30 Minute Stovetop Applesauce (Small Batch)

This quick and easy stovetop applesauce comes together in under 30 minutes (including the time it takes to peel and dice the apples!) It’s a small batch recipe perfect for when you just need a few servings, and don’t have time to sit around watching a pot simmer for hours.

Lightly spiced and subtly sweetened (but also very flexible if you want to adjust the sugar and spices to taste), this applesauce is perfect by the spoonful, and also as a topping for your next batch of latkes, dolloped on french toast or waffles, or as an accompaniment to a juicy seared sirloin or pork chop.

Homemade applesauce in under 30 minutes? Sign me up!

I love just how superbly simple this recipe is. And it’s not one of those tricky recipes that claims to be 30 minutes but in reality requires 25 minutes of prep time before you even start cooking.

No, this recipe is truly a 30 minute recipe. In fact, even accounting for the time to snap photos of the process along the way (which always slows me down), my applesauce was done in exactly 27 minutes (yes, I timed it!) That includes peeling and dicing the apples, cooking them, and running it all through a food mill.

Factors that could push it over the 30 minute mark include using all tart apples (which take longer to soften), doubling or tripling the recipe (which, while certainly doable, would increase the cook time), or pureeing the sauce in a blender/food processor (you’d want to cook it a bit longer on the back end just to thicken it up a bit).

This is one of those non-recipe recipes that I have made a million times but never really thought to share before, and I’m not sure why. Usually it’s one of those last minute, oh-sh*t-I still-need-to-make-applesauce situations that always seems to pop up, oh, 45 minutes before our friends arrive for our annual Hanukkah dinner.

Needless to say, I’ve gotten quite adept at throwing together a super fast, super satisfying homemade applesauce, and finally took the time to write it down and take a few photos so I could share it with you.

(Short tangent: rarely have I ever failed so spectacularly in the kitchen than I did with a batch of this applesauce. And by failed, I mean absolutely destroyed a saucepan, burning the applesauce so badly that no amount of baking-soda-soaking and scrubbing was going to save it [trust me I tried]. Maybe if it had been a stainless pan like I used in the final process shots, but a nonstick pan? Toast. Literally. So while I describe this applesauce as quick and easy—and please don’t let this cautionary tale discourage you, it really is!—that just assumes you don’t wander off to the living room to read a few chapters of your thoroughly engrossing book and completely forget the applesauce simmering away on the stove until the smell of burnt sugar finally permeates your brain. Talk about dumb and dumber.)

Anyway, I digress.

The recipe is actually very similar to my stovetop apple butter recipe, the main difference between sauce and butter is the cook time: apple sauce cooks just long enough for the apples to get soft and saucy, whereas apple butter is cooked much longer until the apples almost caramelize in their own sugars. Flavor-wise, applesauce has a light, bright and tart flavor, and apple butter is deep and intensely apple-y.

Apple picking.

You’ll only need 3 large or 4 small apples to make this small batch recipe (about 1 1/2 pounds of apples by weight).

You can make your applesauce with any kind of apple, but I like to use a mix: one soft, one tart and firm, and one sweet apple. In this particular batch, I used one gala, one granny smith, and one honeycrisp. I find mixing different varieties of apples gives you the best balance of texture and flavor.

If you opt to use all tart/crisp apples, you may want to give the apples another 5 to 10 minutes to soften before you start mashing them, as varieties like granny smith take a lot longer to break down into a smooth, saucy texture.

To prepare the apples, you’ll want to peel, core, and dice them into roughly 1/2-inch pieces (having uniformly sized pieces will ensure the apples cook down quickly and evenly). You should have about 3 cups of chopped apple pieces.

Peel and core apples. I recommend using a mix of different apple types for this recipe!Remove cores and dice apples into roughly 1/2-inch pieces. You should have approximately 3 cups of chopped apples.In a medium, heavyweight saucepan, combine apples with 1 to 2 tablespoons of lemon juice (more or less to taste and depending on how tart your apples are).Add 1/2 cup of water (this will help ‘steam’ the apples to soften them).Cover and cook apples over medium heat, stirring occasionally, for about 10 minutes or until apples are softened and starting to break down.Add brown sugar and spices (again, feel free to adjust to taste depending on how sweet you want it to be).Using a potato masher or a fork, smash soft apple pieces to break them down into a chunky sauce.Optionally, for a smoother sauce you can run the soft apples through a food mill with the coarse screen.You can also use a food processor, just try not to fully liquefy the sauce.Return saucepan to heat and cook for a few minutes more or until desired thickness is acheived.

Texture is Everything.

For a chunky applesauce, no special equipment is needed, just mash the softened apples using a potato masher or even just a fork.

For a smoother textured applesauce, I recommend using a food mill with the coarse screen. This will produce a beautifully saucy applesauce.

You can also use a food processor, but just give the softened apples a few quick pulses as you don’t want to completely liquefy it. If you go this route, you may need a few minutes of extra cook time on the end to thicken it up a bit more so it doesn’t end up soupy.

Hey Sugar Sugar

You’ll notice this recipe calls for a range of sugar instead of a set amount, and that’s because it really depends on your personal tastes and how sweet your apples are to begin with. I ended up using 3 tablespoons of brown sugar in this batch, which was the perfect sweetness to balance out the tartness of the apples (I actually started with just 2, but it was a bit too tart so I added some more).

You could also use alternative sweeteners here, although some like honey would impart a very different flavor. I like the subtle molasses notes of the brown sugar, but white sugar would work just fine as well.

It’s the same with the lemon juice, use 1 to 2 tablespoons of freshly squeezed lemon juice to taste (1 tablespoon is plenty if you’re using all granny smith apples, for instance, but all galas would necessitate a bit more acid). Since this recipe is not written for canning preservation and safety, you do not have to worry about keeping the acidity at a certain level; instead, trust your tastebuds!

On the other hand, if you ARE looking for a canning-safe applesauce recipe, I’ve got you covered there too with this classic applesauce recipe made for canning, or this gorgeous hot pink blackberry applesauce (that one’s also in the book!)

The Spice is RIght

I prefer a lightly spiced applesauce, with just a hint of cinnamon and cardamom for a well-rounded depth of flavor that doesn’t cover up the natural flavor of the apples. While I don’t like cardamom in large quantities (it can be overpowering and almost soapy to me), a mere 1/8 teaspoon here takes this applesauce from ordinary to extraordinary (seriously, when is the last time you ate a spoonful of applesauce and thought, “dang, that’s good!”) That said, you can certainly increase the cinnamon if you prefer a more heavily spiced sauce, and feel free to replace the cardamom with other spices as desired. Or leave out the spices entirely even. Totally up to you!

Another flavorful substitution would be to replace the water with fresh pressed apple cider (NOT vinegar, please!) The apple cider will reduce and enhance the apple flavor even more.

You could also finish it off with a splash of apple brandy if you’re looking for something a bit more… grown up.