This classic Thanksgiving side dish is simple and delicious. This Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce recipe adds sweetness to your favorite Thanksgiving food.

How to make Cranberry Sauce in an Instant Pot

Some of the best parts of the holiday season is the traditional food that seems to only make their way around during the months of November or December. To me, no Thanksgiving dinner is complete without cranberry sauce. Leftover cranberry sauce is also so so good in classic post-Thanksgiving dinner turkey sandwiches.

This Instant Pot recipe is great because it’s quick, easy and it gives you time to work on other Thanksgiving dinner prep things your busy schedule requires of you.

Just put all of the ingredients in the pot, cook for a few minutes, mash up the cranberries and saute it for a few more minutes and you’re done.

Why do we eat Cranberry Sauce at Thanksgiving?

Did you know that cranberries are one of only three commercially-produced fruits that are native to North America? Although they wouldn’t have had sweetened cranberries like we enjoy today, it is believed that the Pilgrims and the Native Americans would have eaten this at the first Thanksgiving feast back in the 1600’s.

Native Americans started making cranberry sauce in the mid-to-late 1700’s and it was simply made with sugar and water. They would accompany their game meat with cranberry sauce as we do now with Thanksgiving dinner. It has since become a staple Thanksgiving food for many families. You can learn more about the history of cranberry sauce HERE.

How to eat Cranberry Sauce with Thanksgiving food

This is completely up to you depending on how much you like cranberry sauce. Confession time… when I was younger, I hated cranberry sauce. I thought it was so weird when my family would eat it with their turkey or even by itself. However, I have since grown to really enjoy cranberry sauce that I almost eat it with everything on the Thanksgiving dinner plate.

Since the taste of cranberry sauce can be strong sometimes, I like to put a little bit of it on my fork and then scoop up some turkey and eat both together. It complements the turkey perfectly. It’s also quite good when you eat it with stuffing too. Some people also just eat it by itself like its own side dish. I’ve even heard of some people eating it with their mashed potatoes.

Let’s be honest though, your Thanksgiving plate is going to be stuffed and everything will end up mixing together. I think that’s the best part of the meal.

What to do with leftover Cranberry Sauce

There are so many good things about Thanksgiving that I love. Thanksgiving leftovers is definitely near the top of that list! I love putting leftover cranberry sauce in turkey sandwiches along with some mayonnaise, mustard and cheese.

Some other ideas include using it as jam on toast or bagels, mixing it with your yogurt or pairing it with leftover turkey meat. This website gives many more ideas that you can use so you don’t let that precious cranberry sauce go to waste.

Ingredients

• 8 ounces cranberries, washed and dried
• 3/4 cup water
• 3/4 sugar 
• Cinnamon and nutmeg (about 1 teaspoon of each)

Instructions

1. Place cranberries, water, sugar, and the cinnamon and nutmeg in the Instant Pot.
2. Set Instant Pot to two minutes of manual high pressure.
3. Once the timer goes over, quick pressure release the pressure.
4. Mash up the cranberries until desired consistency.
5. Turn Instant Pot to low saute and let boil/simmer for a few minutes, stirring the entire time.
6. Remove from Instant Pot and let cool. If it cools long enough, you’ll need to remix it if it becomes to solid.

Recipe card

Square Collage of Recipe steps

Variations?

You can add walnuts if you want. You can also use orange juice instead of water for a different taste. Feel free to add orange peels as well for a nice aesthetic.

How long does cranberry sauce last?

When placed in an airtight container, you can put leftover cranberry sauce in the fridge for up to 10 to 14 days. You can also freeze it if you’d like.

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Complete your Thanksgiving dinner with this delicious Instant Pot cranberry sauce!