Making Bone Broth in a Pressure Cooker: Why Your Batch Probably Isn't Gelling

You’ve seen the photos. Those jars of bone broth that look like solid amber Jell-O when they’re cold. That’s the dream. But honestly, most people who try making bone broth in a pressure cooker end up with a thin, greasy liquid that tastes like watered-down soup. It’s frustrating. You spent twenty dollars on grass-fed marrow bones, waited for the steam to hiss, and you're left with something that looks like dishwater.

The truth is that bone broth in a pressure cooker is actually a bit of a scientific gamble.

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We’ve been told for years that "low and slow" is the only way to extract collagen. Traditionalists like Sally Fallon Morell, author of Nourishing Traditions, have long advocated for the 24-to-48-hour simmer. But who has time for that? We have jobs. We have kids. We have lives that don’t involve monitoring a stockpot at 3:00 AM. This is where the Instant Pot or a stovetop Presto becomes a lifesaver, provided you actually know how to use the physics of pressure to your advantage.

Pressure cooking works by raising the boiling point of water. In a standard pot at sea level, water boils at 212°F. Inside a pressure cooker at 15 psi, that temperature jumps to about 250°F. This extra heat forces water into the dense connective tissue of the bones. It turns tough collagen into gelatin in a fraction of the time. However, if you just throw bones in water and hit "start," you're missing the nuances that separate mediocre broth from the kind that actually supports your gut health and joints.

The Secret Isn't the Time, It's the Temperature

Most people overcook their broth in an Electric Pressure Cooker (EPC). It sounds counterintuitive. How can you overcook something that's supposed to simmer for days on a stove? Well, high heat is a double-edged sword. If you blast those bones at high pressure for four hours, you might actually start breaking down the gelatin molecules themselves.

Gelatin is a protein. Like any protein, it can be damaged by excessive, sustained heat.

I’ve found that the "sweet spot" for most beef bones is around 120 minutes. For chicken, you can go as low as 45 to 60 minutes. If you go much longer, the broth starts to take on a bitter, scorched taste. It loses that clean, umami profile. You want the bones to be soft enough that the knuckles crumble when you press them, but you don't want to turn the marrow into carbon.

Stop Using Too Much Water

This is the biggest mistake. People fill the pot to the "Max" line because they want to meal prep for the whole month. Stop doing that.

If you have two pounds of bones and two gallons of water, you’re making flavored water. Not broth. The water should barely cover the bones. In fact, it’s okay if a few knobby bits are sticking out. As the pressure builds, the steam will do the work. You want a high concentration of solutes. Think of it like a reduction. You can always dilute a thick, gelatinous broth later when you’re making soup, but you can’t easily thicken a watery broth without boiling it down for hours, which defeats the whole purpose of using a pressure cooker in the first place.

The Role of Blanching and Roasting

Let's talk about the "funk." You know that smell? It's sort of metallic and slightly off-putting. It happens when you throw raw bones directly into the pot.

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If you want a clear, restaurant-quality result, you have to blanch your bones first. Put them in a pot of cold water, bring it to a boil for ten minutes, and watch the grey foam rise to the top. That's the impurities. It's blood, surface proteins, and bits of stuff you don't want to drink. Drain it. Rinse the bones. Now you have a clean slate.

Roasting is the next step for flavor. 400°F for about 30 minutes.

You're looking for the Maillard reaction. This is the chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its distinctive flavor. It's why a grilled steak tastes better than a boiled one. If you skip roasting, your broth will be pale and one-dimensional. It’ll be "fine," but it won't be "I want to drink this from a mug every morning" good.

What About the Apple Cider Vinegar?

There’s a lot of debate here. Some people swear that you need an acid, like apple cider vinegar (ACV), to "pull the minerals out of the bones."

From a chemistry standpoint, you’d need a much lower pH than a tablespoon of vinegar provides to significantly demineralize a bone in two hours. A study published in the journal Food and Nutrition Research looked at the mineral content of bone broth and found that even with long cook times, the levels of calcium and magnesium were surprisingly low compared to what many health influencers claim.

So, why add it? Flavor.

A little bit of acidity brightens the broth. It cuts through the heavy fat. It balances the palate. Use it for the taste, but don't expect it to turn your bones into mush through some magical alchemical process.

Understanding Your Ingredients

Not all bones are created equal. If you're using just "soup bones" from the grocery store—which are often just marrow bones (the straight ones)—you’ll get great flavor and healthy fats, but you won't get a gel.

You need joints.

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• Knuckles
• Patellas
• Chicken feet (the secret weapon)
• Oxtail
• Neck bones

These parts are loaded with cartilage. Cartilage is where the collagen lives. If you want that jiggly texture, you need at least 50% "jointy" bones. Chicken feet, specifically, are almost entirely collagen. Throwing four or five chicken feet into a pot of beef bones won't make it taste like chicken, but it will guarantee a solid gel every single time.

Vegetable Timing

Don't put your carrots and celery in at the beginning. Two hours under high pressure turns vegetables into a literal sludge. It can also make the broth overly sweet or even slightly bitter if the carrot skins are on.

If you're a perfectionist, do the bones first. Strain the liquid. Then, throw in your aromatics—onions, garlic, peppercorns, herbs—and simmer them on the "Saute" setting for the last 20 minutes. This keeps the flavors bright and prevents that "overcooked veggie" smell that can haunt a kitchen.

The Importance of the Natural Release

When the timer beeps on your pressure cooker, do not touch that valve.

A "Quick Release" (venting the steam immediately) causes the liquid inside the pot to boil violently. This turbulence emulsifies the fat into the water. The result? A cloudy, greasy broth.

If you let the pressure release naturally—which takes about 30 to 45 minutes—the liquid remains still. The fat stays separated on the top, and the solids settle at the bottom. This is how you get that crystal-clear, golden liquid. Once it's cool, that fat cap will harden on top, acting as a natural seal that keeps the broth fresh in the fridge for up to a week.

Safety and Storage

Bone broth is a nutrient-dense medium. Bacteria love it just as much as you do.

You need to cool it down fast. Don't put a giant, steaming pot of hot liquid directly into your refrigerator; you’ll raise the internal temperature of the fridge and risk spoiling everything else. Instead, use an ice bath. Fill your sink with ice water and set your container of broth in it. Stir it until it's room temperature, then chill it.

Common Misconceptions

• "It has to be grass-fed or it's toxic." While grass-fed bones have a better fatty acid profile (more Omega-3s), regular bones are still a great source of protein and gelatin. Use what you can afford.
• "Lead contamination is a huge risk." Some older studies suggested bones sequester lead. However, more recent testing shows that as long as you aren't consuming gallons of broth made from bones of animals raised in highly contaminated industrial areas, the levels are generally well below safety thresholds set by the EPA.
• "You can't freeze it in glass." You can, but you have to leave at least two inches of headspace and keep the lid loose until it's frozen solid. Liquids expand. Glass doesn't.

Troubleshooting the "No Gel" Problem

If you followed the steps for bone broth in a pressure cooker and it’s still liquid after 12 hours in the fridge, don't panic. It's still nutritious. It still has the amino acids like glycine and proline.

The most common reasons for a failed gel:

1. Too much water. The gelatin is just too diluted to form a matrix.
2. Not enough connective tissue. You used mostly marrow or rib bones instead of knuckles and feet.
3. The temp was too high for too long. You literally shredded the protein chains.

Next time, try reducing the water by 25% and adding a handful of chicken feet or a split pig's trotter.

Actionable Steps for Your Next Batch

To get the best results from your pressure cooker, follow this specific workflow:

1. Blanch the bones for 10 minutes on the stovetop and discard the dirty water.
2. Roast the bones at 400°F until they are deeply browned, not just tan.
3. Place bones in the pressure cooker and fill with filtered water until they are just covered.
4. Add a splash of ACV and let it sit for 10 minutes before turning the heat on (this is more for flavor and "insurance").
5. Set to High Pressure for 120 minutes (beef) or 60 minutes (chicken).
6. Allow a full natural release. This is non-negotiable for clarity.
7. Strain through a fine-mesh sieve or cheesecloth.
8. Cool rapidly in an ice bath before refrigerating.

Once the broth has chilled overnight, scrape off the hard fat layer on top. You can save this "tallow" or "schmaltz" for frying eggs or roasting potatoes—it's incredibly flavorful and stable at high heat. Underneath, you should find a thick, gelatinous concentrate that’s ready for soups, stews, or just sipping with a pinch of sea salt. This method bypasses the two-day wait time while delivering a product that is objectively better than anything you can buy in a cardboard carton at the store.