Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes are bursting with fall holiday spices and fresh cranberries, sweet onions and peppers.
A festive twist to my ever popular Instant Pot Sloppy Joes (Pressure Cooker) recipe.
Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes combines the flavors of the fall and the fall holidays with ground turkey and vegetables and then adds wonderful whole cranberries. The meat mixture quickly cooks in your Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker and will be ready in under 30 minutes!
During Thanksgiving and Christmas cranberries are made into cranberry sauce and used in French toast and bread pudding, such as my Instant Pot Orange Cranberry French Toast and my Instant Pot Spiced Cranberry Sauce.
In my Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes we’ll use whole cranberries with the seasonings of fall
Pro Tip: Turn my Pressure Cooker Picadillo Stuffed Delicata Squash recipe into a festive holiday side or main dish by substituting the ingredients for this Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes recipe. Your Thanksgiving and Christmas table will look very colorful.
During Thanksgiving, it would be fun to add some orange and yellow peppers.
Red peppers would be very colorful as well. If you love stuffed peppers, I have a wonderful recipe in my This Old Gal Pressure Cooker Cookbook for stuffed peppers and this Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes recipe would be perfect for Halloween stuffed peppers.
Creamy & Crispy Air Fryer Avocado Fries would be wonderful as a side dish.
Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes is a great freezer meal for busy people!
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How to Make an Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Freezer Meal
- Mix together the ground turkey, seasons and onions and pepper. Make sure the turkey is smashed up really well.
- Add all ingredients into a freezer safe container, which I have explained below and then place into freezer.
- When you are ready to cook, simply add the contents of the package and set the timer for 4 minutes.
While the onions and peppers are in their hot oil bath, it is a good time to rinse off the cranberries.
If you would like to prepare Instant Pot Sloppy Joes to cook at a later day, making this into a freezer meal is very easy.
How to Freeze Leftovers
Use a freezer safe containers like Reditainer Extreme Freezer Containers or use a FoodSaver Vacuum Sealing System, so that all the air is out and the food stays nice and fresh.
The ground turkey joins the party. I like to use a very good and heavy duty spatula when sautéing the onions and peppers so that the tip does not burn nor become discolored. This di Oro Living Silicone Spatulas Set is very good and a solid buy.
Pro Tip: Try using a Meat Chopper/Masher to smash the turkey.
Can Ground Chicken Be Used instead of Turkey?
- If you prefer to use ground chicken, that would be fine.
- Ground beef, ground lamb, bison, etc. can be used in any or my Sloppy Joes recipes.
Check out that link for more Sloppy Joes recipes. There are delicious flavors and the list is growing.
Whenever you see a recipe for ground turkey or ground beef, most other ground meats can be used. My Pressure Cooker Turkey Meatloaf [Instant Pot] is super delicious and just as good made with ground beef!
Remember, cranberries are rather bitter and if you want to add more, you may need to sweeten up the sloppy joes.
How to Reheat Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes
- The best way to reheat leftovers is to use the pot in pot method.
- Add one cup of water to the pressure cooker cooking pot and place a trivet inside the pot.
- Place frozen or thawed Sloppy Joes into a flat bottom pan, such as the Ekovana Stainless Steel Pressure Cooker Stackable Pans Set and place on top of the trivet. For frozen, set the timer for 8 minutes. If you have first thawed the Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes, set your timer for 5 minutes.
Tips and Tricks for Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes
- Check for twigs in the bag of cranberries and toss.
- A Meat Chopper/Masher helps to smash the turkey into tiny piece.
- Use sweet Hawaiian buns to compliment the bitterness of the cranberries.
Make sure to check out some of my other Sloppy Joes recipes. You’ll take one bite out of your Instant Pot Cranberry Turkey Sloppy Joes and all will be right with the world!
More Instant Pot Turkey Recipes to Make:
- Pressure Cooker Ground Turkey Stroganoff
- Pressure Cooker Drive Thru Tacos [Instant Pot]
- Instant Pot Turkey Breast w/Gravy (Pressure Cooker)
Kitchen Equipment and Essentials
- Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi or Pressure Cooker
- di Oro Living Silicone Spatulas Set
- Salbree 3 quart, 6 quart or 8 quart Steamer/Strainer Basket
- Meat Chopper/Masher
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Here is the handy printable recipe:
Ingredients
- 2 Tablespoons Extra Virgin Olive Oil
- 1 cup Yellow/Brown Onion diced
- 1/2 cup Green Pepper diced
- 1.5 pounds Ground Turkey
- 1.5 Tablespoons Worcestershire Sauce
- 3 Tablespoons Orange Juice frozen concentrate
- 1/4 cup White Sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Spice
- 3/4 teaspoon Ground Allspice
- 2 teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 1/2 teaspoon Freshly Ground Black Pepper
- 1/4 cup Ketchup
- 8 ounces Fresh Cranberries rinsed and picked over
Recommended Products
Instructions
- Select Sauté or Browning on pressure cooker cooking pot and allow to fully heat.
- Add oil, onions, peppers and saute for 2-3 minutes, or until onions are beginning to soften.
- Pour in Worcestershire sauce, orange juice, sugar, allspice, pumpkin pie spice, salt and pepper and combine, while scraping any brown bits off the bottom of the pot.
- Mix in the turkey and use a mashing tool to smash the turkey and combine with the veggies and spices.
- Turn off pressure cooker and stir in ketchup and cranberries.
- Lock on lid and close pressure valve. Cook at high pressure (most machines default to high pressure) for 2 minutes.
- When beep sounds, wait 10 minutes and then release the rest of the pressure.
- Open lid and select Sauté or Browning and simmer until much of the liquid has evaporated.
Notes
Nutrition
Pin this Instant Pot Cranberry Sloppy Joes
Ryan Suga says
How much ketchup? Not listed on recipe
Ryan Suga says
Sorry I meant sugar where does the sugar go in
Jill Selkowitz says
Corrected, thanks, Ryan. Jill
Bob Drue says
How can this come to pressure when there’s no liquid? I’ve tried a couple of your recipes where you don’t add liquid, and they do not come to pressure (though they still cook and taste great).
Jill Selkowitz says
Deglazing is very important. If your pot is not reaching pressure, it most probably means, something is stuck on the bottom before locking on the lid. Jill
Bob Harrison Drue says
That really doesn’t answer my question. How does it come to pressure with no liquid? Did you forget to list liquid as an ingredient in this recipe?
Bob Harrison Drue says
You say ‘stir in ketchup’ but it’s not on your ingredient list. How much are we to use?
There’s less than a cup of liquid. I’m still not convinced this will come to pressure.
Pam Krieger says
I made these for the family reunion…..I was skeptical but I wanted to try them….Most amazing sloppy joes I have ever eaten. My husband was telling everyone how good they were. I was very very surprised..Excellent job Jill ty for sharing.