Wash the apples. Do not peel. Cut off any bad spots and discard. Cut the apples as shown to remove the cores. (Find a full graphic in the blog post above.) The cores can be turned into vinegar or composted. Slice the apples.

Place the sliced apples in a 6 quart Instant Pot with 2 cups of water. Set the Instant Pot to “Sealing.” Pressure cook in the normal mode on high pressure for 10 minutes. Allow pressure to release naturally.

Pour off the excess water. Dump the apples into a colander and stir quite a bit with a spoon to break the apples down and release more liquid to drain off. A lot of juice will come off! I strained off approximately 6 cups of juice (you can save this!) and was left with about 5 cups of thick apple mash.

Let the apple mash cool a little (or a lot), then blend it completely smooth with a good blender – I use a Vitamix. Leave the vent in the lid open to prevent pressure from building up but cover the opening with a kitchen towel to avoid getting splashed in the face with hot apples. Be very careful and use common sense.

If you want to stop here for the night, that’s fine. Put the apple puree in the fridge and cook it down into apple butter in the morning. You’ll need a good 6 hours of cooking time during which you’re available to stir occasionally.

Return the apple puree to the Instant Pot. At this point it should be thicker than applesauce but not apple butter thick yet.

Whisk in the apple butter ingredients.

Cover the Instant Pot with foil, but bend a little bit of it back to let liquid escape. (see example) You’re trying to reduce the liquid in the apples to create a thick, spreadable apple butter consistency. The apples do spatter and the foil and rim of the Instant Pot will be hot, so be careful.

Slow cook on the normal mode for 6-7 hours, stirring hourly. Cook time may vary by appliance and the amount of juice you were able to take off the apples earlier. Cook until the apple butter is thick and sticks to a wooden spoon. Mine reduced to about 3 ½ cups. Adjust sweetener and seasonings to taste if needed.

This apple butter keeps well in the fridge for several weeks, but I recommend freezing it for long term storage. (Freezer containers or jam jars work well.) Leave an inch of headspace for expansion. You can probably can this recipe too, but I haven’t tried that yet. There are plenty of tutorials online if you’d like to try it!