Nourishing Homemade Bone Broth: Easy Slow Cooker & Instant Pot Recipes
Have you ever considered the incredible ease and numerous benefits of making your own nourishing bone broth right at home? It’s surprisingly simple, especially with the convenience of a slow cooker or an Instant Pot. Instead of discarding bones and vegetable scraps, you can transform them into a golden, nutrient-rich liquid that elevates countless dishes and supports your well-being. This guide will walk you through creating delicious slow cooker chicken bone broth, but these versatile methods apply equally well to making hearty beef broth, savory turkey broth, or rich pork broth – simply by swapping out the bones. We’ll cover everything you need to know, including quick Instant Pot directions for when time is of the essence, ensuring you can enjoy homemade goodness no matter your schedule.
The Undeniable Benefits of Homemade Bone Broth
For years, home cooks have championed the practice of crafting homemade broths. While traditional stovetop methods using a large stockpot are undeniably effective and fill your home with an incredibly comforting aroma, modern appliances like the slow cooker and Instant Pot offer unparalleled convenience without compromising on flavor or nutritional value. This isn’t just about cooking; it’s about embracing a sustainable approach to food, utilizing every part of your ingredients – transforming what might typically be discarded, like bones and vegetable trimmings, into a truly “liquid gold.”
The benefits extend far beyond frugality. Homemade bone broth is a powerhouse of nutrients, packed with collagen, gelatin, amino acids, and essential minerals that are often missing from store-bought alternatives. It’s renowned for its potential to support gut health, boost immunity, and even improve skin and joint health. The gelatin, in particular, is fantastic for digestive lining and can help alleviate joint pain. Plus, the depth of flavor it brings to your culinary creations is simply unmatched. From enriching soups and stews to serving as a flavorful base for rice, curries, risottos, sauces, and gravies, having a ready supply of homemade broth in your freezer is a game-changer for any home cook looking to enhance both taste and nutrition.
Choosing Your Bones and Vegetable Scraps for Optimal Flavor
The foundation of any great bone broth lies in its ingredients. You have two wonderfully simple methods to gather what you need, both of which embrace a zero-waste philosophy:
- Saving Bones: A common practice for avid home cooks is to freeze chicken bones from meals like roasted chicken, or even raw chicken pieces like backs, necks, and wing tips. This is especially easy when cutting up a whole chicken yourself – simply stash the bony parts in a freezer bag until you have enough for a batch. This method works perfectly for beef, turkey, or pork bones as well!
- Cooking a Whole Chicken First: An incredibly efficient approach is to cook a whole chicken in your slow cooker, then remove the meat for various recipes, leaving the bones and juices behind for broth. This provides a double yield from a single cooking session! To be super efficient, you can even throw a chicken in the slow cooker right after grocery shopping. Season it simply with salt and pepper, or add a blend like this spiced rotisserie chicken recipe. After about 3 hours on High, the chicken will be ready to debone, and you’ll have a fantastic foundation for your broth.
Alongside bones, don’t forget your trusty bag of frozen vegetable scraps! These bits and pieces, like onion ends, carrot peels, and celery trimmings, add subtle layers of flavor and nutrients without requiring fresh produce. Keep a designated bag in your freezer door for easy additions every time you prep vegetables. This is a brilliant way to reduce food waste and enhance your broth.
The Easiest Slow Cooker Bone Broth Method
Making bone broth in a slow cooker is incredibly forgiving and largely hands-off. It’s ideal for setting it and forgetting it, allowing the ingredients to gently simmer for hours, extracting maximum flavor and nutrients. Here’s how to do it:
- Add Bones: Begin by adding your bones to the slow cooker. If you’ve just cooked a whole chicken, simply leave the carcass, skin (for flavor, although you can skim fat later), and any cooking liquid in the pot. If using frozen bones or scraps, there’s no need to thaw them first; just toss them in. Note on giblets: The neck and gizzard can contribute wonderful flavor, but the liver often imparts a strong, metallic taste, so it’s usually best to omit it for a neutral, versatile broth.
- Introduce Vegetables & Enhancers: Next, add a couple of handfuls of your saved vegetable scraps – think onion ends, carrot trimmings, and celery bits. For an extra boost, include about 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar. This is a crucial step, as the acidity helps to draw out valuable minerals and gelatin from the bones, resulting in a more nutrient-dense and often gelatinous broth. Optional additions include whole garlic cloves, a tablespoon of whole black peppercorns, or mild herbs like parsley stems for an aromatic touch.
- Cover with Water: Fill the slow cooker with cold water, ensuring all the bones are completely submerged. You may need to break larger bones or gently press them down to keep them covered. Fill to about three-quarters from the top, leaving some headspace for simmering.
- Slow Cook to Perfection: Turn your slow cooker to HIGH for the first hour. This initial high heat helps bring the water to a boil quickly and extract flavors. After an hour, reduce the setting to LOW. Now, simply walk away! Let your broth simmer gently for 12 to 24 hours. The longer it cooks (within this range), the more flavorful and concentrated your bone broth will be. Many prefer to let it cook overnight and throughout the next day, filling their home with a delightful aroma.
Selecting the Best Vegetables for Bone Broth
While almost any vegetable scrap can technically be used, some are far superior for creating a neutral, versatile bone broth that won’t overpower your recipes. The goal is to enhance, not dominate, the bone flavor. Stick to these for the best results:
- Onions: Ends, skins, and outer layers add depth and color.
- Carrots: Ends, peels, and even carrot tops for a touch of earthy sweetness.
- Celery: Ends, leaves, and stalks provide a classic aromatic base.
- Parsley: Stems and leaves contribute freshness without being too strong.
- Garlic: Whole cloves or peeled individual cloves for savory notes.
- Green Onion Tops: Milder onion flavor, excellent for chicken broth.
If you don’t mind a slightly bolder flavor profile, you can experiment with other vegetables. However, be aware that some can impart stronger or even bitter tastes:
- Sweet Peppers: Can add a subtle sweetness and pepper flavor.
- Broccoli or Cauliflower Stems: Use sparingly, as they can sometimes lead to a cruciferous flavor.
- Cabbage Cores: Similar to broccoli/cauliflower, use in moderation.
- Other Herb Leaves: Rosemary or thyme, for instance, can be used but will give a more pronounced herbal note.
Straining, Cooling, and Storing Your Liquid Gold
After hours of patient simmering, your deeply flavorful and nutrient-dense bone broth is ready! Your kitchen will likely smell incredible. Depending on when you started, you can let it go for 17-20 hours for a robust flavor, or even push it to the 24-hour mark for maximum extraction. Once you’re satisfied with the cooking time, it’s time to process your broth.
- Strain the Broth: Carefully remove the slow cooker pot from its base. Place a fine-mesh sieve or a colander lined with cheesecloth over a large, heat-safe container (a large glass measuring cup or a batter bowl with a spout works perfectly). Slowly pour the entire contents of the slow cooker through the sieve, allowing the rich broth to collect in the container below. Discard all the spent bones and vegetable scraps.
- Cooling: It’s crucial to cool the broth completely before storing it. You can let it sit at room temperature for an hour or so, then transfer it to the refrigerator. Once chilled, you may notice a layer of fat solidify on top. This fat can be easily skimmed off and discarded, or saved for cooking (like rendering chicken fat for schmaltz!).
- Portion and Store: Once fully cooled, portion your broth into airtight containers. Glass canning jars are excellent for fridge storage, but leave an inch of headspace if freezing in jars to prevent breakage. Alternatively, use freezer-safe plastic containers or even ice cube trays for smaller, individual portions.
Homemade bone broth can be stored in the refrigerator for up to a week, or in the freezer for up to a year. Having pre-portioned broth on hand makes healthy cooking quick and easy, allowing you to incorporate this nourishing ingredient into your meals effortlessly.
Instant Pot Bone Broth: For When Time is Short
While the slow cooker offers unparalleled convenience, the Instant Pot is a fantastic alternative when you need homemade bone broth in a fraction of the time. It leverages high-pressure cooking to extract flavors and nutrients rapidly, taking what would be a 12-24 hour process down to just a couple of hours. This method is perfect for busy weeknights or when you realize you’re out of broth unexpectedly.
The process is almost identical to the slow cooker method in terms of ingredients and preparation, but with a few key differences in cooking:
- Prepare Ingredients: Place all your chosen bones, vegetable scraps, apple cider vinegar, and any optional aromatics into the Instant Pot liner.
- Add Water Precisely: Add cold water, ensuring all ingredients are covered. Crucially, do not fill past the “MAX” line indicated on your Instant Pot liner to ensure safe operation.
- Pressure Cook: Secure the lid, set the vent to sealing, and use the “Manual” or “Pressure Cook” setting to cook on High Pressure for 60 minutes.
- Natural Release: Once the cooking cycle is complete, allow for a natural pressure release for at least 30 minutes. This gradual release helps to prevent foam from escaping and further enhances flavor extraction. After 30 minutes, you can quick-release any remaining pressure if needed before carefully removing the lid.
With about 30 minutes to come to pressure, 60 minutes of cooking, and 30 minutes of natural release, you can have a rich, homemade bone broth ready in approximately 2 hours. While the slow cooker remains the ultimate “set it and forget it” appliance, the Instant Pot is a powerful tool for quickly achieving a deeply nourishing broth.
Why Invest in a Slow Cooker (or Instant Pot) for Broth?
The slow cooker, and now the Instant Pot, has truly revolutionized how I approach meal prep and utilize ingredients efficiently. With these appliances, I can prepare both cooked meat and nutrient-rich broth for various recipes without excessively heating up my kitchen, especially during warmer months. The minimal effort required to achieve such high-quality, flavorful results makes either appliance an invaluable investment for any home. If you only ever used it for cooking whole chickens and making bone broth, it would still be well worth it!
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Easy Slow Cooker Chicken Bone Broth + Instant Pot Directions
Ingredients
- Chicken bones from one whole chicken or 3-4 pounds of frozen chicken backs, wing tips, etc.*
- 3 cups vegetable scraps from: carrots celery, onions, parsley
- 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar**
- Optional: 1 tablespoon peppercorns 2-4 cloves garlic, other herbs like bay leaf, etc.
- 12-16 cups cold water or needed to cover bones in cooker
Instructions
Slow Cooker:
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Sometime during the day, add your frozen chicken pieces to the slow cooker (NOT a whole frozen chicken, just the pieces you’ve been saving – no need to thaw), OR if you’ve just cooked a chicken, leave everything but the meat in the slow cooker – bones, any broth from cooking, and skin.***
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Next toss in the onion, carrot, and celery ends and trimmings, plus the cider vinegar and any optional ingredients.
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Fill the slow cooker about three-quarters from the top with water, covering all the bones, breaking them or pushing down to cover as needed.
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Turn the slow cooker to HIGH for an hour start the broth cooking (this is optional – you can just cook on low for the whole time, too).
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After an hour, turn it to LOW and then go about your day (or go to bed) and let the bones and vegetables simmer all night and into the next day to equal 12 to 24 hours (the longer the better).
Instant Pot:
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Place all ingredients in the Instant Pot liner, add water and make sure all ingredients are covered – fill to the “Max” line, but don’t go over.
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Use Manual to set cooker for 60 minutes on High Pressure. It will take about 30 minutes to come up to pressure.
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Use natural release for at least 30 minutes, quick release if any pressure is left. Remove lid and proceed with recipe.
Strain & Store
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Strain the broth over a large glass or ceramic container with a spout and transfer to smaller freezer containers or mason jars. Let cool in jars for an hour or so before attaching lids and storing in the fridge for a week or freezer for a year.
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Alternately, you can pour it all into a large stock pot and store it in the refrigerator for a day to be able to skim the fat and then transfer into containers – or make a soup with the stock right in the pot.
Notes
**Technically this is optional, too, but it’s almost imperative to help draw out the gelatin and other nutrients from the bones, so I’m encouraging you to always use it.
***I always leave skin in, even if I skim off the fat later, since it adds a lot of flavor – you can remove it if you prefer. Also: any giblets from a whole chicken or turkey often provide really strong flavors, so I may add the neck and gizzard, but not the liver – it’s up to you.
Nutrition
This recipe was updated in February 2019 to include the Instant Pot method and expanded tips for making the best bone broth.
We hope this comprehensive guide inspires you to start making your own batches of delicious, nutrient-packed bone broth. It’s an easy, economical, and incredibly rewarding addition to any healthy kitchen. What are your favorite ways to use homemade bone broth? Share your thoughts and tips in the comments below!