Stuffing is a holiday staple and now you can make it in your Instant Pot! This recipe blends sweet and savory stuffing flavors with the pot-in-pot method for an amazing Stuffing Recipe you’ll want to make over and over!
Thanksgiving is, hands down, the best holiday. And stuffing is, hands down, the best part of Thanksgiving. Which makes stuffing one of the very best parts of the year!
I love stuffing in pretty much any form, but this recipe has brought my stuffing love to an all new level! The apples and cranberries in the recipe add a little pop of sweetness amongst the typical Thanksgiving flavors like Sage.
Plus this recipe is the perfect texture. Not too mushy and not too crunchy. It’s just right!
Why Make this Recipe
- Oven-Free: The holidays can be hard with trying to get everything ready at once! You don’t always have room in your oven for every dish that needs to be made. Why not try a different method?
- Small Batch: This recipe is perfect to feed about 4 diners for your holiday dinner! Many Homemade Stuffing Recipes are created for a larger party, but this is a great small batch.
- Great Flavors: I used cranberries and apples for a sweet and savory profile (my favorite combo).
What Do I Need to Make this Recipe?
Here is a visual overview of the ingredients in the recipe. Scroll down to the recipe at the bottom for quantities.
- Stuffing Bread: I usually buy a bag of unseasoned bread cubes already ready to be made into stuffing. You can also use stale white bread, brioche, or French Bread.
- Apple: I used a honeycrisp apple, but Granny Smith would also be good. This is up to your preference.
- Cranberries: You can sub raisins if you prefer.
- Seasonings: Celery Salt, Poultry Seasoning, Rubbed Sage, Black Pepper. I love The Spice Hunter brand, and highly recommend their products.
How to Make this Recipe
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Step 1: Prep the Stuffing
Turn the pot to SAUTE. In the pot, add the butter and allow it to melt. Then add the carrot, celery, onion, and apple, and saute until everything is soft.
Add the cranberries to the mixture and turn the saute function off.
Add broth, sage, poultry seasoning, celery salt, black pepper and bread. Mix to combine.
Step 2: Cook the Stuffing
Use cooking spray to coat a glass bowl that will fit inside your pot. Then add the stuffing into the bowl. Cover it with aluminum foil and poke a few holes in the foil.
Add 1 ½ cups of water to the bottom of the pot. Add the trivet into the pot, then place the cake pan on top of the trivet.
Put the lid on the pot and cook for 15 minutes. When the timer is up, perform a Quick Release.
Step 3: Broil (Optional)
If you want some crispy bits on your stuffing, turn your oven to a HIGH broil and put the cake pan in the oven for a few minutes until the top layer begins to crisp up. Keep a close eye on the stuffing because it can burn easily.
Enjoy!
Expert Tips
- If you want super crispy bread, you can remove the stuffing bowl from the Instant Pot and put it under the broiler for a few minutes. Make sure to watch it closely as it can burn easily. This will result in toasty bread pieces on top.
- You can add sausage to this stuffing if you’d like. Brown your desired amount on saute and add it into the pot at the same time as the dried cranberries.
- This recipe is very customizable. Feel free to add anything else that sounds good or omit any add-in ingredients you don’t like (with the exception of butter and broth).
Recipe FAQs
We have always used the word “stuffing” to describe the type of dish I’m making right now, but, historically my family has used this term wrong (like many other families).
Stuffing is technically the bread that is stuffed inside the turkey cavity when baking. Dressing is technically the bread that is baked outside of the bird, in a pan in the oven (or in this case, the Instant Pot).
While this recipe is technically dressing, it is more widely known as stuffing, so I will continue to call it that!
When adding the liquid to the stuffing, you want the bread to be completely moistened by the liquid. However, you don’t want it to be so soaking wet that the bread begins to break apart.
Some stuffing recipes call for egg in their recipe. If you like your stuffing bound together, you can crack an egg and scramble it into the broth before adding both to the Instant Pot. This will result in the stuffing binding together instead of individual pieces of bread.
I like it better without the egg, but you can certainly adjust this if you’d like.
This recipe is great as leftovers! You can store the leftovers in an airtight container and keep them in the fridge for up to 5 days.
Did you enjoy this Homemade Stuffing Recipe in the Instant Pot? If so, make sure to check out these other recipes I picked out just for you:
- Instant Pot Turkey Breast Recipe
- Instant Pot Green Bean Casserole
- Creamed Peas Recipe (Instant Pot & Stovetop)
- Pumpkin Pie Filling Recipe
Homemade Stuffing Recipe in the Instant Pot
Ingredients
- 3 tbsp Unsalted Butter
- ¼ cup Carrot, diced
- ¼ cup Celery, diced
- ½ cup Onion, diced
- ½ cup Apple, diced
- ¼ cup Dried Cranberries
- ¾ cup Chicken broth
- ½ tsp The Spice Hunter Rubbed Sage
- 1 tsp The Spice Hunter Poultry seasoning
- ½ tsp The Spice Hunter Celery salt
- 5 oz unseasoned stuffing bread, dried and cubed
- ¼ tsp black pepper (Use code FF20 for 20% off)
Instructions
- Turn the pot to SAUTE. In the pot, add the 3 tbsp butter and allow it to melt. Then add the ¼ cup carrot, ¼ cup celery, ½ cup onion, and ½ cup apple, and saute until everything is soft.
- Add ¼ cup cranberries to the mixture and turn the saute function off.
- Add ¾ cup broth, ½ tsp sage, 1 tsp poultry seasoning, ½ tsp celery salt, ¼ tsp black pepper, and 5 oz bread. Mix to combine.
- Use cooking spray to coat a glass bowl that will fit inside your pot. Then add the stuffing into the bowl. Cover it with aluminum foil and poke a few holes in the foil.
- Add 1 ½ cups of water to the bottom of the pot. Add the trivet into the pot, then place the cake pan on top of the trivet.
- Put the lid on the pot and cook for 15 minutes. When the timer is up, perform a Quick Release.
- If you want some crispy bits on your stuffing, turn your oven to a HIGH broil and put the cake pan in the oven for a few minutes until the top layer begins to crisp up. Keep a close eye on the stuffing because it can burn easily.
- Enjoy!
Notes
- Stuffing Bread: I usually buy a bag of unseasoned bread cubes already ready to be made into stuffing. You can also use stale white bread, brioche, or French Bread.
- Apple: I used a honeycrisp apple, but Granny Smith would also be good. This is up to your preference.
- Cranberries: You can sub raisins if you prefer.
- Seasonings: Celery Salt, Poultry Seasoning, Rubbed Sage, Black Pepper. I love The Spice Hunter brand, and highly recommend their products.
- If you want super crispy bread, you can remove the stuffing bowl from the Instant Pot and put it under the broiler for a few minutes. Make sure to watch it closely as it can burn easily. This will result in toasty bread pieces on top.
- You can add sausage to this stuffing if you’d like. Brown your desired amount on saute and add it into the pot at the same time as the dried cranberries.
- This recipe is very customizable. Feel free to add anything else that sounds good or omit any add-in ingredients you don’t like (with the exception of butter and broth).
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