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Super Easy Instant Pot Apple Butter

Apples are plentiful at the store and at your local orchards. If you’re looking for a fantastic way to use up some of the apples you have on hand, I am going to share with you the best apple butter recipe ever!

And, the best part? It cooks in minutes in the Instant Pot.

When we first started homeschooling, way back in 2011, I took the boys to a local apple orchard as a field trip. You could pick apples and take them home, but they also sold homemade apple butter using apples from their orchard. I brought it home and smothered the apple butter on pork chops that I cooked in the slow cooker all day long.

I am so excited to make apple butter myself now.

The best part?

It can be done quickly in an electric pressure cooker.

Let me show you just how easy it is.

Ingredients:

16-20 apples
1/4 C molasses
1/2 C sugar
1/2 C brown sugar
1/4 C room temperature water
2 tbsp. apple pie spice
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Peel, core and chop up your apples into small squares.

Place them in your Instant Pot.

Next, add the water, both sugars, the molasses, spice, lemon juice and vanilla over the apples.

Mix it together until well combined.

Pop you lid on the Instant pot and press Manual.

Set the time to 15 minutes.

You want to let the pressure cooker do a natural release for this one.

Grab a potato masher and puree or mash the apples in the Instant Pot.

You can serve it up now on toast or biscuits, marinate your favorite chicken or pork with it, or just eat it as it is.

Once it is cool you can also freeze it for up to three months in a freezer friendly container.

How simple was that?

Enjoy!!!

What Can I Make with Apple Butter?

We love making these apple butter crescent rolls. They are the PERFECT fall dessert!

These are the slow cooker apple butter pork chops we love.

Need Help Getting Dinner on the Table?

The struggle is real. Freezer meal planning has changed my life! Here is an awesome 6 week freezer meal plan to get you started!

5.0 from 1 reviews

Super Easy Instant Pot Apple Butter

Ingredients

16-20 apples
¼ C molasses
½ C sugar
½ C brown sugar
¼ C room temperature water
2 tbsp. apple pie spice
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

Peel, core and chop up your apples into small squares.
Place them in your Instant Pot.
Next, add the water, both sugars, the molasses, spice, lemon juice and vanilla over the apples.
Mix it together until well combined.
Pop you lid on the Instant pot and press Manual.
Set the time to 15 minutes.
You want to let the pressure cooker do a natural release for this one.
Grab a potato masher and puree or mash the apples in the Instant Pot.
You can serve it up now on toast or biscuits, marinate your favorite chicken or pork with it, or just eat it as it is.
Once it is cool you can also freeze it for up to three months in a freezer friendly container.

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Easy Recipes: Cranberry Apple Butter Chicken

By Crystal VanTassel-Lopez 2 Comments

I have been in an apple butter mood lately. I mean, it is Fall.

I am having a hard time finding apple butter without high fructose corn syrup at the local grocery store and I have not had a chance to make a trip to the area apple orchard to buy it fresh. So, on my last trip to Trader Joe’s I searched their shelves.

I found an amazing jar of cranberry apple butter and thought it would be perfect to simmer chicken in on the stove top. I love recipes using apple butter ideas and this is the perfect opportunity to think outside the box.

You could totally use regular ol’ apple butter for this too. Feel free to improvise. Obviously I love to improvise myself.

Ingredients:

6 chicken breasts
1 cup of Trader Joe’s Cranberry Apple Butter, or regular apple butter
1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
1 T olive oil
2 cups of chicken broth

In a large skillet, add the olive oil and garlic over a medium heat.

Add your chicken breasts and cook on each side for about 3 minutes each.

Add the cranberry apple butter (or apple butter) to the tops of the chicken breasts.

I spread it evenly over each breast and let it cook for about 2-3 more minutes.

Then, flipped to the other side to cook for another 2-3 minutes.

Now the sauce, garlic, olive oil and chicken will all mix together.

Pour in the chicken broth and move the heat to low.

Cook for about 20 minutes, turning once, until the chicken is cooked through and all of the broth is cooked down and evaporated.

The chicken will have a nice brown caramelized coat on it. I love that!

My children said this was the most delicious chicken they have ever eaten. They say that after most meals for what it’s worth.

I served this over a bed of Trader Joe’s Rice Medley. (I cook it in chicken broth too. Great flavor!) Really, regular brown rice or white rice would work great too! Try swapping out the water for broth in any case.

I also made a pan of baked garlic butter asparagus. This time I added grape tomatoes. So good!!!

Dinner was ready in 30-45 minutes. I love that!

If you’re looking for more apple butter recipes, try out my Crockpot Apple Butter Pork Chops and my Apple Butter Crescent Rolls. The cranberry apple butter would work great in either of these as well!

MORE RECIPES:

Apple Butter Pork Chops in the Crockpot

By Crystal VanTassel-Lopez 38 Comments

I love cooking easy recipes for my family.

To save my sanity, time and money, I do weekly meal planning to get dinner on the table for our family. Let’s face it, our kids do not want a gourmet meal, they just want time together around the table.

This crockpot recipe is a for sure crowd pleaser. I love recipes using apple butter so this seemed like the perfect dinner for my family.

This recipe defines the smell of fall comfort food. My house smelled amazing while this was cooking in the crockpot last week.

Recently we went on a field trip with our twins’ Mothers Day Out group. The trip took us to a local apple orchard here in the metroplex. We picked apples, learned about honey and bees and purchased some apple butter.

Other than eating it on warm biscuits, I had no idea how I was going to utilize this delicious jar of goodness. So I reached out to my Facebook readers for some ideas and they shared plenty.

And that my friend, is where the idea for this recipe came from. And of course, I wanted to crockpot-it! It just makes life easier, ya know.

Ingredients:

6 pork chops (I used thick center cut)
1/2 a large onion chopped
minced garlic (I used 2 large spoonfuls of minced garlic from a jar)
3/4 cup apple butter
couple cracks of pepper

Arrange your pork chops in the crockpot.

Top the pork chops with the onions and garlic.

Spoon the apple butter on top of the onions.

(If you want more amplified apple flavor in your pork chops, you can reverse the order of the onions/garlic/apple butter and spoon the apple butter directly on the pork chops and then top the apple butter with the garlic and onions.)

Crack some pepper over top and put the crockpot lid on.

Let it cook for 4-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.

When it is done, give the pork chops a stir and they will literally fall apart into chunks on their own.

I served them over steamed rice with a dinner salad and steamed broccoli.

Delicious.

More Recipes:

5.0 from 1 reviews

Apple Butter Pork Chops in the Crockpot

: Crystal & Co

: Dinner

: 10 mins

: 6 hours

: 6 hours 10 mins

: 6

Ingredients

6 pork chops (I used thick center cut)
½ a large onion chopped
minced garlic (I used 2 large spoonfuls of minced garlic from a jar)
¾ cup apple butter
couple cracks of pepper

Instructions

Arrange your pork chops in the crockpot.
Top the pork chops with the onions and garlic.
Spoon the apple butter on top of the onions. (If you want more amplified apple flavor in your pork chops, you can reverse the order of the onions/garlic and spoon the apple butter directly on the pork chops.)
Crack some pepper over top.
Put the crockpot lid on.
Let it cook for 4-6 hours on high or 8-10 hours on low.
When it is done, give the pork chops a stir and they will literally fall apart into chunks on their own.

Notes

I served this over steamed rice with a dinner salad and steamed broccoli on the side.

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Apple Butter Crescent Rolls

By Crystal VanTassel-Lopez 37 Comments

The twins had a field trip this past week with their Mother’s Day Out group that took us to an apple orchard.

Of course while we were there I grabbed some fresh made apple butter and local honey.

Yum!

But I was lacking in creative ways to use it. I knew apple butter smeared on biscuits would be tasty, but other than that I was at a loss.

So I reached out to my Facebook readers and they shared some creative ideas. This was shared by Kristine Peterson Kaatz.

Hi, Kristine! My kids gobbled these up.

This recipe easily doubles or triples and would make a great after dinner dessert or breakfast/brunch idea.

Ingredients:

1 (8oz) can of crescent rolls
approx 1/4 cup of homemade apple butter
powdered sugar (for dusting the tops once baked)
honey (optional topping)

Crescent rolls and apple butter- the perfect marriage.

Who knew?

Layout your crescent roll dough and separate at perforated lines.

I like to line my cookie sheet with parchment paper, too.

Use a spreader and smear apple butter on one side of each crescent triangle.

Roll the triangles to form a crescent roll.

Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.

When they are done, they will look like this- golden with apple butter seams.

Yum!

Sprinkle with some powdered sugar.

Or, top with local honey.

Honey….

Powdered sugar…

Super simple, or what?

How do you cook with apple butter?

Looking for a homemade apple butter recipe?

4.8 from 4 reviews

Apple Butter Crescent Rolls

: Crystal & Co

: breakfast

: 7 mins

: 12 mins

: 19 mins

Ingredients

1 (8oz) can of crescent rolls
approx ¼ cup of apple butter
powdered sugar (for dusting the tops once baked)
honey (optional topping)

Instructions

Layout your crescent roll dough and separate at perforated lines.
I like to line my cookie sheet with parchment paper, too.
Use a spreader and smear apple butter on one side of each crescent triangle.
Roll the triangles to form a crescent roll.
Bake at 375 for 10-12 minutes or until golden brown.
When they are done, they will be golden with apple butter coming from the seams.
Sprinkle the tops with powdered sugar or top with local honey.
Enjoy!

Notes

This recipe easily doubles or triples and would make a great after dinner dessert or breakfast/brunch idea.

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