Homemade Applesauce
Say good-bye to store-bought applesauce. Homemade Applesauce is a game changer and once you learn to make your own you will never go back. Use the right combination of apples to get the perfect sweet and tart applesauce. Perfect to use in baked goods or to eat as is.
Ingredients
- 3 Fuji apples (or any sweet apples of choice)
- 3 McIntosh apples (or any tart apples of choice)
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 2/3 cup water (divided into 1/3 cups)
Instructions
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Peel and remove core from apples. Rough chop into big chunks.
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Place a medium saucepan on stovetop. Pour in 1/3 cup water then add apple chunks right on top and throw in cinnamon sticks. Turn heat on medium-high and place lid on saucepan. Bring to a simmer and continue to simmer for 10 minutes.
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Remove cover from saucepan and gently mash to softened apples using a mashed potato masher. Turn heat down to low. Pour in the rest of water and cover again and allow to simmer for another 5 minutes on low heat.
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Remove cover and mash again with mashed potato masher. Very gently. If you like the consistency of the apple sauce at this point remove from heat. If not, cover again and continue to simmer for another 5 minutes to reduce more. Then mash again very gently until all chunks are gone.
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Remove saucepan from heat and leave covered until applesauce cools-off. Remove cinnamon sticks and serve applesauce in a large wide mouth mason jar or airtight container. Keep refrigirated for up to 5-7 days.
Recipe Notes
Tips for making Homemade Applesauce:
- Use a combination of sweet apples and tart apples- The trick to the perfect applesauce is to use a mixture of apples that tend to be sweet and those that tend to be more on the tart side. This allows the sauce to reach that perfect sweet and tart taste.
- The best tart, crisp with a hint of sweetness apples for applesauce are- Gravenstein, Jonamac, and McIntosh.
- The sweetest and juiciest are- Cortland, Crispin (Mutsu), Fuji, and Golden Delicious.
- My favorite combo of apples to use are Fuji and McIntosh- I find them to make a great combo to make great applesauce.
- Use softer apples to make your applesauce- These kind of apples will soften faster when cooking taking less time to turn into sauce. All the type of apples mentioned above tend to be on the softer side.
- Applesauce is great for baking- It contains pectin which acts like a binder just like eggs. It also prevents baked goods from becoming tough and dense.
- Don't add any additional sweeteners to your applesauce if you are using it for baking- This will prevent your baked goods from becoming too sweet and having any extra sugar. Just the natural sweetness from the apples.