Making Apple Sauce in a Pressure Cooker
This apple sauce recipe is made without using sugar. I cook the apples in a pressure cooker because it greatly reduces the cooking time.
32 small green apples, quartered and cored*
1 can apple juice concentrate, thawed
3 teaspoons cinnamon
1 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon ginger
Put the quartered apples in the pressure cooker (do not fill beyond the fill line of your pressure cooker). Pour concentrate over the apples. Add spices. Lock the lid in place. Cook over high heat until it reaches high pressure. As soon as it reaches high pressure, remove the pressure cooker from the heat. Allow the pressure to drop naturally.
When the pressure has been released, you can safely remove the lid. And you will find super soft, mushy apples.
Ladle the apples into a blender and blend a couple of cups at a time. I use a medium high speed on my blender because I like a very smooth apple sauce. You can use a lower speed if you like chunkier sauce. After blending, pour the contents into a large bowl. After all of the blended apples have been poured into the bowl, stir well to ensure the spices are evenly distributed. This recipe yields 4 – 5 pints of applesauce, but it can be halved.
The first batch was consumed in a couple of days. I canned the next two batches using the water bath method.
* I like to leave the peel on my apples. The peels are completely mixed into the sauce in the blender.
For more apple recipes visit In Season Recipe Swap. This post has also been linked to Foodie Fridays, Friday Feasts, and Food on Fridays.
Applesauce is always delicious.This is a good way to make it. Come an look at my canned plums and pears.
Your apple sauce looks so yummy! Thanks for the tutorial. Now I wish we had an apple tree.
I love applesauce — never tried making it in a pressure cooker. I make mine on the stove top.
Didn't know that you could can it without sugar. Now I know what to make for all my diabetic friends! Love that you left the peels on. That will make it a lot easier!
Jane
I love homemade applesauce but I do not own a pressure cooker. My Mom had one and used it all the time. I should buy one since I know it sure would cut down on kitchen time.
Joyce
I did a blog post about pink applesauce once. Yummy stuff! I don't have a pressure cooker thought… I just cook mine on the stove top… like my hubby's grandmother used to do it.
Homemade is the best!
ButterYum
I wish I had a pressure cooker
Sounds like it's fun to make!
I need to unpack my pressure cooker. No sugar! What a great recipe.
Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, apples? Oh yum.
Please, when will you be opening an Etsy store?!
That looks so delicious! Does the concentrate substitute as a sweetener? Not that you need one, but I have seen no sugar jam recipes that call for concentrate like that. What a great idea to leave the skins on too!
Yes, the concentrate acts as a sweetener. I also use juice concentrate in my jam instead of sugar.
I really like your recipe. I have one that is similar but I keep my apples a bit chunkier to provide some texture. I hope you are having a wonderful day.
My parents and grandparents used to make applesauce outside in a large iron kettle over a fire. I have seen pictures of them stirring it with a large paddle. Hmmm, I think I will research how that was done.
Continued from previous post: Now that I think about it, they made apple butter, not apple sauce.
Karen- You might be right on both accounts. Apple buter is made from apple sauce. They might have made the apple sauce and then immediately started turing it into apple butter. I make apple butter in a crock pot.
Have not seen green apples in such a long time, actually since I was a kid. The green sour apples do make the best pies and applesauce!
I never heard of leaving apple peels on when making apple sauce. With the spices it sounds like Apple butter we make here in Virginia. But I put some liquid cinnamon in it too.
Elsie <><
I did an applesauce recipe today, too — also leaving peels on. Yours is much more complex, though — looks delicious!
Cass
I’m with Grandma Elsie, this does remind me of apple butter recipes. Yumm. I like that you leave the peels on, they have so many nutrients in them. Now I’ve got a hankering for some apple sauce.
Can you mix different apples and still leave the skin on them and make apple butter out of it by cooking it longer, in the pressure cooker?
You can mix different types of apples and leave the skins on. When I make apple butter, I make applesauce first, then I transfer it to a crock pot and make the apple butter in a crock pot.
I am new to using my pressure cooker, when you say high pressure what exactly do you mean?