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.
| Rating |
Rate this recipe!
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| Servings | 8Servings |
| Prep Time | 1 - 2Hours |
| Cook Time | 6 Hours On LOW |
- 4 Pounds Apples At Least 2 Different Varieties With A Mix Of Sweet And Tart Applesnd sweet/mild
- 1 Cup Apple Juice Or 1 Cup Water
- 1/4 Cup Light Brown Sugar Or 3 Tablespoons Honey
- 1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
- 1/4 Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon
- 1/8 Teaspoon Ground Nutmeg Or Allspice
- 3 Whole Cloves
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Ingredients
Servings: Servings
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- Wash, cut and core apples and add to a 5 quart or larger slow cooker.
- Add the remaining ingredients and stir to combine.
- Cover and cook on LOW for 6 hours or on HIGH for 3 hours, stirring occasionally.
- Remove cloves and discard.
- For a smooth applesauce process the cooked apples through a food mill or blend with a blender. For a chunky applesauce, mash the apples to your desired consistency using a potato masher.
- Ladle the applesauce into sterilized jars leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Wipe rims with a clean cloth or paper towel and place lids and rings on the jars. Twisting the rings closed until just finger-tight.
- Place prepared jars into either a water bath canner or steam canner and process for 20 minutes (adjusting for your elevation if needed). OR process jars in a pressure canner at 1000 ft. or less at 5 pounds pressure for 8 minutes.
- After processing the jars, remove the jars from the canner and place on a kitchen towel on the counter and allow the jars to come to room temperature. Check seals on jars and label jars with contents and dates before putting away for storage.
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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