The very second the first crisp and crunchy autumn leaf hit the pavement and dew covered the branches in the many trees around my extremely green city, my thoughts turned immediately to the festive. I can’t help it, Christmas is my favourite time of year and once the warmth of summer has gone for another year, my daily need for light has to be satisfied with a myriad of twinkling fairy lights, wrapped around as many stationary objects as I can find in the Apple Chapel.
Last year, my Christmas recipe theme was around cooking for two but this year, my Instant Pot is being put to work and I’ve been busy developing new ways to cook your festive favourites with a few twists and tweaks along the way to keep things interesting. First up, is my Instant Pot Christmas Pudding.
Having converted the Christmas pudding haters in my family to the one I have been making for quite a few years now, it was hard to stray too far from The Recipe as I knew how much it was enjoyed. I soak the dried fruits for weeks in booze before making the pudding a good couple of months ahead of Christmas itself. I’m certainly not alone in doing this – a lot of readers have been asking me for Christmas cakes and puddings and given the amount of fruit and alcohol in both, they keep extremely well and are so much better for a little maturation in a cool, dark cupboard.
Usually, I make my pud in the slow cooker as it is so easy to plug in and forget about, as opposed to fussing and tending to a simmering pot on the stove for hours on end. Imagine how thrilled I was to see after minimal tweaking, I could make my Christmas Pud in the Instant Pot
In fact, when I think about it, I imagine traditional British home cooks would have been more used to cooking in a pressure cooker than most of us are today so it’s not such a strange idea.
In fact, if anything, I think the texture is quite improved for cooking under pressure. It is the softest, most fudgy Christmas pudding I’ve ever eaten and it’s so easy to make, I will certainly be making extra to give as gifts this year. I’ve done some tweaking of my original recipe as I wanted to not just update the method of cooking but the recipe itself.
My family love nuts so some finely chopped pecans went in and to help guarantee moistness and a meltingly soft texture, some finely chopped dates which work as a fabulously sticky and sweet glue as the almost melt on cooking.
I’ve found upping the spice level a little but not so much to overtake, and even substituting my homemade Mixed Spice for Pumpkin Pie Spice brings a lovely warming note, I think from the cardamom I add to it. A little of grated carrot is a very traditional addition.
I have used the less common hazelnut liqueur Frangelico as I always have a bottle in the cupboard (I love the flavour and the fact the bottle looks like a monk complete with a rope tied around it’s ‘waist’!). You may of course use whichever spirit or liqueur you and your family prefer but I do encourage you to be fast and loose with the measuring of said alcohol if you aren’t pre-soaking the fruits. No one wants a dry Christmas Pudding and certainly, don’t drive home after eating one either! 😉
Recipe updated October 2017 with an improved cooking method after further testing and tweaking (I can't help this, even with my own recipes!).
- 200 g dried fruit*
- 50 g finely chopped dried dates
- 50 g finely chopped pecans**
- 90 ml Frangelico *** hazelnut liqueur
- 4 balls of Stem Ginger finely chopped
- 75 g soft butter
- 75 g dark muscovado sugar
- 2 tsp mixed spice or try my pumpkin pie spice blend for a change
- 1 tsp orange extract or zest of an orange
- 1 tsp lemon extract or zest of a lemon
- 70 g fresh breadcrumbs
- 2 large eggs
- 70 g self raising flour
- 1 medium carrot finely grated about 150g worth
- 1 tbsp treacle
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If you haven't soaked dried fruit in booze ahead of time, then I would place the fruit and Frangelico in a covered bowl overnight before you start and perhaps be a bit lose with your pouring wrist when you measure out the liqueur 😉
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Beat the butter and sugar until light and fluffy then beat in the eggs. Mix in everything apart from the flour, mixing very well. Lightly fold in the flour then scrape into a well buttered 1.4 to 1.7-litre pudding basin.
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Take a piece of baking parchment and a slightly larger piece of foil. Put a pleat about an inch deep across the middle of both then lightly grease the parchment side. Place over the pudding and secure with an elastic band or string, scrunching up the excess paper and foil around the rim of the basin.
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Lower onto the trivet inside the Instant Pot and pour boiling water to just below the level of the foil. My kettle has a capacity of 1.7-litres and I find I need most of it to come up to an inch below the rim of the pudding basin.
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Put the lid on, leave the Valve OPEN and set to Steam. As soon as you hear the steam coming out of the vent, set a timer for 15 minutes. Note that as the pot is not steaming under pressure when the vent is open, it will not start its own timer countdown.
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When the 15 minutes is up, close the Valve (use oven gloves) and set to Manual High for 45 minutes. When done, allow an NPR then retrieve the cooked pudding carefully with oven gloved hands. Remove the paper and foil and allow to cool. When cold, dry the top of the pudding off with kitchen roll then replace its covering with fresh paper and foil and leave in a cool dark place until required. This could be done a year in advance but tradition dictates at least 5 weeks before Christmas to give a full, matured flavour.
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When ready to cook, place the pudding on the trivet and pour boiling water in as before i.e. up to about one inch below the rim of your basin, setting the Instant Pot to 20 minutes on Steam (close the Valve this time). If you like your pudding extra rich and dark, you can give it 40 minutes on Steam and leave it for an hour or two on Keep Warm until you are ready for it. You can leave the pressure to release naturally and serve when you are ready on Christmas Day or if you like, do a QPR and serve right away.
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Invert onto a serving plate before portioning and serving with rum or brandy butter, custard or rum sauce mmm 😀
*= make the dried fruit up with whichever you prefer - currants, sultanas, raisins, cranberries, dried cherries are all good.
**= if you don't like the crunch of nuts, then replace with dried fruits instead.
***= I do love Frangelico and always have a bottle in but please do feel free to use Brandy, Rum, Whiskey or even Amaretto would be lovely. Use whatever you like or have in!
To make this pudding Gluten Free:
Replace the breadcrumbs with ground almonds and use gluten-free flour in place of the self-raising. If your GF flour is plain, add 1 scant tsp GF baking powder and 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda but if you have gluten-free self-raising flour in, by all means, use that.
This post contains affiliate links, meaning I will earn a little commission if you chose to buy items I’ve advertised, helping me to bring you all these recipes for free!
Like this post? Then why not try these related recipes:
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- Homemade Mixed Spice
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- Pumpkin Pie Spice
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- Slow Cooker Christmas Pudding
I have heard so much about the Instant Pot! Maybe I need to add it to my Christmas list! This recipe looks easy and fantastic!
Oh yes, ask Santa if he will bring you one! It’s an indispensable piece of kit in my kitchen 😀
Thanks you for this recipe! I have been thinking about making for the holidays and yours seems quite “doable”!
Oh it’s easy peasy Dan – mix and go!
Oooh this does look beautifully soft and fudgy. You’ve got me excited for Christmas now!
It really is those things Becca! Roll on the festive season – I’m a-ready!
😀
I am right there with you on Christmas spirit and wanting everything to be wrapped up in twinkling lights : )) Have never tried an instant pot before but need to get my hands on one to make this pudding!
Bring on the twinkly lights! And a sleigh full of Instant Pots for everyone lol!
Definitely need to get an instant pot! Such a delicious looking recipe!! And getting me all excited for Christmas
Has anyone made this gluten free?
HI Teal – I have just tried that this weekend. I used Juvela white mix in place of the flour and ground almonds in place of the breadcrumbs. As it was a more liquid and more dense mix with these substitutions, it is better with a longer cooking time – 60 minutes on Manual after the initial steam seemed to be about right. If you have gluten free breadcumbs I would use them instead of the almonds to lighten the mix but I don’t have GF bread in – this is to be eaten on our Christmas Day where only one family member is Coeliac. Hope that helps!
Waving hi over here in America. What is stem ginger and treacle? Treacle is maybe molasses? Is the dark sugar maybe a brown sugar?
Hi there Helene! Stem ginger also goes by the names of glacé ginger or candied ginger – I have a recipe to make you own here if you can’t find any locally (but you may be able to find crystallised ginger which is just fine as a substitute) -> http://www.everynookandcranny.net/simply-stem-ginger/
Treacle is technically a descriptive term to mean anything syrupy but in the UK, it is taken to mean a thick black and bitter syrup very similar to molasses. In fact, you could substitute it like for like here, no problem.
Again, in the UK, we have light and dark brown sugars. In the US I believe you only have “brown” sugar, without variation in strength of colour/depth of flavour. All these are, are white sugar with molasses added – the dark version has quite a lot more than American brown sugar in and is used here in Christmas cakes and puddings to give a darker appearance and a fuller flavour to the finished bake. You could use brown sugar and simply add another tbsp of molasses to get a similar effect here, again without altering the recipe.
I hope this all helps and that you enjoy the pudding! xx
Hi. This looks amazing. I’m going to try and make my first ever Christmas pud. I can’t seem to find stem ginger here in France. Is there anything else I could use?
Wow I’m really surprised you can make this so long before the actual serve 😮 Does it improve/change in taste the longer you keep it in a dark place?
Absolutely – the bare minimum you want to leave a Christmas Pud before eating it is 6 weeks but they can keep for years. The flavour matures and the texture softens. I’ve some friends who make two and have the second at Easter 😀
What were the main switches you did to adapt a traditional recipe for the instapot?
I have a traditional steam-over-the-pot recipe that asks for 2cups of fruit, 4cups of flour, 1cup of sugar, etc…. How would you adapt that? Is there anything that needs to be lowered or increased to be suitable for the instapot?
Hi Eva, thank you for your question. Essentially for the Instant Pot, you start the cooking off by steaming under pressure then finish cooking on Manual. You do need to cook it again as stated on the day you serve it whichever way you do it. Just looking at the list of ingredients you have mentioned, it sounds like one monster Christmas pud you’re planning there!
Now, i haven’t tested a much larger pudding but I would suggest that it would need a longer cooking time to get it cooked right through. Maybe try an hour rather than 45 minutes and do check the pudding for doneness before covering and storing. It’s hard to overcook a Christmas pud but you could definitely under do it if it is much larger. I hope that is helpful – let me know how you got on 🙂
I’ve not had my IP for very long and am getting used to all the wonderful food it can make.
I’d like to make your Christmas pudding recipe this year, but as they’ll only be 3 of us at Christmas lunch, I want to make 2 smaller puddings. Can you suggest what size basins and what timings I should use for cooking and reheating please?
Hi Ruthie. I’ve made mini versions of this pudding by using individual plastic pudding mounds or darioles. Depending on how big they are, a half batch should make 3-4 individual puds. I would still steam for 10 minutes, but cook on Manual for 30 minutes. Then when ready to serve give them a 15 minute steam. It’s hard to overcook a Christmas pudding but you can underdo them. This would be the minimum cooking time I would suggest. I hope that helps x
Hi again. Thanks for your reply. My pudding basins are about 140ml each. I can fit 4 in my 8l pot. Do I need to cover the pots with parchment and foil or can I just use the plastic lids that came with the basins? Also do i still fill the Ip with boiling water up to just below the rim of the basins?
Hi Ruthie. You can use the lids but what I would say is to be careful to not overfill them – no more than 3/4 full is about right or the lids my pop off as the pudding cooks! I use foil and greaseproof as I am old school (plus I always lose those lids!). What I do is put 4 on the bottom layer of my pot on top of the trivet then pour boiling water up to just below the rims of the basins. If need be, you can stack more on top – you will probably have enough mixture for 6 little puddings with that size basin.
They will cook in the steam without needing to be immersed in the water beneath them x
I took this and it applied it to another, similar, recipe. Worked beautifully! Wow! Thank you!
I’m really pleased to hear that Carole, thanks for letting me know! 😀 x
Hi again Jodie Having used your recipe to make 6 small puds, I’m planning to make some more but this time in 2 medium size ceramic basins. I checked the size and they each hold about 640ml each. How long do you think I should cook each pudding for? Still 15 minutes steam and 45 mins manual high pressure like the large pud?
Hi Ruthie, yeah I would give it the full cooking time. Better safe than sorry – ceramic basins don’t conduct heat as well as metal or plastic and you want to be sure the puds are cooked x
Great! That’s what I’ll be doing tomorrow then 😄
How long should I soak the fruit before using? 🙂
Usually a minimum of overnight will do – just until the fruit has sucked up all of the booze x
I made this at the weekend; absolutely delicious! Another great recipe from EN&C 😋
Thank you Sooze! So glad you enjoyed it x x
Hi Jo. Love your cooking and all the help. Can I ask a very silly question please ? When you steam Christmas puds and say leave the valve OPEN do you mean it should be set to Venting ?
That’s right Pam, point it to “venting”. You want the steam to escape to allow the pudding to rise initially they you close it to pressure cook and cook it through. And thank you, I’m teally happy to hear you enjoy the recipes x
Hi Jo. Thanks again. 3 brilliant puddings waiting for Christmas ! And the IP is not going back in the under stairs cupboard. I’m going for it and trying out lots of your ideas – and a few of my own ! I just wish you lived next door !
Wonderful! Ooo 3 puddings, lucky family you have there. I’m so happy my recipes are useful for you, thanks for your lovely comment x
Merry Christmas, Jo.
I live in the southeastern US. I just found you as I was doing research on making Figgy Pudding in the Instant Pot. I compared a few recipes & yours sounded the best (& most fun).
I’ve now done my practice run on the gluten free version. I’ve learned a few things. Treacle is basically molasses. Your muscovado sugar, I couldn’t find here, but at our natural grocer we have a few varieties of brown (light to medium, to dark, to very dark) sugar. I used a dark brown, raw sugar (minimally processed).
The BIG thing I learned— DUH, since I live at 5280 feet above sea level— high altitude adjustments for pressure cooking!! LOL.
I got so focused on the recipe & how I would make it my own— I forgot about high altitude! LOL
It turned out pretty good, but could be a bit more done in the center. Hubby lived it though—especially with the butter rum sauce I made to top it.
I didn’t let it “age,” as I’m hyper-sensitive to molds—& a bit spooked by the whole “let it set for weeks, months or years (maybe it’s a silly American thing). So we enjoyed it that evening.
So for my real “performance,” (3 days before Christmas) I’ll be making high altitude adjustments in added Cook time, and a bit more gf flour.
I’ll let you know how it goes.
Thank you so much for all your contributions. You’re my new go-to gal for Instant Pot recipes!
Hugs!
~Paula
Albuquerque, NM, USA
Hello Paula, thank you so much for your lovely comment, it has made my day! I can’t tell you how thrilled I am to hear from American readers who have been tempted enough by my recipe to make their own Christmas puddings for the first time this year. Yes, we are an odd bunch, keeping them so long but health must come first and it is better safe than sorry. Presoaking your fruit in your favourite booze and perhaps upping the spices a little will compensate for not leaving the pud to mature for weeks/months/years.
Gosh, I hadn’t realised how high up Albuquerque was! Where I live in South Yorkshire, it is very, very hilly but certainly not remotely high enough (as with 99% of the rest of the UK!) to warrant adaptations to cooking times, you’ve taught me something today. I must look up the conversions for high altitude cooking so I can help readers in future.
I hope you are enjoying your Real Performance Pud, which by my calculations and giving the time difference, you could be eating right now. Thanks again and a very Merry Christmas to you and yours xx
Hi, Jo.
Just an update…
Regarding my Take-Two pudding adventure.
With my high altitude adjustments, and adding a bit more flour (gluten-free, in this case), my second “real performance” Figgy Pudding came out perfect. It got rave reviews. Actually, the 1st one also got rave reviews too. But the second one was even better.
Thanks so much for the recipe you put out there for us. As soon as I get some time, I’ll post about my Figgy Pudding adventure, along with my adjustments… and I’ll be supplying a link to your original. Thanks for being awesome.
Hugs,
~Paula
Albuquerque, NM, USA
That’s wonderful Paula, I’m so pleased for you! I shall look out for your post x
Hi Jo.
Can’t seem to edit finger-flubs after posting. Paula here, again. That should have been— I live in the southWESTERN US (NOT southeastern). Sorry. Dang fat fingers & silly autocorrect.
Cheers, ~Paula
Is there any way this would work without any alcohol? We love Christmas pudding but have only ever had a Tesco alcohol free version which is quite a sad microwaveable one!
Hiya Hina, lovely to hear from you again! The alcohol is really an intrinsic part of the pudding, both for preservation and flavour. I wouldn’t advise keeping a pudding if you don’t use alcohol. You can try replacing it with orange juice (freshly squeezed) and adding a bit more spice and glacé ginger to compensate for the lack of flavour from the booze x
Hi there! I am gearing up for CHRIIIIISTMAAAAAAAAAAS (sorry, the spirit of Noddy Holder always overtakes me at this time of year) and I want to try making a Christmas Pud for the first time ever. This pressure cooker method seems like it is perfect for a pudding newbie, thanks for the super detailed instructions!
I would just like to know if I can ditch the ginger, I really don’t like that flavour in a pudding (even though I love it in other things). Could I just increase the fruit content instead? Or will it ruin the texture? Thank you very much!
Lol I love a bit of Noddy Holder Christmas slogan shouting Em! Absolutely, leave out the ginger, use whichever fruit you like in its place.
This is probably a silly question – but is the measured amount of alcohol in addition to that which you soaked the fruit in? I.e. do you add extra alcohol to the butter/flour etc when you mix it?
Well, I have tested it both ways – using only the measured amount and also using fruit I have presoaked until plump *plus* the amount stated in the recipe. Both work very nicely. If you want it extra boozy and moist, there is no harm soaking the fruit in the alcohol then adding a splash more before mixing it all together. Hope that helps.
2nd year using this recipe, just waiting for the first pud to finish. Another 4 to go after this. Long night ahead! Thanks so much for the recipe, first time I tried my own pudding last year and everyone LOVED it. We’ve only had shop bought ones before, but shall never buy a pudding again thanks to you and this recipe!
:’) Oh thank you Quinn! I am so, so happy to hear you are making it again and that this pudding has been enjoyed by your loved ones already. Thanks for taking the time to leave the lovely feedback x
It’s THAT time of year again! I have a question about the grated carrot: the recipe includes c150gm or grated carrot but the description above says “A little of grated carrot is a very traditional addition but I have used the less common hazelnut liqueur Frangelico as I always have a bottle in the cupboard..” That seems to indicate that you don’t use carrot.
Can you clarify, please?
Many thanks.
Hi Jim, oh dear my grammar let me down there – I’m really sorry! It should have had a full stop after the grated carrot comment. I *do* use carrot and the comment about the liqueur should have been the next sentence. I have corrected it now. Apologies!
I only have 3 weeks until Christmas, is there any point in making this or will it be rubbish?!
I used your recipe for Christmas pudding two years ago and they were all really good however I notice the recipe has since changed, it now says to steam with vent open first and then under high pressure for the rest of the time whereas the original recipe said to first steam with vent closed and cook under low pressure for the rest of the cooking time. I’m now not sure what to do as they turned out fine originally and wonder why the recipe has changed.
Hi Margaret, thank you for stopping by and for your five star review!
The reality is, for Christmas puddings, I am no longer convinced that the position of the vent makes a difference. The theory is that it helps the initial rise of the pudding to steam it with the valve open but having now had a couple more years of making a lot more versions of this pudding recipe, I can’t convince myself either way is superior anymore. Some people feel very strongly one way or the other so you will finds arguments for and against. My advice is to stick with the older way to have the valve closed if you have had success and enjoyed those puddings. Christmas is too important a feast to mess with your favourites! I hope that helps x
I live in Australia and I just came across this recipe as I was trying to find out how to cook my Christmas puddings using my Phillips electric pressure cooker which I think is similar to the Instant Pot. I’ve been using the same recipe for years and don’t want to disappoint my pudding admirers by trying another recipe so I’m hoping you can help me with the cooking times. The recipe includes 875g dried fruit, 125g breadcrumbs, 125g plain flour with bicarb soda, 250g sugar, 4 eggs and 250g suet etc. I am thinking of splitting the mix either into 6 – 7 portions (500ml each) or 1 half portion (1 litre) and 3 – 4 smaller (500ml) ones. Can you please tell me how long I should cook these different portions?
I made this on Stir-Up Sunday and served it last night. I’m American, but was very curious to try a steamed pudding in my Instant Pot. I really had no idea what to expect, but it was delicious! I used a mixture of dried cherries, cranberries, golden raisins and dried apricots for the fruit & nuts (no dates); Amaretto in place of Frangelico; and a grated quince instead of a grated carrot. We served it with brandy butter and everyone really enjoyed it! Thanks for the recipe and great instructions for the Instant Pot.
Just a question as I am going to be trying this for our Canadian Thanks giving dinner. Why so much water when you are cooking under pressure? The purpose of water for steamed pudding is to keep consistent temperature for whole pudding. That is accomplished by the pressure. I am going to do this without all that water and see how it turns out and will get back to you. Should only take an hour. Wish me luck. (Here in Canada we have varying degrees of brown sugar from light to dark to Demerara.
Any chance you might provide American measurements for those of us who do not speak metric? Pretty please? I’m math-challenged so doing the conversions myself is likely to result in catastrophe. US equivalents would be hugely appreciated!! (PS: this sounds DELICIOUS, and I’m dying to try one in my Instant Pot!)
[…] using this recipe, which employs my beloved Instant Pot. The first step is soaking the dried fruit in booze. (Hey, […]
When you st the 45 do you wait till it comes to pressure as it seems to take 25 min to do this or like the stream count down the 45 and shut it off and naturally release.
[…] I don’t think I’ll ever buy one again!! I use a recipe specifically for the Instant Pot from Every Nook and Cranny. It works brilliantly and creates a soft, almost fudgy […]
As close as my Mums recipe taste wise as I have ever had. The first time I had a slice with cream I wasnt too sure. I thought the breadcrumbs made it too much like bread pudding. But after a few days and it was perfect. So obviously better to leave it for a while. It was so good As a cold desert am going to make another one soon.