Instant-Pot Applesauce

Smooth, silky sugar-free applesauce you can make in just minutes!

Course Breakfast, Dessert, Snack

Keyword apples

14-15 cups roughly chopped apples organic preferred, peeling optional cubed (cores discarded) - about 3 lbs cubed (see note about sweetness)
few squeezes fresh lemon juice about 2-3 tsp
1/4 - 1/2 tsp cinnamon see note about color
1/4 tsp vanilla bean powder optional
pinch salt optional
optional: 1-2 pitted dates or touch of pure maple syrup to sweeten see note

Add apple chunks, cinnamon, vanilla bean powder and sea salt (if using) to pressure cooker. Set pressure cooker manually to cook at high pressure for 7 minutes, place on lid and allow to come to pressure and cook. After the 7 minutes of cooking, turn off cooker and allow natural release. Once pressure is released, remove lid. Using an immersion blender, puree the mixture to desired texture (can leave chunkier or fully puree for a very smooth texture). Taste, and if you’d like a little sweeter or more cinnamon, adjust to taste.

Peeling Apples: The peels can be left on the apples, they make the applesauce a little darker in color, but otherwise fine.
Cinnamon note: The addition of cinnamon gives lovely flavor, however it does darken the applesauce. It’s up to you, you can omit it and then add a touch after pureeing, adjusting to taste. A few pinches of grated nutmeg can also be added.
Sweetener note: The variety of apple used will determine the sweetness of the applesauce. If you aren’t sure how sweet the final applesauce will be with the apples you are using, I recommend not adding any sweetener. I don’t, though I do use sweeter apples for my applesauce (such as fuji and gala). After cooking and pureeing, if you’d like it sweeter, stir in a drizzle of maple syrup - or, place 1-2 dates in the hot applesauce to soak, and and then puree again once dates have softened. For a sweeter applesauce, add a couple of pitted dates (let soften in mixture for a few minutes) or a few teaspoons of maple syrup and puree through. Remove pot insert from pressure cooker to help speed cooling of the applesauce. Once fully cooled, transfer to jars to refrigerate or containers to freeze.
Idea: Switch up a portion of the apples for seasonal pears.