Make short work of your apple picking bounty by using your Instant Pot or electric pressure cooker to make this quick and easy applesauce.
Instant Pot Applesauce
By Sue Lau | Palatable Pastime
My recipe of the day is for Instant Pot applesauce. You can easily work up a ton of this in no time using an electric pressure cooker.
Winding Down the Apples
I am winding down my apple season and using up the remainder of what I have. I often will go picking apples in autumn and will invariably have a bit extra left over.
Also, it’s great to store them in a cool place. My grandfather used to wrap the longer keeping types in newspaper and keep them in a dark place under the bed. This was back during the great depression and during the 1940’s. You can imagine back then that people were very thrifty and guarded what they had with a tight fist.
And of course, my grandmother canned a lot of things, but there were always more.
The Last, But Best, Idea
Just as in this year, I have extra above and beyond everything I have eaten out of hand and made in recipes. And sometimes I will do canning as well although I haven’t canned apples this year.
With the extra apples sitting around they start to give me their evil eye of figuring out some purpose. So I decided I would take the dozen or so left, peel and core them, give them a rough chop and into the instant pot they go. When done, it is an easy mash and cool down. I can serve that sauce right away or freeze it for later- and if I feel like giving the time, canning in jars.
Pure Apple Taste? Or Nicely Spiced
You can sweeten this however you prefer- Do this after it gets mashed so you can give it a taste. Much will depend on your personal taste as well as how the apples are. You can spice as you like with cinnamon or an apple pie type spice blend. Or leave them plain if you like the pure taste of apple.
About Freezing Applesauce
My extras I am freezing–I imagine myself returning to it later. I have always liked serving applesauce with pasta like spaghetti or lasagna. Or maybe I will use it in baking. And there is always the option of taking the time to make apple butter. But I will need to stand over it- I am not fond of crock pot apple butter, because it needs the lid off to wick off the liquid, and if the lid is off, it’s not hot enough to cook down. And if the freaking apple butter is runny, I don’t want anything to do with it. It’s supposed to be fruit butter, not overly spiced apple sauce. And we don’t want our toast and biscuits getting runny when we spread it on. Soggy toast is the pits.
Some Uses for Your Applesauce:
Make Your Own Apple Butter
Quick Bread: Apple Butter Banana Bread
Bundt Pan Apple Pecan Spice Cake
Apple Noodle Kugel
Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies
Applesauce Nut Bread
Instant Pot Applesauce

Instant Pot Applesauce
Equipment
- Instant Pot or Electric Pressure Cooker
Ingredients
- 12-14 apples peeled, cored and coarsely chopped
- 1/2 cup water
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- pinch salt
Instructions
- Place in Instant Pot and give a stir to coat.
- Place lid on and set to seal.
- Cook at pressure (manual) for 15 minutes.
- Let steam subside naturally (do not use the quick release) before removing lid.
- Mash if needed.
- Then feel free to add some cinnamon or sugar if you like.
- Dish up what you want now and you can easily freeze the rest.