One of the simplest ways to preserve a fresh apple harvest is learning how to make apple sauce at home. It’s a question I get asked often, and it’s one of my favourite ways to use up apples every fall.
The first time we went apple picking, I learned how to make homemade applesauce and canned it as a first food for my oldest daughter. Nearly a year later, she was still enjoying jars from that same batch. It was one of those moments that showed me just how rewarding preserving your own food can be – and partially what lead me on this homesteading journey.
Homemade applesauce is loved by both kids and adults, stores well for months, and fills the house with the comforting smell of cooked apples. Best of all, this recipe couldn’t be simpler. All you need are apples.
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Quick Answer: How to Make Apple Sauce at Home
Peel, core and chop the apples into 1″ pieces, add the apples to the pot with a little bit of water, then cook until soft. Using an immersion blender, blend until your desired texture. Then add a small amount of cinnamon if desired. Place into jars and leave in refrigerator for 1 week or water bath can apples and store at room temperature for years.
Why We Make Homemade Applesauce
This is the one thing my husband and I disagree on when it comes to healthy snacks. He says store bought apple sauce doesn’t contain any additives – at least it doesn’t according to the label.
As a slightly cynical person of the pharma-, I mean, food industry, I personally don’t believe it. So I make my own apple sauce every single year. I always can the jars using the water bath method so they’re shelf-stable. This further extends the harvest and and when those jars are finally opened, they get devoured that same day.
Cooking apples releases the natural sugars making the sauce sweeter than eating a raw apple. I like to treat apple sauce like a treat, because it is.
Ingredients
My list is a very simple list.
- Apples
- Water
- Cinnamon (optional)
Equipment You’ll Need
The equipment seems like a lot of items – but it’s really very simple here too.
- Large pot
- Apple peeler (optional)
- Knife
- Immersion blender
- mason jar to can
Best Apples for Homemade Applesauce
People seem to be very particular about the type of apples they use for apple sauce, like I mentioned in my Apple Chip recipe and my Apple Cider Vinegar recipe – I just use whatever apple I can get organically grown or from the orchard when we go picking. But if you want specifics, these are the recommended apples for homemade applesauce.
Sweet apples
These are the apples that most people use for generic apple sauce. When we pick our apples from the orchard, we go by the apple taste that we just picked from the tree, if it’s a good sweetness level for us – we fill our bags!
- Gala
- Fuji
- Honeycrisp
Tart apples
- McIntosh
- Cortland
- Granny Smith
Sometimes people like to mix sweet and tart apples for a fun flavour profile. I’ve personally mixed multiple different types of apples to make the apple sauce. I’m not a tart apple person, so it’s usually a red delicious with a gala or cosmic apple.
How to Make Apple Sauce at Home
Here are my super simple steps when it comes to making apple sauce at home. The easier and simpler a recipe is – the better for my family.
Step 1: Wash, Peel and Core the Apples
Wash and peel, and core the apples, then chop into roughly 1″ cubes to put into your pot.
Save the peels and cores to make a homemade apple cider vinegar.
Step 2: Add Water and Cook Until Soft
Once your apples are ready, add water to your pot. The water helps cook the apples down to make a sauce. You don’t want to add too much water, just enough to help the apples soften.
Depending on the size of the batch, I tend to add just enough water to cover the bottom of the pot. This stops the apples from burning against the heat of the pot’s bottom.
The apples will continue to cook until they are soft enough for your liking. Taste them as they continue to soften.
Step 3: Blend
Now your apples are cooked, it’s time to blend them into the sauce!
Every family is different – my brother-in-law specifically like his chunky, I like mine smooth.
Depending on your preferred texture, use your immersion blender to blend until smooth for you.
Step 4: Add Cinnamon (Optional)
This is where you can spice it up. I like to add a tiny bit of cinnamon for a fun flavour. Sometimes I only add cinnamon to the last half of the batch (after I put the plain apple sauce into their jars).
Step 4: Cool Before Storing
Now the apple sauce is in the jars, leave the lid open until they cool down to the touch. Then you can add the lid onto the mason jar and store in your refrigerator for 1 week.
Or, you want to store them for the pantry for a long shelf-stable life. Here’s how you do that.
Step 5: Water Bath Canning
Add the warm apple sauce into the mason jar, wipe the rim of the jar with a clean towel dipped in white vinegar (this helps ensure there is no bacteria).
Then add the lid, make it finger-tip tight and add to your water bath canner or a large pot filled with water. Once at a rolling boil, carefully add your jars into the water bath canner.
Some people can for 5 minutes, I personally like to do 15, just incase.
Once the time is up, using your canning tools, carefully take out the jar and place on a towel. Leave it out for at least 24 hours until your hear a ‘POP’. This is the canning lid sealing. If you’re not sure at the 24 hour mark, push down at the center of the lid. If there’s no give, your jar is sealed. However, if you push down and it makes a noise and dips under the pressure of your finger, then it’s NOT sealed properly. You will have to redo your canning.
How Long Does Homemade Applesauce Last?
The apple sauce itself can last a very long time, but it depends on how you store it.
- Refrigerator: this method will only last a few days/week.
- Water Bath Canning: Canning gives you the best shelf-stable long-life. This can last years.
- Freezer: This method works as well, but the sauce can get freezer burn if left for too long, try to use it within a few months.
Can You Leave the Apple Skin On?
Yes you could leave the skin on, but, you cannot water bath can anything with the skin or seeds in it. It could cause mold and other issues to arise.
I always peel the skin too because of the texture. I like my apple sauce at home smooth.
Can You Freeze Homemade Applesauce?
Absolutely. Freezing is a key component for our family when preserving foods.
We always freeze our cooked pumpkin, homemade garden pesto and even fresh herbs into pucks.
The same concept applies to apple sauce. Freeze in silicone muffin tins and then pop out when they’ve frozen. Add those homemade apple sauce pucks to a freezer bag and there you have it!
Once you want to thaw and use them. Either leave out to thaw in a bowl, or pop the bowl into the microwave to thaw and warm quickly.
Common Mistakes on How to Make Apple Sauce at Home
The important thing is these mistakes will not make or break your apple sauce. However, depending on your preferences these mistakes can make your apple sauce less then ideal.
- Adding Too Much Water: If there is too much water in the apple sauce, it will dilute the apples and make it more watery.
- Overcooking the Apples: Overcooking can cause the sauce to loose it’s natural flavour and become bland. This is less than ideal.
- Sweetening Too Early: When the apples heat and cook, they become naturally sweeter. Depending on the variety you’re using to cook with, your apples may already be sweet enough as is. Always taste before sweetening if you choose to sweeten at all.
FAQ on How to Make Apple Sauce at Home
You can, it’s all up to personal preference. I choose not to because it makes it healthier, simpler and tastier when I’m already using sweet apples.
Of course! We add cinnamon to half the batch – sometimes all of it – sometimes not at all. It’s a personal preference here too.
It depends on the amount of apples you’re using and the temperature. It all comes down to the softness you desire. We like to have our apples really soft so it’s much easier to blend smooth. It usually takes 10-15 minutes.
More Ways to Use Apples
On our homestead we love fresh fruit, but when you pick bags from the orchard, you have to get creative on how to use them to make your harvest last. These are some of our other go-to apple recipes!
- Apple Chips in a Dehydrator (Easy Homemade Recipe)
- How To Make Apple Cider Vinegar From Scratch (Using Apple Scraps)
If you’re on a gardening preserving journey at home, you can explore all of our hands-on advice in our Garden Based Preserving, based on what actually works here on our homestead.
We are growing our website with more articles all the time, and we invite you to grow with us. If you have any questions about how to make apple sauce at home or would like to share some of your knowledge with us please leave a comment below. Happy Gardening!
How to Make Apple Sauce at Home
Equipment
- 1 Large Pot
- 1 Knife
- 1 Apple Peeler
- 1 immersion blender
- Storage containers
Ingredients
- 4 apples
- 1/3 cup water
- 1 tsp cinnamon optional
Instructions
- Peel, core and chop apples into 1" pieces.
- Add apples to a pot with water. Cook on low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Let simmer and cook until apples can be easily pierced/fall apart with a fork.
- Turn off the heat and blend the apple sauce using your immersion blender. Blend until at your desired consistency.
- Scoop out the mixture into a storage container of your choice. Store for 1 week in the refrigerator.
- If water bath canning for a shelf-stable product, scoop apple sauce into a cleaned, sterilized jar. Wipe the rims of the jar with a bit of vinegar to clean and prevent any spoilage. Place on your lids and rims until finger-tip tight. Place in your water bath canning vessel (large pot with boiling water that covers the jars or a water bath canner), for 5-15 minutes. Remove from vessel and leave on a towel to seal. Once the lid makes a 'POP' the container in sealed.
