Simple Vegan Apple Sauce

This is a very low-effort recipe for vegan apple sauce (or apple puree) that I make whenever my apples are past the point of no return or when I need apple sauce for my vegan baking.

I’m not sure you can call it a recipe though, because I usually just peel the apples, chop them up, throw them into a saucepan with a little bit of water and cook them until they’re soft and mushy. Then, I mash them up or blitz them and, voilà, I have some perfectly delicious apple sauce.

But because you’re probably here to make apple sauce for a batch of my Mighty Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies, I want to give you an actual recipe to rely on — with measurements and all.

You can use this apple sauce in baking, but it also makes a nice snack or dessert, with some added cinnamon and sugar.

Ingredients

500g Apples

30 ml Water

If you’re making apple sauce for my Mighty Vegan Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe, have a look at my notes on ingredients before you begin!

Method

Step 1 Peel, core and dice your apples — the smaller the chunks, the quicker they will soften. After peeling and coring, you should be left with roughly 350g.

Step 2 Put the apple chunks and 30ml of water into a saucepan with a lid and bring to a boil, then turn the heat down and let it all simmer for around 15 - 25 minutes. Cooking time depends on the type of apples you’re using as does the amount of liquid they will release. If, after some simmering, the chunks of apple look dry or are sticking to the bottom of your pot, add a little more water. If, on the other hand, your apples are soft but there’s still a lot of liquid in the pot, keep cooking with the lid off until most of the liquid is gone. Otherwise, you will end up with a very runny apple sauce.

Step 3 When the apples are soft, mash them up with a fork or potato masher for chunky apple sauce or blend in a blender if you’re aiming for something smoother.

Step 4 Congrats, you just made your very own apple sauce! Let it cool and use it in my cookie recipe as is or do whatever else you want with it. Try adding spices (such as vanilla, cinnamon or nutmeg,) a little sugar or some lemon juice. Yum-yum.

Notes on Ingredients

Apples

You can use virtually any type of apple you like, but you might have to adjust the amount of liquid and / or cooking time. I’ve made this recipe with all apple varieties you can find in a British supermarket (which are, like, two…?) and they’ve all turned out just fine. I would recommend staying away from sour varieties, such as Granny Smith.

Whichever apples you end up using, you can always add sugar, lemon juice and / or spices according to your taste.

Apple Sauce for Vegan Cookies

First off, feel free to half this recipe if you’re making apple sauce for my chocolate chip cookies, as the original recipe calls for 80g only. I just like to make some extra apple sauce while I’m at it.

I don’t recommend sweetening it, unless, for some reason, it turned out very sour. You will add a lot of sugar to the cookie dough later, so the apple sauce doesn’t need any extra sweetness.

In terms of texture, you want to use thick not runny apple sauce in your cookies, otherwise your cookies will turn out very soft and won’t hold their shape. If the apples you’re using are releasing a lot of water during the cooking process, or you added too much water to begin with, simply let them simmer with the lid off until any excess liquid is gone. It’s enough to mash the soft apples with a fork or potato masher — it doesn’t have to be super smooth.

Make sure to let your apple sauce cool before mixing it with any other ingredients. If you’re in a rush, add the amount of apple sauce you need for the cookies into a separate bowl and let it cool down in the fridge.