How Long To Pressure Cook Chicken Feet

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!

close-up of gold spoon holding gelled broth

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

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 1 hour 30 minutes

Total Time 1 hour 40 minutes

Ingredients

12 to 16 chicken feet peeled and prepped for broth
filtered water to cover
1/4 cup apple 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.

gelled chicken feet broth with gold spoon and glass jar

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