Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Stuffing | Pressure Cooking Today (2024)

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Free up your oven on Thanksgiving Day! This Instant Pot Stuffing is a classic recipe that I’ve been making for decades—updated for the electric pressure cooker.

Stuffing is a MUST on Thanksgiving! But it can be really stressful trying to time everything to fit in the oven and be hot on the table at the right time.

Make your life easier by using your pressure cooker this Thanksgiving! You don’t have to worry about the bread stuffing drying out when you cook it in the pressure cooker. And you can crisp it up in your oven in a few minutes while the turkey rests.

How to Cook Thanksgiving Stuffing in the Instant Pot / Electric Pressure Cooker

This Instant Pot stuffing recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, or Mealthy MultiPot. Pressure cookers are the perfect moist environment for making stuffing. (See more of my favorite Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Thanksgiving Recipes here.)

Difference Between Stuffing and Dressing

My mom always called it stuffing, so it just feels strange to call it anything else.

We had a lot of conversation in the Electric Pressure Cooker Facebook group on what to call this recipe—stuffing, dressing, filling, or something else!

Some people distinguish between the terms based on whether or not it’s cooked inside the bird. (But that distinction didn’t hold everywhere—many of you used only one term no matter where it cooked!)

Since there was no clear winner, I’ll keep calling this recipe stuffing even though it’s technically dressing. (Watch our YouTube Instant Pot Dressing video for more details on making the dressing.)

Dry Bread Is the Secret to Great Pressure Cooker Stuffing

Use dry bread. You can leave your bread out to dry the day before. Or, you can toast it in the oven before cooking.

If you’re toasting it, I like to spread the cubed bread flat on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes, stirring once or twice to ensure it toasts evenly. Cool the bread completely before you start the recipe.

Don’t skip this step! It helps the bread absorb moisture without becoming mushy.

Best Pan for Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Stuffing

My family loves the crispy edges of the stuffing. (Does anyone else’s family fight over the corner piece?) I like to pressure cook stuffing in a bundt pan to maximize the crispiness—plus, having metal in the center of the dish helps it cook more quickly.

The half-size bundt pan holds a surprising amount of stuffing! I can fit my entire traditional oven recipe in my half-size bundt—about 10 cups of cubed bread.

However, since you use the pot in pot method for making this pressure cooker stuffing, you can use any oven-safe dish that will fit in your pressure cooker. If you use a cake pan or a springform pan, you may need to add extra cook time to ensure the middle is cooked through completely.

How to Know Your Thanksgiving Dressing Is Cooked Through

The easiest way is to use an instant-read thermometer. Your stuffing is done when the internal temperature has reached 160°F.

Crisp Up the Top

My family prefers a crispy stuffing, so to maximize crispness, we always turn out the pans to brown up the edges of the stuffing after the turkey is out of the oven. Two half-size bundts can fit on one standard-size baking sheet if placed corner to corner.

However, if you have a Ninja Foodi, Mealthy CrispLid, or Instant Pot Duo Crisp (review coming soon!), you can brown up the stuffing right in your cooking pot!

Make Ahead Thanksgiving Stuffing

You can cook Instant Pot bread stuffing the day before and crisp it up in the oven before serving. After pressure cooking, remove the stuffing from the bundt pan and allow it to cool to room temperature. Cover tightly and refrigerate. (This method also works well if you need to make several batches of Thanksgiving stuffing to feed a crowd!)

On Thanksgiving Day, once the turkey is out of the oven, bake at 350°F for 10 to 15 minutes until the stuffing is warmed through and crisp.

Use Your Own Seasonings

This recipe makes a great template for you to adapt your favorite stuffing recipe to the pressure cooker. Just make sure the amounts of bread are similar, then adjust your seasonings accordingly!

This recipe creates a salty, savory stuffing. If you use salted butter or full sodium broth, you may want to reduce the amount of salt you use in this recipe.

What’s your term for Dressing/Bread Stuffing? Let me know in the comments!

We made a fun video to show you how this Thanksgiving stuffing recipe comes together. The original recipe called for sauteing the onion and celery in a sauce pan on the stove. However, since many pressure cookers allow you to adjust the heat level of the saute feature, I’ve updated the recipe to prepare it in the pressure cooker itself, to save yourself from dirtying a pan

Pressure Cooker / Instant Pot Stuffing

Yield: 8 servings

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 40 minutes

Pressure cooker stuffing is a great new way to cook your Thanksgiving stuffing. It's quickly "baked" in the pressure cooker and then crisped up in the oven before serving.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cup reduced-sodium turkey or chicken broth
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter
• 1 cup celery, chopped
• 1 medium onion, chopped
• 1 loaf bread, cubed and toasted*
• 2 teaspoons salt
• 1 teaspoons sage
• 1 teaspoons poultry seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon pepper

Instructions

1. Spray a 6-cup bundt pan with nonstick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Select Saute and adjust the heat to low. Melt the butter in the cooking pot. Add broth, celery, and onion and cook until tender, about 3 to 5 minutes. Add sage, poultry seasoning, salt, and pepper and stir until well combined. Remove from heat.
3. Add the cubed bread to the cooking pot and gently stir until the bread is evenly coated.
4. Press the bread into prepared bundt pan. Cover with foil and poke a hole in the middle of the tin foil. Prepare a foil sling for lifting the pan out of the pressure cooker.
5. Wipe out the bottom of the pressure cooking pot.
6. Pour 1 1/2 cups of water into the cooking pot and place a trivet in the bottom. Center the bundt pan on the sling and lower it into the pressure cooker. Be sure the sling doesn't interfere with closing the lid.
7. Lock the lid in place. Select High Pressure and set the cook time for 15 minutes. When the cook time ends, turn off the pressure cooker and use a quick pressure release. When the valve drops, carefully remove lid. Use the sling to carefully remove the bundt pan and set aside.
8. Oven Directions: Preheat an oven to 350°F. Line a baking sheet with aluminum foil sprayed with nonstick cooking spray. Carefully unmold the stuffing on top of the foil. Put the preheated oven for 5 to 10 minutes to crisp up the stuffing.
9. Ninja Foodi/Crisp Lid/Duo Crisp Directions: If you wish to crisp your stuffing inside the pressure cooker itself, after you remove the bundt pan, discard any remaining liquid and wipe out the cooking pot. Leave the stuffing in the bundt pan and return to the cooking pot. Lock your air fryer lid in place and cook at 350°F until stuffing reaches desired crispness.

Notes

*Spread the cubed bread flat on a baking sheet and bake at 350°F for 20 minutes, stirring occasionally to ensure the pieces toast evenly. You can also use day-old stale bread.

See Also

Buckeyes Recipe (How To Dip Buckeyes In Chocolate)

**If your pressure cooker doesn't allow you to saute on low, you can combine the butter, celery, onions and broth in a saucepan on medium-low heat.

Recommended Products

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• 

  Nordic Ware 6-Cup Bundt Pan, Multicolor

• 

  OXO Good Grips Pressure Cooker Sling

• 

  Silpat Premium Non-Stick Silicone Baking Mat, Half Sheet Size, 11-5/8" x 16-1/2"

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 8Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving:Calories: 378Total Fat: 15gSaturated Fat: 8gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 6gCholesterol: 37mgSodium: 1223mgCarbohydrates: 49gFiber: 3gSugar: 7gProtein: 12g

Nutrition information is calculated by Nutritionix and may not always be accurate.

This recipe is one of myPressure Cooker Thanksgiving recipes. Check out the other recipes in the series!