Good bone broth is a waiting game — the longer it cooks, the more flavor and collagen it pulls from the bones. The problem with doing that on a stovetop is exactly that: hours of babysitting a pot, adjusting heat so it never boils hard enough to turn cloudy. Sous vide removes that entire chore.
Why Sous Vide Works So Well for Broth
A rolling boil on the stovetop agitates fat and impurities into the liquid, which is what makes traditionally simmered stock turn cloudy. A sous vide water bath holds a steady, gentle temperature with zero agitation, so the broth extracts flavor and collagen slowly without ever disturbing it — the result is a clearer, cleaner-tasting stock with less skimming required.
Basic Method
- Add bones (chicken, beef, or a mix), roughly chopped aromatics (onion, carrot, celery, garlic), and a splash of vinegar to help draw out minerals, into a large sous vide bag.
- Cover with water, leaving room for expansion, and vacuum seal or use the water displacement method.
- Set your EMBENLY sous vide cooker to 185°F (85°C) — well within its precision temperature range — and clip it to a large stockpot or container.
- Submerge the bag and let it cook low and slow, checking your device's continuous-use guidelines to determine how long you can safely run it in one session; chicken bones generally need less time than beef bones to extract good flavor.
- Strain through a fine mesh strainer, discard the solids, and season to taste.
Why 185°F Instead of a Full Simmer
Staying just below a simmer extracts collagen and flavor effectively over a longer cook time, without the constant agitation that clouds a traditional stovetop batch — it's a trade of active babysitting for passive time.
Storage Tips
Bone broth keeps well in the fridge for about 4–5 days, or can be portioned into containers and frozen for longer storage. Skim any solidified fat off the top before reheating if you prefer a leaner broth.
A Note on Bag Size
Because this recipe needs more volume than a typical single-portion bag, make sure your bag and container are large enough to fully submerge the bones with room for the water bath to circulate evenly around them.
