You’ll love this Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce for a healthy snack or treat. It’s easy to make, stores well, and tastes absolutely delicious warm or cold! Great for babies, toddlers, and kids!

Graphic for post - cinnamon applesauce, homemade, easy to make, kid favorite, freezer friendly. Image is of Pink kids bowl on top of a pink napkin filled with homemade applesauce with apples and cinnamon scattered around the bowl.

Medically reviewed and cowritten by Jamie Johnson, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN), and Lauren Braaten, Pediatric Occupational Therapist (OT).

Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce

Who needs store-bought applesauce when you can easily whip up this healthy, homemade cinnamon applesauce?

Made in less than 30 minutes, with only 3 simple ingredients – apples, vanilla extract, and cinnamon – this easy-to-make applesauce delivers big on flavor. And because we simmer the naturally sweet apples down, there’s no need for added sugar!

If you are looking for more easy and healthy applesauce recipes for your family, then be sure to check out my Carrot Applesauce, Beet Applesauce, our reader fav Applesauce Muffins, or these delicious 8 5-Minute Applesauce Combos for Kids. You can also find more recipes and information in my best-selling cookbook Little Foodies: Recipes for Babies and Toddlers with Taste.

Cinnamon Applesauce Video

Watch this video to see just how easy this Homemade Applesauce is to make!

Reasons to Love No Sugar-Added Cinnamon Applesauce

  • healthy, simple ingredients
  • makes for an easy side to have with meals or as a snack
  • budget-friendly alternative to storebought applesauce
  • can make a double batch and freeze extra as needed
  • a fun recipe to make with kids
  • freezer friendly
  • takes 20 minutes
  • endless flavor combinations – you can add in strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries, etc.
Spread of ingredients on a pink napkin on a white counter for homemade applesauce with graphics next to each one.

Ingredients

Make sure to read the recipe card below for full ingredients and instructions!

  • Apples: the base of the recipe is fresh apples. Make sure to use apples that are ripe and sweet, such as Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Pink Lady or Golden Delicious.
  • Cinnamon
  • Vanilla Extract
  • Water

Step-by-Step Instructions

Cutting board with apples on a white counter.
Gather apples.
Wooden cutting board on a white counter with peeled apples.
Peel apples.
Wooden cutting board with chopped apples.
Core and roughly chop the apples.
Silver saucepan on a burner with chopped apples, cinnamon and vanilla, getting ready to be simmered.
Add apples, cinnamon, vanilla and water to a medium saucepan.
Silver saucepan on a burner with cooked apples and spices.
Cover and heat over medium-low heat for 15 minutes.
Clear blender with simmered spiced apple chunks.
Transfer all ingredients to a blender.
Clear blender with pureed apples.
Pulse or puree until you have your desired texture.
Pink kids bowl with homemade cinnamon applesauce and a pink napkin.
Serve warm or cold.
  1. Peel apples. This step is optional. Peeling apples will give the applesauce a crisper taste, while not peeling them will give the applesauce an earthier taste and texture. Both are great.
  2. Core, and roughly chop the apples.
  3. Place the apples, cinnamon, vanilla, and water into a medium or large saucepan. Cover.
  4. Heat over medium heat-low heat for 15 minutes or until tender, stirring occasionally.
  5. Transfer all ingredients into a blender.
  6. Pulse for a chunky applesauce or blend for 15-30 seconds for a smoother applesauce. You can also use an immersion blender for this step.
  7. Serve and enjoy!

Health Benefits of Cinnamon Applesauce: Cinnamon Applesauce is full of antioxidants, fiber and contains vitamin C. It is free from added sugar since the only sugar in this applesauce is coming naturally from the apples.

What Type of Apples to Use

Applesauce can be made out of any apples. But if you are able to choose, pick a sweeter variety of apples, as they will make this applesauce have more natural sweetness (without adding in sugar). If you really want to bump up the flavor, go for a mix of apple varieties. Here are a few examples:

  • Sweet and Mildly Sweet: Fuji, Kiku, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Gala, Jazz Ambrosia
  • Tart (with a little sweetness): Pink Lady, Jonagold, McIntosh, Jonathan, Empire, Granny Smith
  • Crispy, Tangy and Sharp: Braeburn, Liberty, Ida Red, Rome, Pacific Rose, Opal
Pink kids bowl full of homemade applesauce with a pink kids spoon full as well with applesauce.

How to Store Cinnamon Applesauce

This Cinnamon Applesauce will keep for 1 week in the fridge (if it lasts that long!) or for 3 months in the freezer.

Add-Ins

The great thing about homemade applesauce is that it offers a solid base to get creative with many other kinds of fruit. You can include many kinds of fruits in your fridge or freezer that need to be used up, like these:

  • Blueberries
  • Strawberries
  • Raspberries
  • Blackberries
  • Cherries
  • Peaches
  • Mangos

How to Serve Applesauce with Cinnamon

Besides eating this straight out of the container after your kids go to bed, there are so many fun ways to enjoy this applesauce.

  • Easy Dessert: warmed with a dollop of coconut whipped cream.
  • Yogurt Parfait: Spooned over yogurt and sprinkled with granola.
  • School Lunch: add this delicious applesauce to your kids air-tight lunch box (or container) and send it for school lunch.
  • Oatmeal: spoon into a bowl of warm oats and top with some chopped pecans, sprinkle of hemp seeds and a little brown sugar.
  • Reusuable Pouch: spoon into a reusable food pouch for an easy on-the-go toddler or kid snack.

Cooking with Kids

Making homemade applesauce is a fun and easy way to help kids build their cooking skills and confidence in the kitchen.

Toddlers

  • They can help pick out and measure the ingredients.
  • Toddlers can help chop the apples into small chunks, with a child-safe knife.
  • With assistance, they can add cinnamon and vanilla to the cooking apples.

Kids

  • They can gather and measure all of the ingredients.
  • Kids can help peel and chop the apples with a child-safe knife.
  • They can help spoon the cooled sauce into a container.

Recipe Tips

  • You can use any apples you have on hand or prefer, though the sweeter varieties of apples will give you a naturally sweeter applesauce.
  • If adding another fruit, you can use fresh or frozen in this recipe.
  • This recipe will thicken up once it cools down in the fridge for a few hours.
  • To make this applesauce into a baby puree – simply blend for 1-2 minutes or until smooth.
  • You can add this applesauce to reusable pouches for an on-the-go toddler snack.
  • If you want the benefit of added fiber in your applesauce, you can simply wash your apples and skip peeling them before cooking. Use an immersion blender or food processor to puree apples into your desired consistency.
Pink kids bowl on top of a pink napkin filled with homemade applesauce with apples and cinnamon scattered around the bowl.

Get the recipe: Homemade 20-Minute Cinnamon Applesauce

5 stars (1 rating)
You'll love this Homemade Cinnamon Applesauce for a healthy snack or treat. It's easy to make, stores well, and tastes absolutely delicious warm or cold! Great for babies, toddlers, and kids!
Yield: 3 cups
Prep: 5 minutes
Cook: 15 minutes
Total: 20 minutes
Author: Michele Olivier
Course: Side Dish
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Ingredients 

Instructions 

  • Prep: peel, core and chop apples.
    A wooden cutting board on a white countertop with chunks of apples on it.
  • Simmer Apples: in a large stockpot, bring the apples, cinnamon, vanilla extract, and water to a boil. Reduce to a simmer over medium-low heat, cover, and cook for 12-15 minutes, stirring occasionally. Let cool slightly.
    Silver saucepan filled with cooked chunks of apples.
  • Blend: transfer all ingredients into a blender or food processor. Pulse for a chunky applesauce or puree for 30-60 seconds for a smooth consistency.
    Clear blender with pureed apples.
  • Eat: serve or transfer to an air-tight container and store in the fridge.
    Pink kids bowl full of homemade applesauce with a pink kids spoon full as well with applesauce.

Notes

Age: 6+ months. For babies, just puree until smooth and serve.
Storage: Cinnamon Applesauce will keep for 1 week in the fridge (if it lasts that long!) or for 3 months in the freezer. 
Apples: Make sure to use apples that are ripe and sweet, such as Fuji, Gala, Honeycrisp, McIntosh, Pink Lady or Golden Delicious.

Equipment

Saucepan
Blender
Measuring Cups
Silicone Baby Bibs
Bumkins Baby Bowl

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