Preserve fresh autumn apples with this delicious recipe for Crock-Pot Spiced Applesauce which you can process in jars for eating all year long. We walk you through the best apples to use and spices to add for the best spiced apple sauce you have ever made!
Crock-Pot Spiced Applesauce (Canning Recipe)
Crock-Pot Canning Applesauce is a recipe that I made after being gifted a few buckets of apples from friends of ours. To the apples my friends gave us I picked up a bag of Granny Smith and a bag of Gala apples at the grocery store.
The apples from our friends were a little bit bland and the Granny Smith Apple were tart, with the sweet Gala offsetting the tartness.
Since we add a lot of flavor with the apple juice and brown sugar I wanted a good tart base.
I normally use at least 2 different kinds of apple’s in my apple sauce, and 3 if possible.
I personally am not fond of Red Delicious apples to snack on so if for some reason we have those around, I always include those as they make an excellent sauce. You will just need to make sure choose a good tart apple to pair it with. Granny Smith’s are my favorite for adding tartness…
For my recipe I used apple juice because I think it adds just a little bit of flavor, especially when using run of the mill bland apples. But feel free to just use water if you don’t have any apple juice on hand. Be sure however if you are going to use apple juice that you use 100% juice and not a juice mixture or juice “cocktail” as these contain added sugar which will make your applesauce too sweet.
And because this is a spiced applesauce there is some nice cinnamon and nutmeg added. Trust me when I say your house is going to smell AMAZING while this cooks!
This recipe, as written will give you all the steps and tools needed for canning your applesauce so that you can eat it all year long. However, if canning is not your thing feel free to eat this all up, bake it into baked goods, make these amazing Crock-Pot Applesauce Pork Chops or pop into freezer containers and freeze for up to 8 months.
Tools & Equipment Needed For Applesauce & Canning:
- 6.5 Quart Crock-Pot – Cook your apples, brown sugar and spices with a little bit of apple juice or water until nice and soft.
- Victorio Strainer – I’ve had my strainer for years, but they still make them and they are wonderful for food processing, apple sauce, spaghetti sauce and juice. What is so great about the Victorio Strainer is it spits out the sauce in one spout and sends your stems, seeds and peelings in another so you don’t have to peel all the apples! It can also help you divert some of the juice too.
- Stockpot – Once the apples are strained I pop the puree into my large stock-pot and boil off any excess liquid that I had not been able to siphon away with the Victorio strainer. This is a personal preference on how thick you like your apple sauce. You can also pop the puree back into your Crock-Pot, put it on low with the lid propped open to cook away the excess liquid too.
- 4 Oz. Canning Jars With Lids And Rings – I picked up these super cute jars at Walmart. Love them and they hold just the right amount of applesauce for our family. They remind me of the individual serving cups of applesauce you can buy at the grocery store. You can do bigger pint or quart jars. You will just need to adjust the canning time.
- Canner
- Presto Pressure Canner – This is what I like to use when home canning but there are other options too…
- Water Bath Canner
- Steam Canner
I’m not sure when I’ll get the opportunity to do applesauce again as it just fell into my lap (and I gearing up for mega peach canning sessions currently) but I’m excited to use this recipe again.
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| Servings | 8People |
| Prep Time | 1 - 2Hours |
| Cook Time | 6 Hours On LOW |
- 4 pounds Apples at least 2 different kinds a mix of tart and sweet/mild
- 1 cup Apple Juice can replace with 1 cup of water if preferrable
- 1/4 cup Light Brown Sugar can use 3 tablespoons of honey
- 1/4 teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon Ground Nutmeg may also use allspice instead
- 2 - 3 whole Cloves optional (you will need to pull these out before placing in food mill)
- 1 tablespoon Lemon Juice
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Ingredients
Servings: People
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- Be sure to have at least 2 different kinds of apples, preferably 3. Mixing mild/sweet (like Gala) with a tart like a Granny Smith will give you a great flavor. Wash, cut and core apples, throw away buggy or mush apples.
- Place the cut apples, Brown Sugar, Spices and apple juice in the crock and cook on low for 6 hours or high on 3 (cooking on high means you must stir often it so it doesn't burn). On low stir occasionally.
- If you don't have a food mill, you can mash them up with a potato masher (they will be super chunky) or you could try a immersion blender to try and get them a bit thinner. If you have a food mill like the Victorio Strainer, get it set up with plenty of towels, bowls and things to help you scoop. an extra body to help you, is a great idea as well.
- During this process I began to strain off the juices. We saved the apple gunk and fed it to our chickens (who were totally thrilled!). Just remember with the Victorio Strainer or your food mill to go slow and steady so you don't try and pile too much in and make a mess of things.
- Next you'll see that your bowl of sauce likely still has too much liquid to it. I then placed it on the stove top and proceeded to cook off the excess liquid (without cooking off too much/don't want crusty sauce). This process also warms it back up so you can get the jars and lids and rings ready to process.
- Once your sauce is ready, pour into your jars leaving a 1/2 inch of head space. Use a knife or spatula to poke into the jar to get all the air bubbles out. Next you'll then wipe the top very carefully to make sure it's not sticky, add your lid, screw on your band (but not too tight) and then you can either Hot Water Bath, Steam Can or Pressure Can. I used my Pressure canner as that is what works on my glass top stove.
- Hot Water Bath and Steam Canner will be 20 minutes (adjust as needed for your elevation. Pressure Canner at 1000 ft or less is 5 pounds for 8 minutes (4 quart or pints) or 10 minutes for a quart.
Special Equipment:
- 12 - 16 4 oz. canning jars with lids and rings (you can use pints as well, but you'll need less and adjust times accordingly)
This recipe yields approximately 64 oz. of applesauce. A serving of applesauce is 1/2 cup (8 oz.)
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