Instant Pot Chicken Stock

Chicken stock is one of the easiest kitchen basics to make at home in your Instant Pot. All you need are chicken bones, water, sea salt and apple cider vinegar to make your own pressure-cooked stock.

Follow this simple recipe to see just how easy and efficient it is to make homemade Chicken Stock in your Instant Pot electric pressure cooker. With just chicken bones, water, sea salt, and apple cider vinegar, you can create a delicious, flavorful stock that’s a staple for any cook.

The Instant Pot modernizes traditional stock-making, offering a faster, yet equally delicious alternative to slow-cooked versions. Its high-pressure cooking extracts every ounce of flavor from the bones, ensuring a deeply nourishing and tasty stock.

This method is not only convenient but also a great way to make use of leftover chicken bones, minimizing waste and maximizing flavor. Enjoy the satisfaction of creating your own stock, which can be used in a variety of dishes to complement your cooking with its homemade goodness.

Ingredients

• Chicken bones
• 7 quarts of filtered water
• 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar
• 1 teaspoon of sea salt

Equipment

• Instant Pot
• Fine mesh strainer
• Mason jars
• Large stockpot

Step-by-Step: How to Make Instant Pot Chicken Stock

Follow these simple step-by-step instructions to learn how to make the best chicken stock in the Instant Pot electric pressure cooker.

Step 1: Add Bones to Pot

Add as many chicken bones as you can fit in your Instant Pot inner liner without going over the max fill line.

Step 2: Add Water, Vinegar and Salt

Add filtered water to the max fill line, then add 1 teaspoon of apple cider vinegar and 1 teaspoon of sea salt.

Step 3: Pressure Cook

Seal the lid on your Instant Pot then set it to cook on high pressure for 2 hours 30 minutes. Once the cooking time is up, allow for a full natural pressure release. Open the lid once all of the pressure has been released from the pot.

Step 4: Strain Chicken Stock

Pour the stock through a fine mesh strainer into a large stock pot. Cool pot to room temperature.

You can either discard the bones or make a second batch of stock. In the Instant Pot, you’ll get the most flavorful stock the first time around. The second round is thinner and great for making rice with, but not as good of a second batch like you’ll get it you make stock in the slow cooker.

Step 5: Chill Stock Overnight

After the pot has cooled down enough, I like to refrigerate my stock overnight, then in the morning, you can scrape off the top layer of fat. If you’re planning to can this chicken stock, then this step is important. If you’re going to freeze or use it right away, it’s not quite as important.

Step 7: Use or Store Your Chicken Stock

Transfer your strained chicken stock to mason jars and refrigerate. Alternatively, see the directions below for freezing instructions or my post for How to Make and Can Chicken Stock for long-term storage.

Tips for Making Instant Pot Chicken Stock

Answers to all of your questions about making chicken stock in the Instant Pot, including tips, substitutions, variations and uses.

How to save enough bones

Save your leftover chicken bones and carcasses in a freezer bag until you have enough to fill a pot. Then you can make homemade chicken stock in your Instant Pot (you can also make it in the slow cooker or on the stove top).

Make chicken broth instead of stock

You can use these same methods for making chicken broth with meat instead of stock with bones. The easiest and fastest way to make broth is to pick up a rotisserie chicken from the store and use that.

Why Instant Pot vs slow cooker chicken stock?

Making it in the Instant Pot is absolutely the easiest way to make quick chicken stock. However, it doesn’t produce the same amount of gelatin since it’s pressure-cooked and not simmered. It does still taste amazing though!

If your goal is thick stock, you’ll get the best chicken stock using the slow cooker method. But I often choose the speed and convenience of the Instant Pot instead.

Is adding apple cider vinegar necessary?

It’s not totally necessary, but the vinegar helps pull the minerals from the bones into your stock. I end up with a richer, thicker, more flavorful stock when using ACV, but you don’t have to use it.

Tips to add more flavor to your stock

I like to add salt, pepper and garlic at the end of cooking to keep the stock from being too bland. Sometimes I’ll also add veggie scraps like carrot tops, celery ribs and tops, onion scraps, etc. to my stock that I save in the freezer like I do with bones.

Why strain stock?

I like to pour my homemade chicken stock through a fine-mesh strainer after the fat cools and rises to the top so I can be sure bone fragments and excess fat are removed.

If you’re canning stock, don’t skip this step or the jars may not seal properly. It’s also better to remove the excess fat when freezing stock.

If you’re making soup that day or plan to use the stock soon another way, it’s okay to leave the extra fat.

What to do with chicken stock?

Chicken stock has so many uses! Of course you can use it in traditional ways like in chicken noodle soup. But there are so many other things to do with chicken stock. I have a ton of recipes using chicken stock, like:

• Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie
• Instant Pot Chicken Burrito Bowls
• Instant Pot Refried Beans
• Instant Pot Butter Chicken

Can you substitute chicken stock for chicken broth?

While chicken stock is usually a bit thicker with a richer flavor than broth, it’s usually okay to substitute broth for stock and vice versa in most recipes.

Storage tips

I store my homemade stock in mason jars and always try to use it within 2-3 days of making it. If you won’t use it right away, it’s better to can or freeze it so it doesn’t spoil.

How to freeze chicken stock

One way to freeze it is in freezer-safe wide-mouth pint jars, which hold around 2 cups. Be sure to leave some headspace for the stock to expand.

Another way is to freeze stock in ice cube trays, then store them in freezer bags for later use. It’s fast and easy to melt down cubes whenever you need them.

Make other types of stock in the Instant Pot

Beef stock is made the same way that chicken stock is. Choose bones with some marrow for when making beef stock if you want the best flavor.

I also use this same process for making stock with our Thanksgiving turkey. One turkey makes so much stock!

More Easy Instant Pot Recipes & Tips