Make & Can Unsweetened Applesauce: A How To Guide

Applesauce is a staple side dish and snack in our house. I love to eat it with cottage cheese and my daughters enjoy it with their lunch several times weekly. It doesn’t get old for us! The first time I made applesauce I was pleasantly surprised that it was so easy. I mean…it’s just apples and water! I’ve learned a few tips and tricks on the tools to use to make it easier and tried different variations throughout the years. You can add cinnamon or different fruits to your applesauce to add extra flavor.

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My neighbor has several apple trees in his yard so we go over there a few times during apple season and pick apples. We usually end up filling several 5 gallon buckets to make all kinds of goodies including applesauce, apple butter, pie filling, and crisps. Free apples are the best kind of apples if you ask me! Getting apples from a local apple orchard or farmer’s market are great too or even from the grocery store if it is off season or you don’t have any orchards near you.

Why Homemade?

There are so many reasons to make homemade foods. First, it is great to have a stash of homemade canned goods at your house for emergencies (hello hurricane season and dock strikes). When you make homemade you can totally control your flavors and the ingredients. There are so many nasty, artificial ingredients and preservatives in canned goods and store-bought foods that you don’t need in your homemade foods. You get to choose what ingredients you put in your foods. Lastly, you can make canned goods based on what is in season to use up your garden crops and save money. Many times, homemade foods are cheaper to make than store-bought and you can use seasonal ingredients to save even more.

The Best Apples for Applesauce

There are so many different kinds of apples and experimenting with which kinds you like the best for your applesauce is a fun experiment! My neighbor isn’t sure what all his apples are but we do know he has some Wolf Rivers, Golden Delicious, and Red Delicious apples, among others. We’ve made some all Golden Delicious and all Red Delicious applesauce and the Red Delicious was this beautiful pinkish color and had a great taste. The Golden Delicious applesauce was good too but I preferred a mix of different apples. Different flavors mixed make a great flavored and textured applesauce. Other good apples to try for delicious applesauce flavors are Granny Smith, Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp, and McIntosh.

Canning & Apple Picking Tools

• Apples
• Pint or Quart Jars– I don’t usually buy these from Amazon because they are a lot more expensive so look for them at Walmart, Farm and Fleet, Menards, etc.
• Lids and Rings for jars- It is recommended that you use new lids every time you can something new to make sure you get a proper seal.
• Sauce Make/Food Mill: I LOVE this for applesauce, tomato sauce, jellies, and other purees
• Canning Tools: These tools make canning so much easier
• Waterbath Canner– Mine is similar to this one! There are also bundles where you can get your canner and the tools together and save a little bit.
• Apple picking bucket– It was convenient to have an over the shoulder bucket for picking apples, pears, and even berries this year!

Applesauce Recipe

Making applesauce is ridiculously easy! All you need for ingredients is…well…apples. To make about 9 pints of applesauce you need about 14 pounds of apples.

Wash and quarter the apples and cut out any bad spots. Add apples (peel, core, and all) to a pot and add 1/2 cup of water. If you’re using a food mill like that one linked above, you don’t need to peel or core the apples because they will all get separated in the mill.

Heat over medium high heat until the water starts to boil. Let simmer until the apples soften (about 15-20 minutes), stirring occasionally so the apples don’t burn to the bottom.

Put the softened apples through the food mill to separate the seeds, skin, and scraps from the apple sauce. This is a great practical life activity for kids to help with! Both my daughters wanted to help with these, even my one year old (who wasn’t very helpful…big surprise there).

Add the applesauce back into the pot and bring back to a boil. Give it a stir so all the water and thicker parts of applesauce will even out. This is where you would add extra ingredients like spices, lemon juice, or sugar. Once the applesauce has come to a boil, turn off the heat.

Waterbath Canning Instructions

While the applesauce is cooking, put water in the canner and put it over medium-high heat to start heating it.

Fill clear pint sized jars with applesauce using a funnel until there is 1/2 inch of headspace. Using a knife or canning tool, remove any air bubbles in the jars. Wipe rims with a clean wash cloth and put lids and rings on. Tighten rings to fingertip tight.

Once all the jars are ready put them carefully in the canner. Water should be covering the jars by 2 inches. Add more water if needed. Put the top on the canner and bring the water to a boil. Once it is boiling, process the jars for 15 minutes (20 minutes for quart sized jars)

When the timer goes off, turn the heat off and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and remove jars. Let sit for 12-24 hours and then check for proper seals. Store in a cool, dry place with the rings off. For more on storing your jars safely check out this post.

Add a little of this or a little of that

This recipe is for unsweetened and plain applesauce but you can add sugar to make it a little sweeter! Adding 1 cup of sugar to this recipe would sweeten up the applesauce. Feel free to add a little less and then taste test! Then you can add more if you want.

You can also add cinnamon or other fall spices to your apple sauce to make it a little more flavorful. We like to add cinnamon when we’re eating the applesauce. That way each person can add however much they want, or none at all.

Something I like adding sometimes is fruit. During black raspberry season I made a batch of black raspberry applesauce and it was yuummmmmy. I threw peeled and cored apples along with some black raspberries in my crockpot and just slow cooked it for awhile until everything was soft. Since I cored and peeled them I was able to use my nutribullet to puree it. Don’t put anything too hot in the nutribullet because it will pressurize in the cup and you don’t want anything leaking or exploding out. I personally like applesauce when it is milled rather than pureed because I like the traditional applesauce texture vs a smooth texture but the black raspberry applesauce was still delicious.

Try some applesauce

I hope you try making some applesauce for yourself this year! Even if you don’t can it and just eat it fresh, I know you and your kids will enjoy the process. Make sure to try some of it a little warm too because it’s a little different. Enjoy!

Unsweetened Applesauce

This simple homemade applesauce is a delicious and healthy treat that's easy to make! You'll need just a few ingredients: fresh apples and water, with optional lemon juice or spices for extra flavor. Enjoy your applesauce warm or chilled, or use it in baking and cooking for a natural sweetness. Perfect for snacks or as a side dish, this versatile recipe is a great way to use up extra apples!

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Canning Time 15 minutes mins

Servings 9 pints

Ingredients

  

• 14 lbs apples
• 1/2 cup water

Optional Extras

• cinnamon
• strawberries, raspberries, other berries
• lemon juice

Instructions

 

Applesauce

• Wash and quarter the apples and cut out any bad spots. Add apples (peel, core, and all) to a pot and add 1/2 cup of water.
• Heat over medium high heat until the water starts to boil. Let simmer until the apples soften (about 15 minutes), stirring occasionally so the apples don't burn to the bottom.
• Using a food mill, push the softened apples through the mill to separate the seeds, skin, and scraps from the apple sauce.
• Add the applesauce back into the pot and bring back to a boil, stirring so all the water and thicker parts of applesauce will even out. This is where you would add extra ingredients like spices, lemon juice, or sugar. Once the applesauce has come to a boil, turn off the heat.

Waterbath Canning

• While the applesauce is cooking, put water in the canner and put it over medium-high heat to start heating it.
• Fill clear pint sized jars with applesauce using a funnel until there is 1/2 inch of headspace. Using a knife or canning tool, remove any air bubbles in the jars. Wipe rims with a clean wash cloth and put lids and rings on. Tighten rings to fingertip tight.
• Once all the jars are ready put them carefully in the canner. Water should be covering the jars by 2 inches. Add more water if needed. Put the top on the canner and bring the water to a boil. Once it is boiling, process the jars for 15 minutes (20 minutes for quart sized jars)
• When the timer goes off, turn the heat off and let sit for 5 minutes. Remove the lid and remove jars. Let sit for 12-24 hours and then check for proper seals. Store in a cool, dry place with the rings off.