Instant Pot Chicken Bone Broth

A raw or rotisserie chicken carcass, 120 minutes at high pressure, and a natural release of at least 20 minutes: that is the entire method. The Instant Pot replaces an 8 to 24 hour stovetop simmer because sealed pressure at roughly 250°F (121°C) breaks down collagen in a fraction of the time. Skip the vinegar soak or shorten the pressure time and your broth will taste thin and pour like water instead of setting into a loose jelly when cold.

Bones, ratio, and what actually gelatin-izes

Use 1 chicken carcass (1.5 to 2 lbs / 680 to 900 g) to 10 cups (2.4 liters) of water, which is close to the max fill line on a standard 6-quart (5.7 liter) Instant Pot. This works whether your carcass is raw or a stripped rotisserie chicken; a rotisserie carcass, being already roasted, gives a slightly darker, more savory broth because the bones have some Maillard browning on them already. Add 2 chicken feet if available. Feet are almost pure skin, cartilage, and connective tissue, and they are the single biggest lever for a broth that sets into soft jelly in your fridge, more reliable than adding extra carcasses.

The apple cider vinegar (2 tablespoons / 30 ml) is not for flavor. It lowers the pH of the water slightly, which helps leach calcium and collagen out of the bone matrix during the 15-minute pre-soak and the cook itself. Skipping it does not ruin the broth, but your gel will be noticeably weaker.

Instant Pot bone broth recipe: pressure and timing

Set the sealing valve, cook on high pressure for 120 minutes, and let it release naturally for at least 20 minutes before venting manually. Ninety minutes will still produce broth, but the texture will be closer to stock: thinner, less body, less gel. Beyond 120 minutes there are diminishing returns and your broth can pick up a slightly bitter, over-extracted edge from the vegetables breaking down too far, so this isn’t a “the longer the better” situation past that mark.

Bone broth instant pot rotisserie chicken: using picked-over carcasses

A rotisserie chicken carcass works exactly the same way as raw bones once the meat is picked off, and it is the most common starting point for this recipe in practice. Save carcasses in a freezer bag until you have enough, or use one straight after dinner while it’s still faintly warm. Rotisserie bones tend to carry residual seasoning salt, so hold back on adding salt to the pot itself and season only after straining and tasting.

Bone broth rice instant pot: using the broth, not stacking the cook

Once strained, this broth is a direct swap for water or store-bought stock in rice, either on the stovetop or in the Instant Pot’s rice or pressure setting. Use it 1:1 for the liquid a rice recipe calls for; because it carries salt and fat, cut any additional oil in your recipe slightly. Do not try to cook the rice in the same pot as the broth is finishing; the broth needs to be strained and the solids removed first; grains cooked directly with the bones and vegetables turn starchy and cloud the batch.

Cloudy, flat, or greasy broth: the two failure modes and their fix

Thin, watery broth with no body when chilled: not enough collagen-rich material went in, or the pressure time was cut short. A single carcass with no feet or extra joints, cooked for less than 90 minutes, will often stay liquid in your fridge instead of loosely gelling. Add chicken feet or a second carcass, and hold the full 120 minutes.

Cloudy, greasy broth that tastes flat: this usually comes from a hard manual release right after cooking, which agitates the fat and proteins into an emulsion, and from skipping the salt-after-straining step, which leaves your broth tasting like nothing in particular. Let the pressure drop naturally for at least 20 minutes and season only once it’s strained and you can taste it properly.

Swapping ingredients, and the one swap that changes the outcome

Onion, carrot, and celery can be swapped for leek tops, parsnip, or fennel scraps without changing the method. Bay leaves and peppercorns are flexible; a few sprigs of thyme or parsley stems work fine in their place. The one substitution that does not work the same way: replacing the apple cider vinegar with lemon juice or wine vinegar in equal volume changes the acidity and flavor enough that the gel strength and taste will shift noticeably, so if you’re swapping the acid, expect a different result rather than an identical one.

Alternative to bone broth, and when stovetop makes more sense

If you don’t have an Instant Pot, or no time for a 120-minute pressurized cook plus release, a stovetop bone broth using the same ratios (1 carcass to 10 cups / 2.4 liters water) works, but needs 8 to 12 hours at a bare simmer, never a rolling boil, to reach a comparable gel. For a genuine alternative to bone broth rather than a substitute method, a simmered vegetable stock with dried mushrooms and a splash of soy sauce delivers savory depth without any collagen, useful for vegetarian cooking or when you simply don’t have bones on hand; it will not gel and it will not carry the same body in soup.

How long can bone broth sit out?

Bone broth should not sit at room temperature for more than 2 hours; in a kitchen warmer than about 90°F (32°C), cut that to 1 hour. Bacteria multiply fastest between 40°F (4°C) and 140°F (60°C), and a pot of warm broth left on your counter overnight is not safe to drink or cook with regardless of how it smells or looks.

Is Instant Pot bone broth as healthy as the stovetop version?

The two methods produce broth with a similar nutritional profile, since both extract collagen, minerals, and fat from the same bones over comparable total heat exposure. Some small studies have looked at collagen and glycine intake from bone broth generally, but the research is limited, often short-term, and does not single out pressure-cooked broth specifically, so claims about one method being meaningfully “healthier” than the other are not well supported by evidence either way.

How do you make bone broth in an Instant Pot from scratch?

Combine a chicken carcass, aromatics, apple cider vinegar, and water up to the max fill line, then pressure cook on high for 120 minutes followed by a natural release of at least 20 minutes. Strain, discard the solids, and salt only after tasting the strained liquid.

What’s the difference between Instant Pot bone broth and stock?

Bone broth is simmered or pressure cooked long enough, and with enough collagen-rich bones and joints, to gel when chilled; stock is typically a shorter cook with less emphasis on connective tissue and often does not gel at all. The 120-minute Instant Pot method here, especially with chicken feet added, is built to cross that gelling threshold.

How long the broth keeps, and when to freeze it

Refrigerate strained, cooled broth in an airtight container for up to 5 days. For longer storage, freeze in 2-cup (475 ml) portions for up to 4 months; a properly gelled broth will still liquefy on reheating, and that soft jelly texture in your fridge is a sign the collagen extraction worked, not a flaw. Cool the broth to room temperature within 2 hours of straining before refrigerating or freezing, and never add it warm to a sealed container that will sit in a fridge crowded enough to trap heat.