How to Make Bone Broth – Instant Pot
This is one thing I think all homesteaders must know how to do and what’s more important is that it is super simple you’ll wonder why you haven’t done it before. Learn how to make the most delicious mouthwatering bone broth with all kinds of health benefits. You’ll never want to buy store bought again.
The Benefits of Making Bone Broth
Bone broth is a very healthy option to work into your diet. It provides many benefits like:
- Giving extra collagen extracted from the bones.
- Rich in amino acids (essential for building protein in your body)
- Provides electrolytes like calcium, potassium, magnesium and sodium.
- Vitamins, nutrients and minerals.
- Can help aid digestive healing.
Different Ways to Make Bone Broth
There are a few different ways to make bone broth and you can use any bones you want. I often make chicken broth because that’s what is easily accessible to me. The different cooking options are using a crock pot, a stock pot on the stove or an instant pot (pressure pot). I use my instant pot because I can set it and leave it and know it will do what I need it to in a shorter time than leaving a pot unattended on the stove. The crock pot is a great option just will take longer and will have to be set several times.
The pressure from the instant pot helps draw out all the good stuff (vitamins, minerals, collagen, etc.) from the carcass quickly. You’ll also want to add in some veggies and herbs for flavoring the bone broth.
Getting Started
I often use bones from a whole chicken we have cooked previously. We can get about three meals out of one chicken not including the bone broth. How cool is that!? Check out my Roasted Chicken recipe here to get the most delicious roasted chicken ever.
Grab all the veggies you’ll want to add. I use things like onions, garlic, celery, fresh herbs, carrots, etc. You can add as much or as little as you want. The more you add the more flavorful the broth will be. You can even add seasonings out of your pantry.
The best part is you don’t have to chop these vegetables just throw them in the pot and you’re good to go! If you are using a stove top pot, place bones in with all vegetables and seasonings. Cover with water and let it simmer for 8-12 hours. The longer the better.
The one thing you don’t want to forget to add to your water is a splash of apple cider vinegar. This is literally the secret ingredient. The apple cider vinegar is what will help pull all that good calcium, collagen and other good stuff from the bones. All the benefits of bone broth are amplified when you add the apple cider vinegar. So, definitely don’t skip this step! This is my favorite apple cider vinegar to use.
Instant Pot Bone Broth
This is the way to go in my option. Set it and leave it and I know that with the high pressure inflicted on the chicken bones that I’m getting maximum benefits from my bone broth. The Instant Pot is so versatile and can be used as a slow cooker, can do one pot meals in them, make soup/broth, even as a rice cooker! Easy to clean also because you only are working with the removable insert.
This is the newer version of the Instant Pot I have.
The Steps I followed are listed below:
- Place chicken bones in instant pot
- Add in vegetables (onions, celery, carrots, seasoning, etc.)
- Fill insert with water covering the chicken
- Add in two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar
- Place Instant Pot lid on
- Pressure cooker settings to “manual”
- Increase time to 120 minutes (you’ll do this twice)
Simple and easy!
Storage of Homemade Bone Broth
I use a half gallon mason jar to store my broth in because I use it frequently during the week while cooking. Another and more shelf stable option is to pressure can your bone broth (not to be done in an instant pot). You will need a dedicated pressure canner for this process.
Bone broth kept in a refrigerator in a closed container will last up to 6 months.
Ways you can use your homemade, nutrient dense bone broth are in soups, one pot meals, gravy, to drink on its own, to sauté food in, etc.
Let me know in the comments what are your favorite ways to use homemade bone broth!
Check Out My Latest Posts
The Best Roasted Chicken (make your bone broth after!)
