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You are here: Home / Eat / homemade applesauce recipe

homemade applesauce recipe

May 11, 2014 By Katie 13 Comments

homemade applesauce :: 100% natural and only 1 ingredient...apples. it's the perfect healthy snack for every day.

i’ve been making my own homemade applesauce for years. even before i was married and had kids, i would make huge batches of it in my mom’s kitchen. so, once my kids came along i was already in the habit of making it and would feed this to them instead of buying the overpriced baby food at the store – and the really nice thing is that i knew it was 100% natural…there is nothing added, not even sugar or cinnamon, though you can certainly add those in if you wanted. but i always found that this applesauce was sweet enough, all on its own.

you might notice in the photos that my applesauce is pink – you can get it this color by adding strawberries, but all i do is leave the skins on and let their red color tint the applesauce (kind of like the way you might use tea, or onion skins, or purple cabbage to color your easter eggs).

all i ever need to make this recipe is apples…lots of red-skinned apples. it’s a great way to use up excess apples that may have lost their perfect “crunch” for eating by hand, or ones that might have a few bruises.

red apples - perfect for homemade "pink" applesauce

if you want pink-colored applesauce, leave the skins on. just make sure to wash all your apples. if you don’t want them pink and prefer the normal applesauce color, peel all your apples before chopping.

since i’m going to be chopping a lot of apples i try to streamline the job as much as i can. it’s so much easier, faster, and safer to cut anything when it has a flat side to lay on the cutting board. the pictures below show how i cut my apples. it’s nothing earth-shattering, i know, but it’s really efficient and gets the job done quickly.

how to dice an apple

once they’re all chopped, place the apples in a large pot. to this, you will need to add about 1/2 – 3/4 cup of water…just enough to cover the bottom of the pot. the apples will produce their own juices to keep them from burning on the bottom, but they need a little jump start before they get to that point.

making homemade applesauce!

cook the apples over medium-high heat until they get really soft. you can see the color of the skins start to change, the apples will let out some of their juices, and the texture will shift from crunchy to really mushy. this will take about 15-20 minutes.

cooking apples for homemade applesauce

this next part is a little time consuming, or rather, it’s takes a bit more effort on my part than i usually want to do. i’ve been thinking about getting a food mill, like the one here (aff link) and all i would have to do is add the apples to the food mill and process. job done!

but since i don’t have a food mill (yet) once the apples are really soft and falling apart, i transfer a cup or two to a blender and pulse a few times until i don’t have any huge chunks of apple left.

step-by-step homemade applesauce recipe...easy!

then i transfer it to a sieve placed over a mixing bowl and using a spoon or a ladle i push as much as i can through the sieve. repeat this process between the blender and sieve until all your cooked apples are gone. note: you’ll be left with quite a bit of pulp – all the time you saved by not having to peel the apples at the beginning is now sitting in front of you and it’s time to separate the apple sauce from the skins.

how to make homemade applesauce

when you’re finished getting all your applesauce in the bowl (don’t forget to scrape the good stuff from the underside of the sieve!) it’s ready to chill in the fridge for a couple hours before serving. when you’re ready to eat, it will be pink and smooth, naturally sweet and delicious.

try your own variations by adding other fruit, cooking or softening the fruit as needed. some of our favorite combinations are: apple/banana, apple/pear, apple/peach, apple/strawberry…. whatever combination you use, you can know that this snack is healthy and delicious and your family will love it!

100% natural and sugar-free homemade applesauce recipehomamde applesauce 450x450

5.0 from 2 reviews
homemade applesauce
 
Print
Author: kate
Serves: 4
Ingredients
  • 8-10 apples
  • ½ cup water
Instructions
  1. chop apples, discarding cores. (if making pink-colored applesauce, leave skins on. if not, peel skins first.)
  2. cook apples in a large pot with ½ - ¾ cup water over medium-high heat until soft, about 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
  3. option 1: use a food mill to strain applesauce.
  4. option 2: pulse cooked apples in small amounts in a blender and strain through a sieve with a spoon, repeating process until all apples are gone.
  5. cover and refrigerate applesauce for 2 hours. serve chilled.
3.5.3208

 

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Sondos says

    May 31, 2015 at 5:56 am

    can this applesauce be used in a recipe that calls for applesauce?

    Reply
    • Katie says

      June 10, 2015 at 12:46 pm

      I would think yes – it’s just apples, which is what store-bought applesauce is, minus all the preservatives.

      Reply
    • Katie says

      June 10, 2015 at 6:35 pm

      I would think yes – it’s just apples, which is what the store-bought applesauce is, minus the preservatives.

      Reply
  2. Laura says

    July 11, 2015 at 8:45 pm

    If you have a good blender you don’t have to cook them. Actually, once we didn’t even core them. I’ve never tried it with the reg. blenders though. It just kills me to take a perfectly yummy healthy apple my kids like and cook some of the nutrients out of it.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      September 23, 2015 at 5:59 pm

      thanks, laura. you could also steam them. not everyone has a heavy duty blender, so i think rather than buy the sweetened applesauce at the store, cooking them until soft or steaming them is way better than the added sugar 🙂

      Reply
  3. jailynne says

    July 30, 2015 at 6:30 pm

    what kind of apple did you use in the photo?

    Reply
    • Katie says

      July 31, 2015 at 10:47 am

      I used gala apples in this photo, but you can use whatever kind of apple you like. When I can get them, I love to use Empire apples 🙂

      Reply
  4. Jasmine says

    January 24, 2016 at 2:16 am

    How long does the sauce last for (shelf life) and presumably in the fridge rather than cupboard as there’s no preservatives?

    Reply
    • Katie says

      January 31, 2016 at 10:49 am

      It should last a few days in the fridge or you are able to can it for a much longer shelf life. The shelf life would then be similar to any other canned fruit.

      Reply
  5. Robert says

    August 18, 2020 at 10:14 pm

    This recipe also good with pears, of course.

    Reply
    • Katie says

      August 28, 2020 at 9:43 pm

      Absolutely! Pear sauce is delicious!!

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. September 2015 Calendar - Free Printable | Live Craft Eat says:
    August 31, 2015 at 4:38 pm

    […] will be the best they are all year, and apple pies and homemade applesauce must be made. i’ll dust off my soup recipes (yay! i can’t wait!) and maybe, just maybe, […]

    Reply
  2. September 2019 Calendar - Free Printable | Live Craft Eat says:
    September 2, 2019 at 11:55 am

    […] I’ve already printed one out for myself – I’m thinking apple-picking for some homemade applesauce, doing some fun fall leaf crafts with my younger kids, and making some cranberry apple crisp […]

    Reply

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