband hates apple cider vinegar.
Hi Candice, no I don’t notice a taste of vinegar once the broth finishes. There’s only 1/4 cup in a few liters of broth. It’s not noticeable. If you’re worried you could use just 2 tbsp at first and then increase to the full 1/4 cup next time.