Making your own applesauce is incredibly easy. With just 3 ingredients, you can have the tastiest applesauce ever in no time at all. Perfect for when the apple season hits!
When I was in nursery school, we all had to bring an apple. All the kids together had to make applesauce, which was a great activity and so much fun! I do remember that I wasn’t all too fond of warm applesauce. I like my applesauce to be cold, which I think tastes best!
So the idea of making my own applesauce was not completely foreign to me. I had already done it before for making a cake with applesauce on my blog (soon to follow!) but I had never actually published a recipe for it. With so much apples in my house, I figured it was time to change that!
Do you have too many apples in the house, or do you just feel like making your own applesauce? Then try this easy recipe! You can also add some extra flavor like cinnamon, vanilla or lemon.
For making applesauce at home you don’t need more than just three ingredients, but you can add additional ingredients to enhance the flavor. I’ll give some tips on great additions later on.
You will need:
There is really nothing like the taste of homemade applesauce and it is easy to vary in flavor. I sometimes add a bit of lemon juice or lemon zest or a cinnamon stick for an even better autumn flavor. If you want additional flavors think about adding some vanilla extract or ginger.
Other than that you need a large pot for cooking the apples and possibly a food mill or an immersion blender. Depending on how smooth or how chunky you want the end result to be. For a chunky applesauce you don’t really need any tools (except maybe a potato masher) but for a smoother texture a food processor is also an option. Once made you can keep the applesauce in an airtight container.
Once you have collected all three ingredients (can’t be much work right?) you can start making this perfect little side dish. You chop the apples into manageable pieces. If you’re using organic apples you can even leave the peel of the apple on. A tip on that is below.
Add all the apple pieces to the pan together with the sugar and a little water. Place it on low heat and let it come to the boil.
After about 10 to 15 minutes the apples should be soft enough to mash. I like my applesauce chunky so I used a potato masher, but if you want it smooth use an immersion blender or food processor.
You can very easily use applesauce in baking. It’s delicious for instance in these applesauce muffins I made before. It’s less sweet than adding sugar, so it’s a great replacement if you want your baking to be a bit healthier.
When you add applesauce, you are also adding a lot of liquid to the recipe. This is something to bear in mind if you want to experiment with baking yourself. I have already developed a couple of recipes with applesauce and will be sharing more in the near future, but those applesauce muffins are a great start!
Did you know that you can also use applesauce to replace eggs in some recipes? For example, in the recipe for gevulde speculaas (Dutch almond paste filled spiced cookies), you can replace the egg mixed with the almond paste with applesauce. You can’t blindly apply this trick to every recipe that contains eggs, so it does take a bit of trial and error. I’ll soon share more tips on how to do this the best way!
Baking tip: I use an apple corer to easily remove the core from apples.
For this recipe I decided to make a chunky version, which I love. You don’t use an immersion blender to make a chunky puree, you use a potato masher. Young children will generally prefer a smoother applesauce. It is also best to use a smooth applesauce for baking, such as in a cake or muffins. You can use this same great recipe and blend it to the desired consistency.
Absolutely. You can still follow the recipe below, just leave out the sugar. Personally, I just think it tastes better with a little sugar in it, so I add it.
As mentioned you can use any kind of apple for making a delicious homemade applesauce recipe. Just use whatever apple you prefer or use your leftover apples if you’ve bought too many. The best thing about this recipe is that you can really tailor it to your personal preference.
The amount of sugar you add to the applesauce depends on how sweet or sour the apple is. I used Elstar apples, which are already slightly sweeter and therefore need less sugar. Granny Smith apples, on the other hand, are more tart. You can add sugar to taste at the end.
If you want to make applesauce with the peel on, it is best to use organic apples. I also recommend that you use an immersion blender to make a smoother texture. You will still taste the peel though. And you might still find a bit of peel here and there. If you want to avoid that, you can pass it through a food mill or sieve after cooking and mashing.
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