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Bouillon cubes? Who needs those! The Instant Pot is the easiest and fastest way to make tasty and nutritious bone broth at home, you’ll never need to buy bouillon cubes again!
Bone broth is such a nourishing food. Boosts immunity. Manages inflammation. Improves digestion. What’s not to love?
Oh, you’re worried it will take loads of time to make?
I hear you, I was too.
Sure, it takes some time, but no more than about 20 minutes hands-on time total.
You’ll see, it’s totally worth it, not just for your health, but also for your meals. They will taste infinitely better with your homemade broth.
Oh, you’ve never made bone broth before?
No worries, I’ll hold your hand 😉
Making the Switch to Homemade
It wasn’t that long ago that I was still using chicken bouillon, chicken broth from the carton or can, and Better Than Bouillon. I kept some of each on hand and didn’t think twice about it.
Occasionally I would make chicken broth or stock, but I didn’t see how it could become routine so I could always have some on hand. I was already making a variety of homemade foods at the time.
Well, when I realized just how beneficial bone broth is for your gut and whole body in general, I decided to make the switch. Slowly, over a year or two I stopped buying commercially made chicken broth and bouillon products.
Now, it’s just normal for me to either make bone broth routinely or to have some on hand in my freezer. During the cooler months, I try to make a lot of broth, at least 1-2 times each week. But during the warmer months, I rely on bone broth that I’ve stored in the freezer.
The cooler weather is returning, so it’s time for me to get back in the habit of making bone broth weekly. And I’m more than ready for it.
I know how overwhelming it can feel to make bone broth for the first time. I hope to make it as simple as possible.
How to Make Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
Please don’t fall into the trap of trying to do everything “right.” Just focus on the basics and you’ll be good to go.
And if you have an Instant Pot, even better. It will be completely hands-off, and you can take a nap, or, heck, even leave the house for many hours without worrying about it.
Bones
For the bones, just start saving all your chicken bones as you eat them. Put them in a gallon sized freezer bag and put it in the freezer. You are ready to make broth when you have a full bag of bones.
Water
The optimal choice is to use filtered water, but if you don’t have a filter, you can do one of two things.
The first option is to go to the store and just buy bottled water or buy one of those large 5 gallon purified water containers.
If you want to keep it as low cost as possible, your next best option is to take water straight from your tap and boil it for 2 minutes. Let it cool and use that as your “filtered” water. It’s not ideal, but it’s better than using straight tap water.
However, if you want to just get started without worrying about the water at the beginning, you can definitely start with tap water.
Vegetables
The “normal” vegetables in any broth are carrots, celery, and onion. Some people like to use garlic as well. You actually don’t have to use vegetables if you don’t want to, but I think they add a wonderful flavor to the broth, so I never leave them out.
The vegetables can be “scraps,” such as carrot peelings, onion skins, and the ends of the celery. Or you can just take the whole vegetable and cut it into smaller pieces. I tend to use a combination of the two and usually use one carrot, one celery stalk, onion skins and ends, and one whole garlic clove.
You can do the same thing with vegetable scraps as you do with bones. Put any scraps in a gallon freezer bag and keep it in the freezer. When it’s time to make broth, get the bag out and use some of each vegetable in the broth.
Salt
If you only have regular table salt, you can use that to make your broth. However, you will make a significantly healthier broth by using mineralized salt. I recommend Redmond Real Salt because that’s what I use, and I think it tastes great. You can buy it through my link and get 20% off!
Vinegar
You can make broth with all the above and it will turn out fantastic. But most bone broth recipes will also recommend using apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to help extract all the beneficial minerals from the bones. I always have apple cider vinegar on hand so that’s what I use. Make sure it’s the one with “the mother” so you get the most benefit from it. You will want to put the vinegar in the broth 30 minutes before you turn on the heat.
Step-by-Step Instructions for Making Bone Broth at Home
To make bone broth in the Instant Pot, get out all the ingredients: bones, vegetables, water, salt, and vinegar or lemon juice.
If you have a 6 quart Instant Pot (affiliate link), which is the one I own, you will easily be able to fit a gallon freezer bag of bones in the pot, along with 1-2 carrots, 1-2 celery stalks, 1/2 onion, and a clove of garlic.
Make sure to add 1-3 teaspoons of salt (I like using 3 teaspoons because it tastes the best) and 1-2 Tablespoons of vinegar.
Add enough water to just cover everything. For me that is usually between 8 and 10 cups of water.
Press “manual” on the Instant Pot and adjust the time to 120 minutes. Put the lid on and make sure it is set to sealing.
Once the Instant Pot is done and the pressure has naturally released, you can strain the broth.
Get out a ladle and a funnel if you have one and start filling your mason jars (or other container, preferably glass) with the broth.
I almost always get 2 1/2 to 3 quarts of broth when I make it in the Instant Pot. Once the broth has cooled down well enough so you can handle the jars, put them in the fridge until you are ready to use.
If you used enough chicken bones and not too much water, you should have a broth that is full of gelatin and will wiggle like Jell-O! That’s some nutritious broth right there!
Frequently Asked Questions about Instant Pot Bone Broth
Do I have to use chicken bones?
There are many different kinds of broth you can make, and chicken broth is just one of them. You can also make beef broth from beef bones, fish broth from fish bones, and even rabbit broth from rabbit bones (I mention that one because we have done that many times in the past). The point is, you can make broth from any kind of animal bones you’d like, really.
It is important to note that you can also make vegetable stock, but because it’s made without bones you can’t call it “bone” broth.
How much money can I save making bone broth at home?
I have never sat down to calculate how much the savings are until now. And it’s pretty mind-blowing!
If you were to buy just 1 quart of chicken broth at the grocery store, it would cost anywhere from $1.65 to $5. In fact, you could spend even more if you want a more “quality” brand from a “specialty” store.
When you make broth at home, the bones should be free unless you buy the bones to specifically make broth. The cost for everything else, even if you buy organic vegetables is going to be less than $1. And you get more than 2 quarts! So you are spending less than 50 cents per quart when you make it at home.
I think if you are buying a lot of chicken broth for your meals, you could save at least $15-$20 a month by making your own!
How much time do I need to make it?
It will take about 10-15 minutes to get everything ready for the Instant Pot. Then, once it’s ready to be strained, it will take an additional 10-15 minutes. Total time to make bone broth in the Instant Pot will be 20-30 minutes.
Do you think my child would drink it?
I think it depends on your child. However, if you want to get your child to drink broth and you know it will be hopeless, just start adding the broth into other foods they already like. You can replace broth for the water when you make mac and cheese, for example. Or you can cook rice in broth instead of water. There are a lot of ways you can get broth into your child!
How long does bone broth last?
Bone broth will last 4-5 days in the fridge. If I haven’t used it by the 4th day, I will usually freeze it, especially if I have no plans to use it by the next day.
How do you recommend serving bone broth?
My favorite way to serve bone broth is by using it in soup! Of course, you can also drink it by itself, which is so good for you. You could do what I mentioned above which is cook rice or pasta in it. Basically any recipe that calls for chicken bouillon cubes or chicken broth or stock is a good candidate for using your homemade bone broth!
Instant Pot Bone Broth
Ingredients
- 1-2 lbs chicken bones can add chicken feet for extra health benefits!
- 1-3 tsp salt mineralized is best
- 1-2 Tbsp vinegar apple cider vinegar with "the mother" or you can use lemon juice
- 8-10 cups filtered water to cover bones and vegetables
Vegetables
- 1 carrot or carrot peelings
- 1 stalk celery or celery stalk ends
- 1/2 onion or onion skins and ends
- 1 clove garlic
Instructions
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Fill the Instant Pot with bones, vegetables, water, salt, and vinegar.
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Press "manual" on the Instant Pot and adjust the time to 120 minutes. Put the lid on and make sure it is set to sealing.
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Once the Instant Pot is done and the pressure has naturally released, you can strain the broth.
-
Get out a ladle and a funnel if you have one and start filling the mason jars (or other container, preferably glass) with the broth.
-
Once the broth has cooled down well enough for you to handle the jars, put them in the fridge until you are ready to use.
Recipe Notes
If you used enough chicken bones and not too much water, you should have a broth that is full of gelatin and will wiggle like Jell-O!
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