Carrot Pudding / Carrot Kheer / Carrot Payasam made in Instant Pot or Pressure Cooker. Carrot Kheer is made with carrots, milk, cashews and dates, with the added aroma of cardamom & saffron. A delicious & satisfying dessert, with no added sugar. You would not mind yourself or your kids asking for second and third servings!
I first had this Carrot Kheer at a friend's place, it was so yummy! My friend's mom was visiting and made this awesome carrot kheer, so credit to you auntie Chandra Subramanian for this recipe. The only thing going through my mind eating the kheer was how can I recreate this in the instant pot. The other great part about this carrot pudding is - no need to spend the time grating carrots. Isn't that great? Grating is the only reason I don't made Indian carrot halwa frequently, even though I love it.
You can serve this carrot kheer hot or cold. I like it cold with a garnish of pistachios. With no added sugar and no grating required, this Carrot Kheer has become our go to desert 🙂 So let's start cooking!
How to make Carrot Kheer in Instant Pot?
First we will prepare the ingredients.
- Peel the skin of the carrots and roughly cut in pieces.
- Set aside the dates. You would need pitted dates with the seed removed. If you don't have dates, you could add ⅓ cup of sugar.
- Measure ⅓ cup of roasted unsalted cashews, roughly 50gms. If you don't have roasted cashews, you can toast the cashews in 1 tbsp of ghee or oil until lightly brown. If you prefer very thick pudding, increase cashews to ½ cup.
- Measure and set aside 1 litre or about 34oz of milk.
To start cooking, add the carrots, cashews and dates with 1 cup of milk to the instant pot insert. Pressure cook for 7 minutes with vent in sealing position. When the instant pot beeps, quick release the pressure and open it. Before and after pictures below.
Transfer the contents to a blender and blend to a smooth paste. If needed, add some portion of the remaining milk while blending. I used my Vitamix to blend to a smooth consistency.
Add the remaining milk and the blended mixture to the instant pot insert. Add cardamom, saffron strands and give a good stir. We are almost there, we just need to give this pudding a quick boil and it is ready. I get the pudding to a boil on Sauté mode, while stirring frequently. You could also use the "Boil" function with the "Yogurt" mode (press yogurt, then Adjust). Switch off the instant pot as soon as there is a boil. That is it...Carrot pudding in ready!
I prefer it cold, so I transferred the pudding to a bowl and let it cool on the counter top and in the refrigerator. Garnish with pistachios and enjoy it.
Yumm...I love this Carrot Pudding. I would love to hear how you like it. Other desserts that are super easy to make.
📖 Recipe
Carrot Kheer - Instant Pot Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 3 Carrot small, cut into pieces, about 2 cups
- 1 litre Milk about 34 oz, preferably whole milk
- ⅓ cup Cashews roasted unsalted
- 8 Dates pitted
- 1 pinch Saffron (Kesar) or few strands (optional)
- ½ teaspoon Green Cardamom (Elaichi) ground (optional)
- Almonds or Pistachios to garnish
Instructions
- Peel the skin of the carrots and roughly cut in pieces.
- Add the carrots, cashews and dates with 1 cup of milk to the instant pot insert. Start it in manual or pressure cook mode for 7 minutes with vent in sealing position.
- When the instant pot beeps, turn off the instant pot. Quick release the pressure and open it. Transfer the contents to a blender and blend to a smooth paste. If needed, add some portion of the remaining milk while blending. (Depending on your blender, you might want to cool a bit before blending)
- Add the remaining milk and the blended mixture to the instant pot insert. Add cardamom, saffron strands and give a good stir.
- Start the instant pot in Sauté mode and let the pudding come to a good boil. Switch off the instant pot as soon as there is a boil.
- Transfer pudding to serving bowl and let it cool on the counter top and refrigerator. Garnish with pistachios and serve chilled.
Notes
- Sanitize the instant pot thoroughly when cooking milk and desserts - the steel insert, lid and sealing ring. If you have an extra sealing ring for sweet foods, use it.
- For a thicker and more creamier pudding, increase the quantity of cashews to ½ cup. If you don't have roasted cashews, you can toast the cashews in 1 tbsp of ghee or oil until lightly brown.
- If you don't have dates, replace with ⅓ cup sugar.
- If you prefer sweeter deserts, increase the quantity of dates to 10 or more.
- You can also use a hand blender to blend after pressure cooking. I prefer to do it in the Vitamix as it makes a smooth pudding.
Note: Nutrition values are my best estimates. If you rely on them for your diet, use your preferred nutrition calculator.
KS says
Can you make this in a traditional pressure cooker? I don't have an IP
Meeta Arora says
Hi Ks - yes, sure you can make it in a stovetop pressure cooker. Hope you enjoy the kheer.
Ks says
Amazing, thanks!
Bala Cherla says
Hi Meera! I made this today. Came like kheer vs pudding consistency. The carrot measure was not clear. I would probably do a few things differently next time. Thanks for posting your recipe. It was certainly less effort 🙂
Meeta Arora says
Hi Bala - Thank you for sharing your review. The best translation for kheer in English is pudding, which is why the name of this recipe is Carrot Kheer 🙂