Would you like homemade, nutritious Instant Pot chicken bone broth with herbs and veggies made in 3 hours instead of 12 or 24? Yes, please! Here is how to make this nutritious bone broth in your pressure cooker! This recipe is gluten-free, paleo, Whole30 and keto-friendly.
When it comes to bone broth, the chicken version is probably our favourite. In fact, we love it so much that we almost always have a batch of organic chicken bone broth in the fridge and it should be a part of everyone's weekly meal prep.
While making bone broth on a stove or using a slow cooker can take anywhere between 6-12 hours, or even more for larger meat bones, using an Instant Pot pressure cooker reduces that time to under 3 hours!
Jump to:
WHY MAKE INSTANT POT BONE BROTH?
Besides the obvious reason that it tastes so damn good and comforting, making bone broth has multiple benefits. It's very nourishing and healing for the gut. It contains beneficial collagen, glycine and minerals.
It's a great way to use up leftover chicken bones and carcasses, thus turning you into a sustainable kitchen goddess (or god). Bone broth can be used in many ways: using it as a base for soups and stews, braising vegetables in it, cooking rice with it, adding it to scramble eggs and so on.
Personally, we like to keep it simple and have a bowl of chicken bone broth with some fresh herbs, maybe a little garlic, lemon juice and some shredded chicken meat off the bone (if there is any).
Related: Kettle and Fire Bone Broth Review: Is this Bone Broth Worth It?
USING INSTANT POT CHICKEN BONE BROTH IN
Add homemade chicken broth to any of these Instant Pot risotto dishes or as tasty liquid in your Instant Pot pasta recipes. Try this creamy chicken and noodle pasta dish.
Use it as a base in any Instant Pot soups or stovetop versions you make where a chicken stock or broth is required. We also use it in curries or any stock-based stews. This bone broth is an excellent base for this chicken and potatoes dish, and we use it to make my savoury chicken. and my chicken pot pie.
WHAT YOU'LL NEED
We usually buy a whole free-range chicken and separate the meat from the carcass to use in other dishes. What's left is the carcass and chicken legs and wings with a little meat on it. That's what we use to make this broth. You can use leftover bones and carcass from a roasted chicken, or even a few chicken legs/feet, wings and necks.
You can buy a whole chicken and then cut it in half. Use one half to make this recipe and freeze the other half for another day. This way you will also have a bit more meat so you can make satiating chicken noodle soup, once you have made the broth.
HOW TO STORE & FREEZE CHICKEN BROTH
This recipe makes about 2.25 litres of bone broth. Strain and store the broth in clean, airtight jars in the fridge for up to 5 days. You can freeze some of the broth in storage containers or ice-cube trays, make sure to cool it completely first. It should last for 3 months in the freezer.
Make sure to remove any visible cooked chicken meat, if any is there, to enjoy with some of the broth.
Rate This Recipe
Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth Recipe
Ingredients
- Carcass and bones of 1 whole free-range chicken (a little meat still on the bone)
- 1 medium onion peeled and quartered
- 2 small carrots cut in halves
- 2 celery sticks I use up the smaller sticks with leaves on
- 2-3 slices of fresh ginger
- 3 cloves of garlic
- 2 bay leaves
- 3-4 slices of red chilli optional
- A handful of fresh parsley good to use up the stalks here
- A handful of fresh cilantro/coriander good to use up the stalks here
- A generous pinch of cracked black peppers
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon fish sauce optional, you can't taste
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar white vinegar is fine
- 2.25-2.5 litres water or around 9 cups of water, filtered
Instructions
- Place all ingredients inside the Instant Pot and stir. Place and lock the lid. Make sure the steam release handle is pointing to Sealing.
- Press Manual/Pressure Cook function key and change the timer to 130 minutes. After 3 beeps, the pressure cooker will start to build up the pressure and will be ready to go (you will see the ON sign). This might take 15 minutes due to the amount of liquid, then the timer will start. Relax and enjoy yourself!
- Once the timer goes off, allow the pressure to release naturally before opening the lid, this should take about 15-20 minutes, hence the total cooking time is about 3 hours.
- Once the pressure valve is back down and you have opened the lid, let the broth cool down.
- Strain the broth into clean jars or storage container, seal with lids and store in the fridge or freezer. Remove any visible chicken meat from the bones and store to enjoy with the broth.
- You can use the broth to make chicken soup with fresh vegetables and cooked meat or to use it as a base for other soups and stews. I like it simply heated and served in a bowl or a cup with some fresh herbs, a little garlic, sea salt and lemon or lime juice. You can also add some miso paste, scallions/spring onion, chili, and Tamari soy sauce.
Notes
Nutrition
If you enjoy this recipe, share it with your Instant Pot loving friends and family. Questions and comments are welcome!
Greta deJong
Thank you for this recipe. This is my first time visiting your site but I'll be back for more. I followed your recipe using the carcass of a pre-roasted deli chicken. I've made bone broth from maybe 10 years but this was, hands-down, the most delicious. After "harvesting" the broth, because it was late and I was too tired to clean up, I just added more water, bay leaves, ginger, vinegar and fish sauce to the pot and pressure-cooked on low for three hours (then "warm"). In the morning, I was surprised to find this second batch of broth was as tasty as the first, though a bit lighter. In the end, I got six quarts of delicious bone broth out of one carcass in my 6-qt. Instant Pot. Wow! I'll be making a lot more chicken bone broth from now on. If only beef bone broth were so easy... or maybe I just need a bigger pot. 🙂
Ann Fabrizio
Thanks Greta for the feed back. We are really happy you got so much broth out of this recipe. We also have a recipe for beef broth if you need and yes maybe an upgrade to 8 qt is in your future, lol. Take care.
Diana
I meant 5 Stars!!!
Diana
Love this recipe! I'm currently making Vegetable Chicken Bone Broth in my 8 qt Instant Pot. I loaded our with a whole Bulb of Garlic, 5 huge carrots, 5 celery stalks with leaves, Dbl the ginger, cracked Pepper, dash of Kosher Salt, and 1.5 Sweet Vidalia Onions and 3 small chicken carcasses! I also add some thyme, rosemary, dried basil from my garden and some red pepper flakes. The smell in our home right now is amazing! I can't wait to get up right now and have a cup of this broth. So Excited! I'm not new to doing this and started this before my hubby and I went for a walk with our dogs, BUT, I was a bit confused about how long I keep it in the Instant Pot, this is when I came across your recipe! I am sure anyone who tries this is gonna love love love this!
Yoli
I followed the recipe but did not have any ginger, cilantro or chili thing. I added a little bit extra of everything but fish sauce. The broth came out a beautiful golden tea color and wonderful taste. I love I and would drink it plain as a cup of tea.
Susan
In the instant pot now as I write this. I can tell this is going to be delicious. I pulled a couple of bags of frozen chicken bones from my freezer that Zaida was saving for just this purpose. Have made bone broth in the IP before, but this combination of vegetables, herbs and seasonings will be so good! Recipe very easy to follow, thanks...
Instant Pot Eats
Thanks, Susan. I hope it turned out great for you. Lots of delicious ways to use up the broth as well.
Anonymous
The instructions are simple and easy to follow. The taste is amazing. We drink bone broth daily and this is the recipe we use!
Peggy
Worked well EXCEPT I could not find a “LOW” button - nor in my brief research could I find it. So I used ‘egg’ setting. What setting are you referring to?
instantpoteats
Hey Peggy, I see how that wasn't clear. You have to press Manual/Pressure Cook and then change the pressure setting from high to low. But, as mentioned in instructions, it would be ready after 100 mins plus natural release anyway. I'll update the instructions to make it clearer. Thanks for the heads up!
Crystal Davila
Could I make this with Drumsticks or Thighs instead of the chicken carcass? Would I have to take all the meat off the bone and just use the bones?
instantpoteats
Yes, absolutely! I am actually making chicken broth today with leftover frozen chicken wings 🙂 As long as you have some bones in there, you'll get a good broth.
Melissa Hernandez
I made this today, and wow! So incredibly happy with the gelatinous consistency. I used frozen bones from all the chicken I de-bone, mostly thighs and it came out perfect. I haven't been able to get gelatin lately over the stove. Thank you so much for this recipe!
instantpoteats
Fantastic - so glad you enjoyed it Melissa!
Krista
Hello! When you say cut a raw chicken in half and use it, do I keep the meat on that half a chicken and put it all in or trim the meat off of half the raw chicken a bit? thanks!
instantpoteats
Trim the meat from the chicken and use the bones/scraps. You can use meat in the broth, but you can also eat it 😉
Stacy
Trying out your recipe today! Two questions...what is the purpose of vinegar (just curious) and did you use high or medium pressure for that first 100 minutes?
instantpoteats
Vinegar helps to pull the minerals out of the bones and inject your broth with more of them 🙂 You want to use high pressure for this recipe.
Debora Cadene
I have read, that before making a bone broth of any sort, that the bones should be roasted first. Is that just for beef/pork or should that also include chicken? If using raw chicken....will you get the same benefits as a cooked carcus?
thank you!!
~debbie.
instantpoteats
Hey Debbie,
Roasting the bones is mostly done to give the stock slightly richer flavor and darker color but is not necessary. I often use raw chicken or beef/pork bones.
Hope that helps!
Debora Cadene
Thank you so much for the reply. I'm excited to make a broth for soup that doesn't just taste like water.
Jamie
What do you use to strain the broth?
instantpoteats
You can just use a colander.
stephanie
if I don't have a instant pot what's another way I could make this? Super cold winter and every one keeps getting sick so if been wanting to make so healthy feel better soup and this sounds great.
instantpoteats
You can make it on the stove by simmering the broth on very low heat for 6-12 hours.
Jennifer
Do you ever roast bones first? I've been reading about doing that, but haven't tried yet.
instantpoteats
You can, and roasted bones will give you a darker, somewhat reacher broth but from a nutritional point of view, there is no difference. It's more about how much time you have 🙂
Lowcarber
Nice article! I've been making bone broths in the IP for a while now. My recipe is similar to yours. I usually divide and freeze in 1 cup measurements, then I can use it in various ways. What I am curious about is do you have any nutritional information on your bone broth say for 1 cup?? I can put a recipe thru my recipe program and get nutritional info - but when you do a bone broth you don't keep the veggies and stuff so that throws off the info it gives back. Any ideas? Thanks
instantpoteats
I don't have the exact nutritional info as you are right, some stuff is used in cooking but then removed. I do believe some of the nutrients from the veggies do end up in the stock. It is nourishing from all the minerals and amino acids in the bones, and very good for digestive and gut health.
LaurenO17
Hello- how many lbs of bones is equal to one carcass? I buy bones, necks from kosher butcher, so just curious how much I should ask for? Thanks!
instantpoteats
I would ask for 2-3 lbs of bones for this broth amount. Hope that helps!
Maylene
Say I had cooked a whole chicken, can I use the carcass from that? or would it have to be raw?
instantpoteats
Yes, you absolutely can use the carcass?
marge201
i haven't done this in my 6-quart IP yet but I've done it for years on the stove. I seem to be the only one who lets the strained broth sit in refrigerator for a day or two, skim off the inch or so of fat, and then freeze the skimmed broth in containers. Am I missing something here? Isn't discarding that layer of fat a smart move?
instantpoteats
A lot of people keep the fat for cooking and because they actually want some of the fat in their broth/soup/stew when they reheat it. Some people are on a high fat/low carb diets, in which case the fat would be utilized in their meals. I find that having a layer of fat also helps to preserve the broth better, but it's not essential to keep it.
marge201
I appreciate your informative answer. Thank you! I'm mostly on a high fat/low carb diet (I eat a lot avocados and nuts; don't ever buy bread, pasta, crackers, etc) but really like getting rid of that solidified fat. Now I won't be questioning DIY bone broth recipes. Thanks for the great IP recipe!
Nicole Da Silva
* I meant delish!
Nicole Da Silva
This looks relish! Thanks for a clear and specifi recipe. I read a lot of general and ambiguous recipes for chicken bone broth. I am a novice for both bone broth and the instant pot. Does your broth gel when you make it this way? I have had such trouble getting could quality gelling broth
instantpoteats
Thanks Nicole. Yes, mince gels pretty well. It often depends on the cooking time and the amount of bones/cartilage/fat.
instantpoteats
Thanks Nicole. Yes, mine gels pretty well. It often depends on the cooking time and the amount of bones/cartilage/fat.