Did you know you can make Pressure Cooker Chicken Stock using a whole chicken? Really easy!
"Chicken stock with a whole chicken, shock horror!", I can hear the purists scream from here! Hear me out....
Well, yes. When you're a working parent trying to keep your head above water you do not mind this type of thing that much and the stock is super tasty so, if I'm going to keep my head above water, it might as well be delicious chicken stock (or broth as some like to call it), in my Instant Pot of course!
Same goes now that I, like many of you, am a disabled single parent unable to do much but who needs delicious food whichever way is the easiest to produce said food.
Plus, this is how I grew up seeing it made. Yep. Except it was on the hob in a huge burgundy pot (HUGE!).
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📖 Recipe
Instant Pot Whole Chicken Stock
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker electric type like Instant Pot or Ninja Foodi or stove-top
Ingredients
- 1 whole chicken maximum 2.5 kg if you have the 5.7 litre / 6 quart Instant Pot, string removed
- 1 carrot
- 1 onion halved
- 5 cloves garlic unpeeled, whacked with a fist to release your anger... I mean to loosen the skin a bit but leave the skin on
- 1 tablespoon fresh grated turmeric or dry turmeric powder
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 5-6 peppercorns
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 litre cold water
Instructions
- Place all the ingredients in the Instant Pot.
- Cover with water, remember to never fill your Instant Pot over two thirds of capacity when pressure cooking. Less water and more time will give you a more gelatinous/concentrated stock. Because of how I use it throughout the week, I do not mind this to be honest. Remember, we are aiming for staying afloat rather than perfection here.
- Lock the lid in. Steam release Sealed. Pressure cook, high pressure, between 60 and 120 minutes. Let it do a natural release at the end (i.e. let the float valve pop back down of its own accord). You can even do less time if you want then strip the meat off the bones and put the bones back in on high pressure for an hour or two for added flavour in the stock. Anything goes here.
- Remove the chicken (carefully, it will fall apart), pick the meat out and place in a container or portion up for the freezer and, really important, strain and keep the stock (do not discard it!).
Video
Notes
Video recipe
Wondering how to pressure cook chicken stock with just bones?
For example from a roast chicken you may have had on Sunday?
Then just cook it exactly as per this recipe.
Remembering less water, more bones and more time will give you a more gelatinous stock.
My advice is that you freeze those bones in a bag and keep adding to it until you have the bones/carcass from at least two chickens, you will get more flavour that way and you can pressure cook the stock with the bones from frozen, no need to defrost.
You can also do this with turkey bones, see the pressure cooker Turkey Crown Stock recipe.
What can you cook with chicken leftovers?
It's easy to pressure cook a whole chicken at the start of every week. Why? Apart from the fact that it's super easy...
- Chicken and mash with steamed vegetables one day. Instant Pot mash: 250 ml water (or your freshly-made chicken stock), quartered potatoes straight in the liquid or in a steamer basket (or on the trivet supplied with your Instant Pot), press Pressure Cook, high pressure, programme 10 minutes with the - and + buttons, natural release
- Instant Pot Chicken, Leek and Carrot Soup (particularly delicious with chorizo)
- Chicken and Pasta Soup another day, using both the chicken stock and the meat. A bit like this Instant Pot Pasta Soup recipe replacing the ham stock with your freshly-made chicken stock and adding some of the chicken meat. You can of course add chorizo!
- Chicken Noodle Soup, similar to the above recipe but just add noodles, I'd use the sauté function at the end for the noodles so that they don't overcook, just add whatever ingredients you fancy
- Instant Pot Kale and Chorizo Soup (Spanish Caldo Gallego), using both the chicken stock and some of the meat.
- Risotto, like my delicious pressure cooked Chorizo Risotto. If you are using your Thermomix (you could use it in my Chorizo and Red Pepper Risotto). Or any of my pressure cooked Rice Dishes.
- Instant Pot one-pot pasta, omit the sausages in my All-in-One Instant Pot Sausage and Tomato Pasta and add the chicken to warm up at the end
- Thermomix one-pot pasta, you could add the chicken to warm up at the end of my Thermomix Creamy Chorizo Pasta, turning it into Creamy Chicken and Chorizo Pasta (yes, I've totally adapted this to the Instant Pot, recipe coming soon, as soon as I find my scribbles in fact!)
- Chicken Pie with Filo Pastry, perfect for the air fryer
- Air Fryer Roasted Vegetables with Leftover Chicken
- Batch Freeze it: you don't have to use it all up, you can freeze both the stock and the chicken for future meals from frozen, if you have already joined me on my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group, you will know already just how handy being able to reheat things from frozen in the Instant Pot. Frozen stock, frozen chicken pieces, frozen chickpeas and you have a full meal in no time! If you haven't seen my method to reheat things from frozen, make sure you read our guide to reheat food from frozen in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot.
What else would YOU add to this list?
Fancy making your own Vegetable Stock Paste? It's super easy, try my recipe.
Other ways to pressure cook a whole chicken
One of the most popular ways to pressure cook a whole chicken is the Zero Minute Chicken, followed by my Lemony Chicken.
Would rather air fry your whole chicken?
I have just the recipe too, or rather two recipes, one is for pretty much any air fryer hence it is called Air Fryer Whole Chicken (with the added bonus that I tell you how too cook the gravy in the air fryer itself afterwards to minimise the washing up).
The other recipe is a steam air fry recipe specifically for the Ninja Speedi or the Ninja 11 in, 14 in 1 or 15 in 1, go check it out.
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