Our Best Instant Pot Recipes for Holiday Entertaining

This velvety smooth soup is easy to make and easy to freeze. The crunchy pepitas steal the show, and are a nice contrast to the creamy base. Serve with sourdough bread for a nontraditional Thanksgiving dinner, or in small shooters as a holiday party appetizer.

This powerful cranberry-apple sauce carries enough flavors to make it go far. Keep it traditional and serve with turkey, or think outside the box and use a dollop on this Instant Pot Pumpkin Soup. Although it's quick and easy to make, we'd suggest prepping it a few days in advance—this Instant Pot Cranberry Sauce only gets better with time. 

Rich, creamy, and smooth, this cheesecake "bakes" surprisingly well right in the Instant Pot. Drizzle your remaining caramel sauce on top after the dessert cools to make this showstopping cake look as amazing as it tastes. 

Hearty and filling, this easy Instant Pot side dish was an instant hit in our test kitchen. For a vegetarian option, omit the bacon, saute the Brussels sprouts in olive oil, and cook the farro in vegetable stock.

You can't have Thanksgiving dinner without stuffing. Classic flavors, a moist-but-not-soggy texture, and a touch of sweetness will make this Instant Pot stuffing a new family favorite. 

Is there any food more wholesome than homemade applesauce? Doubt it. Thankfully, wholesome comes quick and easy with this Instant Pot Apple Sauce. 

This Instant Pot butternut squash soup is a perfect recipe for effortless fall entertaining. Deeply warming, this comforting Instant Pot soup is excellent when served with crusty bread and a green salad for a light entree, but also makes for a fantastic appetizer served in smaller portions. It delivers a delightful blend of textures and flavors in each bite thanks to the toppings that make this dish as beautiful as it is delicious.

Yet another way to enjoy pumpkin spice this season. Gift these to friends as a festive treat, or enjoy them yourself with an autumnal beer. Make sure to use pure maple syrup, as pancake syrup will taste artificial and will likely overwhelm the spiced flavor. 

This festive cake will make you smile. The tiny pieces of peppermint candy offer a delightful crunch that plays well with the gooey chocolate, while their red and white colors look beautiful against the deep, dark chocolate. 

Instant Pot Butternut Squash is the easy fall side dish recipe that everyone needs in their repertoire. This simple recipe is similar to your go-to roasted butternut squash, yielding browned edges and a melt-in-your-mouth tender interior, but made in your go-to countertop appliance. Make your own by adding your favorite spices and herbs to the cubed butternut squash. 

You’ve seen the Internet-famous “melting potatoes;” now here’s how to do them in your Instant Pot—i.e. without cranking your oven up to 500°. Buttery, creamy, perfectly salty Instant Pot Melting Potatoes make for a divinely decadent celebration of potato—no cream or cheese necessary. If you want to double the recipe, you’ll need to brown your potatoes in batches, but can steam them all together. Feel free to garnish with a sprinkling of whatever herbs you desire; parsley, sage, or rosemary are all great options. 

Everyone deserves gravy

This recipe was adapted from Cooking Light's wildly popular Classic Slow Cooker Beef Stew to create a simple, speedy version of a comfort food favorite. As the original recipe notes, a nutty dark beer adds richness and depth to the stew, but be careful not to choose a beer that's super-hoppy; it will taste too bitter.

This Instant Pot candy recipe delivers a classic candy shop treat with no intimidation factor. In fact, you don’t even need a candy thermometer to make this perfectly porous and crisp brittle. While it makes a scrumptious treat any time of year, our Instant Pot Peanut Brittle is especially awesome to make during the holiday season. Being that the recipe produces a generous yield of candy, it’s an excellent goody for gifting. A key factor in candy cooking is making sure you sugar granules are completely dissolved. If you want to give your brittle a little test as it cooks, take your wooden spoon or rubber spatula (whatever you’re using to stir the mixture) to scoop a small amount of the melted sugar mixture and spread a thin layer onto a paper plate. This allows you to see any sugar crystals that may still be in the mixture, as well as observe how the mixture hardens as it cools. If the mixture hardens like glass and cracks easily, you know it’s ready. 

Easy enough for a weeknight meal, impressively decadent enough for a holiday dinner—the Instant Pot has done it again. Beyond their creamy texture and richly savory flavor, we love these Instant Pot Mashed Potatoes for the time they save. With this method, your potatoes cook in half the time and there’s no need to drain—saving an extra step and a strainer to wash. You could also apply this technique for mashed sweet potatoes.