This recipe for Instant Pot Chicken Stock is the easiest, most economical way to prepare chicken stock at home. Directions for how to make Instant Pot Bone Broth as well.
Turn your kitchen scraps into treasure with this simple recipe for Instant Pot Stock. Made with chicken bones, vegetable scraps, and seasonings, this stock comes together effortlessly and is more flavorful than ANYTHING you can purchase!
So the next time you have chicken bones from an Oven Roasted Rotisserie Chicken, Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken, or even bones from a Roasted Turkey, save them to make the most flavorful bone broth you have ever had!
Probably the number one ingredient I use in my kitchen is Homemade Chicken Stock.
From Creamy Cheesy Chicken and Rice to Chicken Pot Pie, to Potato Soup, I use chicken stock as the base of many meals.
I started making homemade broth decades ago, when I needed to have Gluten-Free, MSG-Free, Corn-Free, and Dairy-Free Stock.
You would think that would be easy to find at the store--well, 15 years ago it wasn't so easy! And while it is easy to find a stock that meets my dietary needs now, I still choose to make my own at home.
Why is Homemade Better?
- More Flavorful. The instant pot really develops the flavors in stock, making it much richer than store-bought stock.
- Economical. Using my frugal tip for using vegetable scraps to make this stock, it can be made essentially for free! Quality stock is at least $2.50 for 4 cups. Considering I use stock several times a week if I purchased stock solely from the store, I would quickly spend a small fortune.
- Quality Control. By making stock or bone broth at home, you know exactly what goes into your stock! No yeast extract, no msg, no caramel color, no gluten. Plus you can control the amount of sodium.
Difference between Broth, Stock, and Bone Broth
Today, I am showing you how to make both Instant Pot Chicken Stock and Instant Pot Bone Broth and the only difference between the recipes is the length of cooking time.
- Broth: A cooking liquid that has been flavored with something (like vegetables, fish, meat, etc). The broth is typically more clear and not simmered as long as stock.
- Stock: Cooking liquid simmered for a long period of time with bones. Stock is typically rich in color.
- Bone Broth: Bone broth is made with bones (which are typically roasted) and simmered for such a long time, that gelatin and trace minerals are released from the bones and the bones are able to be broken or crumble easily after cooking.
You can read more about the technical differences here.
Ingredients Needed
- Water
- Chicken Bones: Use the bones from a roasted chicken, chicken breasts, chicken thighs, or even chicken wings. You can also make stock using the bones from a turkey or turkey breast. One tip: While you can use the bones from Homemade Rotisserie Chicken, but use caution and reduce the added salt if you use bones from a store-bought rotisserie chicken or your broth will be WAY too salty!
- Vegetables or Vegetable Scraps: A HUGE money-saving tip is to save the peels from carrots, ends of onions, and celery scraps and store them in a freezer-safe bag to use to make homemade stock. Just be sure to wash your vegetables well before peeling or chopping and add them to your vegetable scrap bag as you accumulate scraps. Of course, you can make this stock with fresh vegetables as well, I provide quantities for both options in the recipe card.
- Seasonings: I use bay, thyme, peppercorns, and salt to season my stock and bone broth. You can use garlic cloves, parsley, ground pepper, or rosemary as well.
How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Stock
- If using a metal strainer insert and place it inside the instant pot. While this makes straining the broth so easy, it is completely unnecessary.
- Place bones of leftover roasted chicken in Instant Pot or strainer.
- Place scraps of carrots, celery, onions, or full vegetables in Instant Pot or strainer.
- Season with salt and herbs.
- Cover with water. Be careful NOT to overfill Instant Pot. You do not want to fill your instant pot more than two-thirds of the way full. It is okay if the bones and stock are not fully covered.
- Place the lid on the pressure cooker and be sure the vent knob is pointed towards sealed.
- Cook on High Pressure for 45 minutes for chicken stock and 120 minutes on high pressure for bone broth.
- Once the cooking time has elapsed, allow the Instant Pot to release pressure naturally for AT LEAST 30 minutes, before releasing pressure manually. This is so important so your vent knob doesn't spew stock all over your kitchen and you!
- Strain the chicken stock using the strainer insert or a fine mesh strainer over a large bowl.
- Cool before transferring to storage containers.
- Once cooled, refrigerate until fully cooled.
- If desired, skim off any fat with a spoon and discard.
- Store in the fridge for 7 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Chicken Stock Video
Watch the video below to watch me prepare this chicken stock at home, giving my tips along the way!
Ways to Use Instant Pot Chicken Stock
Use this homemade instant pot chicken stock in any recipe that calls for broth, stock, or bone broth. Below are a few of my favorite Instant Pot Recipes that call for chicken stock.
- Instant Pot Chicken Noodle Soup
- Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings
- Instant Pot White Chicken Chili
- Instant Pot Smoked Sausage and Potatoes with Green Beans
Save yourself money and make your meals taste better with this homemade instant pot stock! I hope you enjoy the taste and savings this recipe will deliver to your family!
Instant Pot Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- 1 chicken carcass or bones from roasted chicken
- 1 carrot washed and cut into quarters
- 2 large onions peeled and cut in half
- 2 stalks of celery, leaves included cut into quarters
- 1-2 sprigs fresh thyme optional
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 2-3 bay leaves
- 10 cups cold water
Instructions
- If using the strainer insert, place the insert into the inner pot of the instant pot.
- Place the chicken bones, vegetables, herbs, salt and peppercorns in the strainer or directly in the inner pot of the pressure cooker.
- Pour the water over the scraps. Feel free to add more water, but DO NOT let the water reach above two-thirds of the way full.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot and be sure the vent knob is pointed towards sealed, not venting.
- Set cook time for High Pressure by hitting manual or pressure and using the plus or minus buttons to read 45 minutes for chicken stock and 120 minutes for bone broth.
- Once cook time has elapsed, let naturally release for at least 30 minutes.
- Strain stock and allow to cool slightly before transferring to containers to store.
- Once the stock has cooled and has been refrigerated, you may notice a layer of fat form on top of the stock. Simply use a spoon to skim that off the stock and discard.
Equipment Needed
Notes
- Time to Get to Pressure: 20-25 minutes
- Time to Cook: 45 minutes for stock and 120 minutes for bone broth
- Time to Release Pressure: 30 minutes
- Total Time: About 2 hours for stock and 3 hours and 15 minutes for bone broth.
Nutrition
This post has been modified with new tips and a video in 2023 but was originally published in 2017.
Trisha
This recipe is the easiest and most flavorful stock recipe I've ever had!! Read the reviews before making the stock which made me more confident about the process, never have done beforehand. No problems whatsoever, used a little bit of all the chicken, even threw in a couple of extra drumsticks for good measure other than that followed recipe to the letter, and used frozen chicken!! Thank you so much was absolutely great over my chinese pork noodles, even made the pork.
Kristen Chidsey
I am so thrilled you enjoyed the stock so much!
KayGrace
So simple and easy! Thanks !
Kaitlyn
I have been consistently using this recipe since I got my instant pot 3 years ago and have to say that is is BY FAR the BEST recipe ans result I've ever tried! It's actually the ONLY one I use now, and each time I make it, my husband can barely let the stock cool before grabbing a mug of it on its own. It was the only thing we could manage to keep down when we both caught the bug that was going around a few years ago and is so nutrient dense that it was really all we needed. I use it to boost my all of my soup recipes, even the veggie soups like my curried squash and sweet potato soup (if I'm not feeding vegetarian) and it's always a go to for any illness in the house as opposed to pharm medicine. EXCELLENT recipe!!!! I add about 8-10 allspice berries (Jamaican pimento berries) to add a little warm hug to it, but aside from that I make it as is. I particularly love it when I've got parsnip peels in my mix as it adds such a nice sweet earthy taste. I've got a dedicated veg peels and onion paper container in my freezer now that the kids call my stock scrap bin and love how much waste this recipe helps to reduce.
Thank you for this!!!
Kristen Chidsey
Thank you so much for sharing! I am thrilled to hear you enjoy this recipe so much!
Kyle
Don't throw out that skimmed off fat! Sacrilege! That's Schmaltz, and Schmaltz =flavor. Keep it in the freezer and use it in your next recipe. Great for soups. Will depart a chicken flavor though, be warned.
Ali
I have two rotisserie carcasses, but they are picked cleaner than the pictures in your recipe. Will the recipe still work for me?
Also, they are currently frozen, I'm assuming I should thaw them first?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Ali! Yes, they will work perfectly! And no need to thaw first, it will just take longer for the Instant Pot to come to pressure. Enjoy!
Chris S.
I’m primarily using raw chicken carcass and scraps from butchering a whole chicken. Would the cook time still be the same?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Chris! The cooking time will remain the same.
Beth
I'm not sure what happened. I followed the recipe to a T... I did not omit or add anything extra. I followed the instructions for the bone broth, cooking it for 120 mins with a 40 minute natural release. Once strained and cooled, the broth was thin & looked like water. When I tasted it, it had no flavor and tasted like water. Any suggestions to help fix this would be appreciated. Thank you, Beth
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Beth! I am sorry this happened. Can I ask how many bones you used and what seasonings/vegetables you added. If you followed the instructions here, the broth should have been plenty flavorful, and yellowish in color.
Wilma Farkas
Didn't know if could do so much. I have pressure cooker
Anna
Just made this! It was so easy and smells incredible. (It’s still cooling but I did take a taste: yum.) I have been making the Food52 Slow Roasted Chicken from Lindsey Maitland Hunt - also super easy - and have been amassing chicken carcasses in my freezer. That combined with the astronomical price of bone broth made me give this a try. I didn’t have thyme so used parsley stems instead and added a few garlic cloves, per the suggestion here. Using the steamer insert while making this is pure genius. This will be perfect for Friday night chicken soup, too. Thank you so much!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so happy to help you save money and enjoy delicious homemade broth.