Fall is finally here! Fall is my favorite season - I love a touch of cold in the air, the colors in the leaves, and that it’s soup season! Speaking of soup, let’s talk about it’s key ingredient, broth…

An Ode to Pressure Cooker Chicken Broth

Homemade chicken broth made me a better cook, and pressure cooker chicken broth made me a pressure cooking convert.

Before pressure cooking, I knew I should make my own broth. I’d make some every Thanksgiving - how else was I going to get my turkey soup fix? I’d make broth occasionally during the year, when I was motivated, or wanted a fancy soup for a dinner party. But, stovetop broth takes all day to make, pushing it over my “that’s so much work” line. I’d shamefully reach for the box of Swanson’s or jar of Better Than Bouillon because they are easy, even though I knew homemade broth would be better.

Pressure cooker broth was ready in a couple of hours, quick enough that a leftover chicken carcass could make a batch of stock before bedtime. I started making broth more often, storing it in freezer containers. This started a virtuous cycle. The frozen stock made my cooking better, and when I ran out, I missed it. So I’d make another batch.

Then electric pressure cookers came along, with their set-it-and-forget-it convenience. Chicken broth is so easy with an Instant Pot. Throw a chicken carcass and some aromatic vegetables in the pot (onion, carrot, and celery are classic), cover it with water, and set it to pressure cook for an hour. Done!

And, much to my delight, pressure cooking makes better broth than stovetop cooking! Here’s Chris Young, head development chef for Heston Blumenthal at The Fat Duck, after researching broth:

How Do I Make Broth?

So, what are you waiting for? Make some chicken broth at home!

(…whispered question comes from offstage…)

What? You don’t have chicken bones? Right. My first suggestion is to make a roast chicken for dinner tonight - they’re fantastic - but if you want to get straight to making broth, my shortcut is to buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store. Let them do the chicken roasting for you:

Recipe: Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Broth​

…or, if that seems expensive, buy a package of frozen chicken backs from your grocery store. Much cheaper, and almost as good:

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Broth (from chicken backs)​

Or, if you want the cheapest broth possible, start saving chicken scraps in a zip-top bag in the freezer. Leftover chicken back? In the bag. Wing tips? In the bag. Neck and giblets from a whole roast bird? In the bag. Once the bag is full, pull it out, toss it in the pressure cooker, and follow the instructions above. It’s kitchen alchemy - turning chicken pieces you normally trash into culinary gold.

Stock vs Broth?

The quotes above talk about stock, not broth. They’re talking about the same thing. The subtle difference between broth and stock is the amount of meat left on the bones when you make it. (Broth has more meat.) If you’re in a five-star French restaurant, making master sauces, the difference between stock and broth matters. For us home cooks? They’re interchangeable.

OK, I made broth, now what should I do with it?

Make soup! (See some recipes below.) Or, freeze it in 2-cup containers and use it whenever you would use a can of stock. (That’s how I use most of my chicken broth - soups, stews and chilis, to add more body.) And it doesn’t have to be chicken-specific dishes - chicken broth is neutral enough that it works with a beef chili or pork stew just as easily as a chicken-centric dish.

Also, if you have an 8-quart Instant Pot you can double the recipes I have above, which is how I like to make my batches of broth. I plan on a soup dinner that day, with lots of broth left over to freeze.

2 cup containers of broth have worked for almost everything I’ve needed, but… Right now I’m playing around with Souper Cubes to freeze broth in smaller sizes, freezing broth in 1-cup and ½-cup cubes (for use in other recipes) and 2 tablespoon cubes (for use in pan sauces), but I’m not sure yet if those sizes are going to stick for me long term.

Recipes Showcasing Homemade Chicken Broth

As I said above, it’s the backbone of most cooking. Almost any soup, stew, chili, or curry is improved by replacing water with broth. Here are some of my favorites:

Chicken Noodle Soup

Chicken Noodle Soup is the recipe that started it all. It was the first soup I made from my first pressure cooker (a finicky Fagor that I loved dearly), and it showed me how important broth was to making soup.

Recipe: Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Noodle Soup​

Tortilla Soup

This is one of my favorite soups, taking my typical Taco Tuesday meal and making it into a delicious bowl of soup.

Recipe: Instant Pot Rotisserie Chicken Tortilla Soup​

Chicken and Dumplings

Of course, chicken broth is also important in chicken-based stews. Here is one of my recent favorites. Sure, you can use water (or store-bought broth) in this one, but it will be noticeably better with homemade chicken broth.

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken and Dumplings​

Rotisserie Chicken Risotto

Here the broth is a background player in a risotto, where it improves a recipe without being the centerpiece. (Risotto is another killer technique in the pressure cooker, so much easier than all the stirring needed on the stovetop.)

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Risotto​

Chicken with 40 Cloves of Garlic

In this recipe the chicken broth is a bit player - but an important one. Sure, you can make the recipe with water, but the pan sauce you pour over the chicken thighs will have a lot more flavor and body if you use chicken broth.

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken With 40 Cloves of Garlic​

September Posts Roundup

September was hectic at my house. We had our floors replaced, so I couldn’t use my kitchen for a week. It was fun eating out at first, but by the end of the week I was itching to make something myself.

It’s also hectic in the recipe roundup, because there were 5 Tuesdays in September. You get an extra recipe this month!

Instant Pot Curried Red Lentil Soup

I love lentils - they’re cheap, quick-cooking, nutritious, and satisfying. I’ve got lots of lentil recipes on DadCooksDinner, but this is a new favorite.

Recipe: Instant Pot Curried Red Lentil Soup​

Instant Pot Italian Beef

Here’s a fantastic sandwich, a sloppy taste of Chicago that is perfect for dipping in its pot liquid.

Recipe: Instant Pot Italian Beef​

Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese

I updated one of my personal favorites to match my current blog style. Buffalo sauce and mac and cheese are a brilliant combination.

Recipe: Instant Pot Buffalo Chicken Mac and Cheese​

Instant Pot Shrimp Boil

I’ve been on a seafood kick ever since I figured out mussels in my Instant Pot. A Cajun-style shrimp boil is one of my favorites, and much to my surprise, it worked great in an Instant Pot.

Recipe: Instant Pot Shrimp Boil​

Instant Pot Quick Chicken Thighs

Chicken thighs were on sale at my local grocery store, so I picked up a pack for a Tuesday night supper, and turned to a favorite simple recipe. (Which needed some cleanup, so I updated it and republished it.)

Recipe: Instant Pot Chicken Thighs (Bone-In, Skin-On)​

Q&A: Substituting beef stew meat?

I get this question a lot. I recommend beef chuck roast in Instant Pot beef recipes because chuck is the best beef for pressure cooking. It has a big beefy flavor, and lots of fat and collagen that melt while pressure cooking to keep the beef juicy. Other cuts will also work - shoulder, short ribs, and bottom round are all good alternatives - but chuck is my favorite.

Now, stew meat will work in all my recipes that call for chuck. Stew meat is fine. But, you’re playing beef roulette. Stew meat is made from the leftover trimmings of the other cuts in the meat case, so you never know exactly what you’re getting. Also, the size of the cubes is whatever they’re cutting - usually about 1-inch cubes. If I’m making a recipe that needs big, 2-inch cubes (like my Instant Pot Texas Red Chili), then I need to cut them myself.

I’m not a purist. I’ll use stew meat if it has a good sale price. Or, if I’m rushing and don’t have time to cube a roast. But 90% of the time, I’m going to buy a chuck roast and cut it up myself. It doesn’t take that much longer, and the results are better.

What do you think?

That’s it for this month. Questions, comments, and ideas are welcome - drop me a line.

Thanks again, and see you next month!

Mike Vrobel - ​DadCooksDinner.com​​

October 2, 2026