Homemade apple butter in about 20 minutes? YES, PLEASE! 🍎 Grab your pressure cooker and blender, skip the peeling, and let me show you just how easy it is!

Ingredients

• 2 lbs Gala apples, halved, cored and stemmed (not peeled)
• ¼ cup water
• 1 Tbsp fresh lemon juice
• 1 Tbsp light brown sugar
• 1 tsp Cinnamon Plus
• Pinch of kosher salt

No Cinnamon Plus? Use ½ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground ginger, and ¼ tsp ground nutmeg instead.

Directions

1. In the inner pot, stir together the apples, water, lemon juice, brown sugar, Cinnamon Plus, and salt until well combined. Secure the lid and set to Custom pressure for 15 minutes. (The pot takes about 10 minutes to come to pressure before the cooking time begins.)
2. When the cooking time ends, let the pressure release naturally for 5 minutes, then move the pressure release to Venting to release the remaining steam.
3. Pour the sauce into the blender and blend — you’ll have applesauce.
4. Pour it back into the inner pot and select the Sear setting. Cover the pot with a clean kitchen towel or the glass lid and cook 10 minutes, stirring and scraping the bottom once halfway through. (If you don’t cover the pot, you will have a huge mess and be cleaning apple for days.)
5. The goal is to reduce the applesauce down to a thick, smooth apple butter — like a thick jam. The mixture will reduce by about half (from 3 cups to about 1½ cups). Depending on how juicy your apples were, you may need an extra 5 minutes — watch it extremely closely during this time so it doesn’t burn.
6. When the mixture is very thick and smooth, transfer to an airtight container and cool at room temperature, uncovered, for 30 minutes. Refrigerate and chill at least 4 hours. Keeps up to 2 weeks.

Laura’s Tips

You don’t need to peel the apples since you’re going to puree them in the blender anyway. And grab a trash bowl before you start prepping — so handy.

Does the type of apple matter? Yes! A mix of sweet and tart apples gives the best depth — sweet/aromatic ones like Golden Delicious, Gala, Fuji, Honeycrisp, or Jonagold add rich body, while tart ones like Granny Smith, Northern Spy, or Winesap keep it bright and prevent it from tasting flat or overly sugary. Softer varieties also break down faster, saving you time.