Last Updated on August 7, 2021 by Corinne Schmitt
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.
What You’ll Need
For this stuffing recipe, I basically just converted my favorite oven version. Nothing crazy going on here, just a traditional Thanksgiving stuffing.
Pantry Items
- Bread cubes (I used a bag of stuffing cubes)
- Nuts (I prefer walnuts or pecans)
- Broth (you can use vegetable or chicken)
Fresh Ingredients
- Cranberries
- Butter
- Onion
- Celery
From the Spice Cabinet
- Poultry seasoning
- Salt
Equipment
- Instant Pot
- Large bowl
- Wooden spoon
- 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, we’ll be doing everything in the Instant Pot instead of on the stove and oven.
Step 1: Prepare bread cubes
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 vegetables
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: Combine ingredients
Next, add the sauteed 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: Prepare 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). 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 5: Pressure cook
It’s finally 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.
When the pot beeps indicating that the cook time is complete, carefully move the valve to “Venting” and wait for the pressure to full release before removing the lid.
Transfer to a serving bowl. That’s it! Your Instant Pot Stuffing is ready for the Thanksgiving table.
Instant Pot Stuffing Recipe
In case you need it, here’s the printable recipe card for Instant Pot Stuffing.
Instant Pot Cranberry Pecan Stuffing
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- for the instant pot
Instructions
- Combine first 4 ingredients in a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Turn Instant Pot on to saute and saute the onion and celery together with the butter for 2-3 minutes. Add in the seasonings and continue sauting for another minute.
- Add the sauted mixture to the cubed stuffing. Stir to combine. Transfer into a metal Instant Pot pan, such as a stackable pan set (in this case you’d be able to cook two sides at once). Cover pan with lid or foil.
- Add 1 ½ cups of water to the inner pot of the Instant Pot. Lower the pan with the stuffing in to the inner pot on a trivet.
- Close the instant pot lid and turn pressure valve to seal. Cook on manual high pressure for 20 minutes.
- Allow for a quick pressure.
Nutrition
More Instant Pot Thanksgiving Recipes
Have more than one Instant Pot? Or just want to explore some other ways you can use it for Thanksgiving? Check out these other Instant Pot Thanksgiving recipes.
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