Last Updated on November 24, 2024
This Instant Pot Stuffing is the perfect marriage of traditional Thanksgiving stuffing ingredients and a modern appliance.
The best thing about making stuffing in your Instant Pot is that it comes out extra moist, not dry.
I don’t know about you, but my biggest challenge at Thanksgiving is cooking all the food so that it is all hot and ready to serve at the same time. To accomplish this, I have to rely on more than just my stove and oven.
My Crock-Pot always plays a critical role and my Instant Pots (yes, I have 2!) are now essential Thanksgiving tools too. You can even use an Instant Pot to make the Thanksgiving turkey.
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What is the Safest way to Cook Stuffing?
To make sure you’re safely cook the stuffing, here are some tips:
- According to the USDA, the safest way to cook stuffing is by itself — not, inside the turkey. Cooking the stuffing in the turkey increases the risk of cross-contamination and the risk of the stuffing not being cooked enough.
- If you were planning on adding any meat to your stuffing, make sure to cook any meat, poultry, or seafood before adding it to the stuffing.
- Don’t combine the stuffing ingredients until you’re ready to cook it. However, you can prepare the dry and wet ingredients separately ahead of time, but don’t mix them until you’re ready to put them in the instant pot.
- It’s important for the stuffing to be moist and not dry, because heat destroys bacteria more rapidly in a moist environment.
- When you think the stuffing is done cooking, check it first to make sure it reaches a minimum internal temperature of 165°F.
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❤️ Why You’ll Love This Recipe
This Instant Pot Stuffing is still the same stuffing you’d expect to eat at your grandma’s house, plus these added benefits:
- Frees up oven space: If you’re using your oven to cook the turkey, sweet potatoes, and rolls you’ll be glad that this stuffing recipe is made in your Instant Pot instead.
- Cooks faster: Cooking stuffing in the oven can take up to 45 minutes, but it only needs to cook 20 minutes in the Instant Pot.
- Always a hit: This side dish is one of everyone’s favorite foods to eat at Thanksgiving dinner, especially with the fresh cranberries that add a little bit of color.
If you have any leftover stuffing, you can combine it with the leftover turkey and make this turkey noodle casserole.
🥘 Ingredients
For this stuffing recipe, you just need the same basic ingredients that you would need for a traditional recipe.
- Dry cubed stuffing: You can either use a bag of stuffing cubes or fresh bread. If you’re using fresh bread, dry it out in the oven first.
- Cranberries: They add a pop of flavor, texture, and color to the stuffing.
- Pecans: Their crunch contrasts with the softness of the bread and cranberries, adding a satisfying bite to each forkful.
- Broth: The broth hydrates the dry bread cubes, softening them and creating a moist, tender stuffing instead of a dry one. You can use either vegetable or chicken broth.
- Poultry seasoning: The herbs in this seasoning provide the comforting, familiar flavors of traditional holiday meals.
See recipe card for complete list of ingredients and quantities
🔀 Substitutions
These substitutions allow flexibility according to what you have on and and for dietary needs while still maintaining the overall integrity of the dish.
Cranberries: You can use dried cherries, raisins, or chopped dried apricots for a similar sweetness.
Butter: Substitute with olive oil or plant-based butter for a dairy-free alternative.
Celery: If everyone already bought all the celery in the store, you can try leeks, fennel or any other substitute for celery.
Poultry seasoning: If you didn’t want to buy a whole jar of poultry seasoning for just this recipe, try using oregano, Herbs de Provence, or any other substitute instead.
🌈 Variations / Options / Add-Ins
In case you want to add some different flavors to your stuffing, here are some ideas:
- Different style: Substitute dry bread cubes with cornbread for a sweeter, Southern-style stuffing. Use gluten-free bread if needed.
- Different crunch: Swap pecans with walnuts, almonds, or pumpkin seeds for a different nutty flavor and crunch. For a nut-free version, use sunflower seeds or omit them entirely.
- Richer flavor: For a richer flavor, use browned butter instead of regular butter.
- Kid friendly: Add crushed potato chips (ketchup chips!)
If you want to try a different meat with stuffing, here’s an Instant Pot Swiss chicken recipe.
🥄 Equipment Needed / Helpful Tools
You’ll need a few things to make this recipe, including an item that can go in the instant pot, but they should all be easy to find.
- Instant Pot: This is where you’ll cook and prepare almost everything needed for this recipe.
- Large bowl: The ingredients will be combined in this bowl before being added to the instant pot.
- Stackable steamer pan inserts: You’ll only be using one for the stuffing so you can steam something else in the other one at the same time.
🔪 How to Make Instant Pot Stuffing
Making Instant Pot Stuffing is a lot like making traditional stuffing. The only difference is everything will be done in the Instant Pot instead of on the stove and oven.
Step 1: Combine First Four Ingredients
Combine your bread cubes (or stuffing cubes if you’re using store-bought) in a large bowl with cranberries and nuts.
Pour broth over the bread cubes.
Step 2: Saute Celery and Onion
Turn the Instant Pot on Saute mode and wait for the display to read “Hot.” Then, add a stick of butter to the pot along with chopped celery and onion.
Cook for a couple of minutes then add the poultry seasoning and salt.
Stir in the seasonings and continue cooking for about a minute. Press “Cancel” to turn off saute mode.
Step 3: Add to Bowl
Next, add the sautéed celery and onion to the stuffing mix. Clean out the Instant Pot inner liner.
Stir the ingredients together to make sure they are well combined.
Step 4: Add to pan
Now it’s time to spoon the stuffing into the steamer pan. It should fill it up nearly to the top.
Cover the pan with the lid (or with foil if your pan didn’t come with a lid).
Step 5: Add Water and pan
Place the metal trivet that came with your Instant Pot in the bottom of the inner liner.
Add a cup and a half of water to your Instant Pot and then lower the steamer pan into the pot.
Step 6: Pressure Cook
It’s time to cook the stuffing. Secure the lid and make sure the valve is set to “Sealing.” Choose “Manual” and set the time for 20 minutes.
Step 7: Pressure Release
When the pot beeps indicating that the cook time is complete, carefully move the valve to “Venting” and wait for the pressure to fully release before removing the lid.
Step 8: Serve and Enjoy
Transfer to a serving bowl. That’s it! Your Instant Pot Stuffing is ready for the Thanksgiving table.
❓ Recipe FAQs
A 6-quart Instant Pot should work well, but an 8-quart is ideal if you want to double the recipe or add extra ingredients.
Transfer the stuffing to an airtight container and refrigerate. It will stay fresh for up to 3–4 days. If you want to keep it longer, place it in a freezer-safe container or freezer bag, removing as much air as possible. It can be frozen for up to 2–3 months.
Preheat an oven to 350°F, place stuffing in a baking dish, and cover with foil. Heat for 15–20 minutes or until warmed through. Add a splash of broth if it seems dry.
Reheat individual portions in the microwave on medium power to avoid drying out. Add a little broth and cover the stuffing to keep moisture in.
🙏 Pairing
These are my favorite dishes to serve with Instant Pot Stuffing:
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📋 Recipe
Instant Pot Cranberry Pecan Stuffing
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Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Large bowl
- Stackable steamer pan inserts
Ingredients
- 12 ounces dry cubed stuffing
- ½ cup cranberries
- ½ cup pecans
- 2 cups broth vegetable or chicken
- ½ cup butter salted
- 1 cup onion chopped
- 1 cup celery chopped
- 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cups water
Instructions
- Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl.12 ounces dry cubed stuffing, ½ cup cranberries, ½ cup pecans, 2 cups broth
- Turn the Instant Pot on to saute and cook the onion and celery together with the butter for 2-3 minutes. Add in the seasonings and continue cooking for another minute.½ cup butter, 1 cup onion, 1 cup celery, 1 teaspoon poultry seasoning, ½ teaspoon salt
- Add the sautéed mixture to the cubed stuffing. Stir to combine.
- Transfer into the steamer pan. Cover pan with the lid or foil.
- Place the trivet in the bottom of the inner liner. Add 1 ½ cups of water to the Instant Pot. Lower the pan with the stuffing onto the trivet.1 ½ cups water
- Close the instant pot lid and turn pressure valve to seal. Cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes.
- Allow for a quick pressure release.
- Transfer to a serving bowl.
Thank you so much Corinne!! I made our favorite stuffing for Thanksgiving and used your directions for the Instant Pot. It turned out perfect. All hail the Instant Pot!!
I’m glad it worked out well for you. Thanks for commenting.
Sounds good bit I prefer to bake my stuffing in the oven so it gets a little brown on top