Despite our heat wave, I’ve decided to pretend it feels like Fall and break out my slow cooker.
This homemade applesauce is the result. If you’re like me and haven’t tried making your own applesauce at home, you should really give it a shot. It’s so easy, and so delicious!
What I love about this recipe is that it’s just about as easy as it gets– the only ingredients are apples and water, and all you have to do is throw them in a slow cooker. You don’t even have to peel the apples, since leaving on the peel boosts the overall nutrition content. Once cooked, the peels become ultra soft and are easily blended into the resulting applesauce. If you have one of those handy apple corer/slicer tools, the prep work takes less than 10 minutes!
This recipe makes roughly two 16-oz jars worth of applesauce, plus a little extra that you’ll probably want to enjoy right away, so feel free to alter the quantities to fit your needs. I used Fuji apples for this batch, but my mother insists that Jonathan apples are best for making applesauce. Either way, I don’t think you can go wrong!
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Slow Cooker Applesauce (No Sugar Added)
Makes about 40 ounces
Ingredients:
3 lbs. apples (Fuji, McIntosh, Jonathan, etc.)
1/2 cup water
Directions:
Prepare the apples by slicing and coring them– no need to peel, unless you want to.
Place the sliced apples and water in the bowl of your slow cooker, then cover and set to cook on low for 6 hours, until the apples are very soft. (If you have a VitaClay, like I do, it only takes 2 hours on the “stew” setting.)
Use an immersion blender to puree the applesauce, or transfer the apples in batches to a blender and (carefully!) blend using a dishtowel to cover the vent at the top. If you’re using a Vitamix, or another high-speed blender, be careful not to over-blend this sauce– it can become too smooth very quickly.
Store the applesauce in the fridge for a week, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Slow Cooker Applesauce (No Added Sugar)
Ingredients
- 3 lbs . apples (Fuji, McIntosh, Jonathan, etc.)
- 1/2 cup water
Instructions
- Prepare the apples by slicing and coring them-- no need to peel, unless you want to.
- Place the sliced apples and water in the bowl of your slow cooker, then cover and set to cook on low for 6 hours, until the apples are very soft. (If you have a VitaClay, like I do, it only takes 2 hours on the "stew" setting.)
- Use an immersion blender to puree the applesauce, or transfer the apples in batches to a blender and (carefully!) blend using a dishtowel to cover the vent at the top. If you're using a Vitamix, or another high-speed blender, be careful not to over-blend this sauce-- it can become too smooth very quickly. Store the applesauce in the fridge for a week, or freeze for up to 6 months.
Nutrition
Per Serving: Calories: 58, Fat: 0g, Carbohydrates: 15g, Fiber: 2g, Protein: 0g
Notes:
You can spice up this applesauce by adding 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon. (More or less, to taste)
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Reader Feedback: Have you ever made applesauce before? What’s your favorite slow cooker recipe? I’m going to try to use mine more this season!
Wow I can’t imagine how good your house smelled making this. Love the simplicity. Thanks for sharing!! If you keep cooking it down without the kid it will turn into apple butter. So good!
I actually love making my own applesauce but fortunately live in an area where apple are plentiful and everybody goes out to pick their own. A very Fall-ish area! Best of all, you can’t beat the smell of applesauce in your kitchen.
I love a good, old fashioned pot roast or stew in the crockpot. 12 hours on low stewing and smelling wonderful for hours. Nothing too exciting, but can be done at 6 a.m. before work and then come home and poof, dinner is done. Love that about crock pots. Mac N cheese actually works well in a crock pot too =)
I almost cannot believe my eyes at how easy this recipe is! No excuses to not make it. Plus I am basically an applesauce addict. I eat it all the time! I’ll definitely have to try this out.
This looks amazing and is so simple! It got me to thinking if maybe you could make other fruit sauces or possibly jams this way? I’m finding myself a bit busy these days and the fruit goes bad in the fridge before I get around to doing anything with it 🙁
I cook down frozen berries and make sauce. It’s very tart, but you can sweeten it with honey or maple syrup to taste. I’m sure you could use peaches and pears to do the same. Nom.
This looks delicious!! I bought a bunch of apples last week from Costco so this is a perfect recipe. Thanks!!
Canned 24 quarts of sauce yesterday! Nothing beats that smell! Love it!
Hooray! Thanks for sharing this was just asking the other day! I love making things in bulk with minimal effort and this looks fits the bill! Just makes a bulk load of broth so time for applesauce!
I just found your blog through a link on Pinterest yesterday. I went out and bought ingredients for five of your recipes today and tomorrow (after getting apples for this recipe)I plan to cook and freeze all day. I have never seen so many ‘do-able’ vegan recipes. I like what you said in one of you entries about if it doesn’t taste good then nobody, including yourself, will eat it; that gave me confidence to try. I’m still new to the vegan way of life and I can’t tell you how many recipes I’ve tried that were bland and awful! I have spread the word about you to a few friends. Thanks for blogging!
Ive made applesauce so many times. Crockpot is my favorite method. I always add lemon juice and cinnamon and do a variety of apples. I do take the skins off before cooking to reduce fiber content.
I love fuji apples so I bet they’d give the applesauce amazing flavour!!
I can’t wait for this heat wave to be over!! This looks incredible and I LOVE that you didn’t use any added sugar. I’m working on lowering my intake of sugar lately so this is awesome!
How do you store it? And how long does it last?
I store one jar in the fridge and the other in the freezer. In the fridge it should last up to a week, and the freezer should keep it for at least 6 months.
Can you use a crock pot?
Crock pot is just a brand name of slow cooker, so it should work fine. In fact, their product website calls it “the original slow cooker.”
Many years ago we made our own apple sauce for canning purpose andd found that canning fruit and vegetables is lot better than store brought can fruit and vegetables my family enjoyed for years canning and eating than purchasing from the grocery stores.
bonjour , que veux dire £ 3 pommes ???? merci pour vos belles recettes ,, xxxx
trois livres
Made this yesterday. It was delicious! Hard to believe anyone ever adds sugar to applesauce. It is naturally so sweet already. Thanks for the simple recipe!
Can this be canned afterwards. If so do ineed to add anything else.
I’ve never canned anything before, so I’m not much help in that regard. I freeze everything I want to save, instead!
What size slowcooker are you using?
Thanks for this recipe! It had my house smelling like cinnamon and I love it. This was my first time and it won’t be my last. Plan to eat 1/2 C with my porkchop.
I made it with red delicious apple, and it made maybe 16 oz. I think the label on the package lied, so next time I am just going to weigh the apples myself, or double the recipes. The applesauce is so delicious though, and so easy to make!! I can’t have any sugar or spices yet in my foods, so I think I am going to add a little bit of honey next time. Thank you!!!
So i just doubled it today, and it made 64oz worth! Yep, I am a happy camper 🙂
I love the simplicity of this recipe! I plan to try tonight or tomorrow. I do have a question. Can I cook it for less time on high in the slow cooker with the same results? If so, I will make tonight. Just don’t want to be up super late pureeing apple sauce.
My slow cooker is practically a pressure cooker (the Vitaclay) and my apples are done in 2 hours! So yes, it can definitely be done quicker.
Thanks! I’ve got my apples in the slow cooker. Can’t wait to taste that yummy applesauce! I found organic Fujis at Costco and they are sooooo sweet, it’s going to be good!
We make this all the time! It’s so good with the Saigon cinnamon from Costco. Do you have other Vitaclay reipes?
How do you thaw your frozen applesauce?
I use 5 lbs of Jongold apples, peeled, with cinnamon, no added liquid. Slow cooker for 5 hours produces a very sweet tasting applesauce. People swear I add sugar but I don’t.
Thank you for your comment. I used 4 lbs of honey crisp and no water. Even so, I scooped out about 1/2 cup of delicious cider after cooking and before blending. Since this was my first time making, I did 6 hours on low just to make sure they cooked down. Deelish and no measuring of anything required. Yay!
How difficult would it be to pull off the peels after cooking and before blending (rather than peel before)? My daughter cannot have apple peels because of digestion issues but I’d love the vitamins in the peels to be cooked with the apples if possible before I remove them. Do you think that would work?
Thanks!
The peels come off very easily after they’re cooked, if you’re willing to sift through each and every slice!
Hello there,
I was wondering if you could help me out.
What would be your recommendation when it comes to reheating a certain food given to your child.
Let’s say I am preparing steamed butternut for today and I want to give her some again tomorrow; what should I do? I do not want to use microwave for obvious reasons though.
Any advice would be very much appreciated.
Delphine
We don’t even own a microwave, so I just reheat everything in a small skillet or saucepan over the stove. It only takes a few minutes, since the portions are usually pretty small.
THANK YOU MEGAN, As usual you are very helpful.
You look great on TV by the way; hope you come to Dubai someday and share your experience with us too.
Take care
I love this recipe. I just went apple picking this weekend and my toddler will love this. Do you mind if I share this on my blog and link back to you? Thanks!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it! You’re always welcome to share one of my photos with a link back to my full recipe, but I ask that my recipes aren’t copied and pasted on other sites. 🙂
Made this over the weekend with, if I remember correctly, 3 galas, 2 golden delicious, and 2 honey crisps. I don’t know if it’s normal or if I blended the apples too long or what, but it came out way too smooth. Almost apple buttery. I probably blended them too long, but it seemed necessary to break up the skins. Of course, I avoid using the blender at virtually all costs, so it’s pretty likely I did that part wrong. lol Tasted pretty good, though I missed out on the apple sauce texture. Might have to give it another try in the future.
Hi,
Thanks for a great recipe. I left the apples in my slow cooker on a low setting overnight and they were ready in the morning. They didn’t lose much water, maybe because of low setting? so I got the water out in a cup first before mashing the apples. Looking forward to make banana bread tonight and leftover apple juice 😀
I made this recipe yesterday and it turned out sooo good. It was the best applesauce I have ever had and It was so simple!
Thank you so much for posting this recipe. I made this today using 6 Granny Smith and 5 Macintosh. It was so easy and simple and the end result was sweet, delicious applesauce. I will never buy canned sauce again, thankyou! I was looking for recipes I could make for babies since my husband and I want to start a family and I would love to make their food and this will definitely be in the mix if and when I become a mother! Thanks again!!
Hi we have none of those apples listed in the UK. We have granny smith, bramely, pink lady, braeburn, jazz and gala. Has anyone got a suggestion from these I have listed?
i think every type of apple will work out fine. i added organic cinnamon to my organic apples and mineral water. first time i tried this recipe, it was excellent. liked that if could keep the apple peels on. i used the device that slices and cores at the same time, bought it at the dollar store. now cooking a pork picnic roast in the juice in the slow cooker.
Great suggestion on using the juice to cook your roast!
made it today it is excellent. using the juice to now cook my picnic pork with rub. thank you
I made this recipe and wanted to make it again tonight. Found other recipes but thankfully found this one again. I did add a bit of organic cinnamon the first time and enjoyed the slight flavor. The organic apples had all the sweetness needed. I used Aqueous Mineral Water (from an artisan well). Very much like this simple recipe and very much enjoy the taste and nutrients. A great gift for my friends and neighbors as well. Thanks again. Sincerely, Barb
Advice for use in an instant pot?!? SO excited to try this!!!
If you have my second cookbook, No Excuses Detox, the instructions for the pressure cooker are in there! I don’t have it in front of me, but I think it’s like 10 min on high pressure? (Can’t remember if it’s quick-release or natural)
Oh my word!! Thank you so much. So easy to make and the house smelled amazing. Took another reviewer advice and drained water before I blended added cinnamon last few hours. Thanks Megan!! Love your site. Keep up the great work
Lots of wasted energy using the slow cooker for something that takes less than 30 mins start to finish on the stove top. Follow the instructions except for the slow cooker part. Put the apples in a sauce pan and cover on medium heat for about 10 mins, then check for doneness. Stir the apples a bit and resume, checking every 10 or so,leaving the pot partially covered and lower heat to low. You can finish by pureeing with a stick blender or potato masher. I like mine to be a bit chunky.
The slow cooker allows people to not have to check on it every 10 minutes, however now I make it in my Instant Pot which is even faster and no need to check on it as you go!
Hi,
This recipe looks awesome and very easy to make. I don’t have a blender could you purée it in a food processor. I’m looking forward to trying this recipe. I love applesauce and I’ve recently had to go on a low carb and 1500 calorie diet. How many carbs are in the recipe? Thanks for sharing such a easy recipe.
I use to make apple butter & appleasuce way back.
I’ve got a lot of apples off the trees I’d like to make both and can them. I dont’t remember if i put anything elde in them to keep. Could you tell me?
Can’t wait to try it all.
Thank you
This recipe is great except for the skins. Do not leave the skins on the Apple. That was not a good thing.
I had to pick through every bit of my applesauce to get those out of there.
I made this yesterday and my son ate it so that is a bonus for me :). I didn‘t have 6 hours so I cranked my slow cooker up to high and did it in half the time. I had no problem with the skins, I pulped it with my hand blender and you wouldn‘t know there were skins in there at all. It‘s a lot healthier to leave the skins on. Thanks for sharing.
Easy to make
Mine was a mix of apples from a neighbors tree. Wanted something simple.
Delicious used a combo of honeycrisp and grannies. I didn’t add any water. The apples put out a lot of water, so glad I didn’t add any. I also added a stick of cinnamon to it. Tasted like apple pie!
This is my second time making this recipe (it’s cooking right now) and I absolutely love it! The apple sauce becomes the perfect consistency for blending in my crock pot in the like 3-4ish hours and isn’t too watery after I blend it either. This is surprisingly one of the few recipes I’ve found for unsweetened applesauce and definitely the best! I am lucky enough to live in an area where we can go pick our own apples and it’s super cheap to do so. If anyone is considering making this please do! It’ll be worth it 🙂 it also works perfectly for adding to baked goods since it is unsweetened, that’s what I mostly use it for.