How To Make Unsweetened Apple Sauce

🌟 Why You'll Love This Recipe:

• This simple unsweetened applesauce recipe is healthy and very easy to make.
• It can be enjoyed as part of a healthy breakfast, as a simple mid-day snack, or served as a side for a roast pork dinner. 
• Use apple sauce in baking as a replacement for oil or eggs (see our FAQ for how).
• Homemade unsweetened apple sauce is great as baby food and much healthier than store-bought.
• It can be made with the peel on for a textured apple sauce or peeled for a smooth apple sauce.
• You can adjust the consistency of the sauce by how much liquid you add or don't add.
• Turn it into a smooth puree with a blender, or make it chunky by mashing it with a fork.

What is Apple Sauce?

Applesauce is made by cooking apples until they become soft. The cooked apples can then be pureed to a smooth paste or mashed for a chunky texture.

Benefits

The benefits of all-natural apple sauce that is it is healthy and does not have any added sugar, preservatives, and is additive-free.

🥘 Ingredients In This Recipe

The printable recipe further down the page has the complete list of ingredients, including quantities and step-by-step instructions.

The best apples for applesauce without sugar will depend on how you use it and your preferences in taste.

You may want to choose sweet apples like Jonagold, Gala, or Golden Delicious for eating as is or serving at breakfast or as a dessert because of their natural sweetness.

On the other hand, a tart apple like Granny Smith might be your go-to option for serving as a savory side. 

Or use tart or semi-sweet apple sauce (a combination of sweet and sour apples) for cake baking because it will keep the sweetness down.

Lemon juice (or lime juice) - stops the apples from turning brown which stops the sauce from turning brown. If you don't have lemon juice or think that the apple sauce will become too sour, you can use fresh orange juice instead.

🍳 Step By Step Instructions

Step 1 - Peel and quarter the apples, then remove the core and chop the apples into even-sized pieces. Place the apples into a saucepan with a lid add the lemon juice and water.

Step 2 - Place the pot on the stove over medium heat and bring to a boil, turn the heat to low, put the lid on, and simmer until the apples become fork-tender - this will take about 20 - 25 minutes. As it cooks check the apples from time to time and stir, and if it looks a little dry add some water, this will stop them from burning.

Step 3 - Use a fork, potato masher, immersion blender, or food processor to process the apple to your desired texture, smooth or chunky.

Step 4 - Cool completely, transfer to a clean and dry container, seal, and refrigerate. 

✏️ Recipe Notes

• If you find that after mashing or processing the sauce, you would like a thinner sauce, adjust the consistency by mixing in a little extra water.

📖 Variations

• Add other flavors - If you like, you can add extra flavor to the apples by adding a small cinnamon stick and one or two cloves or some pumpkin spice blend to the apples as they cook. Then after cooking, remove and discard the cinnamon stick and cloves, then mash or puree in a food processor.
• To sour - If you have used a tart apple and find the apple sauce a little too sour, you could mix in 1 - 2 tablespoons of white granulated sugar to balance the taste, or if you prefer not to use sugar, cook up some sweet apples to mix in with the tart ones.

👪 Serving Size

This recipe make 8, ½ cup servings.

🍬 Calories Per Serve

Each half cup serving is about 78 calories.

🥗 Serving Suggestions

• Unsweetened apple sauce made with peel apples can be used as baby food. As a first food, make the apple sauce a fine smooth puree.
• Apple sauce can be eaten as a healthy snack by itself or with yogurt and will make a great afternoon school snack for your kids.
• Serve it with Greek yogurt, custard, or warm with ice cream as a quick and easy dessert.
• It can be used as a substitute for butter or eggs or oil in some baked goods.
• Use apple sauce for a quick and easy filling for flans, tarts, or puff pastry turnovers.
• Use it in smoothies for healthy and filling breakfast drinks.
• Make popsicles with homemade apple sauce.
• Use it as a topping on breakfast cereals.
• It goes very well with pan-fried pork chops.
• Use it in baked goods as an oil replacement in cakes, a filling for apple turnovers, or a quick pie filling.

🌡️ Storage

How long does apple sauce last in the fridge?

You can keep homemade applesauce in the fridge for about two weeks which is ideal if you are making small batches for eating during the week.

Can you freeze applesauce?

Yes, you can freeze apple sauce, and it freezes very well.

To freeze apple sauce, allow it to cool completely and transfer it to freezer-safe sealable serving-size containers.

Don't overfill the containers because the apple sauce does expand when frozen. Label and date the containers and freeze them for up to 12 months.

📝 Frequently Asked Questions

🍮 More Sweet Recipes

• Strawberry cake with apple sauce
• Easy apple galette with apple sauce
• Fluffy sourdough pancakes
• Strawberry baked oatmeal
• Applesauce drop cookies