How to Make the Easiest and Best Bone Broth – Instant Pot Recipe

Warm, comforting and nourishing homemade bone broth is the perfect addition to homemade soups or remedy for sickness. Find out how to make this easy, quick bone broth using your instant pot!

When my husband and I married in 2015, I was a Choir Director at a large High School in Texas. I was so busy and hardly had any time at home. There was little time to cook from scratch meals. Well, the military had new plans for my husband! Surprise, surprise! A month before our wedding, we were told that we would be moving. We would be leaving Texas to go live in Northern California.

I quickly went from a full-time, busy working schedule to having a lot more time at home. Since we moved in the middle of the school year and I didn’t get a job right away. So I took that time and began learning more about cooking from scratch. I began to incorporate more homemade things in our home. I discovered quickly that it was a lot of fun to learn how to make things from scratch! Cooking foods that were nutrient dense and tasted delicious in whatever I was cooking was such a great reward!

Bone broth was one of the first things I started making from scratch. If you ever have read the ingredients labels of broth or stock in the box, even the organic kind, they almost always have “natural flavors” added in. As I have pointed out in other blog posts, natural flavor additions is most often not actually natural or something I want in my body. This quick article gives a good glimpse as to why I try to avoid any food with “natural flavors” added in.

Another reason to make your own bone broth – store bought broths are expensive. And if you make a lot of soups like we do, the cost for broth adds up quickly.

Enter- Homemade Bone Broth!!

Delicious and so easy to make. You can use homemade broth right away in soup or store in the freezer.

My preferred method for cooking homemade bone broth is using an instant pot. You can cook bone broth using a slow cooker or on the stove top as well. Using the instant pot is the quickest option and the bone broth turns out perfect every time!

Tools you may need:

• Instant Pot
• Colander
• Freezer Safe Mason Jars
• Funnel

What type of bones is used for homemade bone broth?

You can use any bones you want for making bone broth! I always try to get organic meat anytime I can and opt for meat with the bones still intact. After cooking the meat, I will save the bones in the freezer for bone broth! Bones from pork, steak, turkey or chicken all work excellently in homemade bone broth!

In NorCal we had a Co Op Grocery store that had organic and well-raised meats. In the freezer section, they sold the bones that were butchered off of the meat cuts they sold in the store. I always would stock up on those to add to my bone broth! Bone marrow bones, chicken feet (both great for extra collagen), chicken necks and more are all great to add to your bone broth. You can combine a variety of animal bones in your broth for extra depth of flavor and nutritious benefits. Cooked, raw, frozen, roasted. Any type!

How do you store bone broth?

These 24 oz. freezer safe mason jars are perfect for storing bone broth. They are straight jars and the broth slips right out after only a little time defrosting. If I forget to get the broth out early enough to be entirely defrosted, I can set these jars in some hot water to thaw out for later use. The hot water melts the outside layer of frozen bone broth and the rest just slides out easily.

24 oz. mason jars seems to be a good amount for most purposes. When I am making soup, I will usually use two jars. Sometimes I only need a cup or two in a recipe. I will leave the jar out on the counter for a few hours to defrost what I need. After it defrosts for a bit, I then pour out what I want to cook with. Put the frozen broth back in the freezer for later use.

What can you use homemade bone broth for?

• Soups and Stews
• In any recipe that calls for any kind of “stock” or “broth”
• Drink it plain. Heat on the stovetop with a pinch of salt and drink it when you are sick or for extra immunity & collagen.
• Use as the liquid when cooking rice or quinoa
• Use to deglaze the pan when sautéeing veggies

Where can you get quality meat to use the bones for bone broth?

If you can, it is really great to purchase grass-fed beef or organic, free-range chicken or humanely raised pork. Sourcing meat from local farmers is another great way to get quality meat. When you are using quality meat, save the bones from those cuts for your homemade bone broth.

Another excellent option for sourcing bones is to purchase meat from Butcher Box. Use THIS LINK to sign up and try Butcher Box meat delivery and get $30 off your first box. Butcher Box has high quality meat that you can feel good about eating and feeding to your family. I like choosing cuts of meat with bones in and then use them for my homemade bone broth.

A tip on the veggies…

Keeping a freezer ziplock bag in my freezer to throw any veggie scraps in anytime I am cooking a meal has come in handy when I am ready to make bone broth. Some of my favorite veggies to add into bone broth are carrots, onions, celery, garlic and leeks. This recipe calls for certain amounts of vegetables, however, feel free to use what you have. The amount does not need to be specific for the bones or the veggies. If you have a bag in the freezer designated for veggie scraps, you will almost always have enough to add into your bone broth without needing to chop them up when you are making the broth.

Homemade Bone Broth Ingredients

• Veggies:
  • 2 Medium Leeks (cleaned/cut in half) or 1 Onion (cut into quarters)
  • 1 Large Carrot, cut up
  • 2 stalks of celery, cut up in big chungs
  • 8 Garlic Cloves
• 2-4 TBS Apple Cider Vinegar – ACV helps break down the bones, you won’t taste it!
• 2 TBS Fish Sauce – gives bone broth rich, delicious flavor
• 1 tsp whole peppercorns
• 2-3 lbs assorted bones, always grass-fed or organic! Chicken feet for extra collagen
• 1-2 tsp sea salt – optional
• Filtered Water – use enough to cover the bones. Do not pass the max limit of the instant pot.

Instructions

Start by adding the bones and veggie scraps to your pot and then pour in filtered water to cover the bones and veggies. The water should cover the bones, but do not use too much or exceed the max line on the instant pot. After you add in the water, throw in the ACV, Fish Sauce, peppercorns, and sea salt. You can skip the salt if you want.

Plug the instant pot in, place the lid on top, and then close the steaming valve. Then set the instant pot to cook on high pressure by pressing “manual” or “pressure level” and set the timer to 240 minutes. Let the instant pot do it’s magic and after 4 hours, your bone broth will be ready to use!

When you release the steam valve, place a kitchen towel over the valve to keep it from sputtering. Use a colander when straining the broth into a soup pot. Pour the broth into glass jars using a funnel and then let cool for about an hour before placing in the freezer.

Notes

Remember to leave enough room in the jars for the broth to expand when it is frozen. Pay attention to the freezer line on the glass mason jar so it does not break the jar when it freezes! (I have made that mistake a time or two..)

If you are planning to use the broth right away, you can strain right into the pot of soup you are making. Fresh bone broth is the best when making soups and stews.

Other recipes to try with homemade bone broth!

• The Best Homemade Beef Stew

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