Homemade Applesauce - Super healthy applesauce recipe with no added sugar. Made with fresh apples, ground cinnamon, butter, and salt, this easy recipe makes a delicious side dish, dessert or topping, or apple purée for babies.
Use this sugar-free applesauce to make our Easy Mini Apple Pies Recipe. The stewed apples and cinnamon have the perfect amount of sweetness for these mini pies.
Looking for a sweeter dessert recipe? Try one of our trending dessert recipes that are popular with our readers, like our tasty Apple Crisp Recipe.
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Old Family Recipe
This simple homemade applesauce recipe has been a favorite in my family for generations. My Oma shared it with my Mom, my Mom passed it on to me, and now I'm sharing it with my children and all of you. My Oma would make it all the time to serve with just about everything. She was German, so of course, it has butter in it. As every tasty recipe should! It's cinnamon-y and delicious and reminds me of home.
Here's What You Need
It's easy to make your own homemade applesauce in no time with just a few simple ingredients.
- Apples - Golden Delicious are the perfect choice for this recipe with their mild, delicious flavor and smooth texture when cooked down. If you can't find Golden Delicious Apples at your local grocery store, choose your favorite variety of apples as a substitute. I've listed some good substitutions below.
- Ground Cinnamon
- Salted Butter - Salted butter will subtly enhance the flavor of the apples by smoothing out any bite of acidity.
Best Apples for Applesauce
- Golden Delicious - Perfectly sweet apple with a soft texture that is a healthy snack for eating and possess a lovely mild flavor when baked or cooked. Golden Delicious Apples are my first choice for baking and cooking.
- Jonagold - Much like Golden Delicious in flavor and texture. Jonagold Apples are the perfect substitute for Golden Delicious Apples.
- Honey Crisp - Balanced blend of sweet and tart. The texture of Honeycrisp apples will hold up a little more firm than Golden Delicious.
- Pink Lady - Sweet, pleasant taste, with a very firm texture.
- Granny Smith - Tart, firm texture. Texture holds up well when baked or cooked. Go-to apple choice with bakers. Granny Smith apples are not the ideal choice for a no sugar applesauce recipe. Tart apples make a tart applesauce. Choose a sweeter apple for a sweeter applesauce. Sweet apples will create a sweeter sauce.
How to Make Applesauce
Homemade Applesauce is super easy to make following a few simple steps.
- Prepare Apples. Peel, core, and cut the apples into thin slices. Use an apple corer or apple peeler to remove the apple skins and cores.
- Combine Ingredients. Place prepared apples into a large pot with ground cinnamon and salted butter.
- Simmer 20 Minutes. Place the lid on the pot and simmer the seasoned apples on medium heat to low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Mash.
Chunky Applesauce - Use a potato masher to mash cooked applesauce to chunky consistency.
Smooth Applesauce - Blend the cooked apples by using a blender, immersion blender, Vitamix, or food processor into a smooth, puréed applesauce consistency. Using the Vitamix will make the a smooth apple purée for babies. - Serve. Serve warm or at room temperature. My favorite way to serve this homemade chunky applesauce is warm. I love to use it to as a topping for oatmeal in the morning.
Tasty Tip
Adjust the flavor profile of homemade applesauce by using the following ingredients to make flavor adjustments:
Fresh Lemon Juice (acid) - will brighten up the flavor profile of homemade applesauce that is too sweet or has too much added butter.
Butter (Fat) - will mellow out acidity of tart apples.
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Recipe FAQ's
Choose one apple variety or a combination of apples from the following list to make the best homemade applesauce.
. Golden Delicious
. Jonagold
. Honeycrisp
. Pink Lady
1. Peel, core, and slice apples and place them in a large pot.
2. Season the apples by sprinkling 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon over the top of the apple slices and adding 3 tablespoons of salted butter.
3. Simmer 20 minutes with the lid on the pot.
4. Mash the cooked apples with a potato masher to the desired chunky consistency.
5. Serve homemade applesauce warm, or at room temperature.
Smooth applesauce is easy to make with just a few simple pantry staples.
Cook down peeled apple slices with 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon and 1 tablespoon salted butter. Run the cooked apples through a food mill, tamis, or food strainer for a puréed consistency.
See our Homemade Applesauce Recipe for easy step by step instructions.
Sometimes, the natural sugars in cooked apples are not quite enough for some tastes and some extra sweetener is desired. Sweeten applesauce with these tasty add-ins:
. White Sugar
. Brown Sugar
. Honey
. Apple Juice
. Maple Syrup
Stir in a teaspoon at a time during cooking process. Test for desired level of sweetness as you go. Adjust the amount of sugar for a sweeter applesauce.
Serve applesauce with the following:
. pork chops
. pancakes
. oatmeal
. vanilla ice cream
. in apple pie recipe
. in muffins
. with apple crisp topping
. as apple purée for babies
Store homemade applesauce in an airtight container the refrigerator for up to 10 days. Or freeze for up to 1 year.
Do You Have To Peel Apples For Applesauce?
The best way to create a smooth applesauce consistency is to peel the apples before cooking. Apple peels will not break down during the cooking process and will mare the texture of traditional applesauce.
Here are a few ways to remove skins or smooth out the texture of cooked apples:
1. Vitamix - A Vitamix is a high powered blender that will incorporate the apple peels into the applesauce and the end result will be a smooth puréed texture.
2. Food Mill - A Food Mill is a small hand cranked bowl with a blade and sieve that will remove the apple peels from the cooked applesauce. It works best for small batches of applesauce.
3. Food Strainer - A Food Strainer is a hand cranked device that will remove skins from fruit and is able handle a lot of applesauce. There is also a food strainer attachment that can be used with a KitchenAid Stand Mixer.
4. Tamis - A Tamis is a hand strainer that looks like a spring form pan with a fine mesh sieve bottom. Cooked food can be pushed through the Tamis with a flat plastic bench scraper creating a fine purée.
Cooking Method Variations
Oven Baked Applesauce (Sliced Baked Apple Recipe) - Add all ingredients to a baking pan, stir to combine, cover with aluminum foil, and bake at 350°F for 45 minutes.
Instant Pot Applesauce (Pressure Cooker Applesauce) - Place all ingredients into the instant pot, add 1.5 cups of water, stir to combine. Cover the instant pot and set the pressure cook setting to 8 minutes on high. QR or NR.
Crockpot Applesauce Recipe (Slow Cooker Applesauce) - Place all ingredients into the crockpot, add 1.5 cups of water, stir to combine. Place the lid on and set the crock pot to the low setting for 4 hours.
There you have it. It's as easy as that! We hope you enjoy our super simple, super tasty recipe for Homemade Applesauce Without Sugar. Try it and let us know how you like it. We'd love to hear from you!
xo ~ Seanna
More Apple Recipes
- Apple Crisp - The Best Apple Crisp EVER. This Easy dessert recipe is made with fresh apples topped with a mixture of oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, and butter and baked into sweet, syrupy perfection.
- Apple Muffins - Loaded with sweet apples, and savory cinnamon. Made with oatmeal and almond flour for a healthy twist. So good!
- Mini Apple Pies - Individual apple pies made in a muffin tin with store-bought pie crust, and sweet and syrupy apples. Quick and easy dessert recipe with all the classic apple pie flavors.
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📖 Recipe
Homemade Unsweetened Applesauce Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
- 6 Apples Peeled, Cored, and Sliced.
- ½ Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 3 Tablespoons Salted Butter
Instructions
- Prepare Apples. Peel, core, and cut the apples into thin slices. Use an apple corer or apple peeler to remove the apple skins and cores.
- Combine Ingredients. Place prepared apples into a large pot with ground cinnamon and salted butter.
- Simmer. Place the lid on the pot and simmer the seasoned apples on medium heat to low heat, stirring occasionally, until softened.
- Mash. Using a potato masher, food processor, or hand blender, mash cooked applesauce to chunky consistency.
- Serve. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Serving Suggestions
Serve this tasty applesauce warm or at room temperature.- My favorite way to serve this homemade chunky applesauce is warm. I love to use it to as a topping for oatmeal in the morning.
- Serve applesauce with the following:
. pork chops
. pancakes
. oatmeal
. vanilla ice cream
. in apple pie recipe
. in muffins
. with apple crisp topping
. as apple purée for babies
Storage Suggestions
Store this homemade applesauce in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 10 days or in the freezer for up to 1 year.Top Storage Tip for Apple Puree for Babies
Use an ice cube tray to freeze small portions of apple puree. Once frozen, store the apple puree cubes in a freezer storage bag and pull out small fresh portions as needed.Nutrition
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Lisa Hatfield says
Finally applesauce without sugar. Thank you, so super tasty and easy!
Seanna says
Thank you so much Lisa! I hope you like it.
Russ B says
Perfect for dessert!
Seanna says
Thanks Russ!