Bone broth is such a nutritious and healing food that I cannot believe I have not started making it sooner! I used to buy bone broth at the store for $5 or more per bottle and this homemade bone broth in the instant pot is essentially free! It only requires bones, water, and 1-2 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar! Doesn’t get much cheaper than that!
When I first began “cooking from scratch,” I was intimidated at the thought of making my own bone broth. It seemed like such a process! How do I extract the nutrients from the bones? What if the broth does not gel? How should I store all of the broth so that it does not go bad?
Little did I know, the process could not have been easier! Making homemade bone broth in the instant pot requires basically 3 ingredients: bones, water, and Apple Cider Vinegar. You can add optional seasonings but I usually do not since my main use for bone broth is in soups and chilis.
My first experiment with bone broth was simply simmering bones in a pot for a few hours. At the time, I didn’t really know the nutritional benefits of bone broth and mainly wanted to make a “cheap broth” to cook with. That broth tasted great, but it was lacking many of the nutritional benefits from the long simmering process of a healing bone broth!
Health Benefits of Bone Broth
Bone broth is highly nutritious. Since it is made from bones themselves, the broth becomes rich in so many vitamins and nutrients. The bones from pasture-raised, grass-fed, non-GMO fed animals, are the most nutritious types of bones to use in bone broth.
Also, brewing connective tissue into bone broth provides the body with natural compounds from the cartilage. Adding other ingredients, such as vegetables, to the broth may also add additional nutrients. (Source)
The gelatin found in the broth helps to soothe the lining of the gut, which potentially helps it to heal and aids in digestion.
Homemade bone broth vs store-bought
Most of the bone broth in grocery stores is filled with preservatives and is lacking in the nutrients that should be present in a healing homemade broth. It can also be filled with hormones, antibiotics, and whatever harmful chemicals that may have been fed to the animal in which the bones came from.
All of which I’d prefer NOT to pay money for when I can make a delicious homemade bone broth essentially for FREE!
how to store bone broth
We store bone broth in half gallon, quart, or pint sized mason jars, basically whatever size I have on hand at the time. Our bone broth is usually used up within a week or two, so most of the time I just keep the jars in the fridge. However, if I know we will not be using very much, I will freeze the broth.
To freeze, simply leave about 1-2 inches of head space at the top of the jars. Allow the broth to cool completely. Leave in fridge overnight, then move to freezer.
If you change the temps too quickly, the risk of broken jars increases greatly. Using this freezing process, I have had minimal jars break!
To thaw, remove from freezer and place in a bowl of water in fridge. Again, gradual temperature changes reduce the chance of broken glass jars!
Meal prepping tips
As a busy mom, wife, and teacher, I am always looking for time saving tips when meal prepping for my family.
A time saving trick I try to implement in the kitchen is to make as many meals as I can while the Instant Pot is dirty. This saves time washing dishes and is an easy way to get several meals made at one time.
I usually make a whole chicken in the Instant Pot, make bone broth, then finish by making a grain (rice, quinoa, millet, etc) in the bone broth. All of this is done while the Instant Pot is dirty which is awesome since I am not a fan of dish washing!
With the whole roasted chicken, I usually make chicken salad or some form of soup. The bone broth gets saved to make chilis, soups, grains, etc. The quinoa, rice, or millet will then get added as side dishes to our meals throughout the week.
how to make bone broth in the instant pot
Homemade Bone Broth in the Instant Pot
Equipment
- Instant Pot
Ingredients
- bones , beef, chicken, deer, lamb, etc.
- filtered water
- 1-2 TBSP apple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Strip the meat off the bones and add them to the Instant Pot.
- Add 1-2 TBSP of Apple Cider Vinegar to the bones.
- Add water to the pot so that the bones are slightly submerged in the water. Don't add too much or too little or your broth will not gel.
- Add lid to the Instant Pot and make sure the valve is set to sealing.
- Press the soup function on the Instant Pot. It should be set of 2 hours. You will run the "Soup" cycle 3 times (6 hours total).
- Keep on warm for 24 hours. (optional, but will pull out more nutrients)
- Strain the bones off and store in mason jars.
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