This Homemade British Apple Sauce really is simplicity itself, in fact you’ll wonder why you ever bought it. With only a little added brown sugar and lemon juice, the freshness of the apple really shines through. This style of apple sauce is traditionally served with roast pork but that doesn’t mean you can’t serve it with everything else too!
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Apple sauce and applesauce are surprisingly different things on each side of the pond. Over here in the UK, apple sauce is a condiment like cranberry or mint sauce that is served with roast meats. In this case apple sauce is usually reserved for with pork. British style apple sauce has a little sweetness to offset the tart apple flavour but otherwise generally remains un-spiced.
But over in the US, applesauce (yes it’s one word) has many variations starting with a fine puree with no additions. This is a common snack for small children and is often used as an ingredient in baking etc. When used a more of a condiment, it is often spiced like an apple or pumpkin pie might be. Cinnamon is a very common addition.
Apple sauce has various other variations and uses around the world. It’s been 25 years but one day I’ll recover from being given a whole bowl of unsweetened apple sauce for dessert in France. Less I think about that the better.
How to Serve British Apple Sauce
You can choose to make the apple sauce as chunky or as smooth as you like. And although it is commonly served cold, one of the joys of making it homemade is that you can very easily serve it still warm which I definitely prefer.
Try serving with any of my pork recipes. It’s especially great when combined with some sage and onion stuffing, either air fried paxo, balls with added sausage meat or even homemade stuffing from scratch.
Apple Sauce Ingredients
Apples
The type of apple you choose can be a personal preference. A cooking apple like a bramley will give you a more tart sauce. You can offset this by adding more sugar if you wish.
A sweeter eating apple like pink lady or royal gala will give you sweeter sauce. If this is what you have to use but you would rather than sauce be less sweet, simply don’t add or reduce the brown sugar.
I would always peel the apples for a British style apple sauce as this is more usual. You can include the skins if you prefer but bear in mind this will have an effect on the colour and texture of the sauce.
Apple sauce is a good way to use up apples that might be a little past eating. Just make sure to cut off and discard any seriously bruised bits.
Brown Sugar
I use light brown rather than white sugar because I like the slight caramel notes it brings without being overtly sweet. Dark brown sugar would add to much of a distinctive flavour so it’s best avoided.
You could use a little honey or even maple syrup to add a touch of sweetness. Of course this will affect the flavour slightly but depending on what you’re serving it with, this might be a welcome variation.
Lastly, if you do like an especially tart apple sauce, you can just not add any sweetener.
Lemon Juice
The lemon juice is included in this recipe more for practical than flavour reasons. The lemon prevents the apple from oxidising and discolouring so it is an essential ingredient.
Be Flexible
At the most basic level you can make several easy choices with this recipe. What sort of apple to use, whether to peel the apples or not, how much sugar to add and how chunky or smooth to make the sauce.
After that you can think about making additions. A little mixed spice or just cinnamon will give you a more American or christmassy vibe. You could ramp up the citrus elements too with a little zest and/or juice.
You could also really change things up by switching some of the apple for another fruit. Stay in the same sort of family and use half pear, quince or even or foraged crab apples. You can really start making things interesting by adding some stone fruits like peaches or plums. You may find that you need to cook the sauce for longer as these are juicer fruit. Or you can roast the stone fruits first to avoid this issue – try my roasted plums.
Vegetarian or Vegan Apple Sauce
This recipe is suitable for both vegetarians and vegans without any substitutions needed.
Make Allergy Friendly Apple Sauce for Pork
This recipe is free from egg, dairy, gluten and nuts.
Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.
Get Ahead
You can make homemade apple sauce a couple of days in advance. It doesn’t keep like a true preserve – there simply isn’t enough sugar in it. Store in the fridge in a airtight container.
If you do need to make it further in advance, it will freeze.
Leftover Apple Sauce
Fresh homemade apple sauce doesn’t keep well for much more than a week in the fridge. But it does freeze quite well. It is a good idea to freeze it in portions so you only need to defrost what you need at a time.
Homemade Apple Sauce Tips
The quantities given in the recipe below are really just a guide to the ratios and yield of the sauce. You can be very flexible using what you have on hand so don’t stress about the numbers.
Adding a lid to the saucepan is essential to the softening of the apple without losing moisture. If you don’t have a lid, you may wish to add a little water as the sauce cooks. Just add a little at a time, you don’t want to make soup.
If you want to end up with a very smooth sauce, you can blend it with a stick or jug blender. For an extremely smooth sauce, you can then sieve it before using.
Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try making this recipe – I want to know what you think and if you made any substitutions, how did it turn out?
Still Have Questions?
Simple! Just contact me and I will do my best to help as quickly as I am able. Head over to my Contact Me page, any of my social media channels or post a comment at the bottom of this page and I’ll see what I can do.
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More…Recipes
The Recipe
Homemade British Apple Sauce Recipe (For Pork)
Equipment
Ingredients
- 800 g Apples
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar
- ½ tsp Sea Salt Flakes
Instructions
- Choose roughly 800g Apples. Cooking apples will make for a more tart sauce and eating apples will be more sweet.
- Peel and quarter the first apple. Remove the core and cut into squares.
- Add the apple cubes to a medium saucepan along with 1 tbsp Lemon Juice. Toss the apple pieces in the juice to fully coat them. This will prevent them from browning.
- Repeat with the remaining apples making sure to add the cubes to the pan and toss them to coat in lemon juice as you go along.
- Once all the apple is prepared and in the saucepan, add 2 tbsp Light Brown Sugar and ½ tsp Sea Salt Flakes.
- Put the pan on a medium high heat and keep stirring until the sugar has melted and the apples have started to release their juices.
- Once bubbling away, add a lid to the pan and turn the heat to low. Allow to cook for around 20 minutes stirring occasionally to make sure nothing has stuck to the bottom of the pan.
- Remove the lid and use the spatula to start pressing the apple cubes to crush them against the sides of the pan. If you find that the chunks aren't easily squashed, replace the lid and continue cooking for a little longer.
- Continue to mush the apple against the pan whilst any remaining liquid evaporates and until you find yourself with a sauce with the texture of your choosing. I like a bit of texture and for it not to be too runny.
- Taste the sauce (be careful, allow a spoon of it to cool) and add any extra salt or sugar as you think you need. If you want the sauce to be smoother you can use a stick blender.If you want a looser sauce, add water until you're happy with the consistency.
- Serve the sauce warm or cold as you prefer.
Janice says
This is such a delicious sauce I could eat it by the spoonful!
Lesley says
I made your apple sauce with my roast pork this week. A really simple recipe and the sauce was the ideal accompaniment to the pork.