Instant Pot Chicken Stock: Step by step directions on how to make the most flavorful bone broth in the Instant Pot. Variations for Vegetable Broth, Turkey Stock and Beef Stock recipes as well.
Do you want to know the number one ingredient I use in my kitchen?
It has to be Homemade Broth. Well, next to salt!!
From Creamy Cheesy Chicken and Rice, to Chicken Pot Pie, to Potato Soup, I use stock as the base of many meals. I also use homemade broth to flavor rice and beans as well.
I started making homemade bone broth decades ago, when I needed to have Gluten-Free, MSG-Free, Corn-Free 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 yes, now you can find Gluten-Free Chicken Broth, No MSG added stock in just about every store.
However, for quality stock, it is at least $2.50 for 4 cups–and that is on sale! Considering I use chicken stock, beef stock, or vegetable broth several times a week, that adds up and quickly.
Considering I can make stock out of my kitchen scraps–why would I pay for Stock when I can make Homemade Stock?
When making homemade stock, I either simmer on stove or slow cooker for hours upon hours. Or I use my Instant Pot to make Homemade Chicken Stock in less than 2 hours–from time it takes Pressure Cooker to get to pressure to time it takes to naturally release!
Instant Pot Chicken Stock
With the magic of pressure cooking, I can make rich homemade stock in no time at all.
Speaking of Stock, Ever wonder the difference between Broth, Stock and Bone Broth?
Well, ask 10 people and I bet you will get 10 answers.
But here is my stance on the 3:
- Broth: A cooking liquid that has been flavored with something (like vegetables, fish, meat, etc). 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, 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.
Today, I am talking about Chicken Stock. Rich cooking liquid that is made with bones and simmered a long time (or a short time thanks to the Instant Pot!)
To Make Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock:
- Place bones of leftover roasted chicken in Instant Pot.
- Place scraps of carrots, celery, onions, etc in Instant Pot.
- Season with salt and herbs.
- Cover with water. Be careful NOT to overfill Instant Pot.
- Cook on High Pressure for 45 minutes with valve to sealed position.
- Allow Instant Pot to release pressure naturally for 30 minutes, before releasing pressure manually.
- Strain chicken stock.
- Cool and store in fridge for 7 days, or freeze for up to 3 months.
Instant Pot Whole Chicken Stock
Instead of using just bones for chicken stock, place a whole chicken (or cut up chicken pieces) in Instant Pot along with vegetable scraps and cook for 20 minutes instead of 45–as to not overcook the chicken meat. Remove chicken from cooking liquid, strain stock and use chicken meat and chicken stock as desired. Get my tips on how to shred chicken here.
Instant Pot Chicken Stock from Carcass
After removing all meat from breast bone of chicken, place the carcass in Instant Pot with herbs, scraps and cook as directed. This is how I typically make my stock, as the carcass is the easiest bones for me to save.
How should you flavor your chicken stock?
I personally use my kitchen scraps. That may sound CRAZY to you or like I am the most frugal person on the planet, but it really is just a smart way of doing things.
Think about it for a minute. Stock is made with whole celery, carrots, onions, and herbs along with bones or other veggies. Well, every time I peel carrots, I place the peels and stem in a freezer safe bag that I store in the freezer. I add bits of onions, a few stray garlic bulbs, the bottom of the celery stalk, etc to the bag.
When I need to make stock, I pull out my veggies from the freezer, dump them in the Instant Pot with chicken bones (or beef or turkey bones or no bones at all for Vegetable Broth) along with water and salt and you the makings of an incredibly rich stock made literally from what you would normally throw in the trash.
So make everyone think you are a genius and use your scraps to make the most flavorful stock you can.
**If you don’t have vegetable scraps, use 2 full carrots, 1 onion, 2 stalks of celery and 1 garlic clove.
Variations on Instant Pot Stock
Follow the basic instructions for Chicken Stock but swap out the following ingredients.
- Instant Pot Vegetable Broth–use 3 cups vegetables scraps along with herbs and seasonings. Each broth will be unique in flavor based on vegetable scraps.
- Instant Pot Turkey Stock–use 2 cups vegetable scraps along with bone of turkey and seasonings.
- Instant Pot Beef Stock–use 2 cups onion, celery, garlic and carrot scraps along with beef bones or short ribs.
Important Tips When Making Pressure Cooker Chicken Broth:
- I cook my stock for 45 minutes to really develop flavorful stock. You can get away with cooking this stock for only 20 minutes and it is still delicious.
- I love to add fresh thyme to my stock for extra flavor–feel free to add rosemary or any herb you like to your stock.
- If you don’t have vegetable scraps, use 1 onion, cut in half, 2 celery sticks, and 2 carrots.
- Because this is a large amount of liquid, DO NOT USE QR (quick-release.) To do so, would cause boiling liquid to spew out valve.
- After 30 minutes of natural release, place a kitchen towel over the valve and release any remaining pressure if left. This will protect you and your kitchen from any potential splatter. Or you could leave your stock in Instant Pot until pressure fully releases naturally.
- Homemade Chicken Stock will keep in fridge for 7 days.
- To Freeze Chicken Stock, place in freezer safe containers in 2-4 cup portions and freeze for up to 3 months. Defrost overnight in fridge.
Be sure to check out my collection of Easy Healthy Instant Pot Recipes. If you are a new Instant Pot user, be sure to read my Instant Pot 101, where I walk you through important must knows when using an electric pressure cooker.
Instant Pot Chicken Stock
Ingredients
- 1 chicken carcass or bones from roasted chicken
- 2-3 cups vegetable scraps carrot peels, onions, celery, garlic, etc
- 1 sprig thyme optional
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 10 cups cold water
Instructions
- Place all ingredients in pressure cooker and place valve to sealed.
- Set for High Pressure for 45 minutes.
- Let naturally release for at least 30 minutes.
- Strain stock and cool and store for later use, or use immediately.
Notes
- Time to Get to Pressure: 20-25 minutes
- Time to Cook: 45 minutes
- Time to Release Pressure: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 135 minutes (about 2 hours)
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Kristen Chidsey
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Love this recipe! I used to discard the carrot peelings and the ends of the celery stalk but love the tips to throw them in soup. I just scrubbed the carrots and thoroughly washed the end of the stalk. Love being able to use everything and reduce waste. I also used the rotisserie chicken carcass after making chicken salad with the meat that was left. Thank you!
I am so glad these tips helped you put those scraps to good use Ingrid! Thank you for sharing!
Instead of fresh water for the stock can I use the leftover fluid from making the rotisserie chicken previously?
Yes absolutely Shelly!
This entire article has been very beneficial, this is the first time I’ve interested in using the instapot for an entire chicken. Up until now I’ve just mainly trying to learn HOW to feel comfortable with it.
Right now I have just followed your instructions and I have enjoyed every minute. My sister hesitates do try anything and only has garlic powder ,wait and pepper for seasoning. We’re in our eighties,have just lost our husbands, I did send her an instapot To her several months ago, what a fun hobby this will be for her.
Thank you so much for your instructions and I’m definitely looking forward to other recipes that you might provided
Hi Sharon! I am so glad you found my site and found it helpful! I have to chuckle because my sister refuses to add garlic and pepper herself! I wish you all the best as you experiment with more recipes 🙂
Do you wash the carotts before you peel, since you reuse the peels and thy can be dirty, chemicals on them, soil, etc. Some question for celery base. Do you use pelled or unpelled garlic also? Thank you.
Hi Lili! I wash all my produce before peeling, regardless of if I am using peels for stock or not. That way it ensures I remove any dirt, residue, etc. As for garlic, peeled or unpeeled is fin, but but I use peeled.
Hi Kristen, many thanks for the reply, from now on I shall minus the carrot. However I have also had my pure bone broth at times go bitter which has had no added vegetable matter. Any ideas why this may happen? What makes it more perplexing is that it doesn’t always happen
This is perplexing to me as well. Vegetables can make bone broth bitter–due to long cook time. I will have to research it a bit to see if I come up with anything. My only other thought off the top of my head is that is may be the flavor from the bay leaf.
I have made stocks, broth, bone broth etc on stove for years. Like many sauces, putting in herbs at the beginning of a long simmer (such as tomato sauce) will cause bitterness.
I used to go up to 72 hours with bone broths/stocks ensuring nothing ever boils, but remains at safe temps, until the bones would crush and dissolve, getting all the marrow in etc. Past 48 hours, I’ve encountered bitter broths.
WIth the instant pot, I do 45 mins, with carrot onion celery, and any other veggies that may be going bad soon in fridge, Then I kind of crush the bones the best I can with the end of a meat tenderizer after the initial pressure cook for 45 minutes.. Then I add in herb type stuff and hit it again for 15 minutes in instant pot. Then filter through screen and fridge overnight, then remove the congealed grease from the top. The stock/broth should end up pretty gelled, which is a great sign. I like to butterfly chickens and turkeys and basically cut out the spine for use in stock/broth along with everything else scraps wise, (gizzards, neck, ribs, even skin)and even some meat sticking to bones, the stuff that won’t get eaten anyway. I then also crush the bones again and stir up before the filtering stage and before the fridge stage just to ensure I get any marrow bits from the bones etc. Then we bag in 1 cup and 2 cup increments for sauces etc calling for 1 cup liquid etc. For soup we just add as many bags as we need plus water since the broth is sooooooo rich.
at times my stock can go very bitter do you know any reason why this may happen? It does not happen every time
Hi Jo! Bitterness may happen from some your vegetables or peels. Carrot are usually the culprit (but if you use broccoli stems or asparagus stems they may be the reason, as well). Small carrots are sweeter, while larger carrots can at times be bitter. If you have particularly large carrots, I would omit the stem from the stock. Hope that helps.
Thank you for the recipe and IP directions! I put in chicken bones, a few baby carrots, cilantro, rosemary, peppercorns, cloves, salt and water.
It was so easy and it smells great!!
YAY!! I love making Instant Pot stock and having on hand to use through the week.
This was amazing! I made two batches- one with 1 cup of cooking liquid from your Rotisserie Chicken recipe (and 9 cups tapwater) and one batch with just tapwater. The first batch- with the rotisserie cooking liquid- was QUITE a bit better! I will always make stock immediately after cooking a chicken in my Instant Pot!
I have a question about nutritional information- is the amount of sodium for the entire batch of stock? Or per serving? (If so, how much is a serving?)
I am so glad you enjoyed! The sodium is per cup of stock. Keep in mind that 1/2 cup per store bought stock usually has over 800 grams of sodium. But feel free to cut the salt in half, or omit and season as needed.
Hello. Just got my first InstaPot so I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. I’m wondering if you could use Fresh/Frozen raw Chicken Backs? A store near me sells them and that’s generally what I use when making chicken stock by simmering for 2-3 hours on the stove.
Yes you absolutely can. You may just want to add 20 minutes longer to cook the chicken backs safely and infuse the broth 🙂 Enjoy!
Hi – We have been saving the chicken backs and putting in our freezer. I am excited to try this in the instant pot, but how many of these backs do you recommend I use at a time? And instead of cooking time being 45 minutes pressure cook and 30 minutes slow release it would be 65 minutes pressure cook and 30 minutes slow release? How do I know the chicken backs/stock is cooked? We have a 6 quart instant pot
Yes Elli, you will want to cook your stock for 65 minutes with at least 30 minute natural release. And I guarantee you your chicken will be more than cooked at that point, and you will have rich, delicious stock to enjoy!
I’ve got a rotisserie chicken carcass and various scraps in a gallon freezer bag. When I make this do I need to thaw everything or can I cook from frozen? Thanks!
Hi Deanna! Just cook from frozen 🙂 It will take a bit longer to come to pressure but cook time will remain the same.
For the stock, can you use the onion that you cooked inside the chicken or use fresh. Please and thank you.
I would use fresh. After that onion has been cooked with the chicken, all flavor will be gone from it.
How would you make a bone broth in the instant pot? I can get bones from my butcher. Is it just bones roasted then into the IP with water and cook for a long time?
Hi Andrew, bone broth would take about 2 hours on high pressure in the Instant Pot, for the gelatin to be released. I would roast the bones first and add in seasonings, water and cook for 2 hours on high pressure. Enjoy!
I have been making chicken stock for years using my stove top pressure cooker but just recently bought the 8 qt model instant pot. I always freeze leftover bones and every bit of juices left over from cooking. Then when I have at least 2 chickens worth of drippings (fat and all), I make stock in the instant pot adding onion, carrot, celery, seasonings, and enough fresh water to cover all the ingredients. After I strain it at the end I refrigerate it and all the fat floats to the top which I can then remove and discard. However, I always keep some of the fat since fat has so much flavor. And I’ve read in several places that chicken fat is good for the immune system. Not sure about that, but it certainly adds flavor to the finished product.
Hi Linda! I have too heard chicken fat is good for your immune system. Like you said, who knows, but it tastes good!! 🙂 Enjoy your Instant Pot and stock. Reach out with any questions you may have.
Using your IP Whole Chicken recipe just now. Any reason I could not use the carcass (after we are done eating all the delicious meat), some veg scraps, and the gizzards, neck and all to make the broth?
PS: Giving you 5 stars even though I haven’t completed either the chicken or the broth, because I am sure both will be wonderful!
Hi Kathleen! I always use the carcass for homemade chicken stock. Here is my recipe if you need it https://amindfullmom.com/instant-pot-chicken-stock/
I also like to freeze stock in ice cube tray & keep in a baggy in the freezer door. Works great when small amounts are needed!
Marty T.
That is a great tip. Thanks sorry sharing.
What is the best way to store the chicken stock. Can I freeze it and how would you suggestion I do that?
Hi there. I would place cooked chicken in a freezer safe container, not bag, then add in chicken stock to cover. Freeze and the when wanting to use, defrost in fridge. I hope that helps
Anyone else find the stock tastes predominantly of carrot when using the IP? I find from the intense pressure the carrot becomes too strong. I leave it out now and find it tastes much better.
Great tip. I have never felt that way, but can see if you had a lot of carrots it could happen.
HI there, I recently got an instapot and have made your recipe of the whole chicken. It was fabulous!!! So my question is: To make chicken stock Do I put all the leftover juice and the chicken carcus. in or do I take the current juice out? Thanks 🙂
Hi Astrid! I am so glad you enjoyed my chicken recipe! I would use bones and fresh liquid, as cooking liquid will be quite fatty/greasy. Enjoy!
We make so much soup in fall and winter and it’s always good to have some chicken stock at hand. Thank you for this recipe!
You bet Shadi. I am so glad you keep this on hand.
I love how easy this recipe is to make chicken stock at home, it adds so much flavor to my recipes!
I agree with you Rebecca, homemade chicken stock is the best when it comes to flavoring so many dishes!
I have heard of making two batches, one with a full chicken and another reusing the bones with now veggie scraps. Does this work well
I have done that many times, George. It works great. You may need to skim the first stock well, as it will have extra fat from rendering of chicken skin. Enjoy!
This sounds Amazing!! What size instant pot are you using?
Hi Sandy! This is for a 6 quart instant pot.
Any stock I make I use vegetable scrapes that I freeze until needed, usually after a holiday (a lot of times a number of the same as family doesn’t always take the time to make the stock) when I have Carcasses, bones, etc.
Go through a quit a bit of chicken broth during flu season, where I grew up chicken soup was refereed to a Jewish penicillin, so using the new instapot make my life easier.
Sounds like you and I do the same things Jamie! And yes, we go through a whole lot of chicken broth around here too–in fact I have some cooking right now in the Instant Pot.