How to Make Crawfish/Shrimp Stock in the Instant Pot

What better day to share a recipe for crawfish stock than Fat Tuesday!

I’ve already shouted my love of the Instant Pot from the (virtual) rooftops with my Freezer Meal Boot Camp post.  I have used it for the majority of my weekly cooking over the past two months…it has made life around here so much easier!  The only warning I have for anyone buying one is that you’ll want to cook anything and everything in it.

Which brings me to today’s post.  Normally, after the crawfish boil we had for Jackson’s first birthday party, we would have thrown the crawfish shells away.  Well…never again.  One thing I’ve learned since getting our Instant Pot is that shells/bones should never ever be thrown away without making a stock with them in the Instant Pot.

You will never want to buy prepackaged stock or broth again!  The Instant Pot makes the richest, most flavorful stocks and broths by simply cooking the leftover bones/shells in water with a few simple ingredients.  This particular recipe is for use with crawfish shells, but you could easily use shrimp shells in this too.  And, this is the general idea for making ham stock, chicken stock, beef broth…it’s an incredibly versatile recipe.  I’ve made stock from ham, turkey, and chicken using this method, and so far they have all been incredible (we used the ham stock to make split pea and ham soup for dinner last night, as a matter of fact!).

Enough rambling…here’s the recipe!

Ingredients

About 72oz of leftover crawfish/shrimp shells (I used enough to fill up one of my Instant Pot freezer meal containers)
3 liters water (enough to cover the shells)
1 onion, unpeeled and cut into quarters
2-3 bay leaves
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar (this helps draw nutrients and collagen out of the shells/bones to make really thick, rich stock)

(Note: more spices might be required if your crawfish didn’t cook in spices.  Mine had plenty, so I didn’t add anything else!)

Directions

Combine all ingredients in your Instant Pot.  Give it a quick stir, then seal the lid and set your pot to Manual, High Pressure, 120 minutes.

Once the cook cycle is up, let the pressure release for about 10 minutes before turning the nozzle to release the remaining pressure.

Strain solids in the stock out using a pasta strainer with a bowl underneath.  Use within 1-2 days or freeze for later use.