This slow cooker apple sauce is so easy and delicious. Fresh apples make a healthy homemade recipe. Make it chunky, smooth, sweet, or tart.
For this recipe, you can add a lot of sugar, low sugar, or no sugar at all. This applesauce is great either sweetened or unsweetened. When adding the sugar in the final hour of cooking, you can also add ½ teaspoon of each or any combination of allspice, cinnamon, and/or cloves. See adjustments in the recipe card.
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Best Apples to Use
You can add more flavor to your applesauce with other ingredients or by using a variety of apples. Like my recipe for Slow Cooker Apple Cobbler, this recipes is great for when you have a bunch of apples to use up.
For this recipe, I used ½ Fuji & ½ Granny Smith.
- FOR A SWEETER APPLE SAUCE, use Golden Delicious, Fuji, or Gala
- SWEET BUT A BIT TART - McIntosh, Pink Lady, or Honeycrisp
- FOR A CRISP OR MORE TART APPLE SAUCE - Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, or Braeburn
Remember you can also adjust how much sugar you add later too. It is all about your personal preference for a sweeter or more tart apple sauce result.
How to Make Homemade Slow Cooker Apple Sauce
Peel, core, and dice the apples. The apples should be in large chunks as shown below. Once they are added to the insert of your CrockPot slow cooker, add the water and a squeeze of lemon.
Set the Crock Pot
You can overcook apples so be careful to watch the time. If you cut the apples to the size, as shown above, set your slow cooker for 3 hours on HIGH.
Once the 3 hours are up, the apple sauce should look like chunky applesauce as seen below. At this point, stir in the sugar and optional spices.
Set the slow cooker for one more final hour and let it cook again on HIGH. Once that fourth and final hour is over it will be ready. The apples will be completely cooked, sweetened up even more, and smoother as seen below.
If you want it even more smooth you can use an immersion blender in the apple sauce. If you are making apple sauce for a baby or toddler, oftentimes making it even more smooth with the immersion blender is exactly how they like homemade apple sauce.
When the twins were babies, that was the final step and how I would make this recipe. They still love it that way & when I use it to make Homemade Applesauce Muffins. This applesauce recipe for kids and adults is just perfect.
FAQ
A squeeze of lemon juice helps to slow down oxidation. It will help retain the color as much as possible as the apples slow cook in the CrockPot.
Yes, if you want more apple flavor you can add juice or cider. I prefer water since our homegrown apples are plenty juicy & flavorful.
This recipe can be made with or without the sugar. I can also be made chunky or smooth.
Make sure the peels and seeds are removed, a few seeds may add a bitter flavor and are can be poisonous if too many are eaten.
If your apples had a lot of juice, it may be a thinner consistency. You can cook it for longer to cook off/boil off the liquids. I do NOT recommend adding any thickening agent.
How to Store Homemade Apple Sauce
This recipe can be made ahead of time and stores very well. Spoon apple sauce into an air-tight container and store in the refrigerator. Homemade apple sauce can store from 7 - 10 days in your refrigerator.
Can you freeze apple sauce? Yes - freezing applesauce is ok. It can be stored in the freezer for up to a year if stored properly.
What to Serve with Apple Sauce
Here are some great recipes that pair well apple sauce:
Slow Cooker Apple Sauce
Equipment
- CrockPot slow cooker
Ingredients
- 10 C apple chunks peeled & cored (see above for best apple varieties)
- ⅓ C water
- 1 TB lemon juice
For Sweetened Apple Sauce
- ⅓ C sugar for a sweeter sauce, use ¼ C for a more tart taste (we prefer ¼C sugar for our Fuji & Granny Smith sauce)
For Spice Apple Sauce
- ½ tsp each Cinnamon, Clove, and/or Allspice optional
Instructions
- Peel, core, and dice the apples into large-sized chunks.
- Add apples to the insert of your CrockPot slow cooker. Next, add the water and lemon juice.
- Cook on HIGH for 3 hours in your slow cooker.
- Add optional sugar to taste. Also if you want spiced apple sauce, this is the time to add the optional spices. Stir to combine and break the apples down more.
- Cook one more hour on HIGH, for a total of 4 hours.
- After 4 hours, the apple sauce will be ready. You can cool and enjoy immediately for a slightly chunky apple sauce. For a smoother apple sauce, you can use an immersion blender until it is the consistency you like.
- Store in an air-tight container in your refrigerator for 7 - 10 days.
Notes
| Nutrition Facts | |
|---|---|
| Servings: 8 | |
| Amount per serving | |
| Calories | 38 |
| % Daily Value* | |
| Total Fat 0g | 0% |
| Saturated Fat 0g | 0% |
| Cholesterol 0mg | 0% |
| Sodium 1mg | 0% |
| Total Carbohydrate 10.1g | 4% |
| Dietary Fiber 0.2g | 1% |
| Total Sugars 9.8g | |
| Protein 0.1g | |
Megan says
What a fun, fall treat! My son loves applesauce, so we'll have to give this a try!
Adrienne says
I absolutely love the smell of apples baking. I can't wait to try this recipe!
Angela says
I agree, the smell of fresh baking apples is pretty phenomenal. Really makes it hard to wait for the delicious homemade apple sauce but worth it.
Sabrina DeWalt says
This sounds so good!
Alexis Farmer says
Aww my husband’s grandma usually makes this and it’s delicious! Since we’re not going there this year because of COVId, I might need to try and make this.
Tricia Snow says
I never thought of using my slow cooker for applesauce. What a great idea! It looks amazing!
Angela says
I hope you enjoy it.
Elaina says
I never would have realized how easy this is. I love using apple sauce in my banana bread recipes.
Angela says
You must try this recipe and use the apple sauce in your banana bread, so good.
Sandi Barrett says
This is so easy! I always make mine on the stovetop - never considered the slow cooker. Love this.
Angela says
You totally need to try making homemade apple sauce in the slow cooker - set it and forget it. So easy.
Heather Jandrue says
This sounds so good., I eat applesauce with quite a few things. Very yummy!
Angela says
Thank you.
Dee | Grammy's Grid says
YUM, looks good! Thanks so much for linking up with me at my party #UnlimitedMonthlyLinkParty 18, open until November 26 at 12:05 am. Shared on social media. I invite you to check out my themed link parties. Any link you add to my parties can also be added to my Unlimited Monthly for more views and shares!!
KENDRA says
Mmmm! I love homemade applesauce!
Barbara says
Yum! Great recipe and idea!
Angela says
Thanks, Barbara and I hope you enjoy making homemade applesauce.
Helen at the Lazy Gastronome says
Looks wonderfully easy!! Thanks for sharing at the What's for Dinner party! Have a wonderful weekend.
Danielle Ardizzone says
Sounds amazing yet doable! I can only imagine how yummy the house would smell with this cooking!
Keirsten Morris says
This is such a great idea. I've never even thought to do this but it makes sense. It's probably so fresh!
Angela says
Homemade apple sauce is so easy and so much more healthy and delicious than most store-bought brands. I hope you love the recipe.