I’ve made bone broth on the stove top and in my slow cooker for decades. It’s delicious, but it makes our house smell like a bone broth factory. Not good! I’ve solved this problem and now I want to help you too. That’s why I’m going to teach you how to make bone broth in the Instant Pot.
How to Make Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
Making bone broth in the Instant Pot is super easy. Feel free to skip the step of roasting the beef bones to make your beef bone broth. I roast them because it creates a deep rich flavor for the broth, and I don’t mind taking the extra time to do it.
Use an Acid to Make Bone Broth
I use apple cider vinegar in my bone broth recipe because the acid in the vinegar helps to release minerals and other nutrients from the bones. Don’t worry, you can’t taste the vinegar in the final product. This recipe is for beef bone broth. If you need chicken stock, see my post called How to Make Bone Broth from Chicken.
The Best Store-Bought Bone Broth
If you’re too busy you can buy a fantastic bone broth product from Kettle & Fire. I like their beef bone broth, but am absolutely obsessed with their chicken broth and often drink it plain with a pinch of salt before dinner.
How to Make Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 4 pounds beef bones
- 1 onion, cut in half
- 1 head garlic, cut in half (no need to peel)
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 teaspoon celtic sea salt
- water to fill line of Instant Pot
Instructions
- Place beef bones on a baking sheet
- Roast at 350°F for 60 minutes
- Remove bones from oven and transfer to Instant Pot
- Place onion, garlic, bay leaf, vinegar, and salt in Instant Pot
- Fill the Instant Pot with water until just below the “max fill line”
- Put on the lid and lock to close
- Set to manual high pressure for 90 minutes
- Release pressure, then remove lid and allow to cool
- Strain mixture into 3 one quart mason jars
- Refrigerate for 4 days, or freeze for up to 6 months
Pre-Heating the Instant Pot
The Instant Pot takes time to get to high pressure. If a recipe says cook for one hour at high pressure, give yourself an extra 10-30 minutes for the cooker to pre-heat. When the cooker says “on” but doesn’t yet display the time you entered it is pre-heating.
How to Use the Instant Pot
If you’re still feeling overwhelmed, I have created a fantastic Instant Pot cheat sheet for you called How to Use the Instant Pot. It includes a handy chart explaining all of the buttons on the front of the Instant Pot. Many readers tell me they print it out and put it on the fridge.
How to Strain Bone Broth
I use the same bowl, strainer, and funnel every time I make bone broth and these tools work like magic! I often use the same beef bones several times. I throw everything back in the pot and add more vinegar, salt, and water. These extra batches are not quite as strong but still very good.
How to Freeze Bone Broth in Mason Jars
If you’re going to freeze your bone broth, do not fill the mason jars all the way to the top. Leave space for the broth to expand when it’s frozen.
Easy Soup Recipes Made with Bone Broth
Here are some of my soup recipes that use bone broth:
This post is an oldie but goodie from the archives. I first shared this recipe in February 2017.
Erika Thiede says
Hi Elana,
When you make bone broth do you save and use the fat for cooking? I have read about this but I am hesitant. I have also read that it may be high in saturated fat… what are your thoughts about this?
Elana says
Erika, I leave the fat on the broth and eat it since I’m on a high-fat diet :-)
Dorothy Fugate says
Watch the Kohl’s sales for the Power Pressure Cooker XL. I just got a 6-Qt one for $58.48. It was on sale for $99.98. An Early Bird Special gave another 10% off. I had a $10 cash award that I received via e-mail and an additional 30%. I bought a couple of other things so the whole $10 didn’t come off of the pressure cooker. It’s my experience that Kohl’s repeats their sales on a regular basis.
Elana says
Thanks Dorothy. Just a reminder to folks that the InstantPot is a slow cooker and yogurt maker in addition to a pressure cooker :-)
Sarah says
Is the Kettle &Fire bone broth from grassfed cows?
Elana says
Hi Sarah, yes Kettle & Fire is made from the bones of grass fed cows.
Karen says
I was always told the gelatin from the bones will not extract if you cook your broth on high heat. Will this bone broth gelatinize if you cook in the Instant Pot?
Elana says
Karen, sometimes I get a broth that turns into gelatin and sometimes not :-)
Mark Davies says
I make my own beef broth by roasting in a low oven the knuckles, bones in the oven with aromatics like onion, carrot, celery and add olive oil and salt and pepper for a few hours. Then put everything in a big pot on the stovetop with water and cook for a few hours. Comes out wonderful. My only dilemma is when I get bones and knuckles that aren’t cut small enough to extract the middle of the bones. I have a few huge ones in my freezer and can’t seem to find anyone to “cut” them down to size for me.
Elana says
Thanks Mark!
Sandi says
Just got my new instant pot! For bone broth I’ve previously used my slow cooker on high for two days. Wondering if anyone has used the slow cooker setting for bone broth in the Instant Pot? If so, for how long? Any comparison on depth of flavor using the slow cooker setting vs pressure cooker? Thanks!
Elana says
Sandi, I’ve made the bone broth in the Instant Pot using the slow cook setting for 1 day and it was great :-)
Christa says
Hi Elana,
Thank you for all your recipes and all that you share regarding health! Love your posts. They have helped me so much with my health issues. This doesn’t have anything to do with your instapot but was wondering if you consider the air fryer that’s out there healthy. Is it like using a microwave?
Thank you
Christa
Elana says
Christa, the microwave uses radio frequency radiation to cook your food. I’m not sure if the air fryer does as well. I believe it circulates hot air to cook the food.
T.J. Estep says
On gelatinous batches of broth… we typically use quite a bit more salt and more apple cider vinegar, as well as run two 90 min high pressure cycles back to back with same bones and liquid. This always gives us a thick, gelatinous batch and the bones are nice and soft afterwards, letting you know the “good stuff” is in the broth.
Separately, my wife used the broth to make a Thai lemongrass soup that was awesome!! Hoping to expirament more with that recipe. Have fun!!
Elana says
Thanks TJ!
Jane says
Unfortunately I have a beef allergy :( Can you adapt the same recipe from chicken bones?
Elana says
Jane, yes.
Miranda says
Just use three or four chicken carcasses. I make chicken bone broth all the time. I save them from left over rotisserie chickens. I can get Amish chickens a lot of the time.
LindaRose says
Elana, can the instant pot bone broth be pressure canned after it’s done. Would all the nutrients and benefits still be in the broth after canning.
Elana says
LindaRose, I haven’t tried that so not sure, I freeze mine :-)
Mary Muldoon says
Do the bones need to be organic
Elana says
Mary, I use grass-fed or organic bones :-)