Core Data: Quickest way to delete all instances of an entity

Reset Entity in Swift 3 :

func resetAllRecords(in entity : String) // entity = Your_Entity_Name
    {

        let context = ( UIApplication.shared.delegate as! AppDelegate ).persistentContainer.viewContext
        let deleteFetch = NSFetchRequest<NSFetchRequestResult>(entityName: entity)
        let deleteRequest = NSBatchDeleteRequest(fetchRequest: deleteFetch)
        do
        {
            try context.execute(deleteRequest)
            try context.save()
        }
        catch
        {
            print ("There was an error")
        }
    }

iOS 9 and later:

iOS 9 added a new class called NSBatchDeleteRequest that allows you to easily delete objects matching a predicate without having to load them all in to memory. Here's how you'd use it:

Swift 5

let fetchRequest: NSFetchRequest<NSFetchRequestResult> = NSFetchRequest(entityName: "Car")
let deleteRequest = NSBatchDeleteRequest(fetchRequest: fetchRequest)

do {
    try myPersistentStoreCoordinator.execute(deleteRequest, with: myContext)
} catch let error as NSError {
    // TODO: handle the error
}

Objective-C

NSFetchRequest *request = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] initWithEntityName:@"Car"];
NSBatchDeleteRequest *delete = [[NSBatchDeleteRequest alloc] initWithFetchRequest:request];

NSError *deleteError = nil;
[myPersistentStoreCoordinator executeRequest:delete withContext:myContext error:&deleteError];

More information about batch deletions can be found in the "What's New in Core Data" session from WWDC 2015 (starting at ~14:10).

iOS 8 and earlier:

Fetch 'em all and delete 'em all:

NSFetchRequest *allCars = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] init];
[allCars setEntity:[NSEntityDescription entityForName:@"Car" inManagedObjectContext:myContext]];
[allCars setIncludesPropertyValues:NO]; //only fetch the managedObjectID

NSError *error = nil;
NSArray *cars = [myContext executeFetchRequest:allCars error:&error];
[allCars release];
//error handling goes here
for (NSManagedObject *car in cars) {
  [myContext deleteObject:car];
}
NSError *saveError = nil;
[myContext save:&saveError];
//more error handling here

A little bit more cleaned and universal : Add this method :

- (void)deleteAllEntities:(NSString *)nameEntity
{
    NSFetchRequest *fetchRequest = [[NSFetchRequest alloc] initWithEntityName:nameEntity];
    [fetchRequest setIncludesPropertyValues:NO]; //only fetch the managedObjectID

    NSError *error;
    NSArray *fetchedObjects = [theContext executeFetchRequest:fetchRequest error:&error];
    for (NSManagedObject *object in fetchedObjects)
    {
        [theContext deleteObject:object];
    }

    error = nil;
    [theContext save:&error];
}

For Swift 2.0:

class func clearCoreData(entity:String) {
  let fetchRequest = NSFetchRequest()
  fetchRequest.entity = NSEntityDescription.entityForName(entity, inManagedObjectContext: moc!)
  fetchRequest.includesPropertyValues = false
  do {
    if let results = try moc!.executeFetchRequest(fetchRequest) as? [NSManagedObject] {
      for result in results {
        moc!.deleteObject(result)
      }

      try moc!.save()
    }
  } catch {
    LOG.debug("failed to clear core data")
  }
}