The best bones for bone broth are easier to find than you might expect, and most of them cost very little. Butcher shops, grocery store meat counters, farmers markets, ethnic grocery stores, online meat vendors, and even your own kitchen scraps can all supply what you need. The key is knowing what to ask for and which bones produce the richest, most gelatinous broth.
Your Local Butcher Shop
A butcher shop is the single best place to source bones, both for variety and price. Butchers regularly trim bones from cuts of meat and often sell them for a fraction of what the meat itself costs. Many will even set bones aside for you if you ask in advance. Beef marrow bones typically run around $1.50 to $2.50 per pound, and knuckle bones fall in a similar range. Some smaller butcher shops will give bones away free if they’d otherwise discard them.
When you walk in, you don’t need specialized language. Ask for “soup bones” or “marrow bones” and the butcher will know exactly what you mean. If you want bones with more connective tissue for a richer, more gelatinous broth, ask specifically for knuckle bones, neck bones, or oxtail. For marrow-heavy bones, request thigh bones (femur) cut into cross-sections. A good butcher can also cut larger bones down to fit your stockpot.
Grocery Store Meat Counters
Most full-service grocery stores with a meat department carry soup bones, though they may not always be in the display case. Ask at the counter. Many stores package beef neck bones, marrow bones, or pork neck bones in the freezer section near the less common cuts. Whole chickens and bone-in cuts are another option: save the carcass after roasting a whole chicken and freeze it until you have enough for a batch of broth.
If you’re looking for pasture-raised or organic bones, larger natural grocery chains tend to stock them. Expect to pay a premium. Grass-fed beef prices run roughly 47% higher by weight than conventional beef, and that markup applies to bones as well. The nutritional tradeoff: grass-fed cattle produce leaner carcasses with lower overall fat content and a more favorable ratio of omega-3 to omega-6 fatty acids.
Farmers Markets and Local Farms
Farmers markets are an excellent source for bones from pasture-raised animals. Small-scale ranchers and poultry farmers often bring bones, backs, necks, and feet specifically because home broth-makers seek them out. Buying direct from a farmer also lets you ask exactly how the animals were raised, what they were fed, and whether antibiotics or hormones were used. Grass-fed cattle eat from pasture without grain finishing or supplemental hormones, while conventionally raised cattle typically spend their last months in feedlots on a concentrated mix of corn, soy, and grain, often with antibiotics and growth hormones.
Many small farms also sell “bone boxes” or “broth boxes,” a mixed bag of bones, feet, and offcuts packaged specifically for broth-making. These often include a variety of joint bones, which gives you a better collagen yield than marrow bones alone.
Ethnic and Asian Grocery Stores
If you’re having trouble finding certain bone types at conventional stores, ethnic grocery stores are worth the trip. Asian, Latin American, and Caribbean markets routinely stock items that mainstream grocers don’t carry: chicken feet, pork trotters (pig feet), beef tendons, oxtail, fish heads, and whole fish frames. These parts are rich in collagen and connective tissue, which is exactly what makes broth thick and silky when it cools.
Chicken feet deserve special mention. They’re almost entirely skin, cartilage, and connective tissue, making them a collagen powerhouse. Research on collagen intake shows benefits for joint pain, skin elasticity, and bone density. A study in 191 people with knee osteoarthritis found that daily collagen derived from chicken cartilage significantly reduced pain, stiffness, and physical limitation over three months. Another study in 139 athletes with knee pain found that 5 grams of collagen daily improved pain during activity within 12 weeks. Chicken feet are one of the most affordable ways to get that collagen into your broth, often costing less than a dollar per pound.
Online Vendors
If local options are limited, several online retailers ship frozen bones directly to your door. Companies specializing in regenerative or grass-fed meat, such as Force of Nature, US Wellness Meats, and White Oak Pastures, sell beef, bison, and lamb bones in bulk. You’ll typically buy in larger quantities (5 to 20 pounds at a time), which works well since bones freeze beautifully for months. Shipping costs can add up, so buying in bulk makes the per-pound price more reasonable.
Fish Counters and Seafood Markets
Fish broth is lighter and faster to make than beef or chicken broth, and fish bones are often free. Ask at any seafood counter or fish market for heads and frames (the skeleton left after filleting). Fishmongers routinely discard these, so many will hand them over at no charge or for a nominal price. Salmon, snapper, halibut, and cod frames all work well. Fish heads and frames are rich in calcium and collagen, and they produce a flavorful stock in 45 minutes to an hour, compared to the 12 to 24 hours a beef bone broth typically needs.
Avoid oily fish like mackerel or bluefish for broth. Their strong flavor and high fat content produce a broth that tastes fishy rather than clean.
Which Bones Make the Best Broth
Not all bones contribute equally. The richest, most gelatinous broth comes from bones with lots of connective tissue, cartilage, and joints. For beef, that means knuckle bones, neck bones, oxtail, and feet. Marrow bones add richness and flavor but less gelatin on their own, so combining them with joint bones gives you the best of both. For chicken, backs, necks, wings, and feet are ideal. A single pair of chicken feet added to a pot of broth can transform a thin liquid into one that sets like jelly in the fridge, which is the hallmark of a well-made broth.
For pork, trotters and neck bones are the go-to choices. They’re loaded with cartilage and produce a deeply savory, sticky broth.
Saving Bones From Your Own Kitchen
One of the most overlooked sources is your own cooking. Every time you roast a chicken, eat bone-in steaks, or break down a whole bird, save the bones. Keep a gallon-size freezer bag and toss in bones, wing tips, and carcasses as you accumulate them. Once the bag is full, you have enough for a pot of broth. This approach costs nothing extra and reduces waste.
Rotisserie chicken carcasses from the grocery store work perfectly for this. The bones have already been roasted, which deepens the flavor of your finished broth.
A Note on Lead in Bone Broth
Bones naturally accumulate small amounts of lead over an animal’s lifetime, which has raised questions about whether bone broth concentrates heavy metals. A 2024 study published in European Food Research and Technology analyzed cadmium and lead levels across multiple broth types and concluded that consuming broths poses minimal risk from these metals. The levels detected were low enough that regular consumption falls well within safe dietary limits. Using bones from younger animals and pasture-raised sources can further reduce any trace contamination, since older animals and those raised in industrial settings tend to accumulate more over time.
Preparation Basics Once You Have Bones
Before simmering, cut or have your butcher cut larger bones lengthwise to expose the marrow and increase the surface area in contact with water. A common preparation step is blanching: briefly boiling the bones for two minutes, then draining and rinsing them. This removes blood, impurities, and excess fat, resulting in a cleaner-tasting broth. Roasting bones at 400 to 450°F for 30 to 45 minutes before simmering is another option, which caramelizes the surface and adds a deeper, more complex flavor. Many cooks roast beef and pork bones but skip roasting for chicken or fish, where a lighter flavor is preferred.
Add a splash of vinegar to your pot during the first hour of cooking. The mild acidity helps draw minerals out of the bones and into the liquid, improving both the nutritional content and the body of your finished broth.