Slow Cooker Applesauce
I am not sure why I haven’t tried to make homemade applesauce at home. Bob has a few stories of how his family and neighbors would make homemade applesauce to can with their neighbors over a span of several days. They used to go to the orchards to pick their apples and then make a procession line with each person assigned a chore as part of the process.
While I love applesauce, I can’t see myself canning lots of jars and now that I know how easy slow cooker applesauce is… no need for me to can!
Right now most apples are a fabulous price at the stores and I bought LOTS of Red Delicious and Granny Smith Apples for $.25 per pound. So for less than $.50 I have more than a store bought jar and it’s much healthier! I love it when produce is cheap cheap cheap because I can experiment with recipes without feeling like I am wasting a lot of money if the recipe fails.
Most recipes call for water or apple cider in them and I didn’t use either. I let the natural water of the apples seep out during the slow cooking process which will be used at the end when I puree with my hand held immersion blender.
I made a few variations before I came up with a taste that both kids enjoyed. My first version had too much cinnamon and not sweet enough. After testing the various mixtures, below is the winner.
BONUS: Once I removed the cinnamon sticks, I tossed them into a pot with water and my leftover apple peels to make the house smell amazing.
Slow Cooker Applesauce
- 8 apples (I used 4 red delicious and 4 Granny Smith)
- ½ juice of lemon
- lemon zest, ½ lemon
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- Peel and core apples
- Add to slow cooker
- Add lemon juice, lemon zest, cinnamon sticks and brown sugar over the apples
- Stir the mixture
- Cook on low for approximately 5 hours
- Remove cinnamon sticks
- Blend with immersion blender or potato masher (for chunkier consistency)
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