Easy Food Mill Applesauce (Instant Pot)

Hate peeling the skins of apples to make applesauce? When you use a food mill you don't have to ever peel apples again. And when you combine using a food mill with cooking the apples in the Instant Pot you have the fattest way to get from apples to sauce! Great for those mealy apples that you don't want to eat anymore.

This post includes affiliate links. This means that, at no additional cost to you, I will earn a commission if you click through and make a purchase. These are products and services I recommend because I use or trust them. Cookies will be used to track the affiliate links you click.

I love making applesauce. Easy, satisfying, and the kids love it.

I make applesauce year round, more so in the fall, in which I make a lot of applesauce.

I mean a ton. Maybe even literally.

We do apple picking and/or buying apples by the bushel and the peck (and sometimes we give hugs around the neck!).

Whenever we have some extra apples or some ones that are past their prime, whether they are getting soft and mealy, or have a bad spot or two on them, they head to the pot for applesauce.

As we get further away from the fall apple season, you are more likely to encounter mealy apples. Instead of getting depressed, I set them aside to make applesauce. No worries and nothing wasted. 

Today we are going to talk about making applesauce with my two favorite tools - a food mill and the Instant Pot.

Jump to:

• ❔ Why a Food Mill?
• 📋 How to Use a Food Mill
• 💲 What Food Mill to Buy
• ♻️ What Can I Use Instead of a Food Mill? 
• 💡 Instant Pot Tips
• 📧 Sign Up for Emails
• 🍏 More Applesauce Posts
• 🥣 More Instant Pot Recipes
• Food MIll [Instant Pot] Applesauce

❔ Why a Food Mill?

If you haven't used a food mill before, it's great device that I think should be in every kitchen. I have used it for making mashed potatoes and fresh tomato sauce. But what I use it for the most is applesauce.

A food mill will remove the skin of the apples once the sauce has been cooked. That means no peeling for you. If you are making it in the Instant Pot, the peeling is probably the most time consuming part. You could do this with a sieve too, but I think that is a lot harder to use.

Also cooking with the skins on adds some color to the finished sauce. I think it makes it look prettier. Such as this applesauce I made with Pink Pearl apples.

📋 How to Use a Food Mill

Once your applesauce is complete and has cooled enough so you don't splatter yourself with hot applesauce, you take the food mill and set it over a wide bowl. You want to try a bowl or even a pot that you can out put over top that will be most stable. Most food mills come with some kinds of clips or legs that will help it to balance on top of a bowl.

Once your food mill is ready here is what to do:

1. Fill the food mill up no more than ¾ of the way up with the cooked applesauce
2. Turn it clockwise 3 times.
3. Then turn it counter clockwise once. This will help clear anything sticking to the bottom.
4. Repeat until it's basically only skins in the mill.
5. If you have more applesauce to run through it, dump out the skins and start the process over.

💲 What Food Mill to Buy

There are several food mills on the market you can buy. I had an old fashion metal type that I used for years that eventually rusted out.

My recommendation is the Oxo Food Mill. There are cheaper ones but I don't think they work as well as the Oxo. I like that it has wide legs so it fits on any bowl I have tried it on. I also comes with different "discs" with sized holes.

The Oxo mill comes apart easily so that it can be completely cleaned. So much easier to clean than previous mills I have used. It can be put in the dishwasher.

♻️ What Can I Use Instead of a Food Mill? 

What if you don't have a food mill or yours is in the shop but you still don't want to peel apples. There are two other devices you can turn to

• A mesh strainer
• An immersion blender

It's a more cumbersome using a strainer than a food mill for sure. If you have one an immersion or stick blender will work. Just make sure the sauce is cool enough so you don't splatter hot applesauce on yourself. Then use the blender to puree the apples until it's a smooth sauce.

💡 Instant Pot Tips

Here are some of tips on making applesauce in the Instant Pot. You don't have to use an Instant Pot to use a food mill for the sauce in the end, I just think the Instant Pot speeds up the process so much.

Add A Little Bit of Water

The goal is to make applesauce, not apple soup. You really don't need to use a ton of water to make the sauce. You only need a ¼ cup, maybe a ⅓ cup to get you started.

Before you hit the back bottom, don't worry, you can still get your Instant Pot up to pressure with that small amount of water. I have never had a problem with it. 

Note that as the pot heats up, the apples will release their own moisture. 

If you use too much water, then you are going to have to evaporate water after cooking and that will just increase the time it takes the make the sauce, and part of the reason you are using the Instant Pot is to get applesauce to your mouth faster. 

Short Time

Set your Instant Pot to 5 minutes.

Yep that's all. 5 minutes is enough time to cook the apples and turn them into a sauce. The whole process takes about 30 minutes from the Instant Pot coming to pressure to the cook time to waiting for the pressure to naturally release. 

I have not tried doing a manual release as of yet. I prefer natural release, naturally!

Choosing the Apples

The best way to do homemade applesauce is to mix together some sweet and some tart apples. If you are going to use a single variety, try to pick one that has a mix of both sweet and tart flavors. To learn more about picking apples for applesauce, check our post on the subject.

📧 Sign Up for Emails

Don't miss any of our Instant Pot recipes. Sign up for the newsletter.

🍏 More Applesauce Posts

Learn more about making applesauce with these delicious posts.

• Roasted Applesauce Recipe
• What Apples to Use
• Peach Applesauce
• No Sugar Added Cranberry Applesauce

🥣 More Instant Pot Recipes

Does this recipe sound up your alley, here are some additional ones you must try.

• Bean Soup with Bacon
• Ham
• Corned Beef
• Corned Beef Hash Egg Bites
• Turkey
• Mashed Potatoes
• Meatloaf Bites
• Smoky Barbacoa for Tacos