Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce

Why have the typical Cranberry Sauce for holiday meals and get-togethers when you can have some delicious Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce that everyone can enjoy??!?! Spiked Apple Cranberry Sauce brings a new set of apple flavoring to your holiday cooking that’s so irresistible.

Keep in mind your guests when you decide to add this Whiskey Spiked Cranberry Sauce to your menu. If you have an overwhelming amount of kids who will want Cranberry Sauce, considering grabbing a can for them or making a quick non-alcoholic version for them (like any of the ones listed below).

If you have a lot of people who don’t enjoy drinking during the holidays, maybe this isn’t your sauce to serve. But if you have a decent amount of guests who enjoy a drink or two with their holiday meal and wouldn’t mind an alcohol spiked sauce to go with their meat, then definitely make sure you make this- they will LOVE it!

Why You’ll Love Chunky Apple Cranberry Sauce

• A fun and unique way to change up the normal boring Cranberry Sauce
• Eliminates the need to buy a random can of sauce
• Apples bring an extra taste of fall to your sauce
• Takes your traditional holiday meal up a notch
• No preservatives or crazy things added to your sauce
• Makes a great Gift for friends and family old enough to enjoy it

Ingredients Needed To Make Fresh Cranberry Sauce With Apples

• Fresh cranberries – you can use frozen in a pinch
• Cinnamon sticks – we prefer sticks, but if you have to use ground you can
• Sugar – white sugar is what we used
• Water
• Apple Whiskey – We used Crown Royal Apple, but you can use whatever Apple flavored Whiskey
• Apple Slices – We chose a red apple variety
• Rosemary – fresh sprigs of rosemary work best
• Vanilla – we used imitation vanilla, but if you have true Vanilla extract use THAT and it will really shine

Tools Needed To Make Apple Vanilla Cranberry Sauce

Instant Pot

Measuring Cups and Spoons

Mason Jars for Serving and Storing

How To Make Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce

1. Add your cranberries, 1 cinnamon stick, 1 sprig of rosemary, sugar, water and vanilla to the Instant Pot.
2. Close the lid and set pressure valve to seal.
3. Cook on Manual on HIGH pressure for 8 minutes and then use a Natural Pressure Release.
4. Once the pressure has released, pour sauce into Mason Jar for serving and garnish with rest of rosemary, cinnamon sticks and apple slices.

What Is Cranberry Sauce

Cranberry sauce is a jelly-like sauce that is made from cranberries. Typically, it is served with Turkey and can be commonly found on a Thanksgiving menu.

Variations

• Non-Alcoholic Cranberry Sauce– if you’re looking to make this Instant Pot Cranberry sauce but are looking to make it safe for kids or to accomoadate those who don’t drink, all you have to do is omit the Whiskey.
• Cranberry Sauce with Apple Juice– instead of using the Crown Apple Whiskey, substitute it with your favorite Apple Juice to make a kid-friendly version.
• Cranberry Sauce with Apple Cider– This is another variation you can try. Instead of the Whiskey, try this Apple Cider or even a Sparking Apple Cider would be a great variationto try.
• Add in some Orange Zest for a nice additional flavoring.
• Cranberry Sauce Amaretto- Want to make a slightly different spike cranberry sauce? Try using amaretto instead of Crown Apple for this recipe. It’s a tasty delight.
• Increase the Sweetness– if you like a sweeter sauce, feel free to increase the amount of sugar.
• Trade sugar– Try agave, honey, maple syrup or brown sugar.
• Omit the apple altogether– if you’re looking for more of a fresh, simple, traditional sauce, omit anything apple and you’ll have more of the classic cranberry taste for your fresh homemade sauce.
• Add a dash of Orange Juice– if you’re looking for an orange apple cranberry sauce, add a dash of OJ with your orange zest and you’ll bring out a nice flavor.
• Use a food processor or blender– if you want a smooth sauce, you can add your items to the processor before cooking in the Instant Pot.
• Swap your cinnamon sticks– you can use ground cinnamon if you prefer.

If you like taking classic recipes and making your own, try this Texas Roadhouse Cinnamon Butter Copycat recipe.

Tips & Tricks

• Place a dishtowel over the Instant Pot valve when it starts to release pressure so you don’t have to worry about getting burned.
• Cook time does NOT include the time it takes for your Instant Pot to come to pressure or time it takes to release the pressure.
• Note that this homemade fresh sauce will thicken as it cools.
• If you don’t want a chunky sauce, you can push the sauce through a strainer to get all the flavors and yummy-ness without all the chunks.
• If you plan on doubling the recipe, make sure you’re using a big enough Instant Pot and you will need to make sure it releases pressure a little longer.
• If you have a foaming issue, you can add butter to your recipe to help tackle this.

FAQ

Can You Use Frozen Cranberries?

If you’re looking to make this any time of the year, especially when fresh cranberries aren’t readily available, you may use frozen cranberries. We recommend using fresh cranberries for the best flavor, but we know that sometimes they aren’t always an option.

How Do You Store Cranberry Sauce?

We recommend storing your sauce in a sealed Mason Jar. You can keep it in the refrigerator for about 10-14 days.

Can You Can It?

Yay! According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation‘s website, you can safely water bath can your homemade Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce.

Please see their website for safef instructions on how to water bath can your sauce.

Can You Freeze It?

Sure can! If this is something you want to make a few batches of, you sure can freeze it!

Once the sauce completely cools, pour some in a reusable bag, label it and lay it flat in your freezer to freeze and save the most space.

Make sure to ADD IT TO YOUR FREEZER INVENTORY LIST so you don’t forget about it and add when you need to use it by and when you made it so you know when to use it by.

Toss the bag in the refrigerator to thaw overnight the night before you want to have it.

You can also just freeze it in your Mason Jar once you make it and it’s good for a few months in the freezer.

How Long Is It Good For?

Fresh Cranberry sauce with apples should be stored in your refrigerator in a sealed jar and will be kept good for 10-14 days. If you need it to last longer, look into canning it or freezing it using the methods listed above.

Give This Cranberry Sauce As A Gift

Everyone loves getting homemade edible gifts for the holidays, especially when they’re practical and DELICIOUS!

Go ahead and use the water bath canning method linked above to safely can your homemade sauce. Then grab your Made With Love stickers to add to your lid and don’t forget your To: and From: Tags to label your gifts.

Other Recipes

You may also like our Homemade Garlic Butter that is great on so many holiday dishes and other recipes like DIY Hibachi Fried Rice.

Try our DIY Pomegranate Salad Dressing to take your everyday salad up a notch.

Try one of our many Mason Jar Salad Recipes.

Maybe you have some extra cranberries? Try them in our famous Cranberry Bourbon Slushie.

If you’re doing some holiday baking and you’re looking for an amazing Stuffing Recipe or some fantastic Green Beans, grab our SUPER CHEAP Side Dish & Drinks digital cookbook for less than $4! With a dozen recipes and tips and tricks, you get way more than $4 worth of info and recipes delivered straight to your inbox in a matter of minutes.

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Keep On Sippin’ On Something Sweet

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