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Cranberry applesauce is a simple way to make a basic pantry staple feel a little more special. It has that cozy, familiar applesauce vibe, but the cranberries bring a bright tartness and a beautiful rosy color that makes it feel like something you’d actually be excited to open mid-winter.
The addition of cranberries really makes this applesauce recipe sing, giving it a tart berry flavor and bright red color.
This is still applesauce at heart, so you can can it using the same hot-pack, boiling-water canner method as you use in a standard applesauce caning recipe. It follows the tested method for making Fruit Puree’s from the University of Georgia, but uses the more conservative applesauce canning times.
Why you’ll love this family favorite recipe!
This is one of those canning projects that feels like a small luxury, even though it’s basically just fruit and a pot on the stove. Applesauce is always useful, but cranberry applesauce is the jar I actually look forward to opening. It’s brighter, a little tangy, and somehow makes even a plain bowl of oatmeal feel like I did something special for myself.
I started making it as a way to use up a half bag of cranberries without committing to a whole separate cranberry sauce project. Now it’s become a late-fall pantry staple. The color alone is reason enough to can a few pints, and I love that it walks the line between everyday and festive. It’s the kind of thing that shows up on our table in November and then keeps quietly making winter meals feel a little more cheerful long after the holidays are over.
A Quick Look at the Recipe
- Recipe Name: Cranberry Applesauce
- Recipe Type: Mixed Fruit Applesauce
- Canning Method: Waterbath Canning or Steam Canning
- Prep/Cook Time: 30 Minutes
- Canning Time: 15 Minutes for Pints, 20 Minutes for Quarts
- Yield: 4 pints
- Jar Sizes: Quarter Pint, Half Pint, Pint or Quart
- Headspace: 1/2 inch
- Ingredients Overview: Apples, cranberries, juice and optional sugar.
- Safe Canning Recipe Source: University of Georgia Extension
- Difficulty: Easy. Just cook the fruit, puree (or not) and that’s it!
- Similar Recipes: The process is very similar to making other simple fruit sauce and puree recipes, like crabapple sauce, pear sauce and peach nectar. It has the same ingredients as cranberry apple jam, but it’s much less sweet and smoother.
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Ingredients for Cranberry Applesauce
All you really need is cranberries and sliced apples, plus a bit of water or juice to get the mixture cooking without scorching.
- Apples: Choose sweet, flavorful apples for the smoothest, most balanced sauce.
- Cranberries: Add tartness, color, and that classic cranberry “pop.”
- Water or juice (apple juice, apple cider, or cranberry juice): Helps the fruit cook down without scorching and lets you choose the flavor direction.
- Sugar (optional): Cranberries are sharp, so a little sugar helps round things out unless your apples are very sweet.
You can use any type of apples here, but sweet, aromatic apples that fall apart quickly when cooked tend to be the best for sauce. Peeling is optional, and you can leave the apple peels in place in the sauce without impacting safety (though the texture will be a bit off unless you use a food mill to remove them).
I’m using fresh cranberries here, but frozen work just as well. Freezing cranberries lowers their pectin, so frozen fruit don’t work as well in many cranberry canning recipes, namely cranberry jelly and jellied cranberry sauce. They’re just fine in this fruit applesauce recipe though.
For the liquid, you can use water, apple juice, apple cider or cranberry juice. If you’re using juice, avoid juices with added sugar or preservatives. Choose a natural, sugar free juice if possible.
Important Safety Tip
Commercial bottled cranberry juice occasionally includes calcium to lower the acidity, and that can impact canning safety. Make sure it’s just juice without additives or preservatives.
How to Make Cranberry Applesauce
Start by washing the apples, then peel and core them (or leave peels on if you’ll run everything through a food mill). Slice the apples into a pot large enough for simmering the whole batch.
Wash and pick over the cranberries, discarding any soft or spoiled ones. Frozen cranberries work just fine in this recipe, no need to thaw them.
Add the cranberries and your water or juice, then bring everything up to a gentle boil. Reduce to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the apples are completely soft and the cranberries have burst, usually around 15 to 25 minutes depending on the apple variety.
You can also use a crock pot, which can be helpful to prevent scorching in large batches. In that case, most crock pots make applesauce in about 3 to 4 hours on high, or 6 to 8 hours on low, stirring occasionally.
Once the fruit is tender, purée to your preferred texture. For the smoothest applesauce, run it through a food mill or sieve. If you like a more rustic sauce, you can blend it briefly or mash it, but make sure it’s still a true sauce consistency (not chunky like pie filling).
Taste the sauce and decide on sugar. Cranberries vary a lot in sharpness, and apples do too, so I add sugar gradually and stop when it tastes balanced. I aim for around 2 Tbsp per pint of yield, but sugar is optional and you can skip it or add more based on your preference.
Reheat the finished sauce back to a full boil before canning.
Canning Cranberry Applesauce
Fill a boiling-water canner with enough water to cover jars by at least 1 inch, and preheat it to a simmer. Ladle the hot cranberry applesauce into hot, clean pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace.
Remove air bubbles, adjust headspace if needed, wipe rims, and apply lids and rings to fingertip tight.
Lower jars into the canner, bring the water back to a full rolling boil, then start timing when the boil is steady.
Process jars for 15 minutes for pints, or 20 minutes for quarts, adjusting for altitude if above 1,000 feet in elevation (see below).
When time is up, turn off the heat, remove the lid, and let jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes. Then lift jars out and cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours. Check seals, label, and store.
Altitude Adjustments
The altitude adjustments for canning cranberry applesauce are as follows:
- 0–1,000 ft: 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts
- 1,001–3,000 ft: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts
- 3,001–6,000 ft: 20 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts
- Above 6,000 ft: 25 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts
Yield Notes
This recipe is written for a 4-pint batch, but if you’d like to scale it, here are the quantities for a single pint:
- Apples: 4 cups sliced apples, which is about 1 pound prepared (peeled/cored/sliced), or about 4 medium apples as purchased
- Cranberries: 6 ounces by weight (about half of a 12-ounce bag)
- Liquid: 1 1/2 cups water or juice (apple juice, apple cider, or cranberry juice)
- Sugar (optional): start with about 2 tablespoons per pint expected yield, then adjust to taste depending on how sweet your apples are
Cranberry Applesauce FAQs
Yes. Cranberry applesauce is a hot-packed fruit purée, and it’s canned the same way as standard applesauce: boiling-water canner, 1/2-inch headspace, and applesauce processing times (with altitude adjustments). Keep the sauce hot going into hot jars, and process for the full time. The mixture should be a smooth puree so that heat can evenly penetrate the jars during canning.
Absolutely. Frozen cranberries work perfectly and don’t need to be thawed first. Just add them to the pot with the apples and liquid and simmer until the apples are very soft and the cranberries have fully burst.
Yes, as long as you’re following the applesauce processing directions for quart jars (including altitude adjustments). If you’re new to canning, pints are often more convenient because they cool faster and fit more easily into everyday meals.
No. Cranberry applesauce doesn’t require added lemon juice the way some tomato recipes do. The key safety points are using the applesauce-style hot pack, keeping it a true purée for even heat penetration, using proper headspace, and processing for the full time.
Cranberry Canning Recipes
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Cranberry Applesauce
Equipment
- Food Mill optional, for a smooth sauce
- Immersion Blender another option for a smooth sauce
Ingredients
- 16 cups sliced apples, see notes
- 6 cups cranberries, see note
- 6 cups water, or juice, see note
- ½ cup sugar, optional, adjust to taste
Instructions
- Combine the sliced apples, cranberries, and water or juice in a large, heavy-bottomed pot. Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce to a steady simmer and cook, stirring often, until the apples are completely tender and the cranberries have burst and broken down. If the pot starts to look dry at the bottom, add a splash more liquid and keep stirring so nothing scorches. Total cook time is usually 15 to 25 minutes on the stovetop. This can also be made in a crock pot, cooking 3 to 4 hours on high, or 6 to 8 hours on low.
- Purée the hot mixture to your preferred smoothness. A food mill gives the smoothest sauce (and neatly removes peels if you left them on), but an immersion blender works well too. However you blend it, make sure the finished sauce is a true purée with no large chunks, since an even texture helps ensure consistent heat penetration during canning.
- Stir in sugar if you’re using it, then bring the applesauce back to a full boil. Keep it hot while you prepare jars.
- Ladle the boiling-hot cranberry applesauce into hot pint jars, leaving 1/2-inch headspace. Remove air bubbles, adjust headspace if needed, wipe rims, and apply lids and rings to fingertip tight.
- Process jars in a boiling-water canner, starting the timer once the water returns to a full rolling boil. Process pints for 15 minutes and quarts for 20 minutes, adjusting for altitude as needed. When processing is complete, turn off the heat, let jars rest in the canner for 5 minutes, then remove and cool undisturbed for 12 to 24 hours before checking seals.
Notes
Recipe Yield and Scaling
This recipe is written for a 4-pint batch, but if you’d like to scale it, here are the quantities for a single pint:- Apples: 4 cups sliced apples, which is about 1 pound prepared (peeled/cored/sliced), or about 4 medium apples as purchased
- Cranberries: 6 ounces by weight (about half of a 12-ounce bag)
- Liquid: 1 1/2 cups water or juice (apple juice, apple cider, or cranberry juice)
- Sugar (optional): start with about 2 tablespoons per pint expected yield, then adjust to taste depending on how sweet your apples are
Altitude Adjustments
The altitude adjustments for canning cranberry applesauce are as follows:- 0–1,000 ft: 15 minutes for pints, 20 minutes for quarts
- 1,001–3,000 ft: 20 minutes for pints, 25 minutes for quarts
- 3,001–6,000 ft: 20 minutes for pints, 30 minutes for quarts
- Above 6,000 ft: 25 minutes for pints, 35 minutes for quarts
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