Our easy Minute or large pearl Instant Pot tapioca pudding recipetakes less than 15 minutes and can be made in Ninja Foodi too. If you love a little bit of dessert after dinner but need a fast way to get it cooked, this and our Instant Pot rice pudding are the treats for you.
Yes we are back with this easy Instant Pot tapioca pudding recipe, yet another favorite Instant Pot dessert recipe! It came out fabulous and only took about 15 minutes! I grew up with tapioca pudding. It’s now one of our favorites and added to the list Instant Pot recipes with many others you’ve got to try on our site. Let us know what you think!
Ninja Foodi Tapioca Pudding
Making it in the Instant Pot is no different as far as the ingredients go, just of course the timing, the pan, and what settings to use is what you need to know. If you’ve heard about IPs or Ninja Foodi but don’t have one yet I share my love for them because it has really made dinnertime much easier in our house, and allowed us to eat together more often (the goal right).
Large Pearl Tapioca Instant Pot
Tapioca pudding great either warm or cold in my opinion with just a dash of nutmeg on top. It’s such a simple dessert really and mostly milk so I love that my kids like it (they aren’t big milk drinkers anymore but this is a great way to get some into them). If you’ve made this pudding on the stove top you know that it’s really milk, sugar, tapioca and an egg.
If you are new to pressure cooking we have a lot of easy one pot meal recipes for you here. To begin with let’s start with a few basic tips:
- Make sure to Bookmark our InstaPot recipes page. We add new ones each week!
- Then PRINT this —–> Instant Pot cooking times cheat sheet that will help you understand how long meat, vegetables and beans take to cook in your pressure cooker.
- I HIGHLY recommend you buy this non stick pot.
- You should know how to deglaze a pressure cooker after sautéing but it won’t have as many issues with this better liner.
For reference, this is the model I have (a 6 quart) and use for all recipe creations.
Tapioca in Pressure Cooker
With both of us working full time it’s fabulous to be able to cook what would normally take a an hour or so for less than 20 minutes, seriously! There are a few versions but I have a 6 quart pot at home. There are two ways, PIP (pot in pot) method is below and second way you put directly into your pressure cooker pot:
Ingredient Notes
You will first need to have a pot for inside your IP to use the PIP (pot in pot) method for this – You MUST use this pot for it to work (seen above and linked in the recipe card below)
To make it creamy and cook the pearls you want to use either whole or 2% Milk. I haven’t tried with coconut milk but have with our Instant Pot coconut rice pudding and that worked great as a dairy free choice.
You will want a large Egg, ideally at room temperature to thicken this dish. It needs to be tempered a bit before adding whisked with some of your hot liquid or else it will become chunkier like scrambled eggs.
We are going to use Minute tapioca pearls to make this in the pot in pot version. You can find this in a red box at the store near the baking items.
And to add flavor we love a splash of Vanilla and sweeten it with white granulated sugar
Now you could cut down the sugar if you wanted or make sugar free with a Splenda product if need be. I haven’t done that but it should not make a bit of difference as far as the directions go. I will share how to make the version showed below in the pans but will say that the other one in the recipe card is more user friendly.
Pot In Pot Method
Pour 2 c water into your Instant Pot and put a trivet inside. Add the sugar, vanilla, milk, and Minute tapioca into the BOTTOM of the 2 stackable pots. Add an egg and whisk together for 1-2 minutes so all of it is combined well & sugar begins to dissolve
- Put the top pot on top of your lower filled pot
- Put the lid on the top pot
- Secure the locking device so both pots are tightly together
- Lower your pot on to your trivet, must be low trivet so lid will shut
- Put your lid on and close your steam valve
- Put your IP on manual, pressure high for 5 minutes.
- Do a natural release for 4 minutes before releasing steam
Pour Instant Pot tapioca pudding in your bottom bowl/container into a separate cool bowl. Put bowl in fridge, it will continue to thicken as it cools.
Large Pearl Tapioca Instant Pot
Here is the second (and best) way to make Instant Pot tapioca pudding. We do it right in our Instant Pot and there’s no need to soak the tapioca pearls beforehand. Video is below and full recipe is in recipe card below:
- I HIGHLY suggest you get a non stick pot to make this and other recipes!
- Add this brand of small pearl tapioca or this large tapioca and water into your pot
- Close lid and steam valve and set to pressure cooking on high for 5 minutes.
- Whisk together your egg yolks and milk in a small bowl so they are ready. Then do a quick release when done.
- Turn pot OFF using the cancel button (important step so you don’t get the burn notification). Use a wooden spoon to scrape bits of stuck on tapioca off bottom of pot.
- Now turn your pressure cooker to saute.
- Add some of the hot pudding into your bowl with milk and whisk so it can temper the mixture.
- Once the pudding starts boiling slowly pour 1/2 the egg/milk mixture in stirring consistently so the egg cooks and pudding doesn’t burn. (I like using a wooden spoon during this process), then add 2nd half.
- Slowly sprinkle in sugar and stir consistently until dissolved. Stir in vanilla.
Turn pressure cooker off, remove pot so it doesn’t continue to cook, pour pudding into bowls immediately so it doesn’t stick. You can certainly enjoy this as is nice and warm if you prefer that temperature. OR Allow to cool in fridge to thicken up more (or eat immediately if you prefer).
Instant Pot Tapioca Pudding Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Instructions
- Add tapioca pearls and water into your Instant Pot (directly inside, this is not the PIP method that is above). Stir
- Close lid and steam valve and set to pressure high for 5 minutes. Whisk together your egg yolks and milk in a small bowl so they are ready. Then do a quick release when done.
- Turn pot OFF using the cancel button (important step so you don’t get the burn notification). Use a wooden spoon to scrape bits of stuck on tapioca off bottom of pot.
- Now turn your pressure cooker to saute. Add some of the hot pudding into your bowl with milk and whisk so it can temper the mixture.
- Once the pudding starts boiling slowly pour 1/2 the egg/milk mixture in stirring consistently so the egg cooks and pudding doesn't burn. (I like using a wooden spoon during this process), then add 2nd half.
- Slowly sprinkle in sugar and stir consistently until dissolved. Add vanilla.
- Turn pressure cooker off, remove pot so it doesn't continue to cook, pour pudding into bowls immediately. Refrigerate
- Allow to cool in fridge to thicken up more (or eat immediately if you prefer).
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Optional items are a dash of cinnamon inside or on top of your Instant Pot pudding, nutmeg is good too, and a few raisins has been a favorite topping too. Looking for more Instant Pot dessert recipes?
- Pressure cooker brownies are fudgy and packed with chocolate
- Instant Pot pineapple upside down cake is easy to bake in a mini pan
Here is the recipe for making tapioca in an Instant Pot. It’s a short cook time and if you follow it precisely it turns out so good. Immediately after it’s done I transfer to small bowls and refrigerate to cool before eating.
Mine boiled over the pan I used Do you cover the pan
Yes try covering with foil.
Mine did too and I had it covered.
I used PIP and mine has a cover also used a rack that elevated the pan a couple of inches so bottom would not get too hot. Turned out fine but texture is different than stovetop.
Have you made a larger batch in the IP? My family loves tapioca so much I generally make it with just over 8 cups of milk. Would it just need more time in the IP?
It may, I haven’t doubled it yet. My rice pudding in the IP doesn’t work as well doubled so I usually don’t.
I, too, followed the recipe exactly as stated. I made it twice, each time it burned on the bottom.
I used a rack made for eggs that elevated it about 2″ from the bottom and turned out fine.
So glad you loved it
I just got my instant pot and tapioca is one of my favorite desserts! When doing the pot in a pot method for this recipe do you still need to add water to the bottom of the instant pot? Do you cover the pot inside? And how much bigger did the bowl with the tapioca in it need to be then when the tapioca is just added? Thank you so much for the feedback and I’m excited to try this recipe!
I haven’t done pot in pot yet for this one but yes always add about 2 c. of water to the bottom if you are using this method to cook in the IP.
My instant pot did not come to pressure
Did you close the valve?
I followed this recipe but added the egg at the beginning after beating it with the milk. I couldn’t see any reason not to! I used the PIP method (Pot In Pot) so no worries about burning it. It turned out perfect!
The egg chunks are a little weird. Has anyone ever tried it without adding the egg?
Add very slowly to avoid chunks.
I added the egg at the beginning after beating it with the milk.
Could the egg be tempered and added all at once, instead of 1/4 at a time?
I’ve never cooked tapioca with eggs. Is it necessary? Does it add additional flavor? Thanks!
Did you use instant tapioca?
Yes, in the red box.
Followed exactly, burned on bottom. I wonder if pot in pot would work?
From another J(Joy) Reding, had to reply. 🙂
Mine didn’t burn at all; used Pam organic spray. Maybe you need more of a coating?
Mine got dark on the bottom as well. It doesn’t taste burned but has the dark chunks from the bottom. I think I will try the PIP to see if that will work better as well. Tastes good though!