How to Make Applesauce

Applesauce was a staple for the Ingalls family. Ma dried apples so she could make apple pie and applesauce year round. Dried apples are a healthy and tasty treat. You can see how easy dried apple chips are to make for yourself. Just add water to re-hydrate dried apples for pie or applesauce! In the meantime, treat yourself to some homemade applesauce this fall!

How to Make Homemade Applesauce

Choose Your Apples

Jonagold, gala, and fuji all make good applesauce in my experience. It's also okay to mix and match apples. I prefer large apples for making applesauce. This website provides apple suggestions beyond my experience, too. If you want to can or freeze your applesauce buy or pick a lot of apples. (I can and freeze applesauce from 1.5 bushels of apples each year.)

Orchards often sell seconds of apples for about half the price of regular apples. They're perfect for applesauce!

Prepare Your Apples

Wash and core the apples. Chop the apples into chunks. Peeling the apples is optional- see below. (Some people don't core the apples, but I prefer to.)

Cook the Apples

Place the apple chunks in a large sauce pan with about an inch of water at the bottom to prevent burning. Cover and simmer until the apples fall apart when stabbed with a fork.

Make Applesauce

Choose your tool to make the applesauce. The masher and blender can be used in the pot the apples were cooked in. Soft apples need to be scooped into the food mills.

potato masher- great for chunky applesauce
immersion blender- especially easy if you leave the skins on the apples
food mill (hand cranked)- removes the skins and is easy
Kitchen Aid food mill- removes skins and especially easy for large batches

Once pureed, add a touch of cinnamon, if desired. A little goes a LONG way. How much sugar you add will depend upon the sweetness of the apples you use. Add to your preference and mix. Some people do not add sugar.

Store the Applesauce

If canning the applesauce, do so while the applesauce is still warm. Otherwise, place the applesauce in freezer safe containers if planning to freeze. Allow to cool and then freeze. If you make a small quantity of applesauce, there is no need to can or freeze it.

Keep in mind applesauce can be a family project. Even the cutting!

~ Annette Whipple
This post contains affiliate links. If you make any purchases through the Amazon links, I will earn a tiny percentage at no additional cost to you. Thanks for your support.