Winter, Spring, Summer, Fall..it does not matter the season. If you open my freezer you will always find at least one quart of chicken stock. There is usually more to find in the colder months, but it is definitely a staple in my house. I like to use it as a base for other soups such as eggdrop, greek lemon chicken soup, etc.
Before owning my Instant Pot, I would take out my big stock pot and simmer my soup on the stove for 3-4 hours. No more of that. I have been making my stock by pressure cooking and it’s done in a lot less time and it produces a much richer stock. So easy to do.
I start with chicken that will produce the most flavor. It includes bones, thighs, wings and I have seen chicken feet involved (I could never bring myself to handling that). I’ve also used a whole chicken. The thing you don’t want to use is boneless chicken breast (by itself). While it will be a light broth, you want that have body which is the heart of good chicken broth.
My soup this weekend came from chicken thigh bones. I was able to get to a kosher supermarket before the Jewish High Holidays and they were selling bones for soup-super cheap.
After dumping the bones in the pot, I add a few carrots, a few stalks of celery, a halved onion, some garlic, parsley, salt, pepper , bay leaf and a few tablespoons of ketchup. Yes, ketchup. It was something my grandmother did when making soup which was passed down to my mom and then passed to me. You don’t taste it at all…but it gives the soup a certain something.
I fill the pot up to the max with cold water. Seal the lid and set my soup to cook on high pressure for 40 minutes. This can take a long time to come to pressure because you have a lot of liquid in there. However, it’s hands off time. You can set it and go off on your business. I even leave the house. Once it comes to pressure, it cooks the 40 minutes and releases pressure naturally. Let it cool, and strain the liquids from the solids. Trash the chicken and veggies (you want fresh stuff if you are going to proceed and make chicken soup with it). I put the strained soup in the fridge overnight and the next day I skim all the fat off the top. You can save the fat (also called schmaltz) to make matzoh balls or use in other recipes but I generally throw it out.
I divide up into quart containers to put in my freezer. I buy the containers in bulk from Amazon.
INSTANT POT CHICKEN STOCK
INGREDIENTS
- 3-4 lb. chicken wings, thighs or chicken bones
- 2 large carrot (6–8 oz.), scrubbed, halved
- 2-3 stalks celery,
- 1 large onion, unpeeled, halved
- 4-5 of garlic cloves
- Handful of parsley
- 2 bay leaves
- 1 tlb. whole black peppercorns, crushed
- 2 tsp. kosher salt
- 3-4 tlb. ketchup
- Combine chicken pieces or bones, carrot, onion,celery, garlic, ketchup, parsley, bay leaves, salt and peppercorns in Instant Pot. Add water to the max line on your instant pot.
- Lock lid and cook stock on high pressure 40 minutes, then release pressure manually.
- Strain stock through a fine-mesh sieve into a large bowl; discard solids. Let cool, refrigerate overnight.
- Skim the solid fat off the top of the cold stock and proceed with your recipes or freeze for future use.
- Do Ahead: Stock can be made 4 days ahead. Cover and chill, or freeze up to 6 months.
Moscato & Macarons 