Instant Pot Chicken Broth

Instant Pot Chicken Broth. Pressure cooking chicken backs with some aromatics to make a cheap batch of broth - and the most useful ingredient in my kitchen.

I’m a hype man for pressure cooker chicken broth. Using real, homemade broth is one of the secrets of professional kitchens, and one of the best things you can do to improve your home cooking.

Two jars of chicken broth on a wood table in front of an Instant Pot — Instant Pot Chicken Broth

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This recipe is the cheapest way to make chicken broth when I don’t have a leftover chicken carcass. Broth wants chicken bones and skin, and chicken backs are the cheapest way to get them. (Necks and feet are also good, but around here I have to go to a specialty chicken store to get them. I can find chicken backs at my local grocery store, in the freezer section of the meat department, near the other odds and ends like beef soup bones and pork shanks.

Now, the absolute cheapest way to make broth is out of chicken scraps, the leftover carcass of a roast chicken. It’s making broth out of nothing at all - or at least scraps and an onion.

My second favorite way to make broth is to buy a grocery store rotisserie chicken. It’s about the opposite of chicken scraps; it’s more expensive, but it’s also more convenient. Check out my recipe for Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth for more details.

Why pressure cooker broth

Because pressure cooking does a better job, and a faster job than stovetop cooking. Pressure cooking pulls more flavor and gelatin out of the bones in an hour than a four hour stovetop simmer will give you.

Ingredients

3 pounds chicken backs
2 medium onions, peeled and halved
1 large carrot, scrubbed and broken in half
1 celery rib, broken in half
2 bay leaves
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon whole black peppercorns
8 cups of water, (Or up to the max fill line in your cooker)
See the recipe card for quantities.

How to make Instant Pot Chicken Broth

Everything in the pot: Put the chicken backs, onions, carrot, celery, bay leaves, salt, and peppercorns in an Instant Pot or pressure cooker, then pour in 8 cups of water. (The water should cover everything - you can add more if you need to, up to the max fill line of your cooker.)
Pressure cook the broth for 60 minutes with a Natural Release: Lock the lid and pressure cook on high pressure for 60 minutes in an Instant Pot or other electric pressure cooker (use Manual or Pressure Cook mode in an Instant Pot) or for 50 minutes in a stovetop pressure cooker. Let the pressure come down naturally – about 30 minutes. (It takes a long time for all that water to cool off.) If you’re in a hurry, let the pressure come down naturally for 20 minutes, then quick release the remaining pressure.
Strain and save: Unlock the lid and open it away from you to avoid any hot steam. With a slotted spoon, scoop the chicken bones and vegetables out of the pot and discard; they gave their all to the broth. Strain the broth through a fine mesh strainer. Refrigerate the broth for a couple of days, or portion into 2-cup containers and freeze for up to 6 months.

Recipe Tips

I find chicken backs in the freezer of my local grocery store, near the beef bones and chicken fat and other odds and ends. Chicken necks and chicken feet are good substitutes. So are chicken wings, but wings are expensive.
The only absolutely necessary ingredients are the chicken backs, onions, salt, and water. The rest are good to have, but you can make four-ingredient chicken broth if your pantry is running low.
Frozen chicken backs? Just break them up enough so they’ll fit in the cooker. No need to change any timings. The hour under pressure is long enough.
If you have a leftover carcass from a roast chicken or two, they're a great substitute for the chicken backs.

Storing Leftovers

Leftover broth is kitchen gold. Refrigerate the broth for a couple of days, or portion into 2-cup containers and freeze for up to 6 months.