How to Make Easy, Delicious and Healthy Freezer Applesauce

During the fall, apples are in abundance and are typically very affordable, being a seasonal fruit. There are a lot of useful benefits to seasonal fruits and vegetables, and there are a few ways of preserving them that will allow you to enjoy their fresh taste all winter and spring!

applesauce

For me, the easiest thing to do with fruit and vegetables is to freeze them. Canning is a great option, but I find that freezing produce takes less time and is less messy (at least for me). One of my favorite and easiest recipes is unsweetened freezer applesauce. It’s a simple recipe that anyone can make and it involves simple supplies like a pot, a spoon, apples and some freezer-capable containers. There are a few optional supplies that we’ll talk about a bit later too!

Preparing Freezer Applesauce

Supplies you will need include:

Apples
Water
Knife
Large pot, preferably a dutch oven or stockpot
Large wooden spoon
Freezer containers (can be canning jars with used lids, tupperware containers, freezer bags, etc)

I don’t recommend using aluminum containers to store your applesauce. They seem to give it a tin-like taste. When choosing your apples, softer apples make for excellent applesauce. Golden Delicious, Macintosh, Baldwins and good old tree apples are good choices.

Optional supplies include:

Sugar
Cinnamon
Blender or Food Processor
Food Mill

Cooking the Applesauce

To make your applesauce, wash the apples and remove the stems. Cut in half with a knife and remove the center seeds. If you have a food mill, you can skip removing the seeds! For large apples, you will want to cut them in smaller pieces for faster cooking and easier blending.

Add about an inch of water to your stockpot/Dutch oven and then place the cut apples on top. If you notice that your apples are not very juicy, you can add a little more water. I learned the hard way that by adding too much water, you end up with very watery applesauce, since the juice from the apples is basically enough liquid!

Cook your apples over medium low to medium heat, checking and stirring with your wooden spoon often so your apples don’t burn. Cooking times range from 30 minutes to an hour, depending on the size and juiciness of your apples. Give them a little poke with a knife from time to time. Once the knife slides through easily, they are probably cooked down enough to make into applesauce.

From Apples to Applesauce

After your apples are cooked down, remove them from the heat and let cool a bit. A very simple prep involves just mashing the apples with a potato masher or simply mixing them with a spoon if you like chunky applesauce. Add sugar and cinnamon as desired.

If you have a food mill or food processor, puree your cooked apples to desired consistency. Add sugar and cinnamon as needed. We try not to add sugar to ours unless it is incredibly tart.

Freezing Applesauce

We love to freeze applesauce! Simply let your prepared applesauce cool to room temperature and store it in freezer bags or containers. We often use mason jars for storage as well. Leave a little space at the top to allow for expansion. Store in the freezer for up to 9 months (at least, that’s as long as ours have lasted!).

Unsweetened homemade applesauce is great to use as a substitution for butter or oil in recipes or just to eat.

Do you make your own applesauce? If so, what process do you use?

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About Jenn

Jennifer Thorson has written 77 posts in this blog.

Wife of one, mom of three {so far!} and daughter of God. She blogs at thepurposefulmom.com where she shares recipes, devotions, kids activities and how she and her family strive to live with purpose, one day at a time!

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Comments

Jennifer Cruz says

November 27, 2012 at 8:22 AM

Great recipe! I’ve been wanting to make applesauce. Thanks for posting. 🙂
Dana D says

August 8, 2013 at 1:14 PM

Thank you! I have been looking for a way to keep applesauce and wasn’t sure if I could freeze it. Honestly, I simply don’t have the room for lots of jars and this is great. One question: does it loose its consistency when frozen?

Thank you 🙂