Instant Pot Cinnamon Applesauce so incredibly delicious that you’ll want to make this 9-minute pressure cooker recipe regularly. An outrageously easy apple sauce recipe using a variety of fresh Honeycrisp and granny smith apples pressure cooked until incredibly soft and mushy then hand smoothed into classic applesauce with the perfect balance of sweetness, tartness, and sharp apple flavor.
Homemade applesauce takes very little effort to make in the kitchen and the rewards are bountiful. It is easy as it is to pick up a jar from the grocery store, but once you try it at home, you’ll never go back to buying it again.
A quick method to soften and cook down apples in a fraction of time when comparing it to baking, boiling, steaming, and slow cooking. Using a pressure cooker helps to cook down apples with water. What traditionally takes several hours to make by boiling on the stovetop can be transformed into the classic apple condiment in less than 30 minutes.
Applesauce is super easy to customize. I like to know what I’m eating and a hand made recipe is easy to control and adjust. No thickeners, no preservatives, no chemicals. Alternatively, a homemade version allows for the choice and level of sweetness. The process alone totally makes it worth making a homemade batch.
HOW TO MAKE APPLESAUCE IN THE INSTANT POT
- Peel apples.
- Use an apple core or cut around the core.
- Dice apples. TIP: If dicing them small enough, a blender won’t need to be used to smooth it.
- Place diced apples in Instant pot.
- Add water, lemon juice, and ground cinnamon.
- Pressure cook for 9 minutes.
- Natural release for 5 minutes then quick release.
- Stir in brown sugar.
- Mash with a potato masher or whisk.
TIP TO MAKING SMOOTH APPLESAUCE (NO BLENDING)
While the apples don’t need to be ferociously chopped like an onion, it’s important to dice them into small chunks. Cutting the apples to the size of a quarter or pineapple chunk will mean that it won’t need to be processed in a blender or food processor.
APPLESAUCE INGREDIENTS
- HONEYCRISP APPLES: Sweet, tart, and juicy, this apple gives applesauce it’s classic taste.
- GRANNY SMITH APPLES: Tart, juicy, and a good balance to honeycrisp apples.
- LEMON JUICE: Adds a fresh, crisp, clean taste.
- CINNAMON: Add a warm flavor and aroma to the mix.
- WATER: Thins out the apples and adds smoothness.
- BROWN SUGAR: A little goes a long way. Depending on how tart the apples are and during what season they are harvested, brown sugar may just be the ingredient you need. Sugar will balance any out the tartness and infuse a little molasses that pairs beautifully with cinnamon.
Experimenting with more flavors:
- Maple Syrup: Skip the brown sugar or swap out half of it and replace it with maple syrup for a new level of flavor.
- Warm spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and allspice will transform a basic applesauce batch into a dessert topping. Perfect for snacking, breakfast pancakes, french toast, and ice cream!
- Brown butter applesauce: heat 1-2 tbsp butter in a saucepan until brown and toasty. Stir it into warm applesauce with a pinch or three of salt.
APPLESAUCE QUESTIONS & TIPS
Can I make this in the slow cooker? Place peeled, cored, diced apples in crock pot. Stir in only lemon juice, and cinnamon. Cover with the lid and slow cook on LOW for 4 hours. Once done, add brown sugar to sweeten if desired. Smooth with a potato masher or in a blender.
How do I smooth the applesauce? Because the apples are cut into small chunks, the sauce shouldn’t need any smoothing beyond a few strokes of a potato masher or whisk. For a much smoother consistency, place it in a blender or food processor.
It’s too tart. How can I make it more sweet? Adjust the recipe by stirring in a sweetner of choice. I like light brown sugar but granulated sugar, honey, maple syrup are other good choices.
Experimenting with different varieties of apples: Note that using apples other than suggested in this recipe has not been tested. However, note that using different types of apples may result in applesauce that is very chunky. This is because of the acid in apples which varies. If less acidic, lemon juice may need to be added or additional water.
Chunky Vs. Smooth Applesauce Texture: To make chunky applesauce, the water amount is normally reduced. However since the Instant Pot uses water in it’s cooking process, I’d suggest cutting the apples in half only once and pressure cooking for 6 minutes. Alternatively, to make this recipe even smoother in texture, add more water to the cooking process.
Instant Pot Cinnamon Applesauce
Ingredients
- 4 honey crisp apples
- 4 granny smith apples
- 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 cup water
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed optional
Instructions
- Peel apples.
- Remove apple core with corer or cut around core.
- Dice apples to the width of a quarter.
- In an Instant Pot ( or pressure cooker ) insert, add diced apples, lemon juice, water, and ground cinnamon.
- Turn device on. Secure lid. Set pressure valve to SEALING. Select MANUAL or PRESSURE COOK; cook on high-pressure for 9 minutes.
- Once done, pressure cooker will beep. Allow the pressure valve to "Natural Pressure Release" (keep pressure valve sealed) for 5 minutes. Next, "Quick-Release" (open pressure valve). Once pressure pin drops, open the lid and turn off the device.
- Smooth applesauce with a potato masher or whisk. It should't take more than a few strokes but if it's not smooth enough, pulse in blender or food processor to desired consistancy.
- Taste applesauce with a clean spoon. If it appears too tart, stir in ¼-¾ cup light brown sugar. I usually stir in about ½ cup brown sugar. See below on adjusting taste.
- NOTE: Depending on the season apples are harvested, apple sweetness/tartness will vary. To balance the taste, add sugar to make a tart batch more sweet. I like to use brown sugar, espcially when making cinnamon applesauce, but granulated sugar or honey works, too. To make an overly sweet batch more tart, add lemon juice.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutritional information is only an estimate and it’s accuracy is not guaranteed to be exact.
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