My Instant Pot Clotted Cream Recipe is a revelation, plain and simple. Your Instant Pot creates the famously decadent spreadable cream that’s the highlight of a classic British afternoon tea, I’ll show you how step by step!
If you’ve ever had clotted cream on a scone at an afternoon tea, you’ll know how uniquely delicious this thick creamy spread can be. If you haven’t experienced clotted cream, I suggest you stick around for this foolproof recipe for Instant Pot Clotted Cream…
Let’s unpack this!
- What if I don’t have an Instant Pot?
- What the heck is clotted cream?
- What does clotted cream taste like?
- what you’ll need for Instant Pot clotted cream
- What does ultra pasteurized mean?
- Where to find non-ultra-pasteurized cream
- TIPS for making Instant Pot Clotted Cream
- Why is there a crust on my clotted cream?
What if I don’t have an Instant Pot?
- No worries, Instant Pot clotted cream isn’t the only way you can make this luxurious treat ~
- check out my original post, How To Make Homemade Clotted Cream in the oven!
- or my latest Stove Top Clotted Cream Recipe
What the heck is clotted cream?
Fair question, it isn’t the most common thing in the world…
- Clotted cream is a thick creamy spread normally used on scones, and popular in Great Britain.
- It’s made from heavy cream that has been heated over a period of time until it thickens or ‘clots’ into a spreadable consistency with a unique cooked cream flavor.
- Clotted cream is world famous for its unparalleled rich texture, and it’s an essential part of a classic British afternoon tea, where it’s spread on scones and topped with jam.
- Normally the only way to get clotted cream is to visit Great Britain, or to spend big $$ on a very small imported jar at your local gourmet market.
What does clotted cream taste like?
- Clotted cream has a very simple flavor profile, like an unsweetened heavy cream with a subtle ‘cooked’ flavor. The texture is equally if not more important than the flavor, it’s somewhere between a very thick whipped cream, and butter.
Clotted cream is an exotic treat, you might be able to find small imported jars in your better supermarkets, but you will pay a premium price for it. I developed a way to make your own homemade clotted cream in your oven, which I’ve shared in my original post, here.
Today I’m unveiling another, even easier method for making homemade clotted cream, right in your Instant Pot.
what you’ll need for Instant Pot clotted cream
- 2 pints non-pasteurized heavy cream
- an Instant Pot
- I use the Instant Pot Duo
What does ultra pasteurized mean?
- All milk and cream sold in the US is pasteurized, meaning it’s heated in order to kill harmful bacteria and to help preserve it longer.
- Ultra pasteurized cream is simply heated to a higher temperature, at least 280F, and that kills even more of the bacteria and helps it stay fresher for even longer (before opening.)
Where to find non-ultra-pasteurized cream
- Most heavy cream sold today is what’s called ‘ultra-pastuerized’. That just means it’s been heated beyond the regular pasteurizing method so that it has an extra long shelf life. This can interfere with the clotting process, so the general rule it to use regular pasteurized cream when trying to make clotted cream.
- I have found non-ultra-pasteurized cream at Whole Foods and Trader Joes, for starters.
- Look for cream with a high fat content, mine is 40%.
While the cream is clotting, you’ve got time for a quick batch of scones! I’ve got lots of scone recipes on the blog for you to try. Clotted cream and scones is one of those combinations that is unique and can’t be duplicated. But luckily you can make them both in your own kitchen 🙂
And trust me, there is nothing, and I mean nothing, like a warm homemade scone spread with homemade clotted cream.
TIPS for making Instant Pot Clotted Cream
- This is a simple but precise process. Stick to the recipe as stated, this recipe doesn’t have much room for variation.
- You can try this with regular pasteurized cream, but at your own risk.
- Make sure you refrigerate the cream as per the recipe after you’ve cooked it in the Instant Pot, and before you disturb it, the cream thickens up further as it chills in the fridge.
- AFTER you’ve chilled the cream for at least 12 hours, or even longer, you can skim off the thick cream and put it into a jar. There will be leftover liquid in the pot, and you can use that to make scones.
- You can stir some of the thinner liquid into your clotted cream if you want a looser consistency.
- If your clotted cream seems very thin, or you mistakenly mixed too much of the thin liquid into it, try blending it very briefly with an immersion blender, this works like a charm. Just be sure not to blend it too much or you’ll get clotted butter. Also good 😉 but not what we’re going for.
Why is there a crust on my clotted cream?
Worry not ~ the crust is a characteristic of clotted cream, it can be creamy white or even darker yellow. That signifies that the cream has cooked, and ‘clotted’ or clumped into an unbelievably delicious spread. The clotted cream underneath the crust will be creamier.
- Instant Pot
- 2 pints non-ultra pasteurized heavy cream, make sure to find non-ultra pasteurized cream for this
- Note: I like to plan to start my Instant Pot clotted cream in the morning, when I wake up. That way I can put it in the refrigerator before I go to bed and wake up to a finished product!
- Pour the cream directly into the Instant Pot. Close the lid (no need to set the vent, we’re not pressure cooking.) Press the YOGURT button and press until it says BOIL.
- When the machine beeps, and has reached the boil stage, press the KEEP WARM button and let it go for 8-10 hours. I let mine go for 10 hours.
- Turn the machine off and remove the pot. Let cool at room temperature without disturbing. Then refrigerate the pot, as is, for 12 hours.
- Carefully scoop off the thickened layer of clotted cream, leaving the thin liquid behind. It’s ok if you get some of the thinner liquid into your clotted cream, you can mix it in.
- Spoon your cream into a glass jar. You can leave as is, or stir it together to make it creamier.
- Enjoy within 2 weeks.
- The leftover liquid can be used to make scones.
Is this recipe better than the old oven method? Based on comments this one seems to be a little more confusing but I assume you updated it for a reason. I have an instant pot so I could make either one, but I’d love to know which one is easier and yields better results. Thanks for your help!
No, each method (I now have a new stove top method as well) has its own pros and cons. The Instant Pot is a little more reliable as oven temperatures are so uneven. I think the IP method is less likely to get that classic crust on top, so it depends on how you feel about that.
Thank you for your reply! I tried it in the instant pot and I’m so happy with how it turned out, but maybe next time I’ll try the oven
I bought an insta pot to try this recipe and it works great! The third time I did cover the pot after cooking. Big mistake! Recipe says to refrigerate as is. I think that it might be good to emphasize not to cover the pot!!! The second time I think I questioned that also and covered it in the fridge the yield is much less. Am I correct In my assumption on this point?
For the life of me I couldn’t figure out how to get my 6 qt Instapot to say “boil” after holding down the yogurt button. I figured out you have to press “yogurt” and then “adjust” and the screen will say “boil”. For anyone else like me who was very confused about this ? Can’t wait to see how it turns out!
Ok so it’s finished but came out chunky? I continued mixing and it kind of looks like cottage cheese. But it tastes good! Any idea what went wrong? I used Trader Joe’s ulta pasteurized.
I’m not sure without more details Kim, I’m not sure what you mean by chunky? Mixing it with the whey too much might break it apart, and I do recommend non-ultra pasteurized cream, so that might be an issue.
Thank you thank you thank you for your tip on pressing the “Adjust” button.
Amazing!!! We’re making it for the 2nd time in 2 weeks. Thank you for the recipe!
I did find it hard to get the cream out from the liquidy part but hopefully second times a charm!
I used my Ninja Foodi 6.5 Qt with yogurt option. I followed the recipe, but had never made yogurt so I had to pay attention to get to the Boil mode. I don’t recall hearing a beep when it boiled, but I figured steam was a good indicator that boiling had been achieved and switched to Keep Warm. My Ninja shut off at 10 hours and I continued with the recipe, cooling then refrigerating. After 12 hours I used a slotted spoon to skim off the clotted cream perfection. I am not disappointed.
Hey, tried this today. We have 8 qt Ultra, and, apparently, mine has different settings. My IP gave no indication it would stay at 180 degrees no matter what I tried. Yogurt setting wanted to warm below 120. Tried going to the Ultra setting, which, BTW, my instruction booklet has nearly zero instructions for using! Even though I set it for keep warm, apparently it cooked. After 4 hours, ended up with 2 pints of stinking scorched liquid and a mess of an inner pot to clean. It won’t come off the bottom.
Well, I will try this again. My Ultra has nothing to indicate there is any sous-vide function of any kind. Oh well. Got the IP for Christmas last year, they must have changed something….
I have the Instant Pot Ultra and was a little bit confused about the settings as well. I was able to successfully figure it out and was very happy with the results and here’s what I did:
1. Go to the “yogurt” setting and choose “high” which will show 181ºF when you select it. After pressing start it will say “boil”. Let it heat up until it beeps, indicating that it has reached a boil.
2. Press cancel and switch away from the “yogurt” setting to the “warm” setting on “medium”. Set it for 10 hours and then start. Follow the rest of the recipe as above. I hope this helps!
Thank you Monika, every Instant Pot version has slightly different settings, so this is helpful.
I just made clotted cream with an 8qt Instant Pot Duo Crisp using the sous vide function set to 180 F degrees for 12 hours using 1 pint Ultra pasteurized 35% whipping cream (all I could find in Canadian grocery stores), then cooled in fridge for 12 hours. Got a thick yellowish crust that produced 1 cup of clotted cream when mixed with abit of the liquid, and the remaining 3/4 cup of liquid (buttermilk) I used to make scones. Success!!!
Dos it work in a slow cooker think you
I haven’t had luck with that Ann, because slow cookers don’t get down to a low enough temperature.
Can I pour Heavy Cream into jars & make it that way? (I make my yogurt that wsy.)
No, sorry, that doesn’t work. It would be so nice if it did!!
Hmm, I followed your directions exactly, so don’t know why I ended up with a hard yellow crust on top. Any suggestions?
Thats totally normal. In fact clotted cream used to be made in pots and sent with sailors out to sea and it would keep fresh for moths because of the hard yellow crust creating a seal.