So, it has been too long since I posted. We have been plagued with a massive cold/throat infection in my house, plus having been a bit extra busy on the work front. All in all that meant not enough time and energy for everything. But lets hope this was the only virus we have to endure this winter (knock on wood ;). So in the spirit of runny noses, sore throats and a gut that needs some serious healing I want to share this bone broth recipe with you all. When dealing with Histamine Intolerance (HIT) it is important to remember to not only focus on what to eliminate from your diet, but to also focus on what kinds of food help you to heal. And bone broth is one of those healing foods, really good for healing your gut. Bone broth is smack filled with nutrients like essential minerals (calcium, magnesium, potassium), phosphor, silicon, sulphur, collagen, gelatin, glucosamine etc.
Disclaimer: Bone Broth, may not be tolerated by everybody, even when cooked for a shorter time as the recipe here below. Even though bone broth is great for gut health it can be too high in histamine, especially the longer you cook it, and commercial products. I recommend to leave this recipe be if you are still in the elimination phase, and bring it back carefully when reintroducing.
I let my broth simmer for about 4 hours, instead of the 8-12 hours usually recommended. This will go a long way for making it more histamine friendly. If you still have a reaction to bone broth made in this way, you can try making it in a pressure cooker, which will allow you to bring down the cooking time significantly. The blog delicate belly has two recipes for low histamine bone broth and low histamine chicken broth made in this way. To help release all the nutrient from the bone you can add something acidic like some lemon or vinegar (apple cider vinegar, or distilled white vinegar), if tolerated of course. I find I do okay with both lemon and apple cider vinegar in small amounts. I got this great tip from Fiona Long, whom I follow on instagram. In general social media is a great way to find inspiration for what you can eat when dealing with HIT, just remember we are all individuals, so listen to your body. Fiona tells me that she originally got it from Dr. Axe, who has a great to the point article about the health benefits of bone broth.
For this recipe, I made used of both cow and chicken. I used chicken wings with both meat and skin on it, I cut each wing into two pieces (separated at the joint), and some marrow bones (cow). One of the things I have changed since if found out that excess histamine was a problem for me is where I get my meat. I don’t buy vacuum packed meat from the supermarket anymore. Now I get all my meat from the butcher. When I buy the meat I always ask them how fresh it is, and what has been added to it. That way I for instance found out which days of the week my butcher has the freshest ground meat, which is extra good to know since ground meat spoil faster than non ground meat. If you are dealing with HIT, I definitely urge you to find a good butcher 🙂 Buy fresh and good quality meat, it is alpha-omega.
For extra flavor add in some veggies and herbs of you choice, for this recipe I used leek, carrot, parsnip, celery, and white onions. The white onions are lower in histamine than the yellow onions. I fried up the onions in a bit of olive oil before adding the other ingredients. This step is totally optional, but I find that it helps bring out the sweetness of the onions. For the same reason I brown part of the chicken wings as well before adding water to the pot. Note this also give a slightly darker broth.
In terms of herbs, I used a mix of parsley, sage, rosemary, thyme, oregano and a couple of laurel leaves. I don’t normally add pepper or garlic to my broth, because I don’t react very well to spicy foods and I’m very sensitive to garlic. But if you tolerate any of them, please do add it. Note if you are making a broth with a more Asian vibe including turmeric, it is worth adding a little black pepper, because the piperine, in black pepper, increases the uptake of the curcumin, in turmeric, to the blood stream.
Once you have added the white onion, and the chicken wings (plus optional browning) and marrow to the pot, you can add in veggies and herbs of your choice. Cover with water, add (sea)salt, and slowly bring to a boil. If you want to add lemon or apple cider vinegar, do so before the water boils. Once it boils reduce the heat, and let the broth simmer for about 4 hours (longer if you know you tolerate it). Remove any scum as it arises.
Turn off the heat after about 4 hours and let the broth cool slightly before straining it. Transfer the strained broth to containers and and let them cool before placing them in the freezer, or use the broth straight away.
Once the broth has cooled, a layer of fat has formed on top of the broth, you can remove this part if you want a less fat broth. If you do remove it, wait until you are using the broth, as the fat layer also offers a layer of protection for the broth. Just for illustration purposes I poured mine into some flasks, with a narrow neck, then you can clearly see the fat layer being formed.
But please note, that this is not very handy in use, it was fairly difficult to get the broth out of the flask again after it had cooled.
As a closing remark, visit your butcher and get cooking, I promise you it is worth your time……. It is healthy, healing, taste great, and gives your whole house a wonderful smell. For me it so smells like my moms kitchen……… total nostalgia 🙂 Enjoy.
Disclaimer: Bone Broth, may not be tolerated by everybody, even when cooked for a shorter time as the recipe here below. Even though bone broth is great for gut health it can be too high in histamine, especially the longer you cook it, and commercial products. I recommend to leave this recipe be if you are still in the elimination phase, and bring it back carefully when reintroducing.
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PinIngredients
- ½ kg marrow bones
- 1 kg chicken wings with skin
- 2 white onions
- 2 big carrots
- 1 leek
- 1 parsnip
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 big bunch of herbs (parsley, thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage)
- salt to taste
- 1 tbsp apple cider vinegar (optional)
- 1 tbsp olive oil (optional, only necessary if you brown the onions and chicken wings)
- 2 liter water
Instructions
- Heat up the olive oil in a large soup pot, add the onion and fry them till the go clear.
- Once the onions are clear add in about half of the chicken wings and brown them slightly while stirring.
- Add the rest of the chicken wings, the marrow bones, veggies and herbs. Cover with water and salt and the apple cider vinegar (optional). Give in good stir and slowly bring to a boil.
- Once it boils reduce the heat, and let the broth simmer for about 4 hours (longer if you know you tolerate it). Remove any scum as it arises.
- Turn off the heat after about 4 hours and let the broth cool slightly before straining it. Transfer the strained broth to containers and and let them cool before placing them in the freezer, or use the broth straight away. Enjoy 🙂
What about glutamines?
Hi Sherry,
Thank you for your question. Yes there is glutamine (an amino acid) in bone broth. But please be aware that glutamine is not the same as MSG (monosodium glutamate), which can be found in most store bought bone broths (and lots of other prepacked food items).
The longer you cook it the higher the content of glutamine (and all other amino acids) will be. So if you are sensitive to glutamine as well as histamine – I strongly recomend you make your own bone broth and start out with cooking it for up to 4 hours instead of the normal 48 hours. This will allow you to build up slowly, which is the key with anything histamine related.
If you are oversensitive to glutamine – you might be dealing with a vitamine B6 deficiency.
Instead of writing a whole novel here on the topic I can recommend that you read this article by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD: Bone Broth and MSG: What You Need to Know Now
I hope this answers your question somewhat….
Greetings,
Tania
Thank you for the info! I’ve been thinking that I’m possibly having a histamine reaction to my bone broth. I have an instapot and wonder how long to cook my bone broth? I usually let the pot cool in refrigerator overnight, and now realize this could be problematic. Any suggestions when using an instapot
Hi Nicole,
I don’t myself have an instapot, but according to the info I have been able to find in my favorite low histamine facebook group, 30 minutes is the way to go in the beginning. So start off with 30 minutes, and then build up from there when you are further along in your healing.
As for the cooling down. Transfer it to smaller containers – so that it can cool downn faster and store it in the freezer.
Good luck 🙂
Tania
Thanks so much Tania! I’ll try 30 minutes and see how I react. I appreciate your time! 🙂
Good morning! I’m on the ketogenic diet and have been doing really well. My autoimmune disease has slowed significantly and I have finally found relief. But yesterday I added bone broth to my diet. I didn’t make it, but it’s an organic brand and all the ingredients are keto friendly. Last night I had a severe flare of my disease. Fatigue, brain fog, diminished memory function, the works. I took a Benadryl and went to sleep. Woke up today feeling a little better and more like myself. I’m wondering if because I have severe allergies, the bone broth caused a severe histamine response. What are your thoughts? I almost broke apart last night because I had not felt that way in a long time.
Hi Rebekah,
I hope you are up and running again, and back on track. I totally understand the breaking apart thing, it is extremely devastating when you have a major set back/reaction. It is a bumpy ride for sure…..
Commercial bone broth is high in histamine because of the very long cooking time, I can really recommend making it yourself. That way you can controle the cooking time a slowly build it up. I started out with cooking mine for 4 hours, and I can now tolerate a cooking time of 24 hours no problems. If you have an instapot, you can get away with an even shorter cooking time.
I hope this helps 🙂
Tania
What about bone broth protein powders? Would they also be high in histamines?
Hi Lore,
thank you for the question. In general I would say, stay clear of any commercial bone broth products and make your own, according to what you tolerate. However, if you found a product that works for you, then that is great.
<3
I use the Instantpot to make my low FODMAP, low histamine broth. I use beef marrow bones and shank steak. My question is can I reuse the beef bones and if so will that cause an increase in histamines in my next batch of broth. I would freeze the bones after the first batch.
Hi Lorie,
I personally wouldn’t reuse the bones.
Tania
I recently read from a physicians site that vacuum packaging of meat actually stop’s histimine formation. He said it was better than fresh if you were shopping at a common grocery store where you didn’t know how old the meat was. I’ve since bought several red meat items packaged this way ( from an organic grocery store) and have had no issues. For me old red meat is up there with fish for causing bad reactions.
Thank you for sharing Jeff. That is very useful information.
Tania
Hello ! Très bon article, même si il y faudrait rajouter quelques petits points à rajouter, celui-ci reste très intéressant.
Merci 🙂
Soooo cool! I woke up and later in the day I started thinking about this stuff. I found your site on Google and it totally answered my questions. Thanks so much!
Great 😀
This is a great recipe. But I thought dogs were not supposed to have sage
Thanks JoJomarie,
As for the dogs part I can’t answer to that.
Tania
If you are only cooking it for 4 hours, does it still have all the healing properties of bone broth? My histamine issues are mild but caused from SIBO, leaky gut and mold, so I want to drink it to heal my gut, so I just want to make sure the healing properties are still there if only cooking for 4 hours. Thank you so much!
Hi Shannon,
See previous answer.
Tania
Does bone broth cooked for only 4 hours still have all the gut healing properties of bone broth cooked for long hours? Thank you!
Hi Shannon,
It is not as potent no, but bone broth cooked for a really long time tend to be very high in histamine. The key is to find what works for you.
Tania
Hi Tania! I so appreciate you leaning in to making yummy options for those of us cooking with low histamines. Thanks for all you do. I wanted to share here though, to be careful calling bone broth histamine friendly. There are a lot of sites saying bone broth is actually high in histamine because of the collagen, even when you cook it for a much shorter duration. Since the jury is not out on this one, I would reconsider this recipe to prevent people having bad reactions, like we had with other recipes like this. Removing bone broth from our diet made a huge difference for us. I would stay on the safe side and stick to a simple broth without the collagen. Thanks for hearing me out and thanks again for what you do!
Hi Julie,
Thanks for your input Julie. I added a disclaimer to the post, with a warning. And I fully agree with your statement.
For me it has been a gamer changer the other way around. Being able to make my own broth (I cook mine ca 4 hours), and in that way eliminate store bought broth and bouillon. Being able to control the ingredients is for me a very important thing. I introduced bone broth in small amounts in the beginning of my reintroduction phase, in order to help my gut healing. Once I knew I could tolerate this version of it, it has been a staple for me in my cooking and especially in my soups.
The version I currently make, includes ginger and turmeric as well.
Tania
Hello.
If i use a pressure coockeo for my bonebroth, how long does it should take? 1 hour?
It s to begin, i am sensitive to histamin+++ , oxalates, salicylates, phenol, glutamine…
Thanks!
Hi Al,
Try to start with 1 hour indeed. I don’t use a pressure cooker (I don’t have one) and started out with cooking my broth for 4 hours.
Tania
this is a great discussion. i have mast cell activation. i bought in instant pot specifically for making bone broth. i cannot tolerate any organic store bought bone broth. it’s a fantastic solution. cook time is about an hour and the broth gels wonderfully. pack in those bones though.