This post will show you How to Make Beef Stock, and homemade stock is not only frugal and tasty, but it makes your house smell great. And when it’s cold weather and you want to make soup, pulling some containers of beef stock out of the freezer is a wonderful thing!

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How to Make Beef Stock showing stock in freezer containers.

This post can show you everything you need to know about How to Make Beef Stock! And making stock is a great Saturday or Sunday activity. It makes the house smell great and there’s time to coax every ounce of flavor from the ingredients by cooking the stock all day. If you’ve never made your own beef stock before, I’ll tell you in one word why it’s worth the time: FLAVOR!

There’s no comparison between soup or stew made with canned broth and one made with homemade stock. The homemade beef stock has a richness of flavor that takes the finished dish to a whole different level. 

And besides the incredible flavor, a side benefit is that you make the stock mostly with ingredients that would have been thrown away, so it’s almost free. (No one seems to mind that!) I already posted about how to make chicken stock, and the process for beef stock is similar, but there’s one very important difference. Do you know what it is? Read on to find out.

What ingredients do you need for Beef Stock?

(This is only a list of ingredients; please scroll down for complete printable recipe. Or if you use the JUMP TO RECIPE link at the top of the page, it will take you directly to the complete recipe.)

What is the important extra step for making homemade beef stock?

To coax maximum flavor from the beef scraps and remove some of the fat, I’m a fan of the step of roasting the meat at high heat before you use it to make stock. This step browns the meat for added flavor and gets rid of some of the fat.

Can you add beef flavor base if you don’t have enough leftover beef?

Beef is more expensive than it used to be, so these days you might not have a lot of beef scraps hanging around to make a big pot of beef stock. I’m not opposed to the idea of using a little beef flavor base to add to the flavor, and I would use either Better Than Bouillon Beef Base (affiliate link) or the one shown below.

Nutritional information for Beef Stock:

This is a master recipe for beef stock without specific amounts, so I can’t calculate the nutritional exactly but this homemade beef stock is Keto, low-carb, dairy-free, and it will be gluten-free as long as you don’t add a beef flavor base that contains gluten.

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collage showing steps for starting and simmering beef stock

Getting started and simmering to make Beef Stock:

  1. I keep two large containers in the freezer, and whenever I get beef scraps I save them until I have enough to make stock.
  2. The second photo shows how the procedure for beef stock varies from chicken stock. It’s important to put the beef scraps on a cookie sheet and roast the meat for about 30-60 minutes at relatively high heat. This produces browning which produces flavor. For beef stock, roasting also releases fat.
  3. I roasted about four pounds of beef scraps to make this batch of stock, and here’s how much fat was roasted out of the meat.
  4. Besides roasted meat scraps (and bones if you have any) and water, the other three essential ingredients in beef stock are celery, carrots, and onions. Use the celery ends and outside pieces you would otherwise throw away.
  5. This is a perfect use for carrots that are a little past their prime. If you buy whole carrots, save the ends and peels for stock.
  6. I also use onions that are starting to get shoots. Throw away any green parts when you add the onions to the stock. (Celery, carrots, and onion scraps can also be frozen and saved to use stock.)
  7. Much as I might like to be a stock purist, I always add a little bit of beef base, preferably one that has meat as the first ingredient. I use 2-3 tablespoons of Beef Base like this in a huge pot of stock. If you don’t want to use it, just cook your stock a little longer so it cooks down more.
  8. This last photo barely shows how my stock looked when it had cooked about six hours and I was just about to remove the meat and vegetables and strain the stock.

Square image for How to Make Beef Stock showing stock on cutting board in freezer containers.

Finishing the Beef Stock

  1. I use a tool called a Fat Skimmer (affiliate link) for removing meat and vegetables while letting the flavorful stock run back into the pan. It also catches sediments and coagulated proteins. If you don’t have one of those, just scoop out meat and vegetables with a large slotted spoon.
  2. I strain my stock through a colander, then strain it through a Yogurt Strainer (affiliate link) into a Fat Separator (affiliate link). Of course, there’s not a lot of fat because most of it was removed by the roasting. (Strain the stock with whatever equipment you have.)
  3. After I strain the stock, I put it back in a clean pan and cook it down until it’s a deep brown color and has a lot of flavor. I just keep tasting it until it’s as strong as I want.
  4. I like to use containers that hold two cups or one cup so it’s easy to use the stock in recipes, and these containers made by ZipLoc hold two cups.
  5. Beef stock freezes well and it lasts a long time in the freezer.

Want to see all my recipes that use beef stock?

If you enter Beef Stock into the search bar on Kalyn’s Kitchen you’ll get more than 70 results of all the soups, stews, chilis, and casseroles where I’ve used beef stock!

How to Make Beef Stock
Yield: 6 cups beef stock

How to Make Beef Stock

Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 6 hours
Total Time 6 hours 10 minutes

This post can show you How to Make Beef Stock, and turning scraps of beef and vegetables into homemade stock is a great weekend activity, and it will make your house smell great!

Ingredients

  • 3-4 pounds beef scraps (with bones if you have some)
  • 1 - 2 onions
  • 4 stalks celery
  • 2 - 3 large carrots
  • enough water to completely cover the beef and vegetables in a large pot
  • Better than Bouillon Beef Base (see notes)

Instructions

  1. I keep a large container in the freezer, and whenever I get beef scraps I freeze them until I have enough to make stock.
  2. When you're ready to make stock, put the beef scraps on a cookie sheet and roast the meat for about 30-60 minutes at fairly high heat. This produces browning which produces flavor. For beef stock, roasting also releases fat.
  3. Add the roasted beef scraps to a large stock pot.
  4. Peel onions and cut into quarters.
  5. Cut each stalk of celery into a few pieces. Include the celery leaves if you have some.
  6. No need to peel carrots, just cut each one into about three pieces.
  7. Put vegetables into the stock pot with the beef scraps. Fill the pot with enough water to completely cover the meat and vegetables.
  8. Add two or three tablespoons of beef flavor base if using.
  9. Simmer the mixture on low for 4-6 hours, adding more water as needed.
  10. I like to use a tool called a Fat Skimmer (affiliate link) for removing meat and vegetables while letting the flavorful stock run back into the pan. It also catches sediments and coagulated proteins. If you don't have that just scoop out meat and vegetables with a large slotted spoon.
  11. I strain my stock through a colander, then strain it through a Yogurt Strainer (affiliate link) into a Fat Separator (affiliate link). As you can see, there’s not a lot of fat because most of it was removed by the roasting. (Use whatever tools you have to strain the stock and remove bits and pieces of meat and fat.)
  12. After I strain the stock, I put it back into a clean pan and cook down until it’s a deep brown color and has a lot of flavor. I just keep tasting it until it’s as strong as I want.
  13. I freeze the stock in one cup and two cup containers so it is easy to use in recipes.

Notes

I am a huge fan of Better than Bouillon Beef Base (and their other flavor base products as well) but there are a lot of good brands.

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Low-Carb Diet / Low-Glycemic Diet / South Beach Diet Suggestions:
Beef stock made using this process will be low in carbs, low-glycemic, and suitable for the original South Beach Diet.

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Historical Notes for this Recipe:
This recipe for homemade beef stock was first posted in 2007, after a traumatic week where I had to replace the main water line at my little house in Salt Lake! Since then I have made beef stock hundreds of times, and the recipe was last updated with more information in 2024.

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