Who wants some Instant Pot bone broth? Bone broth is good for you, but it takes forever to make—unless you’re using my recipe for Instant Pot bone broth. It’ll be ready in less than an hour!
There’s nothing I like more than a nice steaming mug of bone broth to get me through the cold winter months. It warms me from the inside out and it’s so good for you: check out why in these great posts by Mark’s Daily Apple and Balanced Bites.
I have a recipe for simmering bone broth in the slow cooker—and my mom routinely makes a pot on the stove—but sometimes I just want a bowl RIGHT NOW. If you haven’t guessed, patience ain’t one of my strong suits.
Enter the pressure cooker / Instant Pot.
According to foodie scientist, Harold McGee, “a pressure cooker is a special pot that seals tightly and traps hot steam to build the pressure and temperature.” In other words, stocks and stews that normally take hours to cook are finished in just 1/3 the time in a pressure cooker. I don’t use my pressure cooker for everything but I do love stewing braised veggies and meaty bone broths in it. Why? Because these dishes just turn out better and faster. It’s quite remarkable how pressure cooking can transform meaty, collagen-filled cuts like oxtail and cross shanks into fork tender cuts in less than an hour.
(Although the new generation of pressure cookers are safer than the old ones, please read your instruction manual carefully and check out these helpful tips from Mr. McGee. You do need to babysit the pot and you can’t wing it.)
This simple recipe for a flavorful bone broth that’ll be ready in less than an hour. And, yes, it does gel in the fridge. Just throw in a few chicken feet or joint bones and your broth will be all jiggly.
Ingredients
- 2 medium leeks, cleaned and cut in half crosswise (or 1 onion, peeled and quartered)
- 1 medium carrot, peeled and cut into three pieces
- 2.5 pounds of assorted bones (I use a mixture of chicken and pork bones from the freezer or cross shanks and oxtails)
- 8 cups of water (enough to cover the bones but not more than 2/3rd the capacity of the pressure cooker)
1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar(Update: I don’t normally add apple cider vinegar anymore because it doesn’t extract any minerals into the broth. I went to this lecture and afterwards, I decided it wasn’t necessary. Plus, I don’t like the flavor.)- 2 tablespoons of Red Boat fish sauce (much better than salt, IMHO)
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms (optional)
How to make Instant Pot Bone Broth
Dump the leeks and carrots in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot (make sure it’s at least 6-quarts), and toss in your bones (frozen is fine).
Then, cover with water (make sure you don’t fill more than two-thirds capacity!) and add vinegar.
Add the fish sauce and toss in the dried shiitake mushrooms (if using). Then, cover and lock the lid, and program to the Instant Pot to cook under high pressure for 30-50 minutes (I let it go for 50 minutes if I’m cooking meaty shanks or oxtails). If I’m not in a rush, I set my Instant Pot on high pressure for 2 hours—the broth only gets better with more time.
If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker, place the pot on a burner set on high heat. Once the indicator pops up showing that the contents of the pot have reached high pressure, immediately decrease the temperature to the lowest possible setting to maintain high pressure (low is normally adequate).
Set the timer for 30 minutes (I let it go for 50 minutes if I’m cooking meaty shanks or oxtails).
When the broth is done cooking in the Instant Pot or stovetop pressure cooker, let the pressure release naturally (10-15 minutes).
Remove the lid, skim of the scum (if you desire), and strain the broth. Taste and adjust for seasoning. I keep it on the blander side if I will be cooking with it.
I don’t parboil the bones to decrease the scum because I’m lazy. Plus, there really isn’t that much left after you strain it. (Check out my updated post on how I store bone broth here.)
Faster and more flavorful than other methods. Really.
More tips on making and storing bone broth
Don’t have a pressure cooker? Then check out my Slow Cooker Bone Broth recipe!
One last thing: not sure what to do with all your bone broth? Check out my post on how to store the stuff!
Looking for more recipe ideas? Head on over to my Recipe Index. You’ll also find exclusive recipes in my cookbooks, Nom Nom Paleo: Food for Humans (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2013), Ready or Not! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2017), and Nom Nom Paleo: Let’s Go! (Andrews McMeel Publishing 2022).
PRINTER-FRIENDLY RECIPE CARD
Instant Pot (Pressure Cooker) Bone Broth
Ingredients
- 2 medium leeks cleaned and cut in half crosswise or 1 onion, peeled and quartered
- 1 medium carrot peeled and cut into three pieces
- 2.5 pounds assorted bones I use a mixture of chicken and pork bones from the freezer or cross shanks and oxtails
- 8 cups water enough to cover the bones but not more than 2/3rd the capacity of the pressure cooker
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar optional (I don’t use it anymore)
- 2 tablespoons Red Boat fish sauce
- 3 dried shiitake mushrooms optional
Instructions
- Toss the leeks and carrots in the pressure cooker or Instant Pot (make sure it’s at least 6-quarts), and toss in your bones (frozen is fine). Then, cover with water (make sure you don’t fill more than two-thirds capacity!).
- Add the vinegar (optional) fish sauce, and dried shiitake mushrooms (optional).
- Then, cover and lock the lid, and program your Instant Pot to cook under high pressure for 30 to 50 minutes. (I let it go for 50 minutes if I’m cooking meaty shanks or oxtails). If I’m not in a rush, I set my Instant Pot on high pressure for 2 hours—the broth only gets better with more time.
- If you’re using a stovetop pressure cooker, place the pot on a burner set on high heat. Once the indicator pops up showing that the contents of the pot have reached high pressure, immediately decrease the temperature to the lowest possible setting to maintain high pressure (low is normally adequate). Set the timer for 30 minutes. When the timer goes off, turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat.
- When the broth is done cooking in the Instant Pot or stovetop pressure cooker, let the pressure release naturally (10-15 minutes).
- Remove the lid, skim of the scum (if you desire), and strain the broth. Taste for seasoning and adjust if needed. You can keep it on the blander side if you will be cooking with it!
Video
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
I’m confused with this step:
5. When the timer goes off, turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat. Let the pressure release naturally (10-15 minutes).
How can you “turn off the burner and remove the pot from the heat” before you release the pressure???
Those are instructions for folks using a stovetop pressure cooker. If you have an Instant Pot, just turn it off and let the pressure come down naturally.
confused by step 3.. is that only pertaining to a stovetop?
if using the instant pot, can I skip step 3 and as you say in step 4 simply set the pot to high pressure for 2 hours?
Yes, that is correct.
How long can we cook the broth for? My instant pot let’s me cook it for way longer than 2 hours. Is there a max time that I shouldn’t cook longer than? Thanks!
There’s really no need to cook it longer than 2 hours. Sometimes I only cook it under high pressure for 30 min if I’m pressed for time.
Will the broth not get richer, the longer you cook it? It says above that the broth only gets better with more time.
I don’t know that you get that much more out of it if you cook it longer than 2 hours under high pressure. Again, it’s up to you and how much time you have!
I bought a large pressure cooker in order to save time on lg. Quantities of bone broth. When adding chicken parts to beef bones, I get a more gelatinous product, but when I pressure can it, its in liquid state again. Still ok? Am I sacrificing any nutrition by doing it this way?
I made this bone broth with celery and yellow onions instead of leeks (cause I don’t have any) and it tasted wonderful. My only problem is that my freshly made broth smells almost offensive, but tastes delicious. I used a small amount of apple cider vinegar, but I doubt it would contribute to the smell. This is the first time I made bone broth so maybe I’m just not familiar with the smell.
I think it smells weird also. I never thought it stunk when making on the stove top but it definitely does using the IP.
I made this to do a cleanse and I may be the only one, but I don’t really like the flavor. It tastes like tainted water to me. What can I do to spruce up the flavor to make it more palatable ?
I would add big chunks of ginger and garlic, maybe a cinnamon stick.
Can you reuse bones for multiple batches of broth?
Yes, but most of the flavor ends up in the first batch. Personally, I run two batches on a bag of bones. When the second batch is done, I put it in a pot on the stove and reduce it to about a third the original volume; I then add this reduction to the first batch. My reasoning for this is that it adds more protein and minerals to the first batch without excessively diluting the flavor.
As for adding acid, I use lemon juice because I find that the taste of vinegar dominates everything it touches. If I use vinegar, I can taste it in the broth; if I use lemon juice, I can’t.
One more tip: in the ziplock bag where I save up bones in the freezer, I also save any parts of onions that would otherwise go in the compost bucket (core, papery skins, etc.) Onion skins lend wonderful flavor and color to the broth.
I just made the broth from beef neck bones last night and it didn’t gel. Are the neck bones not high in collagen?
I have the IP on 2 hours. Is it supposed to be on venting or sealing?
Sealing!
Is there a trick to getting it to gel? After 2 hours it was the consistency of water. 🙁
It doesn’t gel until you refrigerate it. If your cold soup doesn’t gel, it might be because you didn’t throw in enough joint bones.
Thank you! I will try that.
From what I have read, the vinegar helps pull the minerals from the bones. I also used coconut aminos which I hope is ok because I really don’t like fish sauce.
Also have you tried canning bone broth? I would think it would keep that way no?