Just about everyone has a recipe for applesauce. Straightforward and easy to make, it’s a great way to use up loads of apples especially if you have been picking apples at the apple orchard with the kids (like me!). My 3 year old son has been busy helping me make applesauce this autumn, we’ve made applesauce several times in a span of less than a month! This recipe is for the Instant Pot, an electric pressure cooker.
I try not to clutter the kitchen with too many gadgets, but in this case an appler slicer/ corer really comes in handy. Whole apples are too big for my son to process, so I help him by slicing the apples into 3 horizontally before letting him go at it. Making applesauce is a fun activity with kids as they can do just about all the steps from start to finish! By using apple juice/ non-alcoholic cider, the resulting applesauce tastes naturally sweet with no added sugar. If you are using very sweet apples, feel free to use water instead.
Applesauce tends to splutter during the cooking process, which may block the vent of the Instant Pot during the pressure cooking process. By cutting a piece of parchment paper to fit snugly within the inner pot, I’ve overcome that issue with no problems.
I’ve allowed the Instant Pot to release pressure naturally after cooking, but have also tried doing the quick release method with success.
Once cooked, I simply blended the apples with a handheld immersion blender until smooth, and strained the applesauce into a 1 quart glass jar with a stainless steel strainer. This makes it really smooth! If you prefer, you could use a food mill instead. For those who like chunky applesauce, simply peel the apples before cooking and stir it up once the cooking process is completed.
The finished applesauce has slight pink tones if the apples are left unpeeled. I like how it has a nice rosy blush to it! This is great as a quick snack with a sprinkling of cinnamon and my kids love it! It makes a great condiment especially with pork chops. What do you serve applesauce with?
- 12 medium apples, cored and diced (peeled if preferred)
- Scant ½ cup apple juice/non-alcoholic cider or water
- Place the apples in the inner pot of the Instant Pot
- Add in the apple juice or water
- Cut a circle of parchment paper large enough to fit just nicely within the inner pot and place it over the apples
- Cover the lid and set the pressure valve to 'Sealing'
- Press 'Manual' setting and adjust cooking time to 10 minutes
- Once cooking time is over, release the pressure naturally
- Uncover and discard the parchment paper circle
- Blend until smooth with a hand-held immersion blender or use a food mill
Made this today and it came out perfect! I had a lot of apples and so I used close to a cup of apple cider. Used the immersion blender and presto…great applesauce! Thanks for the easy recipe.
So glad it came out perfect for you, Susan! Enjoy your applesauce!
Thanks for the recipe. I had organic apples, so I just dropped them in whole, cooked them at high pressure for 10 minutes, and dumped them into the KitchenAid sieve attachment (sadly, no longer sold, but I found mine on eBay a few years ago). It’s such an efficient and easy way to go. The sauce is lovely. I used the Ball automatic canner to can most of the sauce (I used more than 12 apples) and ended up with eight pints canned and one pint in the fridge. 🙂
That KitchenAid sieve attachment sounds really handy! I’ve never tried canning before, ought to try it out. Thanks for trying out the recipe and commenting!
what if we don’t have parchment paper? Can we use anything else? Wax paper?
The wax coating on the wax paper may melt during the cooking process, perhaps you could try using cheesecloth?