My family’s Instant Pot Bone Broth Recipe we made for centuries in Ukraine. Full of collagen, budget friendly and ready in 2.5 hours instead of 24 hours.
After, you can eat or drink bone broth on its own, or use as a base for soups like Instant Pot chicken and rice soup, Instant Pot borsch or Instant Pot beef barley soup.
Table of contents
Pressure Cooker Bone Broth
I was born and raised in Ukraine. I will share with you how my family made bone broth since 19th century. Or I bet you even earlier, before it became trendy just like kombucha had become. Of course, it was not Instant Pot bone broth but rather simmered for 24 hours broth. We are super lucky to be making bone broth in a pressure cooker today. A truly miracle appliance.
You don’t have to buy bone broth in a capsule or a carton. I think either is ridiculously expensive. Make bone broth at home and enjoy the same health benefits at fraction of the cost.
I love using bone broth with a bit of water as a base for soups like Instant Pot chicken noodle soup (especially when I don’t have a whole chicken for broth) and Instant Pot chicken and rice soup.
Looking for more dinner ideas? Check out my most popular collection of Instant Pot healthy recipes.
Health Benefits of Bone Broth
Why all the craze?
According to Medical News Today, one word – collagen. The longer you simmer the bone broth, the richer flavor and higher collagen content. Collagen seeps out from bones and connective tissues during long-term simmering. Cooking collagen turns it to gelatin, which provides the body with amino acids, which are the building blocks of proteins.
#1 health benefit of collagen is joint health. Cartilage in our joints wears down with continual use and time. Consuming bone broth may be a good way to add gelatin to our diet. It may help reduce stress on joints as well as promote healthy nails, hair, skin and stronger immune system.
Beef or Chicken?
Here are few quick facts about beef and chicken bone broth and you decide (source):
- Chicken bone broth is higher in Omega 6. Type of fatty acids that are found in vegetable oils used for frying processed foods. It is one of Western Diet’s problem – we consume 5 times more Omega 6 than our ancestors.
- Beef bone broth is higher in minerals.
- Chicken and beef bone broth taste differently.
My family always made bone broth with beef bones after meat was used to make beef stew. And that is what I make these days.
Tip: Feel free to add garlic, celery, onion and herbs if you feel like. We never did in Ukraine so I do not feel it’s necessary. But I know it is very common in North America. One thing – celery doesn’t add nice flavor when cooked under pressure.:)
What Bones?
For beef, I highly recommend to use beef or bison soup bones. Or wild meat bones like deer, moose or elk. Simple.
In case you want to use chicken bones, I suggest to use carcasses from 2 whole chickens or large turkey. Make Instant Pot whole chicken a few times and stash the bones in your freezer. And because chicken bones do not contain as much collagen as beef, I recommend to add chicken feet. Broth will have higher protein and gelatin content.
How to Make Bone Broth in Instant Pot
My Instant Pot bone broth recipe is super simple. This is how my grandma used to make it. And that’s how I make it, without any vegetables. And it comes out super flavorful!
- In Instant Pot, add bones, bay leaves, peppercorns and water. That’s it.
- Close the lid, turn on Pressure Cook on High for 2 hours, turn vent to Sealing position. Walk away.
- A few hours later, open the pot and you are looking at bone broth.
- Remove bay leaves, peppercorns and large floating pieces of whatever that is with small mesh strainer. Don’t look for perfection because we will be putting broth through a mesh strainer again.
- I like to add salt after pressure cooker bone broth is cooked. Simply because I like to adjust salt to taste and it really doesn’t matter when you salt it, before or after. For 6 quart Instant Pot add 2 tsp salt; for 8 quart add 1 tbsp. Then stir.
Once you stir, immediately you will notice “the build up” on the back of the spoon. It’s all the goodness of a bone broth in its glory – collagen and fats.
Storing Bone Broth
For any food storage, I prefer glass jars. Any size. I used 16 oz ones but I think larger ones are better since you will need a few anyways for making a batch of soup. Just pour broth with a ladle through a mesh strainer, placed inside a funnel, into the jar.
Refrigerate for up to 2 weeks.
Can I Freeze Bone Broth?
Of course. Freeze bone broth in same glass jars for up to 3 months. Just when you pour leave some room for expansion.
To thaw, on a counter for 6-8 hours, overnight in a fridge or in a bowl with warm water (quick defrost). I would be hesitant to place this golden liquid through the microwave waves to kill all the nutrients.
What to Do with Meat and Bones After?
After distributing most of the broth among the jars, you will have bones with some meat, tissue and liquid left. That’s more goodness on the bottom of the magic pot. Bone broth in Instant Pot just keeps on giving.
Before I get rid of the bones, I make sure to scrape the meat and tissue off of them really well. And if you look closer inside the bones you will see the bone marrow. Knock bones on the side of the pot a few times and it will come out.
What do you do with all of this?! Make some soup. For example, Instant Pot split pea soup.
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Instant Pot Bone Broth
Ingredients
- 2 lbs beef, chicken or turkey soup bones
- 5 bay leaves
- 5 peppercorns
- 2 tsp or 1 tbsp salt
Instructions
- In Instant Pot add bones, bay leaves, peppercorns and fill up with cold water 2/3 full (older models) or up to PC Max line (newer models). Don’t fill it up to the Max line near the edges, there needs to be room left for pressure to build up.
- Close the lid, set pressure vent to Sealing and press Pressure Cooking on High for 2 hours. Display will say ON, Instant Pot will take about 20-30 minutes to come to pressure, you will see a bit of steam coming out from a valve, then float valve will rise and countdown will begin.
- After 2 hours your bone broth is ready, Instant Pot will beep, display will say OFF and now it needs to bring pressure down before you can open it, which will be indicated by a dropped down float valve. You can let it do it on its own which will take less than an hour – Natural Release. OR you can do Quick Release by turning pressure valve to Venting position, which takes 3-4 minutes. I recommend doing so outside to avoid the mess and smell.
- Using small mesh strainer, discard bay leaves, peppercorns and large floating pieces of whatever that is. For 6 quart Instant Pot, add 2 tsp salt; for 8 quart, add 1 tbsp. Stir.
- Now you have to portion bone broth. I like to pour it into glass jars (any size) through a mesh strainer placed inside a funnel. That’s it. Use in soups or drink hot with fresh herbs and more spices.
Notes
- Besides beef bones, you can use moose, deer or bison bones.
- If you want to use chicken bones, I recommend to use full carcasses from 2 whole chickens + some feet for extra collagen and protein.
- Feel free to add garlic, celery, onion and herbs if you feel like. We never did in Ukraine so I do not feel it’s necessary. But I know it is very common in North America. One thing – celery doesn’t add nice flavor when cooked under pressure.:)
- Store: Refrigerate for up to a few weeks or freeze for up to 3 months.
Most bone broth recipes call for addition of cider vinegar, have you ever used it in your broth?
Feel free to add some if you would like 🙂
Hi there any reason you would do low vs high pressure? I read somewhere the the high pressure brings the temperature too high?
Not that I am aware of but you can use Low pressure.
It had never even occurred to me that I could cheaply and easily make my own broth with leftovers and scraps I would have previously thrown away, and that it would be so much more nutritious and tasty than store-bought. My 3 yr old daughter loved helping me by counting out peppercorns and bay leaves, plopping them into the pot, and pressing the buttons. I would have drank the whole pot if I wasn’t so excited to use the broth for future recipes, haha!
I am so happy to hear this Betty! It’s so easy and so healthy to make!
do you have a bone broth recipe for stove top cooking, I don’t have a Instant pot
No sorry I don’t have a published one.
Hi there! Thank you for this. I am completely new to IP and I have found your videos and website a complete solace. I hadn’t realized the time and started this pretty late. By the time it will be all done, it will be well past dinner time. Can I leave it on “Keep Warm” until morning, then cool and put away? Will it be fresh like that— or would you recommend I wait it out and put it away tonight?
Sure. Don’t even do keep warm. After it’s done cooking it will be so hot and stay almost warm till morning. No food spoilage.
I made the bone broth from a Turkey carcass that was smoked after a buttermilk brining. The broth was awesome. Grease was skimmed-not significant. It jelled up in an awesome way. Thank you. I have a picture but sometimes I’m tech challenged. Thank you for your advice.
Absolutely!!! Yes, there is not much fat from a poultry carcass. Way more from beef or pork bones and meat. Yours sounds delicious!
Any suggestions for Turkey bone broth.? I’ve done it with rotisserie chicken carcass and it was awesome!
Hi Mary. Yes, follow my Instant Pot chicken bone broth recipe.
Hello. Question on the bones. Should they be cooked or can they be left raw? I didn’t get any gelatinous element to my broth after a few hours, just the fat which when cooled rose to the top, Not sure if i need to cook the bones first or add some cider vinegar to extract more of the collagen?
Bones are added raw. What kind of bones did you use and how much? Gelatinous element can be usually seen after refrigeration in the fridge overnight. No need for ACV but you can add it. It is usually about what type of bones you used and how much. Beef is better and more boens means more gelatin. 2 hours is plenty time!
Was so good!