This Instant Pot Whole30 cranberry sauce with apples and rosemary is the perfect Whole30 cranberry sauce: sweet and tart with no added sweeteners at all! It’s the perfect addition to any Whole30 Thanksgiving table and goes beautifully with my Whole30 green bean casserole. You’ll love this Instant Pot Whole30 cranberry sauce with apples and rosemary because it’s so easy and quick yet gourmet! Made so easily in the Instant Pot.
This Whole Instant Pot cranberry apple sauce with rosemary recipe is a year in the making.
Last year, I rounded up my favorite Whole30 Thanksgiving recipes, feeling positive you could do a full round in November without feeling deprived at all. After all, the most important things on the Thanksgiving table (at least in my opinion)–turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, and cranberry sauce–are all easy to make Whole30 compliant. Er, well, all except that cranberry sauce. Almost everything I found was preferably sweetened to some degree, and I was nervous that the recipe would otherwise be too tart.
So all year, I mulled over the very best way to bring cranberry sauce to the Whole30 Thanksgiving table without losing out on that balance of natural sweetness and tartness, with the full flavor provided by my signature addition of fresh rosemary to every cranberry dish that comes my way.
Because, as you know, cranberries are hella tart. Like, you don’t think they’ll be that bad, right? You think, oh, they’ll be a little sour. Just a little sour.
Except my dog tried a rogue berry that had escaped my homemade cranberry garland one time, and she spit it out. My dog spit it out. My dog spit it out. That’s some next-level tartness right there.
But I simply love it when it’s balanced with a bit of sweetness! I always spoon a few blobs of the whole berry stuff into the center of my plate on Thanksgiving, happy for the fuschia mixture to tint my turkey and stuffing and mashed potatoes and rolls, to infuse them with a bit of extra brightness.
So it occurred to me one day: why not a cranberry applesauce with rosemary? Not a revolutionary concept by any means, but if we could balance the sweetness and volume of the apples with the brightness of the cranberries, not losing any of the tartness or vibrant berry flavor, and infusing it all with fresh rosemary? That right there, that could work.
And best of all, it’s made in the Instant Pot! In quite literally 5 minutes. Does it get any easier?
Spoiler alert: No. Not it doesn’t.
You could absolutely substitute a stick of cinnamon for the rosemary here, but I absolutely love the woodsiness next to the apples and cranberries. I wrote a love letter to my rosemary applesauce years back, and this is just that perfect pairing elevated and simplified even further.
The maple syrup is fantastic if you’re not on a Whole30, but it’s not necessary at all.
How to make this Instant Pot Whole30 cranberry sauce:
Instant Pot Whole30 Cranberry Sauce with Apples and Rosemary
This Instant Pot Whole30 cranberry sauce with apples and rosemary is the perfect Whole30 cranberry sauce: sweet and tart with no added sweeteners at all! It's the perfect addition to any Whole30 Thanksgiving table and goes beautifully with my Whole30 green bean casserole. You'll love this Instant Pot Whole30 cranberry sauce with apples and rosemary because it's so easy and quick yet gourmet!
Ingredients
- 12 ounces fresh cranberries
- 2 pounds apples cored
- 1 cup apple cider
- 1 fresh sprig rosemary
- 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup if not on Whole30
Equipment Needed
- Instant Pot or Crockpot - see notes
- masher
Instructions
Combine all ingredients in the Instant Pot and seal. Cook on Manual High Pressure for 5 minutes, then quick release. Remove rosemary sprig and mash with a potato mashed until desired texture. Transfer to a glass airtight container and chill before serving.
Recipe Video
Recipe Notes
You can make this in the Crockpot as well. Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours then remove rosemary and mash.
Can’t wait to try… what kind of apples did you use??
We usually use Fiji or honeycrisp!
can you make ahead and freeze this?
I haven’t tried it, but I think it would work well!
Do you need to peel the apples?
I don’t, because I like the texture and the extra nutrients from the skin. If you prefer a smoother texture though, you can peel them! It works well either way 🙂