Instant Pot Chicken Broth is the easiest and cheapest way to make homemade broth. It has so much flavor and it tastes better than store-bought. Simply add raw chicken backs or chicken bones, water, veggies and herbs into a pressure cooker and set the timer. In a couple of hours, you’ll have the best chicken broth to use in soups, stews, or gravy all week long! If you are meal prepping, store the broth in the fridge for a couple of days or freeze it into ice cubes to easily add a pop of flavor to your favorite dish!
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Recipe Ingredients
- Chicken bones or carcasses – 2 – 3 chicken backs or 4 pounds of chicken bones. Add any wing tips if you have any, they contain a good amount of collagen which will make your broth more gelatinous.
- Vegetables – Use whatever you have! Onions, garlic, zucchini, tomatoes, celery stalks, carrots, and ginger. Whatever vegetables you would normally put in a soup, you can add to the broth.
- Herbs – fresh or dried. Use the herbs you like the flavor of, just make sure to not add too much because the seasonings can overwhelm the chicken flavor in broth.
- Apple cider vinegar (optional)- Sometimes I like to cook my broth with a splash of apple cider vinegar. It helps to bring out more of the minerals in the bones. You can’t taste it in the final broth but it’s completely optional.
- Salt – So your broth isn’t flavorless. We don’t want it to taste salty or anything. Just add enough so that your broth doesn’t taste bland by itself.
- Water – 4 – 6 cups filtered water. Less water = more concentrated chicken broth. Using more water will still yield a flavorful broth it just won’t be as concentrated.
How to Make Chicken Broth In the Instant Pot
All ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
- Add the chicken backs or chicken bones to the Instant pot or pressure cooker. Then add in the rest of the veggies, herbs, salt, apple cider vinegar(if you are using it), and water.
- Cover with the pressure cooker lid and seal. Push the Soup/Broth button and then cook on HIGH pressure for 4 hours.
- Once chicken broth is finished cooking, allow the pressure to release naturally for 30 minutes so the hot broth doesn’t get all over you and your kitchen!
- Set a strainer over a large bowl. Use a slotted spoon to remove the chicken back, and veggies. Everything should be very soft and falling apart – this is what we want. Discard bones and veggies.
- Pour broth into quart-sized mason jars. Sometimes I like to filter the broth one more time through a fine mesh sieve, just to make sure any herbs or small chunks of veggies are filtered out so I’m left with a clear broth.
- Allow the broth to cool completely. Then store in the refrigerator. At this point, you can scrape the fat off the top if you like. Now your homemade chicken is ready to use in your favorite recipes!
Difference between broth, stock, and bone broth
Often times these terms are used interchangeably, but there are subtle differences between all three!
Broth: This is made by simmering meat with water, vegetables, and seasonings. It has a clearer color and usually only simmered for a couple of hours.
Stock: Bones are simmered for a long time. Stocks usually don’t contain any seasonings and can have a slightly darker color.
Bone broth: A mix of bones, meat, vegetables, and seasonings simmered for a long time. Because it cooks for so long, the gelatin and minerals are released from the bones and into the broth. The bones become very soft and once the broth cools it can be jiggly and very gelatinous.
This recipe is closer to a bone broth because I like to cook everything for a long time for maximum flavor!
How to Use Homemade chicken broth
You can use this pressure cooker chicken broth for any recipe calling for broth. If possible I like to use chicken broth instead of water, because it adds such a rich and savory flavor to almost any recipe.
- Vegetable Lentil soup
- Red Lentil Soup
- Instant Pot Chili
- Loaded Baked Potato Soup
- Chicken Sausage Gravy and Biscuits
- Double Crust Chicken Pot Pie
Tips and Tricks
- Use meat from the chicken backs or bones in soups and stews, or chicken pot pie.
- Don’t use leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage because they will give your broth a weird flavor. And using too many carrots can make the broth too sweet.
- Instead of cooking the chicken broth for 4 hours on HIGH pressure, you can cook it for 2 hours with 4 cups of water. The bones won’t be as soft, but the broth will be more concentrated.
- After cooking, allow the Instant Pot to release the pressure naturally for at least 30 minutes. This is to ensure that hot cooking liquid from the vent doesn’t go all over your kitchen!
Frequently Asked Questions
Chicken broth and chicken stock are oftentimes used interchangeably. Chicken broth is made from meat and vegetables cooked for a couple of hours and chicken stock from slowly simmering the bones for a longer amount of time.
Yes! Freezing chicken broth is my favorite way to store it so it doesn’t go bad before I can use it up. You can divide the broth between freezer quart-sized bags, making sure not to overfill them. Or you could pour the broth into an ice cube tray, then transfer the cubes into a freezer bag for easy use!
Chicken broth is good in the refrigerator for up to 5 days in an air-tight container.
Looking for more chicken recipes
- Air Fryer Lemon Pepper Chicken Thighs
- Dutch Oven Whole Roast Chicken with Potatoes
- Chicken Sausage Gravy
- Chicken Dressing Recipe
- Pan Seared Boneless Chicken Thighs with Gravy
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Instant Pot Chicken Broth
Equipment
- Instant Pot 6-quart size
- Ice cube tray for freezing broth
Ingredients
- 2 Chicken backs or 4lbs chicken bones
- 4-6 cups filtered water
- 3 – 4 celery stalks
- 1 – 2 carrots
- 1 – 2 yellow onions cut in half
- 4 garlic cloves
Seasonings:
- 2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
- 1 teaspoon dried thyme
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1 teaspoon All-Purpose Seasoning optional
- 8 – 10 whole black peppercorns
- 1 tsp apple cider vinegar* optional
Optional Add-ins:
- 2- inch Piece of fresh Ginger
- 1 Tomato
- 1 Zucchini
Instructions
- Rinse chicken bones then add to Instant Pot or pressure cooker liner.
- Add celery, carrots, onions, garlic, seasonings and apple cider vinegar, if using.
- Cover with the pressure cooker lid and seal. Press the Soup/Broth button then set the timer for 4 hours on HIGH pressure.
- After the timer has finished, allow the steam to release naturally so the broth doesn’t spray all over you or your kitchen.
- Next, set a strainer over a large bowl to strain the broth. The bones and vegetables should be very soft. This is what we want.
- You can then use the broth in your favorite recipes or store in quart-size mason jars in the refrigerator to use later! Enjoy!
Notes
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerator: After straining the chicken broth into mason jars, you can store it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: After the broth has cooled you can pour the broth into plastic baggies to freeze. Make sure to seal them thoroughly and don’t overfill the bags because the broth will expand as it freezes.
- Broth ice cubes: You could also pour the broth into an ice cub tray. I like this method better than the baggies because I can add broth cubes to my recipes easier without always having to thaw a baggie full of broth. After the cubes are frozen you can store them in a freezer-safe gallon baggies in the freezer until you are ready to use them.
Tips and Tricks
- Use meat from the chicken backs or bones in soups and stews, or chicken pot pie.
- Don’t use leafy greens and cruciferous vegetables like broccoli and cabbage because they will give your broth a weird flavor. And using too many carrots can make the broth too sweet.
- Instead of cooking the chicken broth for 4 hours on HIGH pressure, you can cook it for 2 hours with 4 cups of water. The bones won’t be as soft, but the broth will be more concentrated.
- After cooking, allow the Instant Pot to release the pressure naturally for at least 30 minutes. This is to ensure that hot cooking liquid from the vent doesn’t go all over your kitchen!
Nutrition
All nutrition information is automatically generated and should be only used as a rough estimate. This recipe card may contain affiliate links.
