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    Home » Instant Pot

    How to Pressure Cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions)

    Published: Dec 6, 2020 · Modified: Dec 19, 2024 by Maria Bravo · This post may contain affiliate links · 3 Comments

    Jump to Recipe

    Let me show you how to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) because it's so easy you will be doing it every year from now on!

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions)
    Jump to:
    • 📖 Recipe
    • FRESH OR FROZEN CRANBERRIES?
    • HOW TO EAT CRANBERRY SAUCE
    • HOW MUCH DOES IT MAKE?
    • CAN I FREEZE THIS CRANBERRY SAUCE?
    • CAN I DOUBLE THIS RECIPE?
    • Do I have to cook it Pot in Pot (PIP)?
    • WHAT POT OR PAN CAN I USE FOR THIS IF I WANT TO COOK IT PIP?

    📖 Recipe

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions)

    How to Pressure Cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions)

    Maria Bravo
    Delicious and super easy Cranberry Sauce you'll have ready in no time in your electric pressure cooker or Instant Pot
    5 from 2 votes
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    Prep Time 5 minutes mins
    Cook Time 20 minutes mins
    Course Side Dish
    Cuisine American, British
    Servings 6 people
    Calories 40 kcal

    Equipment

    • 1 Instant Pot or pressure cooker

    Ingredients
      

    • 340-400 g cranbrerries, fresh or frozen rinsed under the tap
    • ½ orange, juiced and zested juice was 2 tbsp, use the other half for my Instant Pot Red Cabbage recipe
    • 1 stick cinnamon optional
    • 1 tablespoon golden granulated sugar for cooking. Then more sugar to taste at the end of pressure cooking for me this can be between 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon and 2 full tablespoons. Add to taste. It highly depends on the cranberries, sometimes it’s more like 2 tbsp

    Instructions
     

    • Place cranberries in a bowl, add all other ingredients. No need to stir. Nowadays I just cook directly in the inner pot, in which case add all ingredients to inner pot and skip to step 3.
      How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) - all ingredients in the Instant Pot silicone steamer set cake pan and trivet steamer rack
    • Add 250 ml water to inner pot if cooking pot in pot.
    • Pressure cook 5 minutes with at least 5 minutes NPR then let out the rest of the steam by doing a quick pressure release (see notes).
    • Open the lid, discard the cinnamon stick if you used one. Time to stir and squeeze, as you stir, press the cranberries against the sides or the bottom of the dish.
    • Stir in the rest of the sugar, to taste, for me that tends to mean stirring in 1 tablespoon then 1 teaspoon at a time. Depending on the cranberries something 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon added at the end will be enough, sometimes I need more like 2 tablespoons. This is going to depend on your taste. Transfer to a 500 ml jar.
      Cranberry sauce seen in a grey silicone cake pan after stirring and squeezing
    • Tip: Not always, but sometimes with frozen cranberries, you may find that it's too liquid at the end, discard the water from the inner pot and dry, tip the cranberry sauce and place on Sauté for a little bit if this happens. But before doing this, bear in mind that cranberry sauce thickens as you "stir and squeeze" and as it cools.
      How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) - reducing in inner pot if too liquidy

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce in the Tefal Cook4Me

    • Add all ingredients to the inner pot.
    • Select the Manual mode then Express Pressure Cooking and let the cooker do its thing.
    • Once it has automatically released the pressure at the end, open the lid and stir. Let it cool down and bottle up. You can easily do a double batch, I have, and added 3 tablespoons of vodka to my double batch

    Video

    Notes

    *Instant Pot Terminology
    Quick pressure release (QPR, also called quick release or QR) means venting the steam as soon as the pressure cooking process finishes, i.e. moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting.
    Natural pressure release (NPR, also called natural release or NR) means letting the float valve pop back down of its own accord, so basically you don’t need to do anything at the end and can keep your feet up. If it takes over 15 minutes, you're ok to release the rest of the steam (by turning the steam release handle to Venting) that may be left in order to unlock and open the lid. 
    Sometimes you'll see me talk of a combination of NPR followed by a QPR. For example a recipe may have a 4 minute NPR followed by a QPR. You wait for 4 minutes at the end of the pressure cooking time and then do a QPR by moving the steam release handle from Sealing to Venting. 

    Nutrition

    Calories: 40kcalCarbohydrates: 11gProtein: 1gFat: 1gSaturated Fat: 1gPolyunsaturated Fat: 1gMonounsaturated Fat: 1gSodium: 1mgPotassium: 68mgFiber: 3gSugar: 5gVitamin A: 60IUVitamin C: 14mgCalcium: 15mgIron: 1mg
    Keyword Christmas, cranberry, cranberry sauce
    Tried this recipe?Mention @feistytapas or tag #feistytapas!
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    FRESH OR FROZEN CRANBERRIES?

    You can pressure cook Cranberry Sauce with both fresh and frozen cranberries and use the timings I give you in the recipe for both too. No need to change them.

    If you're in the UK; Tesco tends to have 400 g bags of frozen cranberries, which I like to have in the freezer.

    Sainsbury's sells fresh cranberries too.

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) - all ingredients in the Instant Pot silicone steamer set cake pan and trivet steamer rack

    HOW TO EAT CRANBERRY SAUCE

    On the side of everything at Christmas!

    Seriously, I love it with Turkey Crown Stock in the Pressure Cooker, red cabbage, roasted veg, gammon (in fact, I even have a recipe for a Instant Pot Duo Crisp Cranberry-Glazed Gammon and, of course, with all the trimmings on Christmas Day like Paxo Stuffing in the Air Fryer, parsnips … even with Brussels Sprouts.

    Delicious with Air Fryer Baked Camembert or Instant Pot Baked Camembert. Either of which you need to try if you love delicious, melting cheese!

    Also, chop up any leftovers (turkey, ham and some of the veg, place on bread and add a slice of cheddar or brie and it makes a fantastic toastie or panino!). Christmas Toasties are a staple in my household from November.

    If you have an air fryer, you can do your toastie or panino there, start with 5 minutes at 180ºC and add time if the cheese hasn’t melted. So good!

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) . in jar with glass of bubbly

    Cranberry Sauce is also delicious as a glaze for gammon or your Christmas Ham, my Cranberry-Glazed Gammon recipe has become a favourite.

    Of course, another option, is by the spoonful but don’t tell anyone about that… shhhhhhh.

    Join my Pressure Cooking UK with Feisty Tapas Facebook group

    HOW MUCH DOES IT MAKE?

    This Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce makes a 500 ml Kilner Jar worth of Cranberry Sauce.

    It will be enough for quite a few people on Christmas Day if everyone is having it as a side.

    Although I personally just like a little bit on Christmas Day and lots of it as leftovers for Christmas panini and toasties.

    CAN I FREEZE THIS CRANBERRY SAUCE?

    Yes you can. Pressure cook it and pop it in the freezer for Christmas Day.

    CAN I DOUBLE THIS RECIPE?

    Definitely!

    You would need a bigger dish or bowl and you need to make sure that that dish or bowl is the right diameter for PIP (pot in pot) Instant Pot cooking.

    In the photos I use the silicone cake pan and long-handled trivet from the Instant Pot Steamer Set.

    I've also used a metal dish in the past.

    Do I have to cook it Pot in Pot (PIP)?

    Definitely not! I've now tried it straight in the inner pot and it works great! Same recipe, nothing to change other than skipping the 250 ml water and the bowl.

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) - in metal PIP bowl

    WHAT POT OR PAN CAN I USE FOR THIS IF I WANT TO COOK IT PIP?

    This recipe uses the Pot in Pot (PIP) method, which basically means cooking inside a second pot inside the inner pot.

    You're looking for something that is:

    • Oven proof
    • 2 cm smaller in diameter than the inner pot of your pressure cooker

    Oven proof because you want it not to shatter when cooking

    A smaller diameter than the diameter of the actual cooking pot of the pressure cooker for three reasons:

    • The steam needs to circulate safely, you're adding a solid pot to your cooker, you want to be careful
    • You're going to have to lower it and lift it (and it's going to be very hot when lifting it to take it out) so you're going to need the room to manoeuvre
    • Certain materials can expand as they heat up and let's just say that many a pyrex bowl, ceramic pot or dish has been lost to this

    General maximum diameters for PIP in the Instant Pot are:

    Mini / 3 litre / 3 quart : 6 inches - 15 cm

    5.7 l / 6 litre / 6 quart: 7 inches - 18 cm

    8 litres / 8 quart: 8 inches - 20 cm

    How to pressure cook Cranberry Sauce (with Instant Pot instructions) - ingredients

    Let's see how to pressure cook cranberry sauce.

    Other recipes you might like:

    • How to pressure cook Gammon
    • Cranberry-Glazed Gammon
    • Instant Pot Duo Crisp Roast Parsnips
    • How to pressure cook Brussels Sprouts
    • How to pressure cook Red Cabbage
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    • Paxo Stuffing in the Air Fryer
    • Air Fryer Whole Roast Chicken & Gravy
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    About Maria Bravo

    Kitchen Gadget Geek extraordinaire. Tester of all things kitchen appliance. Clumsy cook, if I can't break it and get the most of it, you know that's a good kitchen gadget! Architect of online communities for kitchen gadget lovers

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      Recipe Rating




    1. Cath says

      December 24, 2020 at 3:07 pm

      5 stars
      Lovely. Best I have ever made did add 2 tbsp of cherry liquor

      Reply
      • Maria says

        December 24, 2020 at 3:10 pm

        So glad you enjoyed it Cath! The cherry liquor is a genius idea!

        Reply
    2. Cathy Mc says

      December 14, 2021 at 8:29 am

      5 stars
      This year going to try Grand Marnier for a change with stick of cinnamon. And less sugar as I'm trying to cut down.

      Reply

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