All you need is some cranberries, sugar, oranges, and an Instant Pot and you have the easiest Easy Cranberry Sauce! To make the flavor even better, this Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice also features a slight cinnamon flavor. And you’ll love the 2-minute cooking time almost as much as you love the taste.
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My family on Thanksgiving is split into two teams: Team “I love Cranberry Sauce” and Team “I Couldn’t Care Less about Cranberry Sauce.” I was always on the latter…. That is, until I tried this recipe!
If your family has always been the kind to crack open a can of cranberry sauce from the grocery stores and slice and serve slabs of jelly over turkey, you owe it to everyone to show them a better way than the canned stuff. Make this fresh cranberry sauce instead!
Since making this pressure cooker cranberry sauce once, I’ve been slathering it on toast, pairing it with turkey, and even adding it to my oatmeal!
The best part is that this Easy Cranberry Sauce is fail-proof and ready in just 7 minutes in the Instant Pot. How can you beat that?! This homemade cranberry sauce recipe is a must-have for Thanksgiving turkey and for Christmas dinner.
Why Make This Recipe
- Hands Off: Thanksgiving is full of recipes that need quite a bit of attention and time at the stovetop… Turkey, stuffing, even mashed potatoes. If there’s something that we can take off of your Thanksgiving plate and make it as hands-off as possible, Thanksgiving Cranberry Sauce is the way to go! Throw a handful of ingredients into the Instant Pot with this Instant Pot version and forget about it! You can even make it several days ahead of time and store it in the fridge. It’ll be ready when you need it.
- A Thanksgiving Classic with a Twist: Whenever we made cranberry sauce growing up, it never included orange juice! The orange juice is my favorite part of this recipe, as it adds a little burst of flavor!
- Versatile Dish: Most people think of cranberry sauce only for Thanksgiving and Christmas but you can truly enjoy cranberry sauce any time of the year. Use this as a spread for sandwiches, glaze for meats or jam for topping appetizers or a morning bagel. Do not leave it off your holiday menu!
What Do I Need to Make This Recipe
Tools
- Pressure Cooker: You can use an Instant Pot or another electric pressure cooker.
- Zester
- Citrus Juicer
Ingredients
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Fresh Cranberries: For this recipe, I used a 12 oz package of fresh Ocean Spray cranberries. No need to do any chopping, you can use whole cranberries. You can also use frozen, fresh cranberries if you’d like. If this is the case, there is no need to thaw the cranberries before placing them in the Instant Pot. Do not use dried cranberries.
- Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice: The fresh orange juice in this recipe is non-negotiable. It adds sweetness and flavor. I only needed one orange in order to get ½ cup of orange juice, but I would recommend buying 2 oranges just in case. Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice is always the most delicious way to go!
- Sugar: I used white, granulated sugar for this recipe. If you’d like, you can replace this with light brown sugar, but I found that granulated sugar creates the best texture and taste.
- Orange Zest: To zest my orange, I used the smallest setting on my cheese grater. I only used the orange peel of one large navel orange to get 2 tsp of orange zest, but I would recommend buying 2 oranges just in case. Zest your orange before juicing.
- Pinch of Cinnamon: Cinnamon just makes this smell and taste like the holiday season but this subtle flavor is optional.
How to Make This Recipe
Step One: Load the Instant Pot
Place all of the simple ingredients in the Instant Pot. Lock the lid in its sealing position. Cook on HIGH for 2 minutes.
Step Two: Release the Pressure
Once the cooking time has been completed, allow for a Natural Release of pressure for 5 minutes. Perform a Quick Release after for the remaining pressure. Enjoy the best cranberry sauce ever!
Expert Tips
- To make your holiday table look extra fancy, place this sauce in a serving dish with a slice of orange and a cinnamon stick as garnish.
- Your cranberries may still hold their shape after the pressure cooking. To resolve this, simply mix the cranberry sauce and use your spoon to mash the cranberries until the sauce is smoother.
- The recipe calls for ¾ cup sugar, but if you want a more tart cranberry sauce, you can reduce the amount of sugar. You can also add more sugar if you want a sweeter cranberry sauce.
- When releasing the pressure in the Instant Pot, place a towel over the pressure valve. The amount of liquid in this recipe sometimes makes it so that liquid will squirt out of the pressure valve if you open it too early. Adding a towel over the pressure valve is a good precaution so that you don’t get burned or make a mess.
- This recipe is easily scalable. If you are expecting a big crowd, feel free to double it. Do not fill your pressure cooker more than halfway though as this recipe does tend to foam up.
Recipe FAQs
Cranberry sauce is a must with a holiday meal, next to the turkey, but leftover cranberry sauce is also delicious in many other recipes.
Try adding a swirl of this easy instant pot cranberry sauce to oatmeal, muffins, smoothies, cheesecake, or yogurt. Cranberry sauce is also a delicious spread on sandwiches and paninis or on a warm piece of toast. If you are a fan of cranberry sauce, don’t let it go to waste!
I love using my pressure cooker for this cranberry sauce because it allows me to dump in the ingredients and cook. But there are other benefits to using the pressure cooker for this as well.
This cooking method, using high pressure, naturally releases more pectin from the cranberries and also allows you to use less liquid which means less sugar is needed to create the perfect jelly.
The best way to thicken up this recipe is to let it cool to at least room temperature.
When you open the lid to your Instant Pot, your cranberry sauce will appear pretty liquidy. Once you store it in a glass or plastic container and place it in the fridge, it will thicken up considerably.
If you feel like your cranberry sauce is too thick you can add a tablespoon or two of water and stir over low heat until it is incorporated.
If it’s bitter, you most likely didn’t add enough sugar to accommodate your taste. In that case, stir a bit more sugar into the sauce 1 tablespoon at a time while the sauce is still warm. Do this until it reaches your desired sweetness!
The freshest cranberries will be a bright or deep red color. They should be opaque, rather than slightly translucent.
Fresh cranberries are firm and even have a bounce to them when dropped on the countertop. You do not want to use any cranberries that are squishy or soft.
You could substitute the white sugar in this instant pot cranberry sauce recipe with brown sugar, honey, or even maple syrup. You could also do a mixture of different sweeteners if you want to reduce some sugar but not remove it completely.
Be sure and taste it after it cooks, while it is still warm, to make sure it has the sweetness you prefer.
Cranberry sauce can be kept in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks and in the freezer for several months.
Did you enjoy this Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce recipe? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
- Instant Pot Macaroni and Cheese
- Instant Pot Sweet Potatoes
- Instant Pot Sweet Potato Casserole
- Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes
Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce
Equipment
- Pressure Cooker You can use an Instant Pot or another electric pressure cooker.
- Zester
- Citrus Juicer
Ingredients
- 12 oz cranberries, one package
- ½ cup fresh squeezed orange juice
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tsp orange zest
- Pinch cinnamon
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients in the Instant Pot. Lock the lid in place. Cook on HIGH for 2 minutes.
- Once the cook time has completed, allow for a Natural Pressure Release for 5 minutes. Perform a Quick Release after. Enjoy!
Notes
- Fresh Cranberries: For this recipe, I used a 12 oz package of fresh Ocean Spray cranberries. No need to do any chopping, you can use whole cranberries. You can also use frozen, fresh cranberries if you’d like. If this is the case, there is no need to thaw the cranberries before placing them in the Instant Pot. Do not use dried cranberries.
- Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice: The fresh orange juice in this recipe is non-negotiable. It adds sweetness and flavor. I only needed one orange in order to get ½ cup of orange juice, but I would recommend buying 2 oranges just in case. Cranberry Sauce with Orange Juice is always the most delicious way to go!
- Sugar: I used white, granulated sugar for this recipe. If you’d like, you can replace this with light brown sugar, but I found that granulated sugar creates the best texture and taste.
- Orange Zest: To zest my orange, I used the smallest setting on my cheese grater. I only used the orange peel of one large navel orange in order to get 2 tsp of orange zest, but I would recommend buying 2 oranges just in case. Zest your orange before juicing.
- Pinch of Cinnamon: Cinnamon just makes this smell and taste like the holiday season but this subtle flavor is optional.
- To make your holiday table look extra fancy, place this sauce in a serving dish with a slice of orange and a cinnamon stick as garnish.
- Your cranberries may still hold their shape after the pressure cooking. To resolve this, simply mix the cranberry sauce and use your spoon to mash the cranberries until the sauce is smoother.
- The recipe calls for ¾ cup sugar, but if you want a more tart cranberry sauce, you can reduce the amount of sugar. You can also add more sugar if you want a sweeter cranberry sauce.
- When releasing the pressure in the Instant Pot, place a towel over the pressure valve. The amount of liquid in this recipe sometimes makes it so that liquid will squirt out of the pressure valve if you open it too early. Adding a towel over the pressure valve is a good precaution so that you don’t get burned or make a mess.
- This recipe is easily scalable. If you are expecting a big crowd, feel free to double it. Do not fill your pressure cooker more than halfway though as this recipe does tend to foam up.
Sue says
I want to double this recipe, do I have to adjust the cook times?
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Nope! Just keep the measurements the same 🙂
Kemilyn Thisdell says
The sauce is so easy to make . I used OJ concentrate and half the water. When it was done I mashed slightly. The sauce thickened up beautifully. I can’t wait to serve for Thanksgiving!
Alexandria Drzazgowski says
Hi Kemilyn, I made this sauce yesterday as well, how funny!! So glad you love it and how easy it is. Thank you for leaving a comment 🙂
Jess says
Made this for Thanksgiving and it was so easy and delicious! Definitely saving this recipe for next year!
The Foreign Fork says
So glad you liked it Jess, thank you for the review! 🙂
Kathleen says
I find my mini food processor handy when a recipe calls for citrus rind and granulated sugar. You have to wash it, or a grater, either way, but the processor slips into the dishwasher.
Use a potato peeler to get that rind before squeezing juice: it’s easier to peel and squeeze in that order. Put the sugar and peel in the processor and whirl. The sugar makes the peel flow into the propeller. Note a potato peeler only gets the zest, not the white pith you don’t want.
The Foreign Fork says
Such a great tip, Kathleen, thank you!
Erika says
Can you use maple syrup instead or sugar? If so how much do l use?
The Foreign Fork says
Hi Erika,
I have never tried this before, and I would be nervous to advocate for something I haven’t tried yet! However, I have seen some recipes use 1/2 cup of maple syrup in place of sugar. If you try it out, let me know what you think!