Homemade Applesauce Recipe {Slow Cooker} - Belly Full (2024)

FAQs

Homemade Applesauce Recipe {Slow Cooker} - Belly Full? ›

Mix well, pop the lid on the pot, and bake at 350F for 1.5 hours. The apples begin to break down and more importantly, they release pectin. The pectin will help thicken the applesauce once it cools.

Mix well, pop the lid on the pot, and bake at 350F for 1.5 hours. The apples begin to break down and more importantly, they release pectin. The pectin will help thicken the applesauce once it cools.

If you don't have time to wait for reduction, then the best method is to mix arrowroot or tapioca (or both) with a little bit of apple juice or apple cider. Use the resulting mixture as a thickening agent. Add it to the applesauce and let it stew. Before too long, the sauce will have thickened up nicely!

The mellow sweetness of toasted sugar adds complexity. Apple cider vinegar helps brighten cooked fruit. Using skin-on fruit improves both flavor and color in the finished product. Aromatics like cinnamon, orange peel, and rose water intensify the flavor of the apples.

The best apples for applesauce are whatever apples you have on hand and need to use up. However, if you have a choice, we recommend using a combination of sweet and tangy varieties for the best flavor. Popular sweet varieties include Honeycrisp and Fuji, while popular tangy varieties include Granny Smith and Braeburn.

Recipe Tips and Tricks

Yes, you can overcook applesauce in the Instant Pot! If overcooked, the applesauce will have less flavor.

Letting evaporation cook out water and concentrate your sauce is one of the easiest ways to thicken it, if not the quickest. All you need to do is place your sauce on the stove, adjust the heat and let time do the rest. This is best for sauces which already have a lot of natural body, like tomato sauce and fruit sauce.

A slurry is a mixture of flour and water, whisked together until smooth and added towards the end of cooking; it's a super-simple way to thicken any soup. For slow cooker soups, add your slurry with at least 30 minutes of cook time left so that the raw flour can cook and thicken the soup.

Starch- Cornstarch, potato, tapioca, rice, etc, all of these provide starch which, mixed with liquid and heated, gel and thicken. Fiber- Beans, onions, etc. Cooked and then mashed or blended will thicken a stew considerably.

Digestive Health

The soluble fiber in applesauce, in the form of pectin, can be helpful in treating digestive issues, such as diarrhea and constipation. It can help to neutralize the effects of irritable bowel syndrome. Pectin also acts as a prebiotic, which feeds good gut bacteria and promotes good digestive health.

How to dress up apple sauce? ›

Start by toasting a half-teaspoon of your favorite ground baking spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, clove, allspice) in a small skillet over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Transfer to a small bowl to stop the cooking, then stir in a pinch or two of the spice into your applesauce, adding more to taste.

Adding sugar to applesauce is optional…. However, lemon juice is not an optional addition. Lemon juice is added to help preserve the apples' natural colour and to assure the acidity of the finished product, since different varieties and harvesting conditions can produce apples of lower acidity.”

If you peeled your apples, you can use a potato masher to just mash your apples into applesauce. If you left the peels on, grab your immersion blender and pulse the peels until they blend into the sauce. Let cool and enjoy as is or with a little cinnamon.

I add cinnamon for some autumnal spice, but you could leave it out and/or add other warming spices like ginger, nutmeg, or clove. Then, add a tiny splash of apple cider vinegar or lemon juice to liven it up. Ta da! Meet the best applesauce you've ever had.

And in case you're wondering, varieties like Honeycrisp, Fuji, and McIntosh are the best apples for applesauce. How long will homemade applesauce last? It'll stay good for four to six days stored in the fridge. You could also can it to make it last longer, but that's a lesson for another day.

Use guar gum to thicken a cold sauce.

It's a great alternative to starches or flour, when you need to thicken a sauce that is already cold. Use 1 to 2 teaspoons (5 to 10 g) of guar gum per quart (1 L) of sauce or liquid that you want to thicken.

As a white sauce is heated, the starch grains soften, they absorb liquid & swell. The starch grains break open & thicken the liquid by releasing amylose. The process of gelatinisation starts at 60◦, the sauce begins to thicken at about 85◦ but it's not fully completed until it reaches 100◦.

How can I thicken a sauce without cooking it? Consider using some form of gelatin to give your cold sauce a little backbone. For dairy-based sauces, sour cream or Mayonnaise can be used as a thickener.

Mix 4 tsp. of cornstarch with one to 2 tsp. of water to make a thick paste. Mix the paste into the fruit mixture.