The Original Instant Pot Iced Tea
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This quick and easy Instant Pot iced tea recipe is a new summer staple. Use this recipe to make iced tea concentrate in your Instant Pot or pressure cooker.
You’re outside relaxing comfortably on the lounge chair, enjoying the warm kiss of the summer sunshine. The air is warm, sticky and smells like August.
You’re hot, and thirsty, and you totally care about keeping hydrated. Reach down to the shade beneath your chair and grab a glistening, sweating, bottle of home brewed, organic iced tea.
I grew up drinking iced tea rather than pop. I call it pop, because I’m Canadian, I think that’s a pretty Canadian thing? I’d love to know what you call it, and where you’re from! I’ve heard cola, soda, etc
Step aside cold brew coffee – Instant Pot Iced Tea is here. There’s a new sheriff in Drink Town!
This recipe is dedicated to keepin cool. In more ways than one.
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Tips + Tricks
No. 1 –> Yes, you need to try this. I know it sounds ridiculous, but it really is great! Brewing Instant Pot sweet tea is quick and totally hands-off.
No. 2 –> Cream sounds a bit weird, but it adds a really rich mouthfeel. Makes it really decadent, like a good cold brew!
No. 3 –> Buy good tea and use good water. There are so few ingredients in this recipe, but it will make a big difference in the final product if you use the good stuff.
BE AWARE: this recipe produces more of an Instant Pot iced tea concentrate than actual iced tea! So just know that it’s like rocket-powered tea, it’s much better on ice, and I preferred it with cream.
Ingredients
- Teabags
- Filtered water
- flavour boosters, optional.
How to make
- Add water to Instant Pot, bring to a simmer.
- Add tea, baking soda, and chopped fruit and herbs if desired.
- Cook for 5 minutes.
- Add sweetener once it’s done cooking
- Enjoy!
Flavour boosters
This Instant Pot ice tea recipe is really versatile, it can handle just about any fruit/ herb combo you wanna throw at it. OR, if you’re into the classics, it can handle no adds too. The world is your oyster!
I’ve done apple, berry, peach, peppermint, and other fruits and herbs! All of them have been delicious. I’ve also added jam, honey, a bit of sugar.
I’ve given you the bones, now you take them and let your creative foodie flag fly!
If you like this Instant Pot recipe, you’ll probably love my NEW Instant Pot Lemonade recipe!
Why Baking Soda
Baking soda is 9 on the pH scale, because of its alkalinity baking soda is able to effectively buffer acidity.
There are a few schools of thought on the acidity vs bitterness vs astringency taste sensations. In totally basic terms, only bitterness and acidity are sense of taste, where astringency is the sense of touch.
- Acidity gives off crisp, sour flavour. Think of lemons, and vinegar.
- Bitterness is sharp and pungent – think of leafy greens or grapefruit.
- Astringency is a sensation – think of a good bottle of red wine, and how it drys your mouth right out and leaves you with a parched feeling. That is astringency! And also a damn good glass of wine!
Does buffering acidity mean that the baking soda can also buffer astringency? Not necessarily, but proponents on both sides swear their side is right.
For me, I just split the difference and add my little pinch and pretend I’m making science! You can decide!
Love your instant pot? Try these!
If you love this recipe, please give it a star rating or leave a comment below! This helps me to create more content you enjoy!
📖 Printable Recipe
Instant Pot Iced Tea
Ingredients
- 5 tea bags I used Pure Leaf black tea with vanilla
- 6 cups filtered water
- pinch of baking soda optional
- chopped fruit or herbs ex. apple, mint, strawberry
- Maple syrup or honey, to taste.
Instructions
- Add water to pot of pressure cooker, set to reduce, and bring to a simmer.
- Once simmering, add the tea bags, baking soda, and fruit/herbs, if using.
- Close lid and valve. Cook at high pressure for 5 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally.
- Strain the tea into a large container, add sweetener 1 tbsp at a time, tasting in between. Tea will be a bit bitter when hot, so be cautious not to over-sweeten!
- Chill in the fridge for a couple of hours.
- Serve over ice, and add cream if desired.
Recommended Equipment + Ingredients
Nutrition
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That looks amazing. Now I need to get myself one of these and make some maple flavored Iced tea!
Do you have to throw in the apples? I’d just prefer plain old sweet iced tea. My sisters would like your recipe so I may pass it on to them. Thanks!
Hey Dawn, certainly not! If you don’t like apples, omit them or replace with a fruit you love! Thanks for sharing!
If you are using looseleaf tea leaves as opposed to teabags, any idea how much I should use?
Hey Missy, I’ve done it with loose leaf as well! I just tossed in a good sized tablespoon for each bag and strained it once it was done brewing! Hope that helps 🙂
Yes, thanks so much!!! Going to give this a try now! Would you recommend low or high if I don’t have a medium setting for pressure? And should I do a little longer or high shorter in duration?
You know, I’m not 100% sure! I bet low pressure would be enough to extract the flavour 🙂
You could wrap the loose tea in a coffee filter and use avtwist tie to keep closed. That’s what I do when I make a cup of tea with loose tea. Refused to pay what they want for a tea ball.
This sounds very interesting also, live in Nebraska and we call it pop
I like my tea strong and plain. I normally boil a gallon of water and put 20 tea bags in it and leave it on low for about 10-12 hours. How strong is this recipe? What would you recommend?
I’ve never had tea that strong, Tammy – I think I’d be awake for a month straight! So I couldn’t tell you! BUT you could always add a few extra bags and just water it down should you find it a bit on the strong side?!
Here in Texas – everything is a Coke. “What kind of Coke do you want? Dr Pepper, root beer, sprite?”
This tea sounds amazing!!
HAHA! The people at Coca Cola must LOVE Texans! I’d love to hear what you think of the recipe, Becky!!
What part of Texas? I grew up in Austin and live in Dallas. Everyone I know calls it soda. As an aside, I also love tea. Not sweet tea so much so I love the thought of adding fruit. I think I’ll add peach or mango. Yum.
Yes I’m from TX too & that’s what we always called every kind of soda: Coke! Lol! But as more people moved in from other states it was confusing for them so we had to change it up to soda. Hehe
LOL that’s awesome. Yeah, if you said Coke in my house, you’d get a can of Coca Cola! Haha
I’m in Arizona and everything is also coke here. LOL.
I’m born and raised Arizona and have never ever heard anyone call any “soda” coke haha, only coca cola!
But almost all people from az are from somewhere else, so I have always heard either soda or pop, probably equal amounts.
I’m always looking for new ways to use my pressure cooker and I love iced tea. How much water do you use? Are your tea bags regular or large size?
I call it soda. Not sure if I got that from upstate New York, St. Louis or Pennsylvania. Pretty sure it wasn’t from my brief time in Texas.
Thanks.
HI Karen, I use regular tea bags! And 6 cups, or 1.5 litres of water!
You have lived in a good chunk of the country!
Hi – my pressure cooker doesn’t have a “reduce” button. I have the Ultra. Any ideas what setting I should use instead?
HI Paula, any setting that will bring the water up to temperature will work!
Hey there! I have the Duo 8 Qt and just used my “sauté “ setting. Worked perfectly!
This looks great with cream! We don’t add cream to tea here in Oklahoma but I think I’ll try it. We say pop also.
That’s awesome! I always have time for trying new things! I’d love to hear what you think!
Hi! Can you tell me what type of cream you add? I, too, have never had tea with cream but it looks delish!
Hey! In Canada we call it table cream. It’s 18%. I might be biased, but it’s perfect for any cream needs! Rich enough to give the silky mouthfeel but not as rich as whipping cream or as thin as half and half!
Thanks for sharing! What does the baking soda do?
The baking soda helps to cut the bitterness
I’ve heard it also keeps it clear. i’m from michigan and it’s pop, but my parents were from the south, so i can remember having sweet tea in my baby bottle!
We called it coke too in Indiana. Coffee creamer or regular whipping cream?
Hey Pam, I always use 18% coffee cream!
Can this be made without sweetener? I’m an unsweetened tea kinda person. ?
Anne, of course it can! I try to use health(ier) options for sweeteners, but you can definitely omit!
I’ve tried a few different versions.
Found good ratio, 5 tea bags(any variety) to 8 cups water.
High pressure 4-minutes, NPR 10-minutes
Tea is stong enough to stand up to ice.
Hey Cliff! Thanks for the tip! I’ll try that next time 🙂
Sorry, forgot to rate on last post. Your recipe was a great starting point. I forgot how good sun tea is.
Recipe looks great. Think I’ll try it with fresh peaches. I did have to laugh though when you talked about sun tea because I live in Phoenix, Arizona and I can make sun tea in the summer time in about an hour and a half literally.
Oh gosh, I wish, Jill! We’ve been to Phoenix in the middle of winter and worn shorts because it was so beautiful! HAHA
I can’t complain too much, though, yesterday was 82*f here! Here’s hoping we have a long, hot summer in Alberta 🙂
Hey Pam, we’ve always called them Cokes here in Texas, or sometimes soft drinks, but mostly Cokes! I’m going to try making ice tea this way. It’s bound to be a stronger brew and I love strong ice tea!
Ha! That’s too funny!I guess it’s like calling it a Band-Aid instead of bandage, or Kleenex instead of tissue!
Looks great! Now, I’m from Texas and it’s “Coke”. Everything is a Coke and you tell them what kind. Grew up in Houston and lived in Fort Worth until 7 years sgo. Now we live in Georgia and it’s a mixture of “Coke” and “Soda”. My mom is from very North West Louisana and they called them “Soda Waters”. Isn’t it funny how all areas have a slang?!
I love it! I know that as a Canadian I say a lot of things that aren’t common vernacular at all, so it’s fun for me to hear other people call things and how they say them!
I grew up in Georgia. It was always Coke. I thought it was because Coke comes from GA The first time I was offered a soda in Illinois I had no idea what I was going to get. HaHa.
Where did you find those awesome y’all glasses??
*tall … clearly my phone and I are both from Houston ?
LOL!!
Those are the bottles from the Pure Leaf Tea House Collection! I bought the iced tea, drank it and kept the bottles 🙂
That’s funny, I was thinking about those glasses/jars, too!
I love that you show your Breville on your counter. I own this one too and love it but wondered if I “should” have bought the name brand for the insta-pot recipes. Thank you for the recipe! Can’t wait to try!
I’ve been able to adapt almost all recipes! The only one I skunked so far was yogurt. Oops!! HAHA
I grew up in California, we call it soda. Live in Arkansas now and her pop, coke, and soda-pop a lot. Are the apples use for the natural sugar or for flavor? And what kind of apples?
Hi Colleen!
The apples are for a bit of both! You can omit if you like, or sub with a different fruit if desired. I chose them because they don’t turn the iced tea murkey!
We call it coke in my family. I also live in the Phoenix area and sun tea is a no-no now because of the bacteria that grow- even with filtered water. I’m always looking for an alternative that’s a little faster and anything I can do in my instant pot makes me happy! Can’t wait to try it unsweetened with my favorite tea (which is in your recipe)! I also like their peach one. Thanks!
I had never considered the bacteria! WOW! Makes sense though. Hope you like this recipe!
Do you remove the metal staples in the teabags before putting them in the pressure cooker? Can’t wait to try this my way of making sweet tea on the stove and letting it sit overnight is still to weak for my taste! I do use decaf bags or even half decaf half regular to help because I’m so sensitive to caffeine I’d be up all night!
I usually use loose tea, and strain, but no I didn’t take the staples out when I made tea with the tea bags! Caffeine is so funny – it keeps me up all night too ?
North central Ohio here and we call it pop ? plan on trying this, I love iced tea!
HI – I would like to try this recipe – can you indicate how much Baking Soda for this recipe please?
Hi Cathy, a pinch is equivalent to 1/4 of a teaspoon! Hope that helps!
I’m from Louisiana and I grew up saying “cold drinks”. I now live in TX, but once I was older I began to say “sodas”.
That recipe sounds good, but I think I’ll use peaches instead of apples.
If you haven’t tried Dragon Tea. It’s a must for tea livers. Now I can’t wait to try this. Dragon Tea are balls of tea leaves. Thank you for the recipe
love those tall skinny glass bottles- where did you get those?
Hey Rainey, those bottles actually came from Nestle PureLeaf Tea!
We call it pop. I live in Washington state. U need sugar in that tea!!
LOL!! I always joke that I’m sweet enough! 😀
hi,
Does the water have to be filtered and why if so. Can a Brita be enough?
Hi! I prefer filtered water – Brita would be fine!
Hi! I would like to know what glass bottles those are! Thanks!
Hi Margie, they are the glasses from the Pure Leaf tea I mentioned in the post!
I tried making it with fruit.. and changed it to adding the apple slices (i used a whole apple minus the core and seeds) after I opened it. I let them sit in the tea 5 minutes.. then scoop them out. the flavor is a little more subtle.. but still there.. I love tea this way
Awesome, Vikkie! I hadn’t considered chucking a whole apple in, but that totally would work! I’ll have to try it! Thanks for sharing 🙂
What does the baking soda do?
Hi Laurel! The baking soda helps to cut the bitterness from the tea!
I’m not a huge iced tea fan, but I think that’s because my husband makes sweet tea that will give you a cavity with one sip! I have always liked a black iced tea from Starbucks now.and again. I made this recipe last night using Twinings Blackcurrant tea bags and 1 apple. I didn’t add any sugar, but I did add a splash of Natural Bliss sweet cream coffee creamer this morning. Delicious!
So glad you loved it Kristen!
it’s so good, i drink it all the time lol i don’t like ‘sweet tea’ so i made it plain but put in a heaping spoon of frozen lemonade concentrate, just the perfect little touch of lemony sweet
Oh this is a great idea! Thank you for sharing
I was wondering how you would make a blueberry mint? Maybe find mint tea, replace Apple with blueberry and sweeten? I have the Lix, which I believe only does high pressure, and I saw someone mentioned 4 minutes at high pressure. I’ll let you know how it turns out.
Originally from Florida (where it was “coke” for everything, but now in the PNW and it’s pop. It’s been an adjustment.
Christy, blueberry mint sounds amazing! I agree, either a mint tea or a black tea with a few mint leaves!
What about using an orange instead of the apple (without the peel)? Have you tried that?
HI Bobbie, I have not tried that, though I’m sure it would be yummy too! Cara Cara oranges are probably my favourite, and would be great here since they have a faint sweetness and a low acidity!
That looks amazing. Now I need to get myself one of these and make some maple flavored Iced tea!
I like my tea strong and plain. I normally boil a gallon of water and put 20 tea bags in it and leave it on low for about 10-12 hours. How strong is this recipe? What would you recommend?
What part of Texas? I grew up in Austin and live in Dallas. Everyone I know calls it soda. As an aside, I also love tea. Not sweet tea so much so I love the thought of adding fruit. I think I’ll add peach or mango. Yum.
Sorry, forgot to rate on last post. Your recipe was a great starting point. I forgot how good sun tea is.
Hey Pam, we’ve always called them Cokes here in Texas, or sometimes soft drinks, but mostly Cokes! I’m going to try making ice tea this way. It’s bound to be a stronger brew and I love strong ice tea!
Hey there! I have the Duo 8 Qt and just used my “sauté “ setting. Worked perfectly!
I grew up in Georgia. It was always Coke. I thought it was because Coke comes from GA The first time I was offered a soda in Illinois I had no idea what I was going to get. HaHa.
Do you remove the metal staples in the teabags before putting them in the pressure cooker? Can’t wait to try this my way of making sweet tea on the stove and letting it sit overnight is still to weak for my taste! I do use decaf bags or even half decaf half regular to help because I’m so sensitive to caffeine I’d be up all night!
love those tall skinny glass bottles- where did you get those?
Hi! I would like to know what glass bottles those are! Thanks!
I tried making it with fruit.. and changed it to adding the apple slices (i used a whole apple minus the core and seeds) after I opened it. I let them sit in the tea 5 minutes.. then scoop them out. the flavor is a little more subtle.. but still there.. I love tea this way
I’m not a huge iced tea fan, but I think that’s because my husband makes sweet tea that will give you a cavity with one sip! I have always liked a black iced tea from Starbucks now.and again. I made this recipe last night using Twinings Blackcurrant tea bags and 1 apple. I didn’t add any sugar, but I did add a splash of Natural Bliss sweet cream coffee creamer this morning. Delicious!
it’s so good, i drink it all the time lol i don’t like ‘sweet tea’ so i made it plain but put in a heaping spoon of frozen lemonade concentrate, just the perfect little touch of lemony sweet