Chicken Collagen Soup (Aka Bone Broth)
Chicken collagen soup, or bone broth, is full of rich bone-building nutrients and protein-packed collagen. I’ll teach you how to make your own gelatinous bone broth using an instant pot and how to use it as the base for a delicious chicken collagen soup recipe!
Related: sourdough dumpling recipe
Related: traditional cooking guide for beginners
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How to make chicken collagen soup
What you’ll need
Instantpot (there’s a method using a large stockpot as well but it takes much longer)
Storage jars (one-half gallon and one pint-size jar will do)
collagen soup Ingredients
Carcasses of 2 chicken fryers – about 3-4 lbs. These should fill your instant pot about 3/4s full. You could also use beef bones or any other bones you have on hand. Your bones can be frozen or not.
10 cups of filtered water – more or less depending on the number of bones. The water should just cover the bones
4 tbs apple cider vinegar – the vinegar will pull the nutrients out of the bones.
1/2 tbs sea salt – not totally necessary, but this will yield a more flavorful chicken collagen soup!
Vegetable and fresh herb scraps – you can just use the shriveled-up stuff in the back of your fridge for this. These are totally optional in a pinch.
Instructions
Making chicken collagen soup base in the instant pot
- Plug in a 6-quart instant pot and fill the stainless steel basin 3/4 way full of chicken bones.
- Pour water over the bones. The water should just cover the bones (or even be slightly under the top of the bones. If you have too much water you won’t get that desired gelatinous result.
- Add your apple cider vinegar.
- Place the lid securely on the instant pot and turn the valve on top to sealing.
- Press the soup button, low pressure, for 360 minutes (6 hours) – for the instant pot you’ll need to do 4 hours then another 2 hours.
- Let the pressure naturally release for as long as possible (minimum of 20 minutes and up to 10 hours).
- Remove the lid from the instant pot and use hot pads to remove the stainless basin.
- Put a strainer over a very large bowl and pour your bones and broth over the strainer into the bowl. (be careful not to overflow the bowl – you might need to pour some of the broth into a jar before pouring the rest).
- Take a funnel and put it overtop your jar. Take your bowl of broth and pour it through the funnel into your jar.
- Repeat until all your chicken collagen soup is transferred to your storage jars.
- Let the bone broth cool until it’s cool enough to transfer to the fridge.
- Let it cool for about 24 hours in the fridge – at this point, you’ll be able to see the gelatinous goodness you created!
Tips for Chicken Collagen Soup
- Use bones with the most cartilage such as feet, necks, backs.
- Start with cold, filtered water. This will give the apple cider vinegar time to draw out the nutrients from the bones before getting too hot.
- Use salt to add more flavor to the bone broth. You could always just add this whenever you’re making your end product (soup, stew, etc.) but it’s better to add flavor at the point of making your broth and add more later if needed.
- Don’t use too much water or your broth wont gel.
- If you’re short on time try to do at least 240 minutes on low pressure.
- Let the instant pot stay on keep warm for as long as possible (I try for 10 hours).
Storage for chicken collagen soup
Refrigerator storage
Store your bone broth in an air-tight jar in the fridge for 5-7 days.
Freezer storage
To freeze your homemade bone broth let it completely cool, then transfer to a silicone ice cube mold and freeze until solid. Transfer your cubes to a freezer bag and use them as needed for up to 12 months.
You could also freeze your bone broth in an airtight container, just be sure to leave space at the top for expansion.
how to use chicken collagen soup
Think of all the recipes that call for water that you can replace for broth and do that if it makes sense!
For example, my dutch oven jambalaya, lemon chicken gnocchi soup, spiced pumpkin and chorizo soup, or my chicken and sourdough dumplings recipe below are all great options for using up your homemade chicken collagen soup!
- Soup
- Stew
- Risotto
- Quinoa
- Rice
- Black beans
- Drinking straight up – warm it up like a savory tea
- Freezer cubes
- Baby led weaning – the nutrients are SO good for baby.
How to get bone broth to gel
Are you having trouble getting your bone broth to gel? See my quick troubleshooting tips below.
- Cook longer – do another cycle on the instant pot. The issue might be that you aren’t cooking long enough for the bones to release all their collagen.
- Let cool completely – make sure you’re giving the bone broth a chance to gel by letting it cool completely before checking to see if it has gelled.
- Water to bone ratio – ensure you aren’t using too much water. The water should just barely cover the bones in your pot.
- Quality of bones – sometimes if you aren’t using quality bones from pastured chickens, you’ll notice that there aren’t enough nutrients in the bones to get a gelatinous bone broth.
benefits of chicken collagen soup
Chicken collagen soup is extremely nutritious. It’s said to potentially:
- Improve digestion
- Anti-aging effects
- Immune boosting
- Protects joints
- Aids with better sleep
- Many vitamins and minerals
- Packed with collagen
- Improves bone health
- Supports weight loss
chicken and sourdough dumplings soup recipe
This recipe uses the chicken collagen soup recipe above as well as my sourdough dumpling recipe.
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons olive oil
- 1 chopped yellow onion
- 2 cups kale – this can be replaced with equivalent amounts of any other veggies you like. Carrots and celery would also be great.
- 6 cloves garlic, minced
- 3 tablespoons flour – this is to help thicken the soup. Not totally necessary since we are adding dumplings to the soup which also help to thicken it up by soaking up a lot of the bone broth.
- 1 1/2 cups cream – I like to use raw cream since it has more nutrients than pasteurized milk and our bodies tolerate it better.
- 1/2 cup cream cheese – the same idea here, we use raw cream cheese.
- Juice and zest from 1 lemon – this gives the creamy broth such a delicious freshness!
- 6 cups bone broth – this is using the chicken collagen soup recipe above!
- 3 cups cooked and diced chicken – about 1 chicken fryer or 3 chicken breasts.
- 1 tsp dried thyme – any other dried herbs you have on hand works great, but thyme really does add delicious flavor.
- 2 tsp black pepper – plus more to taste. I like to also sprinkle some on top of the chicken and dumpling soup.
- sea salt, to taste – we always use sea salt since it’s rich in minerals, and table salt is devoid of nutrients.
- 1 batch of sourdough dumplings – the specific recipe for this is here, but the directions are below for how to use them in this soup.
Instructions
- In a dutch oven or large stock pot heat your olive oil over medium-high heat until hot.
- Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add flour and stir to combine. Cook for an additional 1 minute.
- Add cream, cream cheese, lemon juice, zest, and bone broth and stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil and add chicken, thyme, black pepper, and salt.
- Let simmer, uncovered, while you make your sourdough dumpling batter (using this recipe).
- Using a tablespoon or a cookie scoop, scoop your dumpling batter into the simmering pot of soup. Make sure the dumplings are separate from each other. You’ll have to make 2 batches of about 4-5 dumplings each.
- Once all dumplings have been added, gently press them down so the soup runs over the tops of them.
- Place the lid on your dutch oven and lower the heat to low.
- Cook for 15 minutes.
- remove the lid, cut a dumpling open, and check for doneness. It should look like bread inside, not gooey.
- Using a ladle, scoop out some soup with a dumpling or two and sprinkle with some black pepper.
Related: sourdough dumpling recipe
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more comforting recipes
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faq – chicken collagen soup
If a homemade bone broth base is used for the broth, then there will be plenty of collagen in the chicken soup. If it’s just a storebought bone broth or chicken stock, unfortunately, there aren’t as many nutrients or collagen in that soup.
Yes, chicken collagen soup has a very high nutritional profile. It’s packed with vitamins and minerals from the bone marrow and protein-rich collagen.
Collagen soup is made of bones, usually from chickens and/or beef, water, apple cider vinegar, and optional salt, vegetable scraps, and herbs. This is all cooked at a low temperature for many hours to pull the nutrients out of the animal bones.
Yes, chicken broth has collagen in it. Though, less than beef broth, it does contain collagen. Making homemade chicken bone broth has even more collagen than chicken stock.
Yes, you can drink bone broth daily. The more bone broth you can consume the better to enjoy the full benefits of the liquid.
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print the recipe – chicken collagen soup
Chicken Collagen Soup (Aka Bone Broth)
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Plug in a 6-quart instant pot and fill the stainless steel basin 3/4 way full of chicken bones.
- Pour water over the bones. The water should just cover the bones (or even be slightly under the top of the bones. If you have too much water you won't get that desired gelatinous result.
- Add your apple cider vinegar.
- Place the lid securely on the instant pot and turn the valve on top to sealing.
- Press the soup button, low pressure, for 360 minutes (6 hours). For the instant pot you'll need to do 4 hours then another 2 hours.
- Let the pressure naturally release for as long as possible (minimum of 20 minutes and up to 10 hours).
- Remove the lid from the instant pot and use hot pads to remove the stainless basin.
- Put a strainer over a very large bowl and pour your bones and broth over the strainer into the bowl. (be careful not to overflow the bowl – you might need to pour some of the broth into a jar before pouring the rest).
- Take a funnel and put it overtop your jar. Take your bowl of broth and pour it through the funnel into your jar.
- Repeat until all your chicken collagen soup is transferred to your storage jars.
- Let the bone broth cool until it's cool enough to transfer to the fridge.
- Let it cool for about 24 hours in the fridge – at this point, you'll be able to see the gelatinous goodness you created!
Notes
Tips for Chicken Collagen Soup
- Use bones with the most cartilage such as feet, necks, backs.
- Start with cold, filtered water. This will give the apple cider vinegar time to draw out the nutrients from the bones before getting too hot.
- Use salt to add more flavor to the bone broth. You could always just add this whenever you’re making your end product (soup, stew, etc.) but it’s better to add flavor at the point of making your broth and add more later if needed.
- Don’t use too much water or your broth won’t gel.
- If you’re short on time try to run the pressure cooker on low pressure for at least 240 minutes.
- Let the instant pot stay on keep warm for as long as possible (I try for 10 hours).
Storage for chicken collagen soup
Refrigerator storage
Store your bone broth in an air-tight jar in the fridge for 5-7 days.Freezer storage
To freeze your homemade bone broth let it completely cool, then transfer to a silicone ice cube mold and freeze until solid. Transfer your cubes to a freezer bag and use them as needed for up to 12 months. You could also freeze your bone broth in an airtight container, just be sure to leave space at the top for expansion.print the recipe – chicken and sourdough dumpling soup
Related: Get the sourdough dumpling recipe here
Chicken Soup and Sourdough Dumplings
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- In a dutch oven or large stock pot heat your olive oil over medium-high heat until hot.
- Add onion and cook for 5 minutes. Add garlic and cook for 1 minute.
- Add flour and stir to combine. Cook for additional 1 minute.
- Add cream, cream cheese, lemon juice, zest and bone broth and stir to combine.
- Bring to a boil and add chicken, thyme, black pepper and salt.
- Let simmer, uncovered, while you make your sourdough dumpling batter.
- Using a tablespoon or a cookie scoop, scoop your dumpling batter into the simmering pot of soup. Make sure the dumplings are separate from eachother. You'll have to make 2 batches of about 4-5 dumplings each.
- Once all dumplings have been added, gently press them down so the soup runs over the tops of them.
- Place the lid on your dutch oven and lower the heat to low.
- Cook for 15 minutes.
- remove the lid, cut a dumpling open and check for doneness. It should look like bread inside, not gooey.
- Using a ladel, scoop out some soup with a dumpling or two and sprinkle with some black pepper.
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