Canning Homemade Applesauce

Marie Overton
May 24, 2022
2 min read

Updated: May 12

Every fall my family spends a Saturday (or two, or three) in a local orchard picking apples. The smell of the crisp fall air, the joy of the vibrant colors of the leaves crunching underfoot, the taste of fresh-pressed cider, and the bounty of apples being brought in from the orchards. One of the things we love to do with the apples we get is to preserve them by turning them into and canning homemade applesauce to enjoy all winter.

This recipe makes approximately 6-Quarts of Applesauce.

Ingredients:

21 lbs Apples (peeled, cored, and sliced)
1/2 cup water (more as needed)
2 cups Sugar

Prepare Ingredients and Cook Applesauce:

Hand using a teal apple peeler on a red apple, creating spiraled peels. Several whole apples and peeled cores on a granite countertop.

Peel, core, and slice 21 lbs of apples and place them into a large pot on the stove.

Add 1/2 cup water and soften the apples. Keep an eye on the apples, stirring them regularly to ensure they soften without burning. Add additional water as needed if the liquid cooks off too much.

Person stirring a pot in a kitchen, wearing an apron. Blender with diced apples nearby. Warm lighting, homey atmosphere.

Blend the soft apples to the consistency that you like for your applesauce.

Add 2 cups of sugar and cook until the thickness or consistency you want for your applesauce.

Canning Homemade Applesauce:

Person in a red shirt and apron ladling hot mixture into jars on a kitchen counter. Funnel placed on a jar. Apron reads "Mari".

Using a jar funnel, fill the quart jars with applesauce leaving 1/2-inch of headspace.

Make sure to debubble the jars and wipe the rim before adding the lid and ring.

Place the lid on top of the jar and add the ring. Tighten the ring to fingertip tight and process in a boiling water bath canner for 20 minutes if at sea level. Remember to adjust your processing time if you are above 1000 feet in elevation.

Once your Applesauce has completed processing, turn off the heat, remove the lid, and let them cool for 5 minutes. Then, space the jars about an inch apart on a cloth on a heat resistant surface for 24 hours to cool and completely seal.

Jars of applesauce are lined up next to a basket of red apples. A spoon and a small bowl with applesauce sit on a lace doily.

If your jar did not seal, then place it in the fridge and use it immediately. Store the sealed jars in your pantry to enjoy for the next 1-3 years. After three years the nutritional value of canned food diminishes. The quality is best in the first year.

If you have any questions about canning with a pressure canner or how to adjust the pressure or processing time for altitude, take a look at my canning basics videos.