The Best Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce Recipe For Fall

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As the air turns crisp and the leaves begin to fall, apple season is well underway. One of my favorite fall canning projects is a big batch of delicious homemade cinnamon applesauce. The aroma of sweet, cinnamon apples simmering on the stove is a warm welcome as harvest season finally wraps up. Once you’ve tried homemade applesauce, you’ll never go back! This homemade cinnamon applesauce recipe is so easy! Just a few wholesome ingredients simmered on the stove make the most delicious applesauce, perfect for snacking, baking, or serving alongside your favorite fall meals.

Choosing Your Apples

If you are lucky enough to have a local orchard, it’s worth the trip to get the freshest, sweetest apples straight from the source! Many orchards offer U-Pick events, making it a family day. Follow the social media pages of your local orchard to keep tabs on the varieties they are harvesting to make sure they have what you’re looking for. While I have several favorite variations, I think the best advice I read came from an apple orchard. Choose “one kind for texture, one for flavor, and one for color.” 

Especially when making a chunky applesauce, you want at least one variety in your applesauce that won’t cook down as fast, adding that chunky texture you’re looking for. When making applesauce, I always aim for my favorite kinds of apples and then lean on the expertise of the apple orchard to guide me in their available varieties to make the best choice. 

This year, I made applesauce with Golden Delicious and Winesap due to available varieties. Philip declared it the best I’ve ever made! Typically, I aim for Crispen, Winesap, and Granny Smith as my preferred blend. 

Simple Ingredients You’ll Need

Fresh Apples: This recipe can be scaled to meet your family’s needs.  To make this recipe less intimidating, it’s based on a half bushel of apples. You can mix the varieties of apples by shopping in pecks and half pecks. 
Feel free to scale it up or down to meet your needs. My goal is to make enough applesauce to last the entire year. I like to aim for a bushel of apples. 

Sugar: While I love to sweeten my applesauce just a bit, it’s completely optional. If you choose to sweeten, use my measurement as a guide. I always recommend trying your applesauce as it cooks. The varieties of apples you choose will determine how much sugar you may need. Even if you make unsweetened applesauce, the natural sweetness will shine through! My recommendation: start small, you can always add more! 

Cinnamon: I prefer to use ground cinnamon in my cinnamon applesauce so that the cinnamon flavor and color permeate the entire batch thoroughly. You can use cinnamon sticks instead, which, when slow-cooked, will give a more subtle cinnamon flavor. 

Water: When making applesauce, you only need enough water to cover the bottom of the pan about 1/4 to 1/2 inch deep.  Trust me on this, don’t add more. Once the apples begin cooking, they will make their own juice.  The water is only added to keep the apples from burning until they can make their own juices.  Really, it takes just a bit, I promise! 

Step-by-Step Guide to Making Applesauce

Step 1: Prepare the Apples

Start by preparing the apples. I fill a large bowl of water and wash the apples. I prefer to make applesauce by cooking it, rather than running it through a food mill. If you use a food mill, it is unnecessary to peel or even core the apples, since the food mill removes all the waste.  However, I don’t like the consistency of applesauce that has been processed through a food mill; therefore, I prefer to cook the apples down.

With cooked applesauce, it’s best to peel and core the apples. Using an apple peeler-corer-slicer makes this job super easy! The apple peeler removes the skin as it turns, then once it hits the blade, it cuts the apple into a long spiral. Once done, I separate the core and cut the apples in half or just break them apart with your fingers. 
Don’t have a fancy peeler-corer-slicer? No problem, peel and chop the apples, no fancy equipment needed!

Step 2: Cook the Apples

Use the largest pot you have. If you are doing a lot of apples, you can start with more than one pot and then condense them down as they cook. The goal is they fit into one pot by the sweetening step. I’m fortunate to have a large stock pot that makes this job easy.  Watch for them on the marketplace or look at restaurant supply stores for large pots.

Put just enough water in the bottom of the pot to cover the bottom about 1/4 to 1/2 inch.  I promise it’s enough.  If you add too much water, you will have to allow the applesauce to cook down more. Ask me how I know!  The purpose of the water is to keep the apple from burning until the apples create its own juice.

Using a wooden spoon, stir the apples and sauce on occasion.  No need to stand over it, but periodically give it a stir. Cook on medium-high heat. Once this comes to a boil, turn it down to a high simmer and let it cook.   Depending on the types of apples you choose, the cooking time will vary.  Golden Delicious apples cook very fast. If you choose apples that are a more crisp variety that hold their shape, this will take longer. Cooking the apples can take as little as 30 minutes or may take up to 2 hours. Don’t worry, the smell of hot applesauce cooking is delightful! Enjoy the sweet aroma of fall! 

Step 3: Sweetening the Apple Sauce

I like to allow the apples to cook down at least halfway before adding the sweetener.  If you are using multiple pots to cook your apples, wait until they are combined into one (if you can) so that the applesauce will be sweetened consistently. Add sugar and ground cinnamon and stir well. Allow the applesauce to cook a little longer before tasting. I use raw sugar to sweeten my applesauce, but you can use brown sugar, honey, or even pure maple syrup! 

When’s It Done?

The applesauce is done when it reaches your desired consistency.  I don’t use a potato masher, immersion blender, food processor or food mill when cooking my applesauce. My preferred method is to simply allow it to cook. I like to have soft chunks of apples in a smooth base. If you like a smoother sauce, it may need to cook a bit longer, or an immersion blender can help speed it up. Note: If you left the skins on, you may need to run the applesauce through a food mill to make it smooth. Some apples have skins that cook better than others.

Canning the Applesauce

It’s simple to can homemade applesauce in the water bath canner. When your applesauce is almost done, begin preparing the waterbath canner. Fill the canner with jars and hot water.  I prefer to sterilize my jars before starting, but this will process long enough that presterilization is not required.  Still, you always add hot ingredients to hot jars, so add the jars to heat up. 

Once the mason jars are ready, fill the jars, leaving a 1/2 inch of headspace. Add your canning lids and rings. Return to the water bath canner and bring the water to a boil over medium-low heat. Once the water comes to a full rolling boil, begin the processing time.  Here in Kentucky, at sea level, I process pints for 15 minutes and quarts for 20 minutes.  Please see notes in the recipe card if you are above sea level. 

Once the processing has finished, turn off the heat. Using the jar lifter, lift the jars out of the water. Allow the jars to acclimate to room temperature for about 5 minutes before removing them from the canner. Once finished, remove the jars and allow them to set for 24 hours. Remove the rings and check the seals. Wash the sealed jars with cool water to make sure there is no sticky residue on the jars that might attract insects to your pantry.   Be sure to label and date your jars. 

Enjoy the Bounty All Year Long

Store in a cool, dry place. When properly stored, canned applesauce is good for 18 months. My favorite way to enjoy my own homemade applesauce is with pork! Pork tenderloin and pork chops are my favorite cuts. Paired with chunky, cinnamon applesauce, takes it to the next level of deliciousness! 
Applesauce makes a great substitute for oil in quick breads. Don’t worry about the large chunks; the chunky cinnamon applesauce makes them even better!

Homemade Applesauce FAQ