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.
Will this work for soy milk? I normally cook with that in the microwave but would like to try in the Instant pot. I normally cook the soy-tapioca, throw in fridge to harden, then put some frozen wild blueberries on top. Next morning it is like blueberry ice cream for breakfast.
I haven’t used soy milk with this one yet. My guess is that it would be fine. If you try it let me know!
This is how I remember tapioca throughout my life, growing up and making it as an adult. Thanks so much for sharing this, some say Minute tapioca doesn’t work in the pc. I’ve tried pearl and maybe I just don’t like pearl even though I soak it overnight. So I finally got a box of Minute to try in my instant pot. Winner! Because my husband is allergic to eggs, I have to be very careful, so what I did was leave the egg out and whisked the egg well, released pressure naturally after 12 minutes on high, (I used a heavy solid trivet from ekovana that has handles, so thought it might need more time.). I then added the whisked egg to the pudding, stirring constantly as I added it, then put the cover back on the pudding and put back into the pc for two minutes, gave it another natural release, stirred butter and vanilla in and put it in the fridge. Served with NYT’s recipe for tart cherry sauce. The pudding has a better texture than stove top and no standing over the stove stirring! After trying several pearl recipes, I really wondered if this wouldn’t be so good either. My go to now, the ingredients are the same as on the box.
So glad you liked it, I agree much better than watching it.
Did you put the ingredients directly in the instant pot or use pot in pot method?
Did the measurements for the PIP method get deleted somehow? I can see the method and ingredients listed but not the amounts. My sister recommended this recipe, so I assumed the measurements were the same as the not PIP method since that was all that was listed and it turned out like glue! My sister went back and looked and said that it had changed and when she made it it called for a lot more milk and a lot less tapioca (minute). She said the original was excellent. I’d really love to give it another try with correct measurements.
Sorry about that, when I updated the post it went a little wonky and amounts for PIP method didn’t transfer. Fixed and PIP method is updated correctly now.
Thanks so much!!
I noticed on the second recipe that it calls for 2 egg yolks. When I read the directions, it said add egg and yolks. I’m confused! Do I use the whites or not? Thank u
Sorry, typo. Fixed. First recipe uses the whole egg, the second just uses egg yolks.
you say for non PIP method to use NOT minute tapioca, however later on you said to use the stuff in the red box, is there NOT minute tapioca that is also in the red box? is it ok to use minit if its all i have?
You can try, I just do it this way. One with not Minute tapioca and the other method without. Let me know how yours turns out.
Could anyone tell me if once done can the tapioca pudding be put into a pie shell? I can’t find a straight tapioca pudding pie recipe and not sure if my pudding is too watery for the pie crust
I’m not sure about tapioca as a pie itself. However, you can use uncooked tapioca pearls in a pie filling (such as peach). The pearls will cook just fine when cooking the pie.
I made this as directed but found it too liquidy, so I put it back in for an additional 4 min and it came out perfect.
I added 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and wisked after the 1st cook, great texture.
Thanks for your tips, everyone prefers a different texture.
First time making it, turned out well! I followed the directions exactly. Nor burn, no boil over. Will make this again! Even tasted great right out of the pot, warm!
Awesome!!
First time making it, turned out well! I followed the directions exactly. Nor burn, no boil over. Will make this again! Even tasted great right out of the pot, warm!
I prefer cooking my Tapioca in the microwave. Same recipe. Cook for 6 minutes on High in 8qt bowl. Then watch for whale cooking for 4 more minutes. Turn off power if it starts to run over and restart as needed. 12 Minutes total cook time. Add vanilla last.