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Once you make iced tea in your pressure cooker or instant pot, you’ll never make it the old-fashioned way again. Super easy, hands-off method for the smoothest but strong Instant Pot iced tea you’ll enjoy!

iced southern sweet tea | Instant Pot Iced Tea

I know, you’re wondering what’s wrong with your standard way of making tea on the stove top, or perhaps even your beautiful sun tea method of making tea.

I used to make tea in those ways as well, except not as often as I’d like to have because they did require me to pay attention to what I was doing and remember to bring in the tea from outside etc.

But mainly, I prefer the Instant Pot method for the taste of the tea. It makes my tea taste both stronger, and yet more mellow at the same time.

More and more, this is how I make my Iced Tea.

I’ll be honest when the first person posted about the tea I rolled my eyes, teenage girl style. I was like, really you people.

How hard is it to make tea on the stove? The answer is…harder than in the IP and not as good, not as strong, and actually not as economical. I reuse my bags at least twice. 

When I first posted about this on the IP forum (April 12, 2017), it started a great discussion on whether or not the tea would be bitter, should we add baking soda to keep it from being bitter, etc.

It got me thinking about why I think it is the tea is strong but not as bitter as stovetop tea. I’m adding what I posted to the forum.

WHY/HOW I THINK IT INSTANT POT ICED TEA WORKS:

So for all of you who wondered about QPR and NR, and wondered if the Tea would be bitter if boiled.

• Under pressure, water doesn’t boil at 212F. What pressure does, is it raises the boiling point of liquids. So things heat up, but don’t boil.

• That’s why the food in a pressure cooker tastes different than if it had been boiled on the stovetop or slow cooker.

• Once the pressure is released with QR, the water does come to a vigorous boil. As the pressure goes down, the liquid returns to its original boiling point, which for water would be 212F.

• This is why we don’t QR most meats. People sometimes say it’s to let the meat rest but it’s actually to keep the meat from being boiled.

• This is why when you QR, you have to be really careful as you open it, because as the pressure releases, the liquid inside starts to boil vigorously.

• But if you let it NPR, it is less likely to boil. So your tea is being steeped in high degree water–but not being boiled. I realized this last night as I was falling asleep. #iamanerd

• So don’t QPR. And your tea is being well-steeped, not boiled.

You can also add a little condensed milk to make an excellent Thai Iced tea if you’d like.

By the way, this iced tea isn’t the only drink you can make in your Instant Pot. If you’re looking for other Instant Pot drink recipes, you might like this Agua de Jamaica recipe, or this Horchata recipe as well. If you want to make hot drinks, try my Instant Pot Masala Chai recipe.

★ Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to give it a star rating below! Just click on the stars in the recipe card to rate. 

4.49 from 89 votes

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Instant Pot Iced Tea

Prep Time

2 mins

Cook Time

14 mins

Total Time

16 mins

 

Make the best iced tea you've ever had--in your pressure cooker. Instant Pot Iced tea is an easy, flavorful way to make strong but smoothly-flavored iced tea in your pressure cooker or Instant Pot.

Course: Drinks

Cuisine: American

Keyword: iced tea, instant pot iced tea, pressure cooker iced tea

Dietary Consideration: Dairy-Free, Egg-Free, Gluten-Free, Grain-Free, Low Carb, Low Sugar, Nut-Free, Paleo, Soy-Free, Vegan, Vegetarian

Cooking Style: Instant Pot/Pressure Cooker

Ease of Cooking: Pour and Cook, Under 30 Mins

Recipe Type: Drinks, Full Liquids/Soft Foods, Pressure Cooker

Servings: 8

Author: Urvashi Pitre

Ingredients

• 4 regular teabags
• 6 cups water
• 1/4 cup Splenda adjust to taste, or 1/2 cup sugar

Instructions

1. Pour everything into your Instant Pot, and cook on High Pressure for 4 minutes, and allow the pressure to release naturally for at least 15 minutes.

2. Allow it to cool slightly and then serve over ice.

3. I usually use the teabags twice. For the second batch, I add 1-2 fresh teabags to the old ones and make another batch of tea.

4. My typical brew is 2 bags of decaf tea + 2 bags Chai flavored tea bags. This gives the tea a light chai flavor which is great over ice.

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Nutrition facts per serving

I am not a registered dietician or nutritionist. Nutritional information is provided a courtesy, and can vary depending on the exact ingredients you use.

Don’t forget to check out my Instant Pot Fast & Easy Cookbook! 

This book is full of all kinds of boldly flavored and internationally-themed recipes—Mexican, Thai, Moroccan, and more—with Instant Pot Fast & Easy, fully authorized by Instant Pot. Just like you have come to expect, my recipes will work perfectly every time, and of course taste great too. And because these are Instant Pot recipes, dishes like Japanese Chicken Curry, Chinese Steamed Ribs, and Mexican Pulled Pork are ready in a fraction of the time they would take using traditional cooking methods. As with all of my recipes, the focus is on whole foods instead of artificial convenience ingredients, so the recipes are delicious, easy, and healthful too.