Instant Pot Apple Butter

Instant Pot Apple Butter is the best vegan fruit spread made with whole apples and a bunch of fall flavors. No need to simmer apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves all day thanks to this handy pressure cooker!

INSTANT POT APPLE BUTTER RECIPE

I make this Instant Pot Apple Butter ever fall for the best DIY gifts, but I always keep a bunch for myself.

Thanks to the pressure cooker, it only takes about half an hour to turn your raw apples into the best spiced applesauce ever! Trust me, you'll love this and look for excuses to eat it on everything.

It's truly my favorite sweet breakfast treat other than monkey bread. Spread it on gluten-free toast or spice up your desserts with the most classic fall apple pie flavors without all the work.

INGREDIENTS IN INSTANT POT APPLE BUTTER

Apples: You can use any variety for this apple butter in the pressure cooker! I prefer to add a few different varieties to bring a deeper flavor.

Sugar: Apples have plenty of natural sweetness, but I like to add a little extra sugar to the mix. You can swap this for brown sugar or even a monk fruit sugar substitute.

Allspice: While allspice complements the flavors of and tastes like a combination of nutmeg, cinnamon, and clove, it's a dried berry!

Nutmeg: As the name implies, this spice brings a little nuttiness to the mix. This butter it totally nut-free, but you'll get a little of that toasted nut flavor thanks to nutmeg!

Cloves: This is the warm fall spice that everyone loves. It's a little sharp, but it blends right into this creamy apple spread recipe.

Cinnamon: If you love cinnamon applesauce, you'll love this apple butter! It's just like apple pie filling but super smooth.

Salt: You need just a pinch of salt to bring out the natural sweetness of the apples. Salty and sweet are made to be together.

Lemon juice: Lemon juice is perfect to add to heavy things to brighten the flavor just a little.

Cornstarch: This is totally optional but you can add it if your butter isn't thickening as much as you'd like. I usually don't need it, but sometimes I have!

If you have any questions, please leave a comment below and I will get back to you ASAP!

HOW TO MAKE INSTANT POT APPLE BUTTER

1. First, wash, core, and slice all the apples. Make sure to get all the stickers and dirt off the skins. You can leave the skin or remove it.
2. Then, add all the spices — allspice, nutmeg, cloves, cinnamon, and a little salt — plus the sugar, lemon juice, and water to the Instant Pot. Seal it up and set it to High Pressure. When the timer goes off, let it naturally release some before quickly releasing all the pressure.
3. When the apples are easily pierced with a fork, blend everything with an immersion blender until it's super smooth. If it's not thickening enough, add a little cornstarch and keep blending.
4. Finally, spoon the apple butter into containers and chill it in the fridge. It will continue to thicken as it cools!

These numbered steps match the numbered photos above and are for illustration purposes. For the complete list of ingredients and instructions, please see the recipe below.

WHAT TO SERVE WITH INSTANT POT APPLE BUTTER

If you don't lick all the apple butter out of the jars, you'll want to spread it on something yummy.

Keep the oven off and make the best biscuits in the air fryer! They come out perfectly crunchy on the outside and pillowy on the inside. Yum!

Apples and pumpkin go hand in hand for fall. Try this gluten-free pumpkin loaf with a little apple butter on top or plain. It's moist enough!

Have some savory options on your breakfast table with these vegan cheese grits! They're totally dairy-free but super creamy too.

WILL APPLE BUTTER THICKEN AS IT COOLS?

Like most viscous recipes, Instant Pot Apple Butter will definitely continue to thicken as it cools.

If you've finished blending it smooth but it's still thin like water, add a little cornstarch to the mix. I recommend taking some of the apple butter from the pot, mixing the cornstarch into it, and returning it to the warm pressure cooker.

If you have less than 5 pounds of raw apples, it could be thinner.

Let it sit at least half an hour before adding more cornstarch. After 2 tablespoons, it should be plenty thick, especially after it's chilled for a few hours.

WHAT'S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN APPLE BUTTER AND APPLY JELLY?

While this may sound like a dairy-based spread, this totally vegan apple butter is really just very concentrated applesauce!

You can definitely eat this plain, just like cinnamon applesauce, or you can spread it on toast, muffins, or even a pound cake.

If anything, it's closer to apple jelly than butter. Jelly, however, is only made from apple juice instead of whole apples, so this apple spread has just real fruit, seasonings, and a little sugar.

You can store Instant Pot apple butter up to 10 days in the fridge, or up to 6 months in the freezer! Simply thaw and enjoy.

MORE YUMMY INSTANT POT RECIPES

Apple butter screams fall to me, just like sweet potatoes. Make them quick and easy in the pressure cooker for the smoothest mashed potatoes in minutes.

When soup season is in full swing, I'm always making this potato leek soup in the Instant Pot. It's light and brothy but super flavorful.

Need noodles in your soup? Try tofu ramen! There's no veggies you can't put in this Japanese soup.

Love black beans but hate the soak time? Forget all about that with these Instant Pot black beans with no soaking! No crunchy, raw beans here, I promise. They're great for Mexican-inspired night with this taco "meat," too

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