How to make Beef Stock in an Instant Pot

Please don’t call it Bone Broth. Jump to Recipe

A bowl of French onion soup with toasted cheese croutons, made with the beef stock from this recipe.

We use a lot of stock at the Red House. It is the foundation for sauces and soups. It adds flavor, depth and body, and its high protein content keeps my hair and nails strong. For years we made conventional stock, simmered slowly on the stovetop for hours and hours until the cartilage dissolved and the bones floated free. Then we would strain it carefully and reduce it until it set up thick and clear like jello in the refrigerator overnight.

Because we are looking for the best flavor and clarity, we always kept our stock on low before straining, and we waited to add our aromatics, herbs and mirepoix (onion, carrot, celery) until the bones were strained and the stock was reduced. Sometimes we would get very fancy and use an egg white raft. The whole process would take a couple of days, and would fill the house with meaty steam. I love stock, but I do not love living in a miasma of beef or chicken smog. Keeping the stove on long enough to do it properly isn’t ideal either, for safety or for energy costs.

Why Bone Broth Isn’t RealLy A Thing

You hear a lot of talk about “Bone Broth” on the internet. Its proponents will tell you that it is somehow different and healthier than a properly made stock. I think that this is a misunderstanding, and in many cases people are just making really terrible stock, sacrificing the flavor and appearance of their food in pursuit of health benefits that are no more concentrated in their cloudy, sour brew than in a properly made stock.

I think the misunderstanding comes about because people don’t have a clear understanding of what stock actually is, and how it differs from broth, and from the stuff you can buy in cans and cartons or cubes at the grocery store. Broth is water simmered with meat, vegetables, and bones. It is generally cooked for a shorter period of time, and is primarily used for flavor. If you simmer vegetables for a longer period, the aromatics deteriorate and are lost, and all you are left with is bitterness. For this reason, broth is highly flavored but cooked briefly.

Stock is made from bones, cooked gently for a longer stretch of time. This long, slow cooking dissolves collagen and marrow, leaving the liquid thick-bodied and protein-rich. It can be flavored with vegetables and aromatics, usually after the connective tissues and marrow from the bones have been fully rendered. It does not require the addition of acids such as apple cider vinegar, because time and gentle cooking will dissolve the nutrients from the bones and suspend them in your liquid. Likewise, rapid boiling will make your stock cloudy, but it won’t make it any more nutritious. Cider vinegar will just make it taste sour.

What Happens When You Make Stock In An Instant Pot?

I will be upfront about this- there are tradeoffs. In the pros column:

- It’s much faster and easier to get good results with the Instant Pot.

- You don’t have to worry about leaving the stove on for hours unattended, and your water won’t simmer so low that it starts to boil and wrecks your stock.

- You can add your vegetables and herbs at the beginning of cooking, and because of the way the Instant Pot traps the volatile aromatics, the flavor will stay in the stock where it belongs, not floating around your house. The vegetables will not turn bitter.

In my opinion, the cons column has only one bullet:

- If you use the instant pot, your finished stock won’t set up like an aspic or jello.

The animal bones used to make stock are full of collagen, which turns into gelatin as it cooks. Gelatin tends to degrade if it is cooked at a high temperature for an extended period of time. The Instant Pot, being a pressure cooker, brings the ingredients in the stock up to a temperature that is higher than the boiling point of water, and then holds it there for a long time. This means your gelatin degrades, and your stock will stay liquid even when chilled.

It still has just as much protein as the stovetop version. The health benefits are still there even if it won’t gel, you just can’t use it to make aspics. If you’re looking for that vintage centerpiece molded salad vibe, you’re going to want to use the classic stovetop stock method.

Beef Stock in the Instant Pot

This is a simple recipe that requires very little babysitting, and yields a delicious, dark beef stock that is perfect for sauces and soups.

Ingredients

- 3 lbs beef bones

- 1 yellow onion

- two carrots

- two celery stalks

- tomato paste

- thyme

- bay leaf

- black peppercorns

Tools

- Instant Pot (mine is 8qt)

- sheet tray or roasting pan

- bowl

- wire strainer

- 2 gallon container

- some method of storing finished stock.

I am going to briefly show you how I pressure can the stock after it is finished. You can also freeze it in freezer bags, freezer- safe containers, or even in an ice cube tray.

Directions

This recipe will take about 30-45 minutes to prep, then 4-5 hours in the instant pot. At that point you will cool it, strain it, and then chill it in the refrigerator. Once it is cold you can pull the solidified fat off the top, and then package it for storage.

Prep Ingredients:

1. Preheat your oven to 375F

1. Peel and chop your carrots, onion, and celery into large pieces. Notice that the combined carrot and celery is about equal in volume to the size of the onion.

1. Put the vegetables and the beef bones into your bowl, empty the can of tomato paste in with them, and massage tomato paste all over everything.

1. Spread the bones and vegetables in an even layer on a sheet tray, and pop them into the oven.

1. Roast the ingredients, checking frequently, until they are nicely browned. Do not let the bones burn! Over-caramelization will cause bitterness in your finished stock, but you want some color.

Roasted beef stock ingredients: Beef bones, carrots, onions, celery. They have some caramelization and the tomato paste is dark, but it is not burnt

This looks about right.

Load the Instant Pot:

1. Transfer the veggies and bones from the sheet tray into the Instant Pot.

1. There will be lots of juices and fond stuck to the sheet tray. Pour some water in and scrape until you get it all up. You can warm it on the stove a little, if you do it carefully. When you need to, pour the liquid into a measuring glass and use some fresh water.

1. Pour all the scraped up juices into the instant pot.

1. Add the thyme, bay leaf, and peppercorns to the instant pot.

1. Fill the Instant Pot the rest of the way to the maximum fill line.

1. Close up the Instant Pot and set it to Pressure Cook on High for 3 hours. Then let it rest and cool down until it completely releases its lid on its own. This may take as an hour or longer, and it doesn’t hurt anything to let it sit until you are ready to deal with it.

Strain Your Stock:

Image of the stock bones after cooking, showing the completely dissolved marrow. The stock liquid is clear.

See how the marrow has dissolved? The connective tissue around the joints is also cooked away. Also notice the clarity of the liquid.

1. When the Instant Pot releases its seal, open it up and check your stock. If you are happy with it, you can strain it. If you want it to cook longer, you can set it for another hour. At a certain point, it can’t cook any more without losing quality, and there’s no real reason for it.

1. Strain the stock through a wire mesh or cheesecloth, and put it in the refrigerator.

1. There will be at least half an inch of fat floating on the top of your stock. Once it chills, that fat will solidify and you’ll be able to pull it right off in a chunk.

Store your stock

You have made a concentrated stock that you can use as is, or dilute with water depending on the flavor and application. Because it is so dark and strong, I like to save it in half pint (1 cup) portions. I prefer to keep it at room temperature by canning, so it is liquid and easy to use. You can freeze it if you prefer. My dad likes to freeze stock in an ice cube tray and store the cubes in a freezer bag to pull out and toss into sauces.

Canning Beef Stock in a Pressure Canner

Tools:

- Jars rated for pressure canning- I like half pints

- Canning Jar lids and rings- I’m using Harvest Guard re-usable lids

- A pressure canner like this one from All American.

Directions:

1. Load your jars with 1/2″ headspace

1. Wipe the rims of the jars, and settle the lids in place.

1. Close the lids with the rings and arrange in the canner with the manufacturer’s recommended amount of water.

1. Bring the canner slowly up to heat. When it starts venting, set a timer for 7 minutes.

1. After 7 minutes, drop the weight on at 10psi (or however your canner works)

1. When the canner reaches the correct pressure, set a timer for 20 minutes.

1. Keep at pressure for 20 minutes and then turn off the heat.

1. Allow the canner to cool on its own before removing the weight.

1. Unload the canner carefully, and tighten the rings a bit more.

1. Allow the jars to cool for 24 hours without moving them, and then remove the rings and check the seals while washing the jars. Be careful, especially if you are using the reusable lids. There are always a few that don’t seal. Put those in the fridge to use first.

1. Label and date your jars!

Did you try it?

Let us know what you think! We’d love to see pictures and hear about your results.

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