Make sweet and tangy Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce for holiday dinners. It has a cook time of just 4 minutes and can be made with fresh or frozen cranberries. Spiced with a warming cinnamon stick and freshly squeezed orange juice, this cranberry sauce is sure to please a crowd.
Table Of Contents
Canned cranberry sauce pales in comparison to freshly homemade cranberry sauce in every way. It's more wholesome, delicious and customizable to your tastes. No Thanksgiving or Christmas table is complete without this traditional side dish. Even so, it has many uses so don't save it just for your holiday dinner.
With it's jam-like consistency, this homemade cranberry sauce is also perfect as a filling for pastries, a glaze for turkey and chicken, a topping for cheesecake and ice cream or an addition to homemade yogurt or smoothies. Use it as a spread on toast, a topping for pancakes, and even mix it into muffins, oatmeal or cranberry bread and cream cheese cranberry bread.
Prefer making your cranberry sauce on the stovetop? Check out my stovetop cranberry sauce recipe instead.
Why You'll Love Homemade Cranberry Sauce
- Instant Pot cranberry sauce is made with only a few wholesome ingredients- real cranberries, freshly squeezed orange juice and orange peel, a cinnamon stick, and white sugar.
- It's mildly tangy and mildly sweet with a hint of cinnamon and citrus.
- It cooks quickly in just 4 minutes. Keep in mind, it will take time for the pot to come to pressure and it does require a 15 minute natural release. Still, it will be finished in less than 30 minutes.
Ingredients and Substitutions
- Cranberries: use fresh or frozen (cook time is the same!)
- Orange juice: freshly squeezed orange is best (save the peel for zesting!). Substitute with bottle orange juice in a pinch, and remember that you won't have a peel for zest.
- Orange peel: gives the sauce a dash of extra citrus flavor and can be zested when serving.
- Cinnamon stick: substitute with ground cinnamon. One cinnamon stick roughly equals ½ teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
- White sugar: substitute with other sugars, such as brown sugar, stevia, vegan sugars, etc.
*Please note that this recipe does not require adding water to the pressure cooker.
Equipment Needed
- Instant Pot: as written, this recipe works in 3, 6, 8, and 10 quart pressure cookers. I use my 8 quart Instant Pot Duo Crisp. If scaling the recipe up, make sure not to pass the fill line of your inner pot.
- Potato masher: this is needed to crush the cranberries after pressure cooking. You can use any kitchen tool made for mashing.
Step-By-Step Instructions
- Add cranberries, sugar, orange juice, the cinnamon stick, and orange peel to the inner pot of the pressure cooker. Do not stir the ingredients. Close and seal the lid. *No water is needed to bring the pot to pressure for this recipe.
- Pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. Complete a 15 minute natural release, then quickly release any remaining pressure.
- Remove the lid and discard the cinnamon stick and orange peel. Use a masher to mash the cranberries to the consistency of your liking. Stir and transfer to the fridge to chill for about 30 minutes before serving.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh herbs, such as rosemary, sage, or thyme, if desired. Sprinkle lightly with orange zest if you'd like and serve chilled.
This recipe can be doubled or tripled. Just make sure not to exceed the fill line of your inner pot.
Recipe FAQs
If the sauce is too thick for you, add water in 1 tablespoon increments until your desired thinness is achieved. Make sure to mix well between additions of water. Then taste, and add more sugar or orange zest as necessary.
Store in the fridge for up to 10 days or freeze for up to 6 months. For optimal freshness, use frozen cranberry sauce within 2 months if using plain. If using in other recipes, it's okay to freeze it for longer than 2 months.
Leftover cranberry sauce can be used to fill pastries, as a glaze for meats, a topping for cheesecake and ice cream or an addition to homemade yogurt or smoothies.
Use it as a spread on toast, a topping for pancakes, and mix it into muffins or oatmeal. It's also wonderful stuffed into glazed acorn squash!
Recipe
Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 24 ounces fresh or frozen cranberries two, 12 oz packages
- 1 ½ cups white sugar
- ½ cup orange juice freshly squeezed
- 2 slices of orange peel
- 1 cinnamon stick
Instructions
- Add cranberries, sugar, orange juice, the cinnamon stick, and orange peel to the inner pot of the pressure cooker. Do not stir. Close and seal the lid.
- Pressure cook on high for 4 minutes. Complete a 15 minute natural release, then quickly release remaining pressure.
- Remove the lid and discard the cinnamon stick and orange peel. Use a masher to mash the cranberries to the consistency of your liking. Stir well and transfer to the fridge to chill for at least 30 minutes before serving.
- Transfer to a serving bowl and garnish with fresh herbs, such as rosemary, sage, or thyme, if desired. Sprinkle lightly with orange zest and serve chilled.
Notes
Nutrition
nancy says
this is easy to make and perfect cranberry sauce