You just won’t find a more delicious, homemade chicken bone broth recipe than this one. Containing natural collagen, this Instant Pot chicken bone broth is nourishing, wholesome, and super quick and easy to make!
This recipe calls for a whole, uncooked chicken. But you can use any kind of chicken bones. Just make sure you've got enough of them and there's some meat and skin for added flavor and nutrients too. You can even use a leftover rotisserie chicken carcass.
If you try it, I'm sure it'll become your go-to chicken bone broth from here on out. It's that delicious and that simple!
Jump to:
What Makes This Recipe Great?
What I love about using a whole chicken to make the best chicken bone broth is that you end up with juicy, flavorful chicken meat that you can save for other recipes like chicken and rice soup, gravy, chicken sandwiches, or chicken enchiladas. The chicken meat becomes so flavorful because you're essentially immersing and cooking it in a brine. Plus, the meat itself imparts so much deliciousness to the gelatinous chicken bone broth too.
This recipe couldn't be simpler to make. Plus, did you know that onion is the only vegetable you need to make the most delicious bone broth base? Don't be fooled by all the info out there that say you need all the veggies and herbs for flavor. You don't at all.
I've never, ever tasted a better chicken bone broth. In my experience, the simplest recipes using quality ingredients are the best recipes. This chicken bone broth tastes so rich and flavorful. I couldn't imagine a better-tasting chicken broth.
Why Is Bone Broth So Beneficial?
Joint protective
Bone Broth is rich in hyaluronan and chondroitin sulfate, which protect our joints and bones.
Rich in gelatin
This instant pot bone broth recipe has tons of gelatin. Gelatin is made of collagen and collagen is essential to our overall health.
Collagen makes up about 30% of your body's total protein and helps form your connective tissues including skin, bones, tendons, and muscles. It's also found in other parts of the body such as blood vessels, the intestinal lining, organs, nails, and hair.
Our cells in our bodies are constantly turning over and require more building blocks to form healthy, new cells. Nourishing our bodies with gelatinous bone broth will deliver some of these necessary building blocks to our cells.
Great for digestion
Bone broth is easy on the digestive tract. This study shows that gelatin supports intestinal health and integrity, and protects against inflammation in the gut. And this study also suggests that collagen helps tighten junctions in the gut lining and blocks the effects of inflammation there.
Rich in vitamins and minerals
It contains vitamins A, B2, B12, D, E, K, iron, zinc, calcium, selenium, magnesium, phosphorus, and potassium. These are all essential to overall health.
Exhibits anti-inflammatory properties
According to this study, relative to other types meat, chicken contains high levels of histidine dipeptides, which act as antioxidants, protect against neurodegenerative disease, exhibit anti-inflammatory characteristics, and boost immunity. Perhaps this is why chicken soup is called "Jewish penicillin".
6. Is bone broth better than botox? It's definitely healthier and more natural, while also being great for the skin. Collagen helps reduce the signs of aging in the skin. It helps make up the protein elastin, which as you can guess, gives skin its elasticity and youthful nature. It also protects against wrinkles and sagging skin.
Ingredients
- 1 whole, uncooked chicken - If you don't have a whole chicken, use what you've got. You can use 4-5 lbs bone-in chicken pieces or ~2 lbs chicken bones with added meat too. I highly recommend organic or pasture-raised chicken that is soy-free. It's impossible for me to find pasture-raised chicken that hasn't been raised on soy, unless I buy directly from a trusted farm rather than a store. Soy contains compounds that mimic estrogen and this phytoestrogen is stored in chicken fat. To quote Michael Pollan, "You are what you eat eats."
- Onion - Onion is crucial for any bone broth recipe. You can forgo all the veggies most bone broth recipes call for, but onion is the one vegetable that imparts the most flavor and aroma to broths.
- Sea Salt - Use a high quality salt that doesn't have any additives.
- Black Pepper - Don't be shy with it. You can even use a tiny bit of cayenne if you want a bit of a kick.
- Turmeric Powder - Not only has turmeric shown to be beneficial for health, it is essential to any bone broth I make. Although it really enhances and complements the flavor of the Instant Pot bone broth, you can't pin the taste on turmeric when you sip on the broth. And I love the beautifully rich and golden hue it provides.
- Water - You only want enough water to just cover the top of the ingredients. If you have an issue with your bone broth not jelling, too much water is most likely the cause and I talk about this further in the FAQ section of this post.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth
Add all the ingredients straight into the Instant Pot.
Then you need to properly secure your lid to the pot and set it to cook for 30 minutes on high pressure. After 30 minutes, allow the pot to sit for another 15 minutes for natural pressure release before you release the rest of the pressure using the quick steam valve.
Then you're going to carefully remove the lid and remove the meat from the bones and save the meat for further recipes. It's delicious and juicy.
Then put the bones back into the pot, secure the lid and set the cook time to 90 minutes on high pressure this time.
Again, once the time is up, allow for a natural pressure release for 15 minutes before using the quick release steam valve to get rid of the remaining pressure in the pot.
Then all you need to do is strain the bone broth into a pot. I prefer using a stainless steel colander to strain it. But you can use what you have, of course.
And there you have it. The best Instant Pot chicken bone broth of your life is ready!
FAQs
Bone broth uses either high pressure for a couple hours or a simmer for 18-36 hours to break down the collagen in bones, tendons, and cartilage.
Although stock is primarily made from bones and veggies, it doesn't cook for as long (or use high pressure for a few hours) as bone broth does. Regular broth doesn't require bones as it gets more of its flavor from the meat/veggies.
Far more popular and widely accepted is to simmer bone broth for anywhere from 18 to 36 hours; but I will argue it's not the best way.
According to this study, pressure cooking preserves more beta-carotene and ascorbic acid in veggies compared to cooking over the stove for a longer time. And this study shows more preservation of Vitamin C with pressure cooking broccoli than boiling or steaming it.
This suggests that high pressure cooking for a shorter duration retains more nutrients than simmering for an extended period of time. So not only is pressure cooking bone broth quicker, it's more nutritious. I'd say that's the way to go.
If you've made bone broth before and it didn't gel after chilling overnight in the fridge, then you need to address three things. Have you added too much water? Did you not have enough bones? Or did you not cook it for long enough? I will say if you pressure cook bones for at least an hour or two, you should be good on the time aspect.
The trick to get bone broth to gel is to only add enough water to fully immerse the bones. If your bone broth doesn't gel it doesn't necessarily mean your broth doesn't have as much gelatin. It just means you have more water than needed. You can always boil it down later if it bothers you.
I do not recommend adding vinegar to bone broth. People love adding it because they read or heard somewhere that they should, but you don't need it. The idea is that it draws out more calcium from the bones. I believe everything should be in its correct and natural ratios for consumption.
High pressure cooking for a couple hours is more than enough time to get plenty of calcium into the broth. It should also be considered that too much calcium in the diet can be an issue too.
Aside from the calcium issue, the vinegar may add a slight flavor to your broth that you may not appreciate.
No need. It doesn't add any flavor in my experience. It just adds more color that isn't needed because the color of this broth is already so beautiful and rich.
Chicken bones are soft, small, and contain hollow areas throughout, so you need about 90 minutes with a pressure cooker to extract enough collagen from the bones to make a rich, gelatinous bone broth.
If you have meat in there that you intend on using, then you need to cook the broth in two separate steps. You remove the cooked chicken as soon as it's perfectly cooked, and put the bones and skin back into the Instant Pot to finish breaking down the collagen in the cartilage and bones.
Best Bones to Use for Chicken Bone Broth
You can use any kind of chicken bones for making Instant Pot chicken bone broth. I prefer a whole raw chicken (and sometimes I'll throw in extra pieces too) because you have all the bones, skin, and cartilage present. In addition, you also have all that yummy chicken meat to save for recipes throughout the week.
If you buy rotisserie chickens, save the carcasses in the freezer and make Instant Pot bone broth once you have at least 2 of them.
The more bone-in chicken pieces the better. The more cartilage pieces the better. Throwing in extra wings, some feet, and a head if you can find it are wonderful for creating more of a gelatinous chicken bone broth.
What to Do with Chicken Bone Broth
There is so much you can do with bone broth. Aside from sipping on a warm cup of delicious bone broth, you can use the broth to make a base for soups. You can cook the broth down until it's pretty concentrated and make sauces or gravy from it.
My favorite trick is to add some to sautéing chicken or beef and cook out the liquid, allowing the meat to sear in the fat from the broth. It makes the meat so flavorful! You can also cook rice in the broth so that the rice absorbs all the bone broth goodness!
When my children were just starting solids, I'd stir in a spoonful of bone broth into their food or feed them the broth in a little glass.
How to Store Instant Pot Bone Broth
Here's a tip for storage -- You can concentrate the bone broth after you make it by simmering it for a while without a lid on so that the liquid reduces and it takes up less freezer or fridge space.
Bone broth will freeze beautifully for as long as you want. Some people freeze it in ice cube trays. But don't add the broth if it's warm because this can leach the plastic in the ice cube trays. Once frozen, just throw the frozen bone broth cubes into a freezer bag for use later.
You can leave it in the fridge for 1 week.
Leave a comment or ask a question and I'll get right back to you!
If you enjoyed this Instant Pot chicken bone broth recipe, I'd appreciate a 5-star rating and review!
Tag me on Instagram @honestandtasty!
Recipe
Best Chicken Bone Broth (Instant Pot)
Equipment
- 1 Instant Pot pressure cooker
Ingredients
- 1 whole, uncooked chicken *
- 1 onion sliced into 8 pieces
- 1 tablespoon sea salt
- ½ teaspoon black pepper
- 2 teaspoon turmeric powder
- water enough water to just cover the top of the ingredients
Instructions
- Add all ingredients to your Instant Pot, in the order listed.1 whole, uncooked chicken *, 1 onion, 1 tablespoon sea salt, ½ teaspoon black pepper, 2 teaspoon turmeric powder, water
- Properly close the Instant Pot with its lid and set to cook on high pressure heat for 30 minutes.
- Once it is done, allow 15 minutes for natural pressure release before releasing the quick steam valve.
- Then remove the meat from the bones and set meat aside to enjoy in soups/sandwiches/salads.
- Then continue cooking the bones by setting cook time to 90 minutes on high pressure, and then allow 15 minutes of natural pressure release before using the quick release steam valve.
- Using a colander, fine-mesh sieve, or cheesecloth, strain the bone broth into a large pot, discarding the bones and onion.
Shahin sadeghieh says
Great recipe😊
Annette Sweetser says
This is my go to recipe. For the chicken I only add 1 1/2 cup water as per my Instant Pot directions. Less salt, less turmeric, peppercorns instead of black pepper, and anything else I have on hand (celery, garlic, and a bay leaf). I then cover the bones with water.
Bita Cyrus says
Wonderful that you adjust the recipe to your preference! It really is more of a guide than an absolute recipe! I'm grateful that my bone broth is your go-to recipe!
Monica says
First time I made bone broth in the instant pot and it was so easy! I think I added too much water because when I released the steam it was a hot mess all over the counter. The only thing I did differently was added chicken feet from Whole Foods so maybe too much chicken in the pot? The end product was so gelatinous, I’m sipping it right now as I write this! Thank you for this delicious recipe🙏