Simple Instant Pot Bone Broth

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Bone broth is a traditional food loaded with health benefits and a great way to utilize all animal parts, reduce your waste, and save money! Find my favorite bone broth traditional recipe that you can conveniently make in your Instant Pot. Traditions made simple for our modern life.

What is bone broth?

Bone broth is a traditional food of many cultures around the world. It’s one of the ways to make use of animals’ bones and other inedible parts and nourish our bodies with all the nutrients they are rich in.

Bone broth is made by simmering the bones and connective tissues of animals (chicken, beef, pork, turkey) in water for extended periods of time. The result is a golden, delicious liquid that is solid upon cooling. Yes, that’s right, a good bone broth must be solid when refrigerated! This is because of the high content of gelatin in bone broth.

Bone broth is different from regular broth or stock, which is made by boiling meat or meat and bones for a low or moderate amount of time. For example, if you simmer a whole chicken in water, you’ll have a broth that is much less gelatinous and nutrient-dense than bone broth.

Bone broth is a great warm beverage to sip on as a restorative food, a panacea to many seasonal illnesses, and a great base for soups, stews, gravies, and sauces. Try this delicious nourishing beef heart stew!

What are the benefits of bone broth?

Animal bones are so rich in nutrients and that’s why traditionally they were always utilized somehow. Bones are a great source of collagen, amino acids, calcium, phosphorus and vitamins that our bodies desperately need.

Bone broth is highly nutritious, refueling the body with minerals and vitamins, and representing an invaluable source of collagen and glycine (read more about all the benefits of collagen here). All these nutrients contribute to sustaining healthy bones, joints and skin, keeping the gut healthy and sustaining digestion, lowering inflammation and promoting detoxification. Bone broth can even help sleep better and improve our mood!

Bone broth is a great healing beverage for grown-ups and children, especially when fighting a cold or flu, or to rehydrate the body after having diarrhea.

You can even make healing bone broth popsicles!

Why make bone broth in the Instant Pot?

Traditionally, bone broth is prepared by simmering bones and other ingredients of choice in water on the stove for up to 24 hours. The long simmering time allows to extract all the nutrients in the bones and break down all the collagen into gelatin. This is still a great way to make bone broth if you don’t have an Instant Pot.

But let me tell you why I prefer making bone broth in the Instant Pot.

First of all, having a pot simmering on the stove for the entire day consumes energy. It’s certainly different if you have a wood stove where you can place your pot and let it simmer away. But if you use an electric or gas stove, having it on for that long every week will make a difference in your monthly bills.

Another problem I have encountered is that I don’t like having a big pot of simmering broth taking up space on my stove. I usually need all my burners to cook supper! I also don’t feel comfortable leaving the house having the stove on or overnight because of the possible fire hazard.

Besides the energy waste and practicality aspects, another thing I don’t like about making bone broth on the stove is the smell. Yes, bone broth smells! I’m not saying it’s a bad smell, but it’s a strong smell that will invade your whole house and persist for days. I’m quite particular about having a fresh house and strong food smells overwhelm me, especially when they invade my bedroom as I’m trying to sleep.

By making bone broth in the Instant Pot, you can save energy and time, and avoid a smelly house. My trick? Once the broth is ready, I place the Instant Pot outside and let it release pressure naturally so that most of the smell stays out. Another benefit of making bone broth in the Instant Pot? Reducing the simmering time also reduces how much histamine is released by the bones, which is beneficial for people that experience histamine sensitivity.

Simple Instant Pot bone broth ingredients

All you really need to make bone broth are animal bones and other collagen-rich parts and water. You can use any bones you have available, better is if they include the collagen-rich parts like tendons, ligaments and joints. I like using a mix of chicken, beef, pork, and sheep bones. Chicken feet and heads are a great addition to bone broth, making it extra gelatinous. You can usually get these parts for cheap (or even free) at a local butcher shop or farm!

What I like to do is save all the bones and cartilage parts from our weekly meals in a bag that I store in the freezer. I accumulate them until I have enough to make a batch of bone broth. This way nothing goes to waste!

For a richer flavour, bones can be roasted or cooked before making the broth. If you’re saving the bones from your cooked meats, this part is covered. But if you’re adding bones that you didn’t previously cook you can roast them in the oven at 425 degrees F for about 30 minutes.

Make sure you use good water to make your broth. You don’t want to spoil all the health benefits by using water with chlorine or fluoride added to it! So use filtered water if you’re not on a well.

You can also add other ingredients to your bone broth. Vegetable scraps (carrot peels and leaves, celery leaves) and herbs can make the broth tastier. You can add onion and garlic if you like the flavour. Apple cider vinegar can be added as well as the acidity contributes to breaking down the collagen in the bones, making the broth extra gelatinous.

What you’ll need to make bone broth:

How to make this simple Instant Pot bone broth

1. Place the bones and other cartilage parts in your Instant Pot. Fill the stainless steel Instant Pot for about 3/4 of the way up.

2. Add (filtered) water to the Instant Pot until the water covers the bones, not more than that.
3. If you want to, add about a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar and some herbs and/or vegetable scraps.
4. Close the Instant Pot lid, making sure the valve is in sealing position. Turn the Instant Pot on “pressure cook” (high pressure) and set the timer for 4 hours. It will take about 15-20 minutes for the pot to go into pressure.
5. Once the 4 hours are up, let the Instant Pot go through natural release. This will take about 45 minutes. Once the pressure is released, you can turn off the Instant Pot and open the lid.

6. Wait a few minutes until the pot is not too hot to be touched and then strain your broth over a stainless steel strainer to separate the bones and any other pieces from the liquid.

7. Pour the broth into glass mason jars and let it cool off slightly before placing them in the refrigerator.
8. Once the broth is cooled, it will be solid. If you use fatty animal parts for the broth, you’ll also notice a lighted layer sitting on top of the broth. That’s fat and you can remove it with a spoon.

Notes

For the best broth, use a variety of bones and cartilage pieces from different animals (chicken, turkey, beef, pork, lamb).

I advise adding apple cider vinegar to the broth to help extract all the collagen from the bones.

Bone broth can be refrigerated for up to 1 week, and can be frozen for up to 6 months.

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