This simple homemade applesauce from scratch is an easy way to get a healthy, delicious, homemade side dish into your family’s bellies all winter long. With just a basic list of ingredients, a life changing tool, and some time, you’re bound to make your own applesauce year after year.

homemade applesauce from scratch sits on a countertop with apples

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There really is no flavor comparison from homemade applesauce from scratch in comparison with store-bought applesauce. And that’s true for just so many foods! Whether it’s making your own chicken stock, canning your own jams and jellies, or biting into a fresh cucumber from the garden after you’ve grown your own, it really is hard to beat making it yourself!

Making applesauce is a big event here on our small homestead. We preserve enough applesauce to enjoy throughout the winter, and that means foraging for a lot of wild apples. After we’ve gotten everything all set up, we spend a morning (sometimes more!) working together as a family to get our applesauce put away for winter. The process is really quite simple, and the end product is a delicious reward as the fruits of your labor!

What are the best apples to use for homemade applesauce from scratch?
What ingredients do I need for homemade applesauce from scratch?
What tools are needed to make applesauce from scratch?
Simple process of making applesauce from scratch
More apple posts
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What are the best apples to use for homemade applesauce from scratch?

Our family prefers crisp, sweet yet tart, wild apples for our applesauce. These apples are comparable to McIntosh or Honeycrisp, giving the applesauce a sweet and delicious, distinctive flavor. A softer flesh apple is going to soften faster, but know that it will alter the consistency and flavor of the applesauce. My recommendation is if you can find an apple that you enjoy as a stand alone apple, you will probably enjoy it as applesauce, too.

What ingredients do I need for homemade applesauce from scratch?

As with most things from scratch, this homemade applesauce is made with staple items from your pantry and homestead.

Apples: As I mentioned before, you’re looking for sweet-yet-tart, crisp apples for this simple homemade applesauce from scratch (Honeycrisp or McIntosh are a good choice).
Cinnamon: Cinnamon adds a warmth and comforting taste to the applesauce. Don’t like cinnamon? It’s totally optional!
Sugar or Other Sweetener: Just a touch of sweetener is added, based on your preferences. It’s really not necessary at all if you can find apples that are sweet enough for your family’s palette.

What tools are needed to make applesauce from scratch?

Applesauce Maker (more on that below)
Large Stock Pot (we use our water bath canner)
Large Bowl
Two large cake pans
Slotted Spoon or Strainer Spoon

I feel like I need to tell you that you can make homemade applesauce from scratch without an applesauce maker. However, the process of making it in bulk is extremely quickened with the addition of this applesauce maker. If you don’t use an applesauce maker, you need to peel and core your apples completely by hand, then process them. By using the applesauce maker, you literally cut your labor in half and have more applesauce in less time. Work smarter, not harder!

I’m all about doing things the old fashioned way, in many, many things. I find so much benefit in taking time to simply enjoy the process of creating. But when it comes to applesauce, we swear by the Sauce Master. Even Pa Ingalls, who created everything for his own house including the table and chairs was up for new inventions once and a while (this is in reference to the wheat thrasher): “Other folks can stick to old-fashioned ways if they want to, but I’m all for progress. It’s a great age we’re living in.” (Little House in the Big Woods). We use our sauce maker for making tomato soup, too!

By the way- I have no affiliation with this company. I’ve posted my Amazon link to this product, but the company itself has no idea that I love its sauce master so much! These are truly my own thoughts and opinions.

Simple process of making applesauce from scratch

The process for making this applesauce from scratch could not be any easier! There are just a few basic steps to follow:

Soften apples: Cut the apples in half and place them in the large stock pot (seeds and peels included). Fill the pot with just enough water to cover the apples and bring to a low, rolling boil. Cook the apples until just softened; no need to over cook.

Apples softening in a large pot for homemade apple sauce from scratch

Prepare the sauce maker: While the apples are softening, set up your sauce maker on a large surface. Place the two cake pans at both the discard end and the sauce end of the applesauce maker to collect the scraps and sauce as it is processed.

Transport the apples to the sauce maker: Using your straining spoon, lift the softened apples from the pot and into a large bowl. Transfer the apples to the sauce maker. If you’d like to make the best use of this leftover apple water, you can strain it through a cheese cloth and add sugar to make apple juice or you can make apple scrap jelly.

Process the apples through the sauce maker: Using the plunger and crank, push your apples through the sauce maker.

Applesauce from scratch is made using a sauce maker

Add sugar and cinnamon to taste: Taste the applesauce and add sugar and cinnamon. We added about 1/3 cup of sugar and 2 T. of cinnamon to each cake pan full of applesauce.

Bag the applesauce for storage: Place the applesauce into quart sized freezer bags for storage, making sure to leave space for expansion.

Homemade applesauce from scratch sits in bags on a table ready to be frozen

Freeze the applesauce: Place the applesauce flat in the freezer (you can also flash freeze this on a cookie sheet to make it flat, then stack it later). Pull a bag out to enjoy throughout the winter.