How to Make Instant Pot Bone Broth (Garlic & Herb-Infused)

Using your Instant Pot to make bone broth is a time-saving, cost-effective, and healthful option. With this recipe, you’ll spend less money on ingredients while getting more flavor-rich nutrients and healthy protein for your body.

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE

• This is a two-part recipe, meaning you end up with roasted beef AND broth at the end. A double bonus!
• The secret is in the slow roast. By slow roasting your veggies first, you’re getting a more flavorful broth, infused with rich and savory seasonings.
• It is possible to create beef stock in a much shorter amount of the time it normally takes by using a pressure cooker like the Instant Pot.
• In contrast, beef stock may be prepared right at home using a pressure cooker and yet be of even better quality for health benefits.

CAN YOU MAKE STOCK IN AN INSTANT POT?

Absolutely! Making stock the traditional way may take up to 12 hours. However beef broth in the Instant Pot is much faster.

• In contrast to typical simmering, using a pressure cooker boosts the cooking temperature over the boiling point of water, allowing the gelatin to dissolve more quickly and extracting more flavor.
• The result is a tasty and gelatin-rich stock that may be used in sauces, roasts, casseroles, and soups (try our Instant Pot Turkey Soup or Spicy Cabbage Beef Soup (Instant Pot).

INGREDIENTS

Just a few simple ingredients is all you need. I typically use my leftover veggies for this recipe, thus reducing waste.

• About 5 pounds of bones. I used two large soup bones with a lot of meat on them, these were raw. I also used 3 large short rib bones that we had saved in the freezer.
• fresh carrots
• fresh radishes
• onions
• garlic
• thyme
• salt and pepper
• olive oil

DIRECTIONS

For this recipe, you’ll roast the veggies/bones, then pressure cook for rich, herb-infused bone broth.

When making brown beef stock, the bones and other ingredients are roasted first to bring out their full flavor and color before simmering.

Part 1: Roasting

1. Drizzle a little oil on the bottom of a large baking sheet and spread out the bones, meat and veggies. Place garlic and onions cut side down so they will glaze as they cook. Drizzle the rest of the oil on top of everything.
   Sprinkle the salt and pepper on top, focussing on the meat.
2. Roast at 450 degrees F for 45 minutes, covered in tin foil. Remove the foil and stir around the veggies a bit and turn the soup bones with meat over once.
3. Return the tray to the oven, uncovered, for another 30 minutes. 
4. Turn the bones with the mean one more time, adjust vegetables again.
5. Return the tray to the oven one final time for another 15 minutes.
6. Once this 1.5 hours of roasting has passed everything should be cooked through, golden and veggies will be very soft, this is perfect.

Part 2: Instant Pot (Pressure Cooking)

1. Carefully transfer to your instant pot (this all easily fits in our 5qt). Place the bones on the bottom and layer up from there.
2. Fill with only enough water that it will just barely cover the top of the veggies and bones, too much water will thin out the broth, still tasty and beneficial, but not as thick as you see in these final images.
3. Select the Soup setting or Manual setting for 120 minutes and walk away.
4. Once the 2 hours have finished you may choose a quick release or natural release. I tend to let it natural release and then carefully take the inner pot out of the cooking unit and set it on a stove burner so it can cool a bit more before working with it.
5. Remove the meat and veggies and set into a covered dish to rest until you are ready to serve.
6. There are a few different ways to strain the broth and collect the goodness you’ve been working on. I’ve found the easiest way is to remove all of the large pieces, either saving for later or discarding. Then pour the liquid through a fine mesh strainer.

FAQ

Substitutions

Please note that this is a very flexible recipe and you may adjust as needed and based on what you have on hand.

Vegetable Substitutions

No carrots? No problem, you can use beets or other root veggies in their place. Celery, mushrooms and peppers are also great alternatives.

Beef Substitutions

Only have 3 pounds of bones? Simply scale down and be sure to use less water so you still have a concentrated broth.

Chicken, pork, or turkey bones may also be used.

How to make a gelatinous broth

The finished stock will be rich in gelatin if you include beef joints. 

Remember: broth will need to be refrigerated before it will gel.

EXPERT TIPS

Time Saving Tip

Roasting the raw bones will give the broth a smoother and richer flavor and is well worth the time!

If you don’t quite have enough time to do it all in one day, you can roast the bones and veggies one day and make the broth itself within the next couple of days. 

Storage

Refrigerator: Store in the fridge for up to one week

Freezer: freeze for up to 6 months. If freezing, I will pour into ice cube trays so we can pull out just the amount that we need when cooking and not need to wait for large portions to thaw.