Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce

Quick and easy Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce is perfect for the holidays! A blend of cranberries, sugar, vanilla and cinnamon make this side dish tangy and sweet. Serve it alongside all of your holiday meals.

Here’s a really great reason to skip the canned cranberry sauce for Thanksgiving dinner: you can make the easiest homemade cranberry sauce in your Instant Pot and it’s so much better!

If you’ve never made it yourself, you are going to love this recipe. Bright and tart cranberry sauce pairs perfectly with roasted turkey, mashed potatoes, and gravy. I can’t imagine a holiday dinner without it!

4 Reasons Why You Will LOVE this Recipe!

• It saves space on the stove! Space is at a premium for holiday dinners and using your pressure cooker to make the cranberry sauce takes it off the stove and out of the way.
• It’s so ridiculously easy! Just dump the ingredients in the IP and leave it to do its thing.
• You don’t have to babysit it! I love this the best – just leave it and less than an hour later you have homemade cranberry sauce. No constant stirring or hovering over the stove.
• It tastes amazing – sweet, tart, and bursting with cranberries!

If you don’t have a pressure cooker, I have an equally amazing stovetop version you will love, too!

Ingredient Notes

You don’t need a ton of ingredients for this recipe – just six simple ones!

This is a cranberry sauce without orange juice (a common ingredient I see in other recipes) and has the perfect balance of sweet and tart with a touch of vanilla and cinnamon. If you’d like a bit of orange flavor add about 1/4 – 1/2 c. of orange juice to the IP when making this. You might want to reduce the water a bit if you do this!

I like to use frozen cranberries because I can buy them far in advance. That way, I don’t have worry about the store being out of fresh ones just before the holiday.

How to Make Cranberry Sauce in an Instant Pot

Combine: Place all of the ingredients in your Instant Pot and stir so they are well combined.

Cook: Cook them on high pressure for eight minutes. It will take a few minutes for the pot to come to pressure and then eight minutes for it to cook.

Natural Release: Once the timer goes off, do a natural release for 30 minutes. During this time, the steam will slowly escape and the sauce will thicken.

Stir and Serve! Once the steam valve pops up, remove the lid and stir the cranberry sauce. Use a potato masher to break up the cranberries until it has the consistency you like.

Make it Ahead and Storage Tips!

One thing I love about this recipe is that it’s easy enough to make the day you want to serve it or you can make it up to a week in advance!

Making it ahead allows all of the flavors to fully develop, so feel free to do that. Just keep it in an airtight container in the refrigerator. I usually let it sit out for 15 to 20 minutes at room temperature before I serve it so it’s not ice cold.

If you thought homemade cranberry sauce is too much of hassle, I hope I’ve changed your mind with this easy instant pot recipe! It really is so quick and easy and there’s nothing better than homemade. I hope you give it a try!

Be sure to check out so more of my favorite holiday recipes that go perfectly with cranberry sauce!

More Holiday Side Dish Recipes

• Sweet Potato Casserole is a must-make side dish at our house! It’s sweet with ooey-gooey marshmallows – everyone loves it!
• Homemade Stuffing is always a favorite! I share all of my best tips and tricks so you can make the most delicious stuffing for your holiday dinner.
• My Green Bean Casserole is so easy to make and is always one of the first sides to disappear! People can’t get enough of the crunchy fried onions on top!
• Glazed Carrots are easy enough for weeknights and perfect for holiday dinners, too. They’re buttery and sweet and go with so many main dishes.

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