Instant Pot Bone Broth

One of the best things I ever started doing for my family’s health and pantry was making bone broth from scratch. I actually detest buying bone broth now that we make our own. We try to make a batch once a week, and go through it quickly. Store bought bone broth is no where near the quality of homemade, and making Instant Pot Bone Broth saves you time.

I was gifted an Instant Pot years ago and was very intimidated by pressure cooking. Terrified it would just blow up it sat in the pantry for awhile. When I finally learned about the benefits of bone broth I wanted to try my hand at making my own. But I didn’t want to leave bones simmering on the stove for 24+ hours! Finally, I found how to make Instant Pot Bone Broth. Over the years I have experimented to figure out how to always get a perfectly gelatinous, collagen filled broth. Now it has become a staple and I look forward to making fresh, flavorful, nutritious bone broth every week. 

How to Use Instant Pot Bone Broth

Using Instant Pot Bone Broth has become almost second nature. A lot of the times when I’m making something I will determine if the water in the recipe can be replaced with Bone Broth. I use it to make our rice more nutritious, I use it to make stews, sauces and gravies, I have even used my Instant Pot Bone Broth to simmer potatoes for mashed potatoes. Bone Broth can add magic and nutritional gold to almost any recipe! It’s also wonderful to sip on its own. 

How to Make Instant Pot Bone Broth

I’m doing notes before everything this time because, if you’re like me, you’re not reading this entire post before getting started. There are some important things you should know before you get started, or discouraged because you don’t have something listed below. The most important things to have for this to work is your Instant Pot, strainer, bones, and apple cider vinegar. Most everything else is optional, or can be subbed.

NOTES: 

I rarely use whole, fresh veggies because I have a bag of veggie scraps that I keep in the freezer just for broths. When I’m chopping vegetables for another recipe anything that doesn’t get used gets tossed in this bag, and I will just throw a couple handfuls of random odds and ends into the pot. Next, I take one of the smaller heads of garlic I grew, chop it in half across the cloves and toss it in. Any herbs I have on hand will make their way in, and sometimes even bits of ginger.

If bones are too expensive for you to justify buying, I understand! And I rarely do. One of the things I buy in bulk is meat, specifically whole chickens. I believe you get more for your money, and I want those bones for my broth! As I am cutting up the chicken into part, or roasting it whole I will throw the bones into a freezer bag and save them up. Once I have a good amount of bones, at least 2 lbs, I will make some bone broth! I do the same if we have beef cuts with bones, and I’ve even saved bones from pork. Pork bone broth turned out surprisingly well, it tasted a bit like chicken bone broth. 

You need to roast your bones! If your bones are not roasted you won’t get that satisfying gelatinous consistency after leaving it in the refrigerator. If your bones need to be roasted read on for instructions. Preheat your oven to 400° and spread your bones on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Roast the bones for 20 minutes and you are good to go!

Equipment

1. Instant Pot (obviously….)
2. Fine Mesh Strainer
3. Storage Container (I use our 8 cup measuring cup and some quart sized Mason Jars)

Ingredients

1. 12 Cups of Filtered Water
2. 2+lbs of Chicken / Beef Bones (at least half of them need to be cooked prior)
3. 1-2 Large Carrots
4. 2 Celery Stalks
5. 3 Cloves of Garlic
6. 1/2 Onion (sliced or quartered)
7. 2 Tbsps of Apple Cider Vinegar
8. 2 Tbsps of Peppercorns
9. 1 Tbsp Salt
10. Handful of herbs of your choice (I like to have thyme & rosemary, sage is great too!)

(If you don’t have all of these ingredients scroll up and read the notes, use what you have!)

Directions

1. If you skipped the notes section and have raw bones go and read the last paragraph for instructions on roasting!
2. Place your beef, chicken or pork bones into the instant pot
3. Prepare your veggies. If you are using fresh veggies cut the carrots and celery stalks in half to fit into your pot. 
4. Add the peppercorns, salt, onion, garlic and herbs
5. Fill the Instant Pot with water to the 2/3 filled line. I don’t measure this, but I usually get about 10-12 cups of broth so I’m gonna make an educated guess that it’s around that many cups of water. 
6. Add the Apple Cider Vinegar, this is what is going to pull the collagen out of your bones!
7. Seal the lid and select the Pressure Cook / Manual mode . 
8. Set pressure to HIGH and cook chicken bones for 3 hours, beef and pork bones need 4 hours
9. Once the timer is up let the pressure vent naturally. Once the pressure had dropped I let everything simmer on the keep warm setting, often over night. I recommend doing the same! 
10. Once the pressure has come all the way down, and you’ve let it sit overnight strain the broth into the container you want to store it in. 
11. Store in the fridge for up to a week!