I often make applesauce with several different apples all in the pot together, but this Granny Smith applesauce is pure Granny Smith–applesauce that celebrates the tart green apple!
If you’re looking for more ways to use Granny Smith apples, might I suggest this apple and green tomato chutney? It’s delicious and full of tart GS apples.
For ease of browsing, you can find all my condiment and jam recipes in one place. Thanks so much for visiting.
Applesauce Time
Apples do not sing of Spring. They sing of crisp Autumn Days; of long cold evenings; of trees that blaze red, yellow and orange.
I’m not really sure why my mind went to applesauce on a lovely spring day. Bright blue sky. Warm sun. Cool breeze. Windows thrown open. For me, a perfect day.
It could be that, taken by itself, yesterday could also have been a glorious Autumn day. Bright blue sky. Warm sun. Cool breeze. Windows thrown open.
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In North Carolina, we are fortunate to have four distinct seasons, although I’m pretty sure the summers are a bit longer and hotter than they used to be while the winters are a bit shorter and milder.
Spring and Fall are my favorites though. Change is in the air. In the Autumn, nature gets itself ready for bed. In the Spring, it goes about its morning routine.
And even though gloriously perfect Autumn days inevitably lead to colder days and longer nights while gloriously perfect Spring days lead to the longer, hotter, humid days, I savor them both. Rather than anticipate the days that follow with just a bit of dread, I choose to live in the moments of those perfect Spring and Fall days.
And that, my friends, is why I ended up making Granny Smith applesauce.
Ingredients
A magic applesauce with a short ingredient list and big flavor.
A winning combination!
Here’s what you’ll need:
- Granny Smith apples: If using a food mill (see below), you won’t need to peel or core them. Try to get organic to minimize pesticide exposure
- Apple juice or cider: I like to give fruit a little liquid to help it start cooking and softening, so why not intensify the apple flavor by using apple juice or cider? NOTE: not hard cider, just sweet apple cider
- Salt: Adds dimension to the flavor. Please don’t leave it out.
- Sugar: Adds sweetness and some keeping qualities. You can use white or brown sugar
- Spices (optional): A little baking spice is nice in applesauce, but it is optional. Choose your favorite. Apple pie spice is particularly nice.
Make Applesauce with a Food Mill
Easy, Step-by-Step How to Make Granny Smith Applesauce
Hands down, my favorite way to make applesauce, Granny Smith or otherwise, is this:
- Cook down the apples, skins, seeds, and all, until the apples are very soft.
- Run the cooked pulp through your food mill.
- If the sauce isn’t as thick as you’d like, you can then cook down a bit farther to reduce the liquid. Otherwise, you’re done!
The OXO food mill is well-made, easy to use, easy to clean, and dishwasher safe (I wash all the parts in the dishwasher except the grinding discs). Speaking of, it comes with 3 discs for fine, medium and coarse. There is no better tool for getting a consistent texture and also removing skins and seeds without having to peel or core anything before hand.
Other Fruits You Can Add to Applesauce
There is no reason that you can’t add other fruits to your applesauce, so don’t feel bound by convention to just stick to apples.
Consider these options. Just add them to the pot along with your apples and you are good to go.
- Cranberries
- raspberries
- strawberries
- pears
- blueberries
- blackberries
Other Applesauce and Apple Butter Recipes
Ever wondered what the difference between applesauce and apple butter is? I can help with that.
Once you get the differences down (spoiler: it’s a matter of degree), here are some other recipes you may enjoy:
Questions?
If you have any questions about this post or recipe, I am happy to help.
Simply leave a comment here and I will get back to you soon. I also invite you to ask question in my Facebook group, Fearless Kitchen Fun.
If your question is more pressing, please feel free to email me. I should be back in touch ASAP, as long as I’m not asleep.
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Granny Smith Apple Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 pounds Granny Smith apples washed and sliced (peeling and coring not necessary if you’re using a food mill)
- 1 ½ cups Apple juice or apple cider or enough to fill your pan by about 3/4″.
- ¼ teaspoon Fine sea salt , to taste
- ½ cup sugar (brown or white), to taste
Optional
- a sprinkle of your favorite baking spices (I used “Baking Spice” from Savory Spice Shop)
Instructions
- Place the apples, salt and optional spices into a heavy-bottomed pan large enough to hold all the apples.
- Pour in the apple juice or apple cider.
- Bring up to a boil and then turn the heat down to maintain a simmer. You will have to stir occasionally to make sure all the fruit has a chance to cook in the juice in the bottom of the pan.
- When all the fruit is cooked and very soft, remove from heat and run through a food mill fit with the medium die.
- Taste the applesauce and add sugar to your taste if it is needed. If you use very sweet apples, you might not need any at all. I used 100% Granny Smiths, so I definitely had to add some.
- Taste again and adjust seasonings.
- Let cool then refrigerate.
- Use within a week to ten days.
Did You Make Any Changes?
Notes
Nutrition
Enjoy the Granny Smith Applesauce, friends.
Thank you for spending some time with me. Have a lovely day.
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This turned out delicious! One question – my applesauce had a very soft, almost pudding-like texture. Did I cook the apples too long? I’m not mad about it – it’s delicious on top of pancakes. 😀 Thanks for a great recipe!
Hey, Jenny! (I love coffee too 🙂 ) It’s possible you could have cooked them so long the juices and apple itself began to caramelize, turning your applesauce into more of an apple butter. There’s no real definite line between the two, so you can call what you ended up with apple butter if that feels like a better name/description of it. I’m really glad you’re enjoying it!
Can this be canned for long term?
Hey, Chelsea! I am not sure, because I personally am not a canner. I know sugar content and pH are both important for food safety, so I would start with a recipe optimized for canning, maybe from the Ball Blue Book.Im not saying it can’t be, but I wouldn’t want to give you misinformation.
How much is a serving size? I am planning on canning about 24 or so quarts and trying to figure out the amount of apples I will need.
Great question. I figure a serving is about 1/2 cup, give or take, so if you’re wanting to put up 24 quarts, you’ll need 1x the recipe per 2 quarts. Scale it all up accordingly: 12x the recipe for 24 quarts. It will cook down a lot, but you’ll need some big old pots! Please let me know how it turns out–would love to hear your review!
My Granny Smith trees went crazy this year. Great to make this and share with friends.
Wonderful! Be sure to make it to taste as far as adding sugar and seasonings. Enjoy! 🙂
Where’s the damn recipe? If it’s not on page one, forget about it. How stupid.
In the time it took you to curse at me, you could have clicked for and printed the recipe. Take care.