Slow Cooker Applesauce

I love apples, they are my most favorite fruit in the whole wide world. I love them every way they can be used and I love every single variety of them. I love apples. 

We ended up with almost 4 boxes of apples over a two week period and I had to find something to do with them. (the fruit flies were driving me insane!!)

I couldn't bake 20 pies, my dad dries apples by the 5 gallon buckets-full and so I decided to try and make applesauce. 

We actually use a lot of applesauce in our house. I use it a lot in my baking, and some of us like to eat it for snacks - I feed it to the little ones a lot. We use a lot of the stuff. So I figured if I could make it, we were really find ourselves in a great situation. 

Turns out you totally CAN make applesauce in a crock-pot and it is bonkers easy! 

CROCK POT APPLESAUCE 

Wash your apples super good. - Mine were from local farm stands / my tree and neighbors trees. So I didn't have to wash off a lot of wax and preservatives, but I did need to wash all the "outside" off them. 

Peel* and roughly quarter about 6 large apples or 8-9 medium size apples.

You can use any variety here but most people prefer sweeter apples like Red Delicious, Fuji, McIntosh etc…  Mixing and matching varieties is ideal.

*Most of the good stuff is located in the peel of the apple so I prefer not to peel mine.  I have a high power blender that creates a perfectly smooth and creamy applesauce. In the photos the apples were not peeled and you can see the applesauce is perfectly smooth.

Add apples to your crock pot- make sure the crock pot is at least 1/2 way full with apples.

Mix 1/3 cup apple juice or cider with 1 teaspoon cinnamon and 1 teaspoon lemon juice in a small bowl.**

Pour mixture over apples and cook on low heat for 3-4 hours.

The apples should be nice and soft.

**Here is where you can change things up to your taste.  I used apple cider but you can use water instead.  You can also add lemon peels or orange peels for a brighter flavor (remove them and toss after cooking), add 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla or add about 1/3 cup brown sugar for a nice sweet applesauce.

**You can cook this on high heat but I much prefer low heat.

Either mash with a potato masher (for chunky) or add to blender/food processor or use immersion blender until smooth.

It really is that simple.  I would say this is probably 15 minutes in total prep time between the peeling, coring and blending.


My kids really liked the way I ended up making it - with no sugar and no spiced - I wanted to be able to use it for baking and savory cooking as well and I didn't want it have too many things added to it.

I could not be happier with how it turned out!

I put it in plastic freezer containers to use when I needed - and I ended up doing every apple that I could get my hands on. This is soooo easy and tastes soooo amazing - and apples are so inexpensive in the fall, and you can keep the peels on with all that extra nutrition, and... and... and....

I think making my own applesauce has just changed my life.  me = dork