How to Make Homemade Beef Stock: Easy Beef Stock Recipe

Beef stock is something that I find myself using all of the time during the fall and winter months. I love having homemade beef stock for soups such as beef and barley, minestrone, or vegetable soup. I also use it in my beef stroganoff or any other recipe where liquid is needed. It gives the recipes incredible flavor when you use homemade beef stock. 

Beef stock is also referred to as bone broth, the process of making them is the same. Many people enjoy drinking bone broth for the variety of benefits that it provides. It can help you get through the fall and winter months and is also helpful if you are recovering from a procedure.

Why Make Homemade Beef Stock?

After making homemade beef stock, you will never want to buy store bought stock again. The flavor is completely different and it tastes so much better! It is rich and flavorful from all of the vegetables and spices that are added to it as well as allowing it to simmer and cook for several hours. 

It is also so much cheaper to make it at home. Usually I am making it from ingredients that are leftover from other meals (such as a bones from a roast and vegetable scraps) but even if you had to buy all of the ingredients, the amount of stock that you are able to make from them will still be cheaper than buying that stock from the store.

Ingredients for Homemade Beef Stock

The ingredients for homemade beef stock are simple. You will need beef bones and you can get them from a local butcher shop or you can use leftovers from a roast. I keep a bag in my freezer for vegetable scraps. I add my carrot peels and celery tops to this bag and when it is full, it is a reminder that it’s time to make stock. I use a silicone bag but you could use any freezer safe bag. 

If you don’t have vegetable scraps, you can use fresh carrots and celery. Make sure that they are washed first. Here are directions for washing carrots. If you want written directions for washing and storing over 75 produce items, you can find them in my bestselling eBook Series. 

Onions give the beef stock a rich, deep color. I put them into the stock pot with the skins on in order to ensure this color.

Step-by-Step Beef Stock Recipe

To make beef stock, all of the ingredients can be added to a large pot or roasting pan. I prefer to make large batches of stock in the roasting pan, but you can also use an Instant Pot or stock pot. You will need a strainer to separate the liquid from the rest of the ingredients. Make sure that you are saving the liquid!

We are so used to straining things to keep the item in the strainer, but it is the opposite in the case of stock. Make sure that you are straining it into a clean bowl. I transfer my stock into a gallon sized jar for storage. From there, it can be separated out into smaller jars as needed.

Tips for Storing Beef Stock

This beef stock can be stored two ways, in your refrigerator without any additional processing, or it can be pressure canned. You can learn about the basics of home canning in this blog post. 

When stored in the freezer, beef stock will stay fresh for six months. Make sure that you cool the beef stock off in the fridge before placing it in the freezer. If pressure canned, it is shelf stable for three years.