If you’ve got a pile of apples and just a few minutes, this Instant Pot applesauce recipe is your new best friend. It’s fast, foolproof, and can be made with no added sugar—just pure, cozy, homemade goodness. In under 30 minutes, you’ll have warm, cinnamon-sweet homemade applesauce that tastes just like fall in a jar.
Looking for more ways to preserve a bountiful apple harvest? First, begin with my guide to storing apples, and then check out my canning apple pie filling tutorial, how to freeze dry apples, and try your hand at fermenting with sparkling apple cider or apple sauerkraut.
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Quick Look at This Recipe
- ✅ Recipe Name: Easy Instant Pot Applesauce (No Refined Sugar!)
- ✅ Ready In: ~30 minutes
- ✅ Yield: 8 Servings
- ✅ Calories: 95
- ✅ Tools: Instant Pot and a sharp knife
- ✅ Freezer Friendly: Yes – transfer cooled applesauce into an airtight container, and freeze for up to a year.
- ✅ Why You’ll Love It: This fast and easy recipe helps you keep up with the demand for the various ways applesauce can be used as a staple dish and ingredient in your kitchen.
- ✅ Tip: Don’t toss those peels! Use them for apple scrap vinegar, so nothing from your harvest goes to waste.
What Makes This Recipe Unique?
- Best of Both Worlds – Old-fashioned comfort food made quick and easy with a modern appliance. I use this wonderful tool to make Instant Pot bone broth, rich and creamy Instant Pot macaroni and cheese, fail-proof Instant Pot hard-boiled eggs, hearty Instant Pot oatmeal, and so much more!
- Time Saver – This is one of those staple recipes that helps you keep up with apple season instead of feeling buried under it. And once you taste that warm, spiced aroma filling your kitchen, you’ll see why I make batch after batch every fall.
- Family Approved – This recipe is easily adjusted for flavor and texture to fit a variety of tastes. I even skip the honey and use it in my homemade food for even the youngest in our household.
Key Ingredients
For a full list of ingredients and measurements, check out the recipe card below.
- Apples – Any variety of apple works great, and if you can mix sweet and tart varieties (such as honeycrisp, Fuji, and Granny Smith), even better!
- Lemon Juice – Optional, but enhances the tartness when all you have are sweet apple varieties on hand.
- Sweetener – We like to sweeten our applesauce with a bit of honey. Maple syrup, coconut sugar, or date sugar are also refined sugar-free options.
Recipe Variations
Looking to mix up the flavor? Try some of these ideas:
- Spiced Applesauce – Add in warming fall spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, or ginger before cooking.
- Fruit Blends – Try mixing apples with pears, peaches, or plums.
- Extracts – After cooking, add in your favorite extract to enhance the flavor. Maple, almond, or homemade vanilla extract are all great choices.
- Baby Friendly – Skip the sweetener and blend until smooth.
How to Make Instant Pot Applesauce
Step 1: Wash the apples, then peel, core, and cut into slices.
Step 2: Add the apples, water, and lemon juice to the Instant Pot. Don’t go over the max fill line.
Step 3: Lock the lid on the pot. Pressure cook 5 minutes on high. Once the cooking time is up, let the Instant Pot release pressure naturally for 10 minutes, then use the handle of a wooden spoon to quick-release the remaining pressure. If liquid spurts through the vent, close it, and give it 5 more minutes to release naturally before venting.
Step 4: Carefully open the lid away from you and set it aside. Mash the apples into applesauce with a potato masher, a wooden spoon, or an immersion blender. You can make it as smooth or chunky as you like!
Step 5: Add honey, if desired. Serve warm or chilled.
Storage Instructions
- Refrigerator: Store in a glass jar or an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Once cooled, transfer to freezer-safe jars or containers, leaving 1 inch of headspace at the top. Freeze up to 1 year.
Ways to Use Homemade Applesauce
We love it straight from the jar, but here are a few more favorite ways:
- As a topping for sourdough pancakes or Instant Pot yogurt
- Swirled into Instant Pot oatmeal
- As a natural sweetener in baked oatmeal, nutritious pumpkin fruit leather, your favorite quick bread, or this zucchini cake recipe.
- Spoonful over homemade ice cream for an easy dessert
FAQs
If you have a food mill, you can skip peeling and coring your apples. Just cut into chunks, and follow the directions in this tutorial. At step 4, use a food mill to remove the seeds and puree to a smooth consistency.
Yes! If your apples are organic and you don’t mind a little texture, just leave the skins on and blend well after cooking.
Yes, but make sure you follow safe water bath canning guidelines. I walk through these important guidelines in my Abundant Pantry: Canning course.
The Homestead Kitchen
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Easy Instant Pot Applesauce
Equipment
- Instant Pot We use this Instant Pot, but any brand multi-cooker works great.
- sharp knife or apple peeler
- Immersion Blender or potato masher
- Measuring Utensils
Ingredients
- 8 Medium Apples
- 1/4 Cup Water
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice optional
- Honey optional to taste
Instructions
- Wash the apples, then peel, core, and cut into slices.
- Add the apples, water, and lemon juice to the Instant Pot insert. (Don’t go over the max fill line.)
- Lock the lid on the pot, and pressure cook 5 minutes on high.
- Once the cooking time is up, let the Instant Pot release pressure naturally for 10 minutes, then use the handle of a wooden spoon to quick-release the remaining pressure. If liquid spurts through the vent, close it, and give it 5 more minutes to release naturally before venting.
- Carefully open the lid away from you and set it aside.
- Mash the apples into applesauce with a potato masher, a wooden spoon, or an immersion blender
- Add honey, if desired.
- Serve warm or chilled.
Notes
- Refrigerator: Store in a glass jar or an airtight container for up to 5 days.
- Freezer: Once cooled, transfer to freezer-safe jars or containers, leaving 1 inch of headspace at the top. Freeze up to 1 year.
- As a topping for sourdough pancakes or Instant Pot yogurt
- Swirled into Instant Pot oatmeal
- As a natural sweetener in baked oatmeal, nutritious pumpkin fruit leather, your favorite quick bread, or this zucchini cake recipe.
- Spoonful over homemade ice cream for an easy dessert
