Instant Pot: Beef Shank Recipe

"This is my beef shank recipe. It's the only cut of beef that gives you 500-700 grams of meat, contains the bone marrow, provides the full spectrum of natural collagen, yields a slab of beef tallow to fry eggs with, and produces enough collagen-rich broth to make soup - all from a single affordable cut of beef." ~ Uncle Mike 2026

Ingredients & Cooking Tools

Cooking Tools

• Instant Pot (pressure cooker) & Trivet
• Pyrex or glass storage container
• Cheesecloth (for monthly rendering)

Ingredients

• 4 lbs beef shank (bone-in, marrow intact)
• Water (enough to fully submerge the shank for brining)
• 25 grams salt (for brine - conditioning)
• 1 cup water (Instant Pot broth base)

Method

Step 1 - Salt Brine Conditioning (30 minutes)

Submerge the beef shank in water + 25 g salt for half an hour.

Purpose: This weakens the bonds between contractile tissues actin and myosin, allowing the muscle fibers to relax. It hydrates the collagen layers, and makes the meat tender instead of tight. Also helps extract collagen for gelatin broth.

Step 2 - Pressure Cook (68 minutes, High Pressure)

1. Take the beef shank out of the soak.
2. Place the cuts of beef into the Instant Pot on top of the trivet.
3. Add 1 cup water.
4. Cook on High Pressure for 68 minutes.
5. Allow Natural Release.

Why this works: If you pressure cook for over 60 minutes you'll get more beef tallow. At 68 minutes the collagen-denatures and releases fat. The tendon sheaths dissolve, marrow liquefies, and the muscle fibers relax. Natural release prevents sudden contraction.

Step 3 - Overnight Separation (Fat + Collagen Broth)

1. Pour the all of the remaining liquid into a Pyrex container.
2. Refrigerate overnight !!!

By morning, you'll see it naturally separate:

• Top: Solid sheet of beef tallow
• Bottom: Gelatin-rich collagen broth

Both are saved. I recommend using the collagen broth asap to prevent the build up of histamine.

Step 4 - Tallow Harvest & Monthly Rendering

Your workflow:

1. Save each slab of tallow from every batch.
2. After ~1 month, melt all slabs in a pot.
3. Strain through cheesecloth.
4. Store as clean rendered tallow.

This becomes your egg-cooking fat, saute fat, and high-smoke-point lipid source.

Step 5 - Collagen-Rich Beef Broth

This broth becomes the base for your soup the next day. These ingredients are used the next day with your collagen broth.

Vegetables & Their Biochemical Roles

• Onion - sulfur amino acid cysteine, one of the building blocks for glutathione
• Carrots - pectin, a soluble fiber that helps detox the body
• Celery - Adds base + flavor

Yield

• 500-700 g tender beef shank meat (tender but a bit gamey and not everyones favorite - tacos!)
• Bone marrow
• Pure beef tallow
• Collagen-rich beef broth

Bone marrow is super rare and great for the body because it contains immune-supporting lipids, stem-cell-adjacent nutrients, fat-soluble vitamins, collagen-building amino acids, hormone-stabilizing fats, and highly bioavailable energy - all in a natural whole-food matrix that the body absorbs easily.

Nothing is wasted. Every part becomes fuel. The price $20.