25 Easy Instant Pot Holiday Meals That Actually Work

This is the one that converts skeptics. Chuck roast, rubbed down with rosemary, thyme, and a generous amount of garlic, seared on sauté mode until deeply browned, then braised in red wine and beef broth. In the oven, this is a five-hour commitment. In the Instant Pot, it is 90 minutes at high pressure — and the result is fork-tender, genuinely impressive. Serve with the braising liquid as a built-in gravy and watch people assume you spent all day on it.

Bone-in ham that comes out lacquered with a brown sugar, honey, and Dijon glaze — and you barely touched it. Add apple cider to the pot for steam, cook on high pressure, then finish with a quick broil in the oven to set that gorgeous glaze. The result is juicy, sweet, slightly caramelized, and deeply festive. It also reheats beautifully, which matters when you have holiday leftovers to deal with.

Short ribs are the kind of dish that sounds like it requires three days and culinary school. In the Instant Pot, they take 45 minutes at high pressure after a quick sear, and the result is melt-off-the-bone beef in a rich, silky sauce that feels absolutely restaurant-caliber. Serve over any of your favorite Instant Pot beef accompaniments — creamy polenta, mashed potatoes, or buttered egg noodles.

A whole roasted chicken in 30 minutes. Yes, actually 30 minutes of cooking time. Season aggressively — salt, pepper, smoked paprika, and a squeeze of lemon inside the cavity. The skin will not crisp in the pot (be honest with yourself), so pop it under the broiler for 10 minutes after. You get a tender, flavorful bird with basically no effort.

Not everyone wants to cook a whole turkey — and honestly, good for them. A boneless turkey breast in the Instant Pot stays incredibly moist, cooks in about 25 minutes at high pressure, and absorbs herb butter in a way that oven-roasted turkey simply cannot match. This works especially well for smaller Thanksgiving or Christmas gatherings of six to eight people.

Pork loin and apples are a combination so obvious it is almost cliché — and yet somehow it never gets old. The Instant Pot keeps the loin from drying out (the perennial enemy of lean pork), and the apple-and-sage braising liquid turns into a sauce that tastes like autumn distilled into something you can pour over your meat. This one is genuinely crowd-pleasing without being boring.

Butternut squash, roasted garlic, a touch of nutmeg, and good vegetable broth. Pressure cook it for 15 minutes, blend it smooth, swirl in some cream. It is the soup equivalent of a cozy sweater, and it happens to be naturally rich in beta-carotene, vitamin A, and potassium — so you can feel good about offering seconds. Serve with a crusty baguette and a drizzle of toasted pumpkin seed oil if you want to be genuinely fancy.

Traditional French onion soup requires 45 minutes of caramelizing onions on the stovetop — and constant attention unless you enjoy scraping a burnt mess off your pan. The Instant Pot caramelizes onions on sauté mode in about 20 minutes (stir occasionally, not constantly) and then the soup itself is ready in another 10 minutes under pressure. Ladle into oven-safe bowls, pile on gruyère, broil until bubbling. This is a 10/10 holiday starter.

I know — lobster bisque sounds ambitious. But with the Instant Pot, you skip the fussy reduction steps and still get a rich, velvety, deeply flavored result. Use good lobster stock (you can make it from shells or buy it) and real sherry. This is the starter that makes people say “you made this yourself?” and then immediately ask for the recipe.

Do not underestimate this one just because it is vegetarian. Lentils cooked under pressure develop a creamy, almost silky texture in about 15 minutes that stovetop lentil soups take 45 minutes to achieve. Add warm spices — cumin, coriander, a hint of cinnamon — and top with crispy shallots fried in brown butter. For those in your group eating plant-based, this is their star dish.

Pressure-cooked potatoes are the secret to legitimately fluffy, silky mash. Cook yukon golds in the Instant Pot for eight minutes, drain, and rice them while hot. Add warm butter and heated cream — cold dairy is mashed potato’s worst enemy — and you get something genuinely restaurant-quality. Use a potato ricer over a hand mixer if you have one; I am a huge fan of this OXO Good Grips ricer for exactly this job, since it keeps the mash from going gluey.

Fresh cranberry sauce in the Instant Pot takes about 5 minutes of active work and 8 minutes under pressure. Add a strip of orange peel, a splash of orange juice, and a tiny bit of vanilla extract and the result is so much better than anything in a can that the comparison is almost embarrassing. Make it two days ahead and it only gets better in the fridge.

I added this one because families with kids deserve a holiday table win too. Dry pasta, water, butter, evaporated milk — all in the pot at once. Five minutes on high pressure. Stir in sharp cheddar and white cheese until glossy and smooth. It is unfussy, kid-approved, and oddly satisfying to make.

Green beans that have a little life to them, cooked with crispy bacon lardons and sweet braised shallots. Three minutes under pressure keeps them tender without going mushy — that specific texture catastrophe that ruins green beans at every third holiday table. Finish with a squeeze of lemon to brighten everything.

Risotto in the Instant Pot is genuinely controversial in certain culinary circles, but IMO, the results speak for themselves. You skip 25 minutes of standing at the stove stirring, and the risotto comes out creamy and properly loose — not stiff or gummy. Finish with a drizzle of good truffle oil and a shower of Parmesan. This is an incredible side for any beef or chicken main.

The Instant Pot is an unexpectedly great cheesecake vessel. The steam environment prevents cracking — the nemesis of every cheesecake you have ever made — and the result is impossibly silky and creamy. Use a 7-inch springform pan and wrap it in foil before lowering it onto the trivet. 35 minutes at high pressure, then a slow natural release. Refrigerate overnight. For more dessert ideas beyond the cheesecake, this collection of Instant Pot desserts you did not know you needed will keep you busy all season.

Eight minutes. That is all it takes to produce individual chocolate lava cakes with a peppermint-spiked molten center that should, by all rights, require much more effort. Use individual ramekins, seal them with foil, stack on the trivet. The pressure creates the ideal gooey-center, set-exterior balance that home ovens struggle to achieve consistently.

Tender, cinnamon-spiced apples topped with a buttery oat crumble — cooked under pressure and then finished under the broiler for a couple of minutes to crisp the topping. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream. This one is unpretentious and beloved every single time. Use a mix of Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples for the best sweet-tart balance.

Rice pudding gets unfairly dismissed as nursery food. Add cardamom, a little saffron, and a drizzle of rose water and it becomes something entirely different — elegant, fragrant, and deeply comforting. The Instant Pot makes it in 20 minutes and produces a consistency that stovetop versions require constant attention to achieve.

Your Instant Pot on keep-warm mode is a genuinely underrated mulled wine vessel. Bottle of Cabernet, orange peel, cinnamon sticks, cloves, star anise, and a splash of brandy. Let it steep for 20 minutes. Keep warm for hours without it ever cooking down or turning bitter. Your guests will not stop asking what smells so good.

I know this is contentious. Stuffing in a pressure cooker sounds wrong. But pot-in-pot cooking — using a smaller bowl inside the main pot — produces a stuffing that is moist in the middle and properly seasoned throughout, cooked in 25 minutes. Finish under the broiler for a crispy top layer. No oven required.

Sweet potatoes cook in 15 minutes under high pressure and mash silkily without much effort. Brown butter adds a nutty, caramel depth that regular butter cannot match — and toasted pecans on top provide crunch. This is a side dish that tastes like someone put serious thought into it, even though the actual work is minimal. A good quality immersion blender makes the mash incredibly smooth if you prefer a less chunky texture.

If your holiday gathering includes a casual Christmas Eve or New Year’s Eve watch party, a big pot of chili is exactly right. Beef chili, white bean chicken chili, or vegetarian black bean chili — all work beautifully in the Instant Pot in about 30 minutes and serve eight to ten people without any drama. These slow cooker chili recipes that you have to try also adapt well to the Instant Pot if you reduce liquid slightly and cut cook times.

Make this on the day after the holiday feast with your leftover turkey or chicken carcass. Three hours at high pressure produces a rich, gelatinous broth that store-bought versions cannot touch. Use it as the base for soup the next day, or sip it straight from a mug. After a big holiday meal, this feels like reset. Keep these wide-mouth mason jars with lids on hand for storing the broth — they go from fridge to table without fuss.

Brisket is one of the Instant Pot’s finest achievements. A cut that traditionally requires eight hours in the oven is transformed in 90 minutes under high pressure into something genuinely extraordinary — deeply flavored, sliceable or shred-able, soaked in a sweet-savory braising liquid that doubles as a sauce. This is the dish that justifies the Instant Pot’s entire existence. Season it aggressively, sear it deeply, and do not rush the natural pressure release at the end. A good instant-read thermometer is the only thing standing between you and perfect brisket every time.