How to Make Homemade Applesauce (Bold Baking Basics)
Save RecipeHi Bold Bakers!
Applesauce is a common ingredient in baking. It is often used to replace eggs or to moisten cakes. However it is not widely available. Making your own applesauce is incredibly easy, probably more so than going out to buy it. Keep a jar of Homemade Apple Sauce in the back of the fridge or even in the freezer for all of your baking emergencies.
Applesauce makes great baby food, a low fat dessert and an egg substitute in my recipes. My mum would stew apples like this and have it with yogurt as a snack. The warm apples on the cold yogurt is really comforting. Side note, it works great in homemade dog treats too.
Coming from Ireland, we use bramley apples to make purees, apple crumble, etc. but that varietal isn’t available here. Every country has different apples but the great thing about my Homemade Applesauce is that you can use any apple at all! That’s right, use whatever apples you have available in your country; they will all make great Applesauce.
Store your Homemade Applesauce in the fridge for up to 2 weeks. Also, it freezes really well. You can freeze it in labeled ziplock bags or even in ice cube trays. I find it really helpful to have it closeby not only for my baking but to serve with pork for dinner. The sweet puree compliments pork really well.
Looking for more Apple recipes? Try my Apple Pie Egg Rolls, Apple Cupcakes and Apple and Blueberry Crisp. Any of these will work great this Thanksgiving or Christmas.
- 4 apples*, peeled, cored and chopped
- ¾ Cup (6oz /180g) water
- ¼ Cup (2 oz/55g) sugar
- Combine all ingredients in a medium sauce pan.
- Bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and reduce heat to low and simmer for twenty minutes.
- With an immersion blender, blend applesauce until smooth.
- Serve warm or cold. Store in the fridge for up to 2 weeks or freeze it.
Meet Gemma
Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, and I’m passionate about sharing my years of experience to show you how to make game-changing baking recipes with over-the-top results! Join more than 1 Million other Bold Bakers in the community for new video recipes every week!
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Love this recipe. 🙂 Made it today and just amazing!
And apples with pork is one of my favorites!!
delighted you like it Jackie 🙂
Hi Gemma!
This looks super easy – thanks so much for sharing this recipe!
I would like to try and make this without sugar (which you’d mentioned would work just as well). But for how long can this be stored in a freezer? And what would be the best way to thaw it before use in baking?
Hi there,
Yes, this is an easy thing to make, and to store.
I suggest an ice tray, wrapped in cling film, or a plastic bag. Then you can defrost little amounts at one time.
There are lots of ways to do this, but what you need is to freeze in the amounts you will need to defrost, at any one time,
Gemma 🙂
hello Gemma; not to change the subject, but I have a ?, was in the store today + I saw (1st time there) rootbeer extract! at $4.00-5.00 price range of course. but how would you whip up a batch? i’ve infused booze with rootbeer, would it be the same way? thanx
Hi Lee,
Haha!Most root beers made today contain neither sarsaprilla root, wintergreen, or cherry tree bark, and are instead made with artificial flavors. Even wintergreen extract, the preferred flavoring for many home brewers, is difficult to attain and typically is made with propylene glycol – a petrochemical! I understand that this was in its time a different thing, containing vanilla but I cannot even imagine how I would replicate it. Sorry, Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma,
Can you do a bold baking basic on corn syrup without thermometer and if it uses cream of tartar can I replace it with vinegar or lemon juice? And can you make homemade chocolates (milk,dark and white) with cocoa butter for real chocolate and without cocoa butter for compound or fake chocolate for decorations?
Hi there,
The corn syrup one I am working on, I will get it right, but I need time.
The science of baking, leavening (rising) a bake involves Yeast for breads, Bicarbonate of soda (alkaline) combined with an acid ( cream of tartar, lemon juice, vinegar, buttermilk, yogurt). Baking powder is a balanced version of this. What we use depends on the recipe, Irish soda bread for instance always uses bicarbonate of soda with buttermilk.
I will probably not make chocolate, I need to pay attention to what ingredients all of the bold bakers out there can find, raw cocoa beans are hard to come by!
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma! I was wondering if I could leave the apples unpeeled. Thanks!
Hi Brandon,
Some people will say yes! It really depends on the apples, some have tender skins. Bramley apples, in the UK and Ireland are a cooking apple with a tough skin, this would be horrible in the sauce. I prefer a smooth sauce!
Gemma 🙂
Do you think unpeeled granny smith apples would be suitable for making applesauce?
Hi Brandon, this is a question of taste, I do not like peel in mt apple sauce, but some people do!
Gemma 🙂
how many grams of apples ? where i live we have small apples and large apples ? so how can i know how much liquid to add for the small ones and large ones ? thanks ive been adding your basic recipes to my to do list in the upcoming days 🙂 thank you so much. love from malta 🙂
Do we have to cool the applesauce before blending it? Or would it be alright to just blend it straight from the stove?
I never blend a really hot liquid if I can avoid it, as it can splatter and burn! cool it if you have time, otherwise be careful! 🙂
Hi, Gemma!
Can I leave the sugar out in this recipe?
By the way, I tried your pie crust recipe the other day and it turned out amazing, much better than others I had tried before!
That is great Beatriz, I am happy to hear that.
you can eliminate the sugar, especially when using dessert apples. They are sweet enough!
Gemma 🙂
is inspired home your website
Hi there,
No, Inspired Home is not my website, though I do like it very much!
No my next recipe does not contain applesauce, it is a useful sauce for lots of things, including egg replacement,
Gemma 🙂
do your next recipe containing apple sauce
sorry for repeating
well do u remember me ?
well I am nida .I have talked before with u
Hi there Nida,
Now I am not sure if you are asking me this question! If so, yes, i do remember you, it is good to have you with us,
Gemma 🙂
To flavor the sauce, you said you can use cinnamon. How much cinnamon would you recommend to add?
Hi there, for me about 1/4 teaspoon, though some people would like much more than that! a little nutmeg is gorgeous in this too.
Gemma 🙂
Thank you! I can’t wait to try this recipe 🙂
Hi Gemma, we always have a surplus of apples from our trees, even after giving lots away. We have always used the same recipe, with double the sugar for canning (in Jars)them. There are 52 weeks in the year and we always process 50 jars. There’s always some left over before the next harvest. You need the extra sugar for preserving, but you can’t beat fresh made with less sugar.
Hi there, that is interesting! Where i grew up in Ireland there was no tradition of canning. The apples would be stored, in a single layer, in a cool place.
We have a cooking apple in Ireland and the UK called a Bramley apple. This is a super sour apple, needs loads of sugar, and it would be used with blackberries to make preserves, to balance the pectin.
Do you know of a similar apple in the US? it is large, very green, bumpy and could not be eaten in the hand as a dessert apple.
Thank you for telling me this,
Gemma 🙂
Hi Gemma! Thanks a lot! Always wondered how to make Apple sauce. I’m really excited for the results of the contest?when can we have them?
Hi Ann,
I am waiting for kevin to pass them over to me, in the next day or so!
Thanks for your patience,
gemma 😉
Hi Gemma!!!! I was wondering what u can do if I don’t have the blender u used to smooth out the applesauce what can I use it instead?
Hi Maxine,
Before there were blenders there was elbow grease, and a whisk! You can do this by hand if you can manage it, or use a hand held whisk either, for this it is easy,
Gemma 🙂