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Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth (That Gels Every Time)

If you want to make homemade bone broth that gels every time, this is the recipe for you. Furthermore, there’s no need to heat up your kitchen, or cook broth all day when you can make Instant Pot bone broth in just two hours!

A woman holding a spoon of gelled broth with a gallon of broth and an instant pot on the counter in front of her.

If you’ve followed along with us for a while, you know that I’m an avid lover of making and canning homemade bone broth. I also love to add a secret immune-boosting ingredient to our broth when our family is fighting illness, and I’ve also shared my tips on how to make the best bone broth every single time.

But today I’m taking it one step further and sharing my super simple (and very quick) homemade instant pot chicken bone broth recipe.

Why I Love This Recipe

Making homemade broth is so wonderful because you’re utilizing all parts of the chicken. Not only that, but when you extract all the collagen and gelatin from the bones of the chicken, you have a super immune-boosting and gut-healing food.

Furthermore, when it’s really hot outside, as it’s been here this summer and even into early fall, heating up the kitchen is the last thing I want to do during the day.

With this recipe you’ll see how to make delicious homemade bone broth that gels every single time, using an electric pressure cooker like the Instant Pot.

White bowl filled with chicken broth with fresh vegetables beside the bowl.

Health Benefits of Bone Broth

As I mentioned above, when you cook bone broth low and slow (or utilize the amazing power of the pressure cooker) you can extract the collagen and gelatin from the meat bones and get all that goodness into your diet through the broth.

Immune-Boosting

About a decade ago I finally came to the realization that our family was getting sick a lot. It seemed like we got every single stomach bug that went through the town. I set off to improve our health and there were three things that really helped us.

Out of the three, I think the homemade bone broth made the biggest difference. And that’s due to its immune-boosting and gut-healing properties.

Gut Healing

Properly made bone broth is filled with collagen and gelatin that act as a protective layer inside your gut and helps calm down any inflammation.

When you consume broth on a regular basis, it can actually help to restore and heal leaky-gut and improve digestion, an issue often associated with food sensitivities (especially to foods like gluten). Remember 75% of our immune system lies within our gut, so taking care of our gut is not only going to take care of our stomach and digestive health, but it’s also going to take care of our entire body and immune system health.

Whenever we’ve got an illness going through the house we increase our bone broth intake. Keep reading for all the creative ways we’ve found to consume more broth on a daily basis.

Supplies Needed

In order to make this quick and easy Instant Pot bone broth recipe, you’ll need just a few supplies.

  • Instant Pot – I’m using a 6 quart Instant Pot in this video, but I also love my 8 quart Instant Pot.
  • Funnel – a nice wide funnel is very helpful for pouring the broth into your storage jars.
  • Strainer – Use a fine mesh strainer to make sure all small bits and pieces of your broth get strained out.
  • Mason Jar (or glass storage container with lid) – we use Mason jars for everything, so a gallon sized jar is the perfect storage container.
A hand pulling a carrot up out of the ground.

Ingredients Needed

Bone broth takes very few ingredients, and you can actually save up the scraps of your vegetables and put them in a freezer bag until you’re ready to make broth!

  • Chicken Bones, Feet and Neck – Use the bones from your roasted chicken, it’s best to have at least two good sized carcasses. You can also save the bones in the freezer until you have enough for a nice large batch of broth. If you don’t have access to chicken feet, you can buy them here!
  • Apple Cider Vinegar (ACV) – this helps to pull out the gelatin and minerals from within the bones.
  • Vegetable scraps (carrot peels, onion skins and tops, celery leaves or lovage) – if you don’t have any scraps just use a small carrot, half an onion and a stalk of celery.
  • Garlic – I love adding a whole head of garlic, skins and all to my broth for added flavor.
  • Filtered Water
  • Sea Salt (optional) – I like to season my broth at the time of use because sometimes I’m adding seasonings to a recipe where I don’t need to use salted broth. I do like to have salted broth if I’m going to just be sipping on it as it adds in great flavor and additional minerals.
An Instant Pot filled with bone broth and ingredients.

Instant Pot Bone Broth Recipe

To be sure your broth gels every single time, there’s a step to making bone broth that you shouldn’t skip! It’s allowing the bones to soak in the water and apple cider vinegar for a couple of hours or even overnight to extract all the beneficial minerals and gelatin from the bones of the chicken.

Soak the Bones

To soak the bones I simply add the chicken bones, feet and necks to my Instant Pot insert, add water to just below the max fill line, then add about 1/4 cup of ACV.

Cover the Instant Pot (I love this Instant Pot flexible silicone lid) and place it in the refrigerator overnight.

Cook

The next day (or after a minimum of two hours) add in the vegetables, garlic, and optional salt and top the pot off with water if it’s not up to that max fill line. Place the insert pot into the Instant Pot, put on the lid, and flip the pressure vent to sealing.

This is where my recipe differs from many that you’ll find online. Because we don’t want to destroy all those amazing benefits of collagen and gelatin, we don’t want to cook this broth under high pressure. Instead, we’ll use the soup setting and set the pressure to low.

Then we’ll set the timer to two hours and let the Instant Pot do the rest.

An up close view of a spoon of gelled bone broth.

Cool & Strain

Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release the pressure and come down to zero pressure before straining. This can take a while, especially if your pot was full, so just be patient and give it time.

Open the lid to the Instant Pot and carefully strain your broth into a large Mason jar (I use a gallon-size jar). This is best done over a large bowl in the sink, just in case you spill you won’t lose all that precious broth.

Place the broth in the refrigerator to cool overnight and gel. This will also allow the fat to rise to the surface and you can skim it off to use in cooking (definitely don’t throw it out! Use it as you would lard or even butter in savory dishes).

Did you know, you can still use those chicken bones to make homemade bonemeal for organically fertilizing your plants?

Small pot of chicken bone broth with fresh vegetables beside it on the counter.

Ways to Use Bone Broth

There are so many incredible ways to use bone broth, some of the obvious ways are in stews and soups (like Savory Greek Lemon Chicken Soup). But here are a few of the more creative ways I like to get bone broth into my family’s diet:

  • Use homemade bone broth when making gravies and sauces.
  • Cook your grains in broth by subbing out the cooking water for bone broth. This is fantastic for rice, barley and even savory oats.
  • Boil veggies, pasta, even potatoes in broth instead of water for added flavor.
  • Add salt and nutmeg and sip it like a tea.

Did you make this recipe? If so, we’d love for you to leave a star rating on the recipe card below. Then snap a photo and tag us on social media @homesteadingfamily so we can see!

More Recipes You May Enjoy

A woman holding a spoon of gelled broth with a gallon of broth and an instant pot on the counter in front of her.

Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth

If you want to make homemade bone broth that gels every time, this is the recipe for you. Furthermore, there’s no need to heat up your kitchen, or cook broth all day when you can make Instant Pot bone broth in just two hours!
4.15 from 157 votes
Print Pin
Course: Soup
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 2 hours
Cooling Time: 2 hours
Total Time: 4 hours 10 minutes
Servings: 8 cups
Calories: 15kcal
Author: Carolyn Thomas

Equipment

  • Instant Pot (or other Electric Pressure Cooker)

Ingredients

  • 2 whole chicken carcasses I used the bones from 3 small chickens
  • 8 cups water filtered
  • 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
  • 1 carrot or carrot scraps
  • 1 onion or onion skins and peels
  • 1 head garlic the whole head, skins and all
  • 1 tablespoon sea salt optional (I omit this and season my broth later)

Instructions

Soak Bones

  • Add the chicken bones, feet and necks into the inner pot of the Instant Pot.
  • Pour in water and ACV, cover the pot and let soak in the refrigerator overnight.

Cook

  • Add in the vegetables, garlic, and optional salt, top off water to the max fill line and place the inner pot into the Instant Pot.
  • Add lid, flip the pressure vent to sealing, and push the "soup" button, then adjust to low pressure.
  • Set the timer for two hours.
  • Allow the Instant Pot to do a natural pressure release.

Strain and Store

  • Remove the lid to the Instant Pot and carefully strain your broth into a large Mason jar.
  • Add a lid and place it in the refrigerator to cool completely and gel overnight.
  • The next day, skim off the fat and reserve, then use your broth in soups, stews, gravies and more!

Notes

  • Nutrition facts do not include the optional salt.
  • Buy chicken feet here.
  • Don’t skip the soaking step as this increases the gelatin and minerals in the finished broth.
  • When you’re feeling sick, consume up to two quarts of bone broth daily. 
  • Remember, any broth is better than no broth! So drink at least a cup a day for improved immune health.

Nutrition

Calories: 15kcal | Carbohydrates: 3g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 1g | Saturated Fat: 1g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 1g | Monounsaturated Fat: 1g | Sodium: 19mg | Potassium: 64mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 1g | Vitamin A: 1274IU | Vitamin C: 3mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg
Tried this recipe?We want to see! Tag @homesteadingfamily on Instagram.
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Josh and Carolyn bring you practical knowledge on how to Grow, Cook, Preserve and Thrive on your homestead, whether you are in a city apartment or on 40 acres in the country. If you want to increase your self-sufficiency and health be sure to subscribe for helpful videos on gardening, preserving, herbal medicine, traditional cooking and more.

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