Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce Recipe

This simple Instant Pot cranberry sauce recipe is great for the holidays. It’s an excellent way to make your cranberry sauce the easy way!

There’s nothing easier than the Instant Pot when it comes time to for holiday cooking. The pressure cooker makes sides and even main dishes easier and less time consuming.

Try out Instant Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes for another easy side dish that you can make in the pressure cooker. Frees up some space on the stove and in the oven for all those mains, desserts, and more for the holiday meals.

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When the holidays roll around one of my main concerns is how I’m going to get everything for our big family meals done on time. That means that a lot of space on the stove and in the oven it taken up quickly and with big staples.

The Instant Pot is a great tool. It’s super useful in the kitchen all year long but it’s a lifesaver during the holidays. Dishes like This Instant Pot cranberry sauce recipe are the perfect way to make use of a countertop appliance to ease the strain of holiday cooking demands.

If you have never made your own cranberry sauce this Instant Pot version is a great place to start. It is really quick, easy, and uses pretty limited ingredients so you don’t have to stress about finding anything tricky to make this dish at the last minute.

How many servings does this recipe provide?

This recipe will make plenty of servings. I would estimate about 12-15 servings per batch but you can also scale the recipe up or down based on your needs without changing the cooking times very much.

Feel free to cut the recipe in half or double it in order to make a half or double batch depending on how much you will need and how much your guests will eat.

This is usually a great sized batch for our group because no one goes crazy with the cranberry sauce. If you know that your friends or guests will enjoy a lot of cranberry sauce just double the recipe from the start!

Is this a gluten free cranberry sauce recipe?

This cranberry sauce is gluten free, dairy free, and vegan. It’s a great recipe for anyone who is looking for a way to avoid the canned stuff and make something more fresh, wholesome, and equally delicious.

Anyone who has allergies or special dietary needs will enjoy the fact that this recipe is made with mostly whole food ingredients with no room for mystery. You don’t have to worry about getting filler ingredients that are going to mess up your plans!

What do I need to make this cranberry sauce in the Instant Pot?

This recipe uses just five simple ingredients, a lot of which you probably already have on hand if you’ve done your holiday meal prep shopping! You will need fresh cranberries, cinnamon sticks, sugar, orange juice, and orange slices. You will also need some rosemary for a garnish but that’s optional!

There’s nothing tricky in this recipe. You can find the full amounts and nutritional estimates in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post as well.

Kitchen essentials for Instant Pot recipes:

To make this recipe we will be using an Instant Pot. It’s not necessary to have an Instant Pot branded pressure cooker. Mostly any electric pressure cooker that is programmable will work.

You can also benefit from measuring spoons, whisks, spoons for serving, and some small dishes for serving as well. These Instant Pots in sizes 8 Quart, 6 Quart, and 3 Quart Mini are also great for making this recipe. You can scale your recipes up and down to suit your pot size, cooking times remain the same in most cases.

Finally, you can also use things like spatulas and cutting boards for prepping ingredients before you start cooking!

How to make homemade cranberry sauce:

This is a really simple process and thanks to the Instant Pot you’ll be able to do other stuff while it’s cooking, no need to hover over the stove for this recipe!

I haven’t tried this particular recipe on the stove top so I would suggest trying out a traditional cranberry sauce recipe like this one if you can’t make this in the Instant Pot.

There’s only a few steps between you and the most delicious and simple cranberry sauce recipe for your holiday table. Check out the step by step instructions and remember you can get the full breakdown in the printable recipe card at the bottom of the post as well.

Combine cranberries, 1 cinnamon stick, sugar, 1 orange slice and orange juice in the instant pot. 

Close the instant pot and turn pressure valve to seal. 

Cook on manual high pressure for 8 minutes.

Allow the steam to release naturally instead of quick release.

Mash lightly if desired and pour into a serving bowl.

Garnish with rosemary, orange slices and cinnamon sticks and enjoy. 

Other Thanksgiving recipes to check out:

Here are some other recipes that are equally great for thanksgiving that you might want to check out if you haven’t finalized all the dishes on your menu already!

Try out favorites for the holidays:

• Instant Pot Garlic Mashed Potatoes
• Delicious Acorn Squash Casseroles
• Ruby Tuesday Mashed Potatoes Recipe
• Pea Salad with Ranch Dressing

After the holidays make sure to use these Recipes Using Thanksgiving Leftovers to turn your leftovers into something more fun and exciting while avoiding food waste!

Printable Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce Recipe: