One of my favorite things to do in the fall is go apple picking. I love to see Colton’s face as he is able to pull the apple off of the tree and put it in the basket or bag. One of the tastiest things that we do with these apples is to make Instant Pot Applesauce. This is soo easy to make and takes very little time!
Apple Picking!
This year we went to a local apple orchard that has many varieties of apples that you can pick on your own. There are many varieties of apples that you can use for applesauce. Some will make your sauce more tart or more sweet. We chose to pick Cortland and Jonathan apples for our sauce this year. This apple orchard has dwarf trees that allow you to pick the apples without using a ladder!
Making the Instant Pot Applesauce!
Once we had enough apples, we went home and washed them. Then we pulled out our Instant Pot and got to work! The first thing we did was to peel, core and slice the apples. We used our Kitchen Aid Mixer attachment to make this a simpler process.
Once the apples were peeled, cored, and sliced, I then cut them into smaller pieces and put them in the Instant Pot. The first batch I made I added 1/2 cup of water. At the end it was like I had apple soup instead of apple sauce! In subsequent batches we did not add any water to the process. We still had to strain the sauce at the end since the apples we picked were very juicy. You will need to judge how juicy your apples are to see if you need to add some water.
Once all of the apples were in the Instant Pot we added the cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar (this is optional, but our apples weren’t very sweet). Then we stirred the apples to mix up the cinnamon, nutmeg, and sugar.
Then put the Instant Pot Lid on and close. Turn the vent to seal. You are then going to push the manual button and toggle to 5 minutes. Let the Instant Pot do it’s thing and once it is finished, press the cancel button. You want to let the Instant Pot naturally release. If it hasn’t finished by 15 minutes you can manually release the pressure by turning the top to vent. BE CAREFUL! Do not burn yourself on the steam. You can then open the lid, stir and mash the apples to whatever consistency you want. I used a potato masher to mash our apples.
Because our apples had a lot of juice we chose to strain our applesauce to remove some of the excess juice. You do not have to do this. It’s your choice. Allow the applesauce to cool and then divide how you want to store yours. Applesauce is perfect to freeze and use throughout the year!
Instant Pot Applesauce
Simple recipe to make applesauce quickly!
Ingredients
- 18 medium apples
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- 1/4 cup sugar
Instructions
-
Pick Apples!
2. Peel, core, and slice apples.
3. Place apples into Instant Pot
4. Add spices and sugar. Stir mixture.
5. Close Instant Pot lid. Turn toggle to seal.
6. Press Manual and chose 5 minutes.
7. Let cycle run and when complete press cancel.
8. Allow the Instant Pot to naturally release pressure (if it hasn't released by 15 minutes, you can do quick release.)
9. Open the lid, stir, and mash to desired consistency.
10. Allow to cool before dividing.
Recipe Notes
I was able to double the recipe and used equal amounts of Jonathan and Cortland apples in each batch.
