You’ll never buy chicken stock again after you see how inexpensive and easy it is to make your own. Plus, it has no additives or preservatives – just good, whole food – and you can make it to suit your tastes and dietary needs – low fat, low salt, etc.
Using a whole chicken allows you to remove and save the breasts, legs, and wings for another day while using the carcass and organs for your stock. If you’ve never cut up your own chicken before, don’t panic. It’s really easy and if you need it, you can check out Youtube for a video. Heck, I’m a vegetarian and I can do it, though you’ll notice I wear gloves and then disinfect the entire kitchen afterward. An 8-cup measuring cup comes in very handy both in measuring and pouring. Quart jars are perfect for freezing and refrigerating the chicken stock.
You’ll need a good meat cleaver to get through the chicken’s bones to remove the legs and wings and a nice butcher knife to shave the breast from the bone (though I often use the meat cleaver – it’s not as pretty, but it’s fast and easy). Once you have the breast, legs, and wings removed, the rest of the chicken goes right into the Instant Pot. There’s no need to remove the skin, but if there’s a lot of extra fat, it’s easier to trim it away now. We’ll be refrigerating the stock and removing the fat from the top later on.
- 1 5 lb chicken (see note below)
- 1 yellow onion, peeled & quartered
- 2 cups chopped carrots (about 4 large)
- 2 celery stalks, washed and chopped, leaves ok
- 1 bay leaf
- 1 handful fresh parsley
- 1 tsp black pepper
- ½ tsp salt (optional)
- 8 cups water
- Remove the chicken breasts, wings, and legs - set aside for another meal.
- Put the carcass and organs in the Instant Pot (or similar electric pressure cooker).
- Add the rest of the ingredients and make sure the ingredients are submerged.
- Press Soup and set the timer for 1 hour (or select high pressure for 1 hour).
- Allow the pressure to release naturally
- Remove the carcass.
- Harvest any meat from the bones - I feed it to my dogs as a treat
- Strain the broth through a fine strainer (or cheesecloth) to remove the solids.
- Refrigerate for an hour to allow the fat to harden. Remove carefully and discard.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 3 months.
You most definitely have me craving a hot bowl of chicken soup now. This looks delicious!
This seals it – I NEED an Instant Pot! Every time I turn around people are posting all the things it can do…amazing. Your broth looks delish!
Yum! How cool that you can freeze it for so long! I’ve never made myown stock, but looks like it’s not that hard!
I’m Vegan but I cook for a family of 4 who is not. This will be great to replace those super salty chicken stocks!
I am in constant need of chicken stock to cook some of my favorite recipes. Thanks for sharing a recipe for the stock. That helps me out a lot.
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’ve never made my own chicken stock before but I’m going to try this.
I am excited to give this recipe a try. I have all the ingredients I need already. I can just imagine how good the house smells when you make it.
I will have to get the ingredients I need to make this on the weekend. It looks delicious and so easy to make.
I love cooking with chicken stock! Didn’t know it was so easy to make yourself.
I love making my own chicken soup stock. It is so easy to do and tastes delicious.
This sounds great. I never made chicken stock before. I’ll be trying this soon!
Great job and wonderful tutorial- I feel like even I could manage this if I followed your directions!
This sounds great. I never thought about making stock before. I’ll be trying this out soon!
I’ve never made this and honestly was scared to! Thanks for the tutorial. I’ll have to give it a shot!
I’ve heard so much about instant pots, I really want to check it out! I make my own stock all the time!
I love making my own chicken stock. Tis the season for a warm bowl of chicken soup.
I never really knew what went in to making chicken stock. This looks really good!
I had no idea ow easy it was to make your own chicken stock! It is so expensive. I would much rather make it then to buy it.
I was actually just trying to find a good chicken stock recipe. I don’t have a pressure cooker right now, but I’m going to try to doing this in my dutch oven.
Just add about 6 hours to the recipe 🙂