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Nourishing Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth {Whole30, GAPS, Keto, Paleo, AIP}
This nourishing Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth is the #1 traditional food you need to be making! With amino acids, gelatin, and collagen, this gut-healing liquid gold is essential for maintaining health and vitality. Perfect for nose-to-tail eating!
It’s one of the most nourishing foods in the world, yet most people turn their noses up at it…
Chicken feet? In broth? And, I’m supposed to… drink it??? Uh, no thanks.
Sadly, in our microwave/fast food culture where most people don’t cook at home and have lost touch with where their food comes from, nourishing foods like chicken feet are discarded and labeled “gross”, “unusable”, “disgusting”, “something no one eats”, “waste”.
And yet, if you’re knowledgeable in traditional foods, you know that it’s such a waste NOT to keep the bones and offal of healthy animals! After all, using every part of the animal — from nose to tail (or tail feathers, as it were) — is the best way to s-t-r-e-t-c-h expensive pastured meats and honor the animal who gave its life for you to eat while nourishing your body in the most ideal way.
So… save those bones! And organs! And… chicken feet!
Nourishing Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth
Bone broth is, in my opinion, the #1 nourishing food everyone should be making! When the bones, cartilage, and tendons of pastured animals are simmered in water for hours, all of the minerals, vitamins, amino acids, and good stuff (yes, “good stuff” is totally a technical term), turning plain ol’ water into liquid gold.
Bone broth has been used for centuries to heal the gut, boost the immune system, help folks get over illnesses faster, heal cavities, and more!
(Public Service Announcement: the cartons of broth or stock from the store do not have the same benefits as homemade broth made in your kitchen from [preferably local] healthy, pastured animals!)
Even if you’re not drinking it by the mug-full, bone broth is a no-brainer kitchen staple. And you can use it for WAY more than making soup! Yes, drink mugs of broth (it’s the #1 gut-healing food!). Yes, make lots of nourishing soups. Then, use more bone broth for:
- gravies
- sauces
- instead of water for cooking rice or beans or quinoa
- braising meats
- instead of water in any savory recipe
- in smoothies (yes, really! Just make sure the broth isn’t salted.)
Soooo… why feet??? I know it’s the question on everybody’s mind.
Well, chicken feet are made up of all the things that go into a good bone broth: bone, tendons, cartilage. When pressure cooked (like in your Instant Pot), all the goodness finds its way into the water.
So chicken foot broth is chock-full of amino acids, collagen, gelatin — all the nourishing things that our bodies need for optimal health.
See how absolutely stunning this Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth is? The color is beautiful, and that gel? Enough to make us die-hard broth enthusiasts swoon!
You can add chicken feet TO your pot of other bones to enhance the broth, or you can make a nourishing chicken foot broth that stands alone as an ages-old superfood.
Where To Find Chicken Feet?
Assuming you’re not raising your own chickens and butchering them yourself, finding chicken feet can be a little tricky. Unless you know where to look…
Here are my best tips for finding high quality, pastured/organic chicken feet:
- Ask a friend/neighbor who raises chickens — IF they don’t keep them for themselves!
- Ask a butcher or meat market manager.
- Check EatLocal.org for farmers who raise organic, pastured chickens in your area. Do NOT get feet that come from a factory farm!
- Look at your health food store, especially “mom and pop” type stores.
- Do you have a food co-operative in your area? This is where I get my chicken feet, and they are already peeled and ready for my nourishing Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth!
What?? Peeled?!
How & Why To Peel Chicken Feet
Luckily, I’m able to get chicken feet that are already prepped and ready for broth — meaning their tough, yellow outer membrane has been peeled off. If your chicken feet have a tough outer skin, you’ll need to peel it off before making your broth.
Why peel?
First, this outer membrane is almost always covered in poop, feathers, and/or dirt, which we certainly don’t want in our broth. 😛
Second, the outer skin can impart a bitter, almost over-cooked flavor to broth. Not appetizing at all.
So, here’s how you peel and prepare chicken feet for broth:
- Thoroughly wash the feet. Use a scrub brush to remove as much poop, feathers, dirt, etc., if needed.
- Place the washed feet into a saucepan or skillet and cover with water.
- Bring this to a boil and boil for about 10 minutes.
- Remove from the stove and drain off the water.
- When the feet are cool enough to handle, begin peeling the layer of outer skin off the bone/cartilage.
- Now, the feet are ready to pressure cook for broth!
Are you ready to make the most beautiful, most nourishing broth ever?! Let’s do this!
Nourishing Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth
This nourishing Instant Pot Chicken Foot Broth is the #1 traditional food you need to be making! With amino acids, gelatin, and collagen, this gut-healing liquid gold is essential for maintaining health and vitality. Perfect for nose-to-tail eating!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes
Servings 4 quarts
Ingredients
- 12 to 16chicken feetpeeled and prepped for broth
- filtered water to cover
- 1/4cupapple cider vinegar
Instructions
- Place the prepared chicken feet into the stainless steel insert of your Instant Pot. (I used a 6qt. Instant Pot, but the 8qt. IP would work for this, too.)
- Add enough water to the pot to just cover the chicken feet along with the apple cider vinegar.
- Place the lid on the Instant Pot, seal the vent, and press the "Manual" button.
- Adjust the time to 90 minutes on high pressure.
- When it beeps, you can immediately release pressure or you can wait and let it naturally release. Totally up to you.
- Strain the broth away from the feet and use or store in glass jars.
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We save our margarine and cottage cheese contains and the like to store it in the freezer. We just let it cool down a lot first before we put it in the containers. Works great.
I make chicken foot broth all the time with multiple carcasses and a bunch of chicken feet, and then we have “chicken foot Soup” minus the feet of course! It’s a joke in our family now after my kids saw chicken feet floating in the crock pot a couple years ago 😁
That’s awesome! So happy your kids love chicken foot broth!
Easy. Delicious. It gelled beautifully and tastes so clean. I added a head of garlic because that’s just how I live my life. 🙂
Awesome! Ain’t nothing wrong with garlic either!
I have a question. It definitely didn’t make 4 qts, so do I add water to get to the 4 qts, or will that mess it up?
So, this is a great question, but you might not like my answer. Only add water to cover the feet (or bones for bone broth). If that’s 4 quarts, great. If it’s less, then it’s less. The key to getting broth that gels is not using too much water.
I just made some and after removing feet I only got 5 cups of liquid. So it will be less after cooling.
If you want more broth, use more feet next time. If you used just enough water to cover the feet you had, then I would expect less broth. 🙂
Hi! Would you ever add veggies / herbs for a deeper flavor? If so what would you add / how much?
You can always add veggie scraps and/or herbs for flavor and extra minerals in your broth. As long as you don’t overfill the Instant Pot, the amount doesn’t really matter. Use more of the flavors you love and less of the flavors you don’t! Pretty simple!
Hi Lindsey. I just finished making this in my Instant Pot for my elderly mini schnauzer so he can get more glucosamine and other joint protectors. I will be adding it to his food. And some for me and my family too! I can’t believe it is gelling already. I just strained it! Great recipe. I got the chicken feet at my local Walmart. They call them Chicken Paws. They were already cleaned and they were very fresh too. I’m so glad I found your recipe.
That’s wonderful! And what a good dog parent you are!
Hi! Thank you for sharing this!! I’ve made bone broth a few times and chicken feet is always my go too! I’ve been searching high and low for the nutritional value of chicken feet broth is but can find anything. Do you have this info?
I don’t have that info. I think it would be really difficult to determine on something like broth. But I’m glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Hi Lindsey, Thank you so much for this very informative and well-written article. I am lucky to have found chicken feet at a neighborhood co-op. They are free range but not certified organic. Would you use chicken that is free range but not organic? They are from a local farm (Kadejan). It is proving to be difficult to find local organic chicken feet. I will be using my old-school pressure cooker to make this recipe. I would have cooked the feet as-is with the skin still on but, thankfully, I found your blog and now I will be skinning them…which… Read more »
I would absolutely use them, and have used that same brand! I’m not sure if bone broth powders contain the same amounts of gelatin/collagen. I would assume that the collagen is present since collagen is cooked gelatin. The gelatin may not be present — unless you’ve tried refrigerating it maybe? I still think bone broth powders can be beneficial, especially if they help you consume more broth!
About how many cups of broth do you think this will make? I was going to start my baby on bone broth first. Not exactly sure how’s much to allow, if you had any knowledge of that? Also, do cut off the nails on the feet?
Bone broth is a GREAT food for babies! You can make as many or as few cups as you like. For instance, to start, you might want to do a large handful of feet (peeled) and only 2-3 cups of water. That would result in 2-3 cups of broth. The fewer feet/bones you use, the less water you use so the broth is lovely and gelatinous every time. You might find this helpful: https://allthenourishingthings.com/tips-bone-broth-that-gels-every-time/ I don’t cut off the nails on the feet, but you can if you like.
I am so brand new to making bone broth. I got an IP for my b-day 2 weeks ago. Just finished my first bone broth last night for my yorkie with medical issues. Now for my question: Ok I need to store the bone broth in glass, however then what? Freeze it? It will take up LOTs of room in the freezer. Just refrigerate it? How long would it be good for? Any other ideas??
Thanks
I don’t recommend freezing it in glass jars because they almost always break. The broth will last for up to a week in the fridge. If you know you can’t use it up within a week, I recommend freezing in gallon-size ziploc bags. Those lay flat in the freezer and take up less room when stacked.
Wow that gelatin is amazing! I’ve never made broth with chicken feet before, but definitely need to see if they carry them here locally!
That’s one healthy broth, I’m amazed at all of the gelatin!
So much gelatin! I’ve never made broth with the feet before but I know it makes the broth so much more nourishing and you can’t beat that gelatin.
This is fascinating! I wonder if I can find a local butcher with prepped chicken feet. I’d love to keep this broth on hand.
If not, I’ve found chicken feet at my health food store for really cheap!
Chicken fat has the most collagen, and people use it in Asian stew a lot. What a clever idea!