What’s the best thing about this delicious homemade sweet and tart cranberry sauce? The fact that it’s effortlessly easy and absolutely perfect! You’re going to want to have this bright, tangy, and sweet sauce on your dinner table this holiday season.
This instant pot cranberry sauce is perfect for savory meats (hello Turkey and Ham) or use it in/on sweet treats (cranberry cheesecake using my 2-ingredient cheesecake recipe? yes, please!).
You only need 3 things to make this sauce:
- Cranberries
- Apple Juice (or another type of juice/water)
- Sugar/Sweetener of choice
I know many people use orange juice in their cranberry sauce, but I’ve always been team apple juice. Cranberries are tart, and apple juice adds a fruity sweetness to the jam, and it allows me to get away with using a bit less sugar. That said, you can use orange juice or water if you’d like.
No need to buy cranberry sauce
Making my instant pot cranberry sauce is honestly easier than opening up a can of store-bought sauce. Seriously. Dumping cranberries into a pot = much easier than finding a can opener and, you know, using it to open a can of sauce…
Plus, homemade cranberry sauce is so much better than canned. Unless you’re like my brother and prefer the “ridges” that come from a can of jellied cranberry sauce… in which case, I don’t think we can be friends (unless we’re related), lol. And yes, bro, if you’re reading this, I will have a can of sauce just for you, and I will also be annoyed about it come Turkey day. 🙄😂
Back to my homemade cranberry sauce. No need to stand by the stove waiting for cranberries to pop – instead, dump them into your pressure cooker and sit down on the couch with your feet up. Put on a Christmas movie (thank you, Netflix) and chill.
Make the sauce in advance – one less thing to do over the holidays!
This is one thing you can make pretty well in advance. I feel like cranberry sauce always tastes better after a few days anyway – the tartness mellows out a bit, and it gets nice and jammy after chilling in the fridge.
Homemade cranberry sauce will last in the fridge for around 10 days and in the freezer for a couple of months.
So make this for Thanksgiving and save leftovers (if there are any) for Christmas! Or make a double batch and freeze half.
Serve this sauce with turkey or my Thanksgiving meatballs or meatloaf or beef rib roast or my instant pot ham. Happy Holidays!
Perfect Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
Perfect Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
Ingredients
- 24 ounces fresh cranberries two 12 ounce packages
- ¾ cup apple juice
- 1½ cups sugar or maple syrup/honey/sweetener of choice, adjust to taste
Optional additions (I prefer to leave mine plain):
- Orange or lemon zest
- Vanilla extract
- Pinch of cinnamon or nutmeg or cardamom
Instructions
- Rinse cranberries and add them to the pot along with the apple juice (you can set ½ cup cranberries aside if you prefer whole berries in the sauce, otherwise add all of the cranberries to the pot).
- Secure the lid, close the pressure valve and cook for 1 minute at high pressure.
- Naturally release pressure for 10 minutes.
- Remove the lid, stir in the sweetener and mash the cranberries with a spoon if needed (if you reserved cranberries at the start, add them now and press sauté to cook them for a couple minutes).
- Turn off the instant pot and let the sauce cool down in the pot (this will also cook the additional whole cranberries a bit).
- Taste and add more sugar if needed.
- Once the sauce is cool, keep it in an airtight container in the fridge for a week or in the freezer for a couple months.
Gabbi says
Hi Ashley! I love all your recipes, thank you for providing them. Can you please confirm this recipe calls for 1lb, vs. the 12oz bag the fresh cranberries are usually sold in? I just don’t want the ratio to be off. Thank you!
My Heart Beets says
Hi Gabbi! I am really sorry for the late reply! I saw your comment last week and it inspired me to update this recipe but due to recent travel, I’m only now getting to it. When I first came up with this recipe, it was common for organic cranberries to be sold in 8 ounce bags but I’ve actually updated the post with directions on how to make this using 24 ounces of cranberries (two 12 ounce bags) which will hopefully be more helpful! The ratio is the same, I’ve just (hopefully) made it easier to do the math!
Laura says
Could you post what the original recipe was?
My Heart Beets says
Sure! It was 1 pound fresh cranberries, ½ cup apple juice and ¾ – 1 cup sugar (or maple syrup/honey/sweetener of choice), to taste. Let me know how it goes!
Zhenya says
Ashley, what temperature do you sauté on? Is it high?
My Heart Beets says
Hi Zhenya, I use the default sauté setting for all of my recipes unless I specify, so that would be the “normal” mode 🙂
Maneesha says
This is definitely going to be on our Thanksgiving menu!
My Heart Beets says
Hooray! Let me know what you think!
Maneesha says
Hi Ashley! This is such a great and easy way to make cranberry sauce! I used orange juice instead of apple juice, and it turned out beautifully! It was the perfect accompaniment to the Thanksgiving lunch!
My Heart Beets says
Maneesha, I’m so happy to hear that! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you 🙂 Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!!
Ginny says
How do you sugeest making this if you do t have a pressure cooker/insta pot? I do have a Vitamix blender, though.
My Heart Beets says
You can make it on the stovetop and just cook until the cranberries pop 🙂 I have another recipe on my blog for a stovetop version: https://myheartbeets.com/3-ingredient-cranberry-pomegranate-sauce/