3 easy ways to make chicken stock: instant pot, slow cooker, and on the stove

I remember the first time someone told me they made their own chicken stock. This blew my mind and elicited my staccato response, “What?! Wait. How? Why?”

For them, they wanted to know all the ingredients in the food they were serving their family. Similarly, I also desire confidence to know the food I feed my kids is nourishing their little bodies. But I also love that I can save precious pennies for things more important or harder to do.

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Because making chicken broth is so easy! I constantly have 32-ounce mason jars full of it in my fridge to sip on, use in our favorite recipes, and to make someone chug if they’re feeling a little sick. So why not make it a routine to make if it saves money and sustains us better?

Make homemade chicken broth to save money

Even at Costco, the price of a case of Kirkland chicken broth, their generic brand, is at least $11 on sale. I know because we use a lot of it and I am always watching the price.

But instead of grabbing what would be 192 ounces for that price, I can pick up a Rotisserie chicken for under $5 to feed my family and then make at least 128 ounces of broth by adding the vegetables in my fridge and water.

See a brief overview of this post:

That’s a no-brainer. The chicken was already a sunk cost, so anything extra I get out of it is gain. And a few veggies? That definitely doesn’t add up to even $5. But the quality of homemade broth is undeniable. It’s so much darker, healthier, and richer.

Ingredients needed to make chicken bone broth.

First, you should understand the matching of chicken broth vs stock. They’re ultimately the same. Stock typically focuses more on using the bones, whereas stock has more meat. But they can ultimately and are normally used interchangeably.

Plain and simple… use the vegetable in your fridge!

I even keep a Ziploc bag of scraps like the tops of onions or pieces of bell pepper from cooking throughout the week and dump those in. Most typically I also have carrots because our family loves the rich carrot flavor in broth, plus mirepoix (onions, celery, and carrots) is a typical broth base.

• chicken scraps
• 1 whole onion, sliced in half
• 1 garlic head, sliced in half
• bunch of celery
• 3 stalks of green onion
• 1/2 cup cilantro
• 1 Tbs Redmond salt
• 1/2 tbs pepper

Stovetop chicken broth recipe

Put everything in a pot, cover with water and simmer for 4 hours.

Every 40 minutes or so, open the lid and skim out any of the foamy-stuff that has accumulated on the surface.

Once it’s done, allow to cool to room temperature.  Store in jars and in the fridge. The next day, if you so desire, remove all the fat that rises to the surface of the stock.

How to make bone broth in an Electric Pressure cooker

Similarly, add all desired ingredients into your instant pot or other electric pressure cooker, cover with water, and set to high pressure for 2 hours, and natural pressure release when finished.

Remember that because your pot will be very full, it will take more like 3 or 4 hours because of the time to pressurize and depressurize. The benefit though is that not only does it better cook the bones, it’s a hands-off process.

[color-box] More on understanding the differences in Instant Pot designs when buying.[/color-box]

And for us, because we have small kids in the house, it isn’t a danger to babysit on the stove.

In the video, you will see just how soft and brittle the bones get with this method. Plus, check out the how dark and beautiful the broth turns out in the instant pot.

Slow Cooker chicken stock recipe

Before getting an electric pressure cooker, this was my go-to method, especially on cold days where warm broth smells amazing and I can actually stand to smell it for extended periods of time.

The goal with any stock recipe is to make a mineral and nutrient rich base with chicken bones. Typically the longer the bones are allowed to simmer the better. (The exception is in a pressure cooker, it drastically reduces that time frame — I have done head-to-head comparisons and there’s little to no difference in the end result).

So in my crock pot, or instant pot used as a slow cooker, I dump in all the ingredients, cover, and set for 24 hours.

How to use chicken stock

First and foremost, it’s a great healing and nourishing drink. My kids and I sip on it many mornings.

We also cook with it to make soups, flavored rice, curries, and more. Really the sky is the limit. So often we choose to replace water with chicken broth in several of our favorite savory dinner recipes.

Need help learning the Instant Pot or want to help family & friends?

Check out the preview for this awesome FREE cheat sheet. It has 14 Instant Pot tips and tricks! And is the perfect list to laminate and post on the fridge or near your own pressure cooker. It will help you remember as you become more familiar or will help others in the household learn to use this great kitchen tool too.

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