There are less than 5 ingredients in this blueberry applesauce and sugar is not one of them. Make this applesauce in your slow cooker or Instant Pot.
Updated 2019 with Instant Pot instructions
Adding Blueberries To Applesauce
Blueberries are a nice addition jazz up normal applesauce. I love pairing different fruits together when making applesauce. There are tons of variations of applesauce that you can make like pear applesauce, cranberry applesauce, peach applesauce, I could go on & on. Adding blueberries to my applesauce is my favorite because blueberries are one of my favorite fruits.
What Kind Of Apples To Use
You can use your preferred apple but since this recipe does not use sugar I would use a sweet apple like gala or red delicious. My go-to apple is usually gala apples because they’re sweet and I can usually find them fairly cheap. There’s no need to remove the skin from the apples before adding them to the appliance. Yes, you can if you want however the skin has nutrients and will cook down so soft you won’t be able to tell there was ever skin on the apples when this is done cooking.
Apple Recipes
No Added Sugar
There’s no added sugar in this applesauce. Why add sugar? It’s not needed. I don’t use sugar in general in my recipes. If I need something to be sweetened I will use a natural sweetener honey, maple syrup or chopped dates. I recommend adding one of these 3 to your applesauce if you want it to be sweeter: 1/3 cup of honey, or maple syrup or a few chopped dates. Yes you read that correctly, chopped dates. In addition to being full of nutritional value, dates are really sweet. They’re the perfect natural sweetener. You have to be careful though; if you use too many dates then your applesauce will taste ‘datey’. It won’t necessarily ruin the batch but it will alter the taste. Personally 3-5 small, pitted dates is enough sweetness for me. When deciding how many dates to use take into consideration how sweet your apples are and if you are adding another sweet fruit into the mix.
Blend To Desired Consistency
I like to use my immersion blender directly in the slow cooker or pressure cooker to blend my applesauce. You can also use a potato masher or once the applesauce has cooled, transfer it to a regular blender or food processor. Blend the applesauce to your desired consistency. Personally I like mine to be very smooth but you might like chunks in yours. The applesauce will thicken and darken as it cools. This is completely normal.
PrintSlow Cooker Blueberry Applesauce
- Total Time: 3 hours 10 mins
- Yield: 2 cups 1x
Ingredients
- 2 pounds apples, cored & chopped
- 4 ounces blueberries
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3 tablespoons water for slow cooker, 1 cup for electric pressure cooker (Instant Pot)
Instructions
Slow Cooker
- Add all ingredients to the slow cooker. Stir to mix well.
- Cook HIGH 2-3 hours or LOW 4-6.
- Let cool & then blend until you achieve desired consistency.
Instant Pot
- Add all ingredients to the pressure cooker. Stir to mix well.
- Close lid and seal valve. Set manual, high pressure to 6 minutes. Quick release pressure.
- Let cool & then blend until you achieve desired consistency.
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 3 hours
I made this in my small 2-quart slow cooker. For larger batches simply double or triple the measurements. As with most applesauce store this in the frig for 7-10 days or freeze it for later use.
jodi Kaplan
Thursday 14th of January 2021
Hi I'm interested to know if the recipe is tart or sweet? I don't eat sugar or coconut sugar and alot of the recipes I see use sugar. Can I add maple syrup or Honey to slightly sweeten it?