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Cherry applesauce takes a humble pantry staple and turns it a deep red, carrying a sweet-tart cherry flavor that makes an ordinary bowl of applesauce feel like something special. It puts up well in the canner and keeps just as happily in the freezer. It all cooks down in one pot, and it is a satisfying way to spin a bowl of cherries into jars you will be glad to reach for once winter sets in. My family works through it quicker than any plain jar, most of it disappearing straight off the spoon.
Table of Contents
- Notes from My Kitchen
- A Quick Look at the Recipe
- Ingredients for Cherry Applesauce
- A Note on Safe Substitutions
- How to Make Cherry Applesauce
- Canning Cherry Applesauce
- Altitude Adjustments
- Ways to Use Cherry Applesauce
- Yield Notes
- Cherry Applesauce FAQs
- Cherry Canning Recipes
- Cherry Applesauce Recipe
- Apple Canning Recipes
This recipe has been reviewed for safety and accuracy by a Master Food Preserver certified through the University of Cornell Cooperative Extension.
Underneath all that color, cherry applesauce is still applesauce, which means it goes into jars with the same hot pack, boiling water bath method you would use for a plain applesauce canning recipe. The cherries cook down into the apples and give up their color and flavor without changing a single thing about how the sauce is put up, so it fits easily among your other water bath canning recipes. It follows the tested fruit puree method from the University of Georgia, canned on the more cautious applesauce processing times.
Apples and cherries are both high-acid fruits, so there is no lemon juice or other acid that needs to go in. The recipe stays safe because it is held to a true, smooth puree and given the full processing time, not because of anything extra stirred into the pot. If you have already put up plain applesauce, this follows the same steps, and you can tip the ratio toward more cherries or more apples depending on what you have on hand.
For a smooth finish without any fuss over apple peels, a food mill takes care of that for you.
Notes from My Kitchen
Cherry applesauce is a product of cherry season, when I always seem to wind up with a bowl of cherries that have gone a touch too soft for snacking but are far too good to throw out. Simmering them down with a few apples turns that sad bowl of seconds into pints I look forward to opening later. The cherries stain the whole batch a deep red, and even a modest handful reads clearly as cherry, so you do not need much to make it count.
I keep mine apple forward, since the apples lend the sauce body and stop it from going thin, and the cherries still come through loud and clear. Pitting is the only part that asks anything of you, and once that is behind you the rest is a quiet afternoon at the stove. Because it freezes every bit as contentedly as it cans, a big cherry haul means I put up a batch of jars and slide the rest into the freezer without any pressure to work through it all at once.
A Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Cherry Applesauce
- Recipe Type: Fruit Applesauce
- Canning Method: Water Bath Canning or Steam Canning
- Prep/Cook Time: About 45 minutes
- Canning Time: 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts
- Yield: About 3 to 4 pints
- Jar Sizes: Quarter pint, half pint, pint, or quart
- Headspace: 1/2 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Apples, cherries, a splash of water or juice, and sugar if you want it
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: University of Georgia Extension fruit puree method
- Difficulty: Easy.
- Similar Recipes: Putting this up runs much like the other fruit applesauces and simple fruit sauces, among them strawberry applesauce, cranberry applesauce, pomegranate applesauce, and pear sauce. If cherries are what you love, reach for other cherry canning recipes such as sour cherry jam or black cherry jam.
Ingredients for Cherry Applesauce
The ingredient list stays short and forgiving, which makes this a fine place to use up cherries that have slipped a little past their prime for snacking.
- Apples: These make up the base of the sauce and lend it enough body to keep it from turning thin or watery. Reach for sweet apples that soften and break down readily as they cook, such as McIntosh, Cortland, Gala, Fuji, or Golden Delicious, and a mix of a few varieties rounds the flavor out. You can skip peeling if a food mill is going to handle everything later on.
- Cherries: These carry the deep red color and the sweet-tart flavor. Sweet cherries such as Bing make a mellow sauce that asks for little or no sugar, while tart cherries like Morello or Montmorency come out brighter and tangier and usually want a bit of sweetening. Either kind does the job, and you can tip the ratio toward more cherries for a bolder flavor without touching the canning times. Pit the cherries before they go in the pot, since stray pits have no place in the finished sauce.
- Water or juice: You need only enough to get the fruit simmering without it catching on the bottom. Plain water keeps the cherry flavor clean, while unsweetened apple juice or apple cider brings in a little sweetness. Whichever you pour in, choose a plain juice with no additives or preservatives.
- Sugar (optional): Sweet apples and cherries are often sweet enough as they are, so give the pot a taste before reaching for anything, particularly when you are working with sweet cherries. Tart cherries usually welcome a little sugar, honey, or maple syrup to round them out. Sugar plays a flavor role here rather than a safety one, so you are free to adjust it or leave it out.
A pinch of cinnamon or a few drops of almond extract plays up the cherry flavor nicely if you are after a dressed-up sauce, and dry spices in sensible amounts are fine to add before canning. A cherry pitter makes short work of the fruit, though a paring knife will get you there too. Fresh and frozen cherries both do well, so there is nothing keeping you from making a batch in the depths of winter out of cherries you pitted and froze back at the height of the season.
A Note on Safe Substitutions
This recipe holds up to water bath canning for two reasons: apples and cherries both sit on the high acid side, and the finished sauce is a smooth puree that lets heat move evenly through the jar. You can shift the ratio of apples to cherries however you like, use sweet or tart cherries, and trade in or fold in other high acid fruits such as blueberries, raspberries, or plums without changing the method.
Where you want to hold the line is low-acid ingredients, meaning bananas, figs, melon, any vegetable, or any sort of thickener. Those either shift the acidity or stop heat from moving through the jar the way it should, and either one carries the recipe outside the tested method. Keep it to fruit, keep it a true puree, and give it the full processing time.
How to Make Cherry Applesauce
The whole thing comes together in one pot, and the only part that really asks anything of you is pitting the cherries, which moves along quickly with a cherry pitter and a little patience.
Prepare the Fruit
Give the apples a wash, then peel, core, and slice them straight into a large, heavy-bottomed pot. If a food mill is coming later, you can leave the peels on and let the mill lift them out.
Wash the cherries and pull off the stems, then pit them and add them to the pot. Slow down for this part, since a stray pit is easy to overlook and not something you want turning up in the finished sauce. Frozen cherries do the job just as well, so if you pitted and froze some earlier in the season, they can go in straight from the freezer with no thawing.
Cook the Sauce
Pour in the water or juice, set the lid on the pot, and bring it all up to a gentle boil over medium-high heat. Back it down to a simmer and cook, stirring often so nothing catches on the bottom, until the apples have gone completely soft and the cherries have broken down. Depending on your apples, this usually runs around 20 to 30 minutes. If the pot starts looking dry, add a splash more liquid.
A slow cooker is another good way to cook this down, which helps with a big batch and keeps scorching at bay. Most slow cookers will have applesauce ready in about 3 to 4 hours on high, or 6 to 8 hours on low, with a stir now and then.
Puree and Sweeten
Once the fruit is tender, puree it to whatever texture you prefer. A food mill turns out the smoothest sauce and neatly strains off any apple peels and cherry skins you left in, though an immersion blender works well too. However you blend it, the finished sauce needs to be a true, even puree with no large chunks, since that smooth texture is what lets heat move through the jars during canning.
Give the sauce a taste and make your call on sugar. Sweet and tart cherries sit in very different places, so add it a little at a time and stop once the balance feels right. When it tastes the way you want, bring the sauce back up to a full boil before you start filling jars.
Canning Cherry Applesauce
When you are ready to can, get your water bath canner, jars, and two-piece lids ready ahead of time, and keep it all hot until the moment you fill. Add enough water to the canner to cover the jars by at least an inch, then bring it up to a simmer.
Using a canning funnel, ladle the hot cherry applesauce into hot, clean jars and leave 1/2 inch of headspace. Work out any air bubbles, adjust the headspace if it needs it, wipe the rims clean, and set the lids and rings on to fingertip tight.
Lower the jars into the canner and bring the water back to a full rolling boil. Process in a boiling water bath canner for 15 minutes for pints and half pints, or 20 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude if you sit above 1,000 feet in elevation (see below).
Once the time is up, shut off the heat, take off the lid, and let the jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes. After that, lift them out and let them cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before you check the seals, label, and store them.
Altitude Adjustments
With water bath canning, the processing time goes up as your elevation climbs:
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts
- 1,001 to 3,000 feet: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts
- 3,001 to 6,000 feet: 20 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts
- Above 6,000 feet: 25 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts
Worth flagging: the pint time holds at 20 minutes across the 1,001 to 6,000 foot band, even while the quart time keeps rising. That is intentional, not an oversight.
Ways to Use Cherry Applesauce
Cherry applesauce is every bit as handy as plain applesauce, just with a good deal more personality. We spoon it straight from the jar, stir it through oatmeal and yogurt, and pour it over pancakes, waffles, and vanilla ice cream, where that deep red color never fails to get a reaction. It is soft and mild enough for babies and toddlers, and it becomes a quick dessert when you warm a bowl and top it with granola or a little whipped cream.
It also holds its own in baking, standing in for plain applesauce to bring moisture and a little cherry flavor to muffins, quick breads, and cakes. Cherry and almond are a natural pairing, so a spoonful next to an almond cake is a happy match, and a jar tucked into a gift basket beside other apple canning recipes makes a welcome gift.
Yield Notes
As written, this recipe makes about 3 to 4 pints, which shifts with how juicy your fruit is and how far down you cook it. You will begin with roughly 4 pounds of apples as purchased, coming to about 2 1/2 pounds once peeled and cored, plus about 1 1/2 pounds of pitted cherries (around 4 cups). The final yield always wanders a little with the fruit, so count on a jar or two of variation.
You can double this batch safely as long as your pot is big enough to cook the fruit evenly without scorching, and a slow cooker helps once the amounts grow. For a single pint, use about 4 cups of sliced apples (roughly a pound prepared) along with a generous cup of pitted cherries and a splash of water, then sweeten to taste.
Below are a few of the questions that come up most often about putting up cherry applesauce.
Cherry Applesauce FAQs
Yes. Cherry applesauce is a hot-packed fruit puree, so it goes into jars the same way plain applesauce does: a boiling water bath, 1/2-inch headspace, and applesauce processing times adjusted for your altitude. Send the hot sauce into hot jars, keep it a smooth puree so heat moves through evenly, and give it the full processing time.
No. Apples and cherries both fall on the high acid side, so this sauce does not call for added lemon juice the way certain tomato recipes do. Its safety comes from keeping it a true puree, using the correct headspace, and processing for the full time, rather than from any acid you add.
Both work. Sweet cherries such as Bing make a mellow sauce that needs little or no sugar, while tart cherries turn out brighter and tangier and usually want a bit of sweetening. The canning method and times stay the same either way, so use whichever you have on hand.
Absolutely. Frozen pitted cherries work well and need no thawing beforehand. Drop them into the pot with the apples and liquid and simmer until it all softens. Having been frozen actually helps the cherries break down into a smoother sauce.
No, sugar is optional. Sweet cherries and sweet apples are usually sweet enough on their own, and the sauce is safe to can whether or not you include it. Tart cherries often come out better with a little added, so taste after cooking and sweeten only if you feel it needs it.
If you came home with more cherries than you quite know what to do with, here are more ways to put them up.
Cherry Canning Recipes
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Cherry Applesauce
Equipment
- Canning Jars, Lids and Bands
Ingredients
- 4 lbs apples, as purchased, peeled, cored, and chopped
- 4 cups cherries, pitted, sweet or tart
- 1 cup water, or unsweetened apple juice or cider
- Sugar to taste, optional
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath canner, jars, and lids. Keep everything hot.
- Peel, core, and slice the apples into a large, heavy-bottomed pot (or leave the peels on if you’ll use a food mill). Wash, stem, and pit the cherries, then add them to the pot.
- Add the water or juice, cover, and bring to a boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the apples are very soft and the cherries have broken down, about 20 to 30 minutes.
- Puree the mixture with a food mill or immersion blender to a smooth, even sauce with no large chunks.
- Taste and add sugar if desired, then return the sauce to a full boil.
- Ladle the hot sauce into hot jars, leaving 1/2 inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, wipe rims, and apply lids and rings to fingertip tight.
- Process in a boiling water bath for 15 minutes for pints and half pints, or 20 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude.
- Let jars rest in the canner 5 minutes, then cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking seals.
Notes
- 0 to 1,000 feet: 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts
- 1,001 to 3,000 feet: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts
- 3,001 to 6,000 feet: 20 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts
- Above 6,000 feet: 25 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
And for more ways to stock the pantry with apples, take a look at these apple canning recipes.
Apple Canning Recipes
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