These easy stewed apples are made with just 3 ingredients, are ready to eat in less than 15 minutes, and make a delicious addition to your porridge or yogurt in the morning. Or make them into a comforting crumble or pie for dessert!
This simple stewed apples recipe is an old fashioned recipe that my grandmother used to make every year with windfall apples. The house would be filled with the smell of sweet cooking apples, and they would be portioned and frozen and bought out throughout the winter to make crumbles, pies and many other comforting winter desserts.
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Why we love this recipe
- Stewing apples is a great way of using up a glut of apples, or leftover apples – like my stewed pears this recipe is so useful for using up ripe fruit sat in the fruit bowl or fridge.
- This easy recipe uses just 3 ingredients – 4 ingredients if you make stewed apples with cinnamon or another spice.
- It’s an easy and economical recipe that can be served for breakfast or dessert, or transformed into many different dishes.
- This recipe is vegetarian, vegan, gluten free and loved by kids.
- You can halve the recipe and make a small batch, or double it, depending on how many apples you have!
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Ingredient notes and substitutions
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for ingredient quantities.
- Apples – you can stew cooking apples (as in these images and video) or eating apples. Granny Smith apples will cook down as well as cooking apples. If you use Pink Lady apples, Fuji, Gala, or Braeburn, these are ideal for stewed apples with texture rather than smooth like apple sauce, but you will need to cut them into smaller chunks and they can take longer to cook.
- Sugar – I prefer to use white sugar, but you could use soft brown sugar for a caramel flavour.
- Ground cinnamon – this is optional.
How to make stewed apples from scratch
Please scroll down to the recipe card at the end of the post for the full recipe.
- Peel, core and chop the apples in to chunks.
- Place into a medium to large saucepan with the water, sugar and cinnamon, if using.
- Simmer over a medium heat until the apples are tender.
FAQ
Yes you can! Cool the stewed apples completely, then place in a freezer proof container with a lid, or in a sealable plastic bag. Freeze for up to 6 months. I find this amount of apples is perfect for an apple crumble or apple pie that serves 6 people.
Cooked apples keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Can you stew apples with the skin on?
Yes you can stew apples with the skin on! They will have slightly more texture to them.
My recipe tips
- Cooking apples vs eating apples – stewed cooking apples will take less time to soften than eating apples, but will often require more sugar than eating apples as they are sweeter.
- If you want a soft stewed apples that are more like an apple puree, cut the apples into even sized chunks and cook for longer, adding a little more water if needed. The exact timings will depend on the variety of apples you use.
- If you want a few bites of slight crunch, leave a few apple pieces a little larger.
- The cooked apples can look as if they have a lot of liquid when you take them off the heat, however if you leave them to sit for 5 minutes or so the apples will absorb a lot of it resulting in juicy flavoursome cooked apples!
- Sweetness – cook the apples and then taste them, adding half to a tablespoon more sugar or drizzle of maple syrup if needed.
Serving Ideas
- Serve with a dollop of yogurt, a scoop of vanilla ice cream or drizzle with custard.
- Serve over porridge or waffles.
- Use in an apple pie or apple crumble – I have made my apple and blueberry crumble and plum and apple crumble with stewed apples.
- Place a spoonful in the centre of a crepe or these English pancakes and roll up. Serve on their own or dust with cinnamon sugar.
Make ahead/storage
- Fridge – cooked apples can be kept for up to 3 days in the fridge.
- Freezer – freeze for up to 6 months.
How to freeze stewed apples:
Cool the stewed apples completely, then place in a sealable bag or container and freeze for up to 6 months. Thaw in the fridge overnight. If you freeze in bags and freeze them flat they will take less time to defrost. If you want to freeze stewed apples for a crumble or dessert, you can freeze them all; if you want to freeze to serve over porridge or yogurt, divide into smaller portions and freeze individually.
Variations
- Spices – you can use the same amount of mixed spice instead of the ground cinnamon, or a pinch of nutmeg and cloves, or ground ginger.
- Vanilla – add a teaspoon of vanilla bean paste or vanilla essence to the apples.
- Lemon – a squeeze of fresh lemon juice can help prevent the apples from turning brown, especially if not cooking them straight away.
- Sugar free stewed apples – if you are using sweeter eating apples, you may find that you don’t need to add any sugar, or you can use maple syrup or honey in place of the white sugar.
Why not try…
You may also like these other family friendly fruit recipes:
Stewed Apples
Author: Robyn
Equipment
- 1 medium saucepan
Ingredients
- 1 kg (2 lb 3 oz) cooking apples
- 90g (¼ c + 2 tablespoons) caster sugar
- 500ml 2 c + 1 tablespoon) water
- pinch ground cinnamon, optional
Instructions
- Peel the apples then slice in to quarters. Remove the core and roughly chop into 2-3 cm (1 inch) chunks.
- Place the chopped apples into a large saucepan with the sugar, water and cinnamon, if using.
- Bring to the boil then reduce the heat to a medium heat and simmer gently for 7-10 minutes until the apples are tender and are starting to break down.
- Serve straight away or cool then keep in the fridge for up to 3 days.
Notes
Nutrition
HAVE YOU MADE THIS RECIPE?
I’d love to see your creation!
Or just leave a comment below!
Robyn says
This is my go to recipe every year! I then freeze it to use in crumbles and pies throughout the winter.
Wendi Vaughan-Noon says
I made it with my eating apples that are so sweet so only put 50g of sugar. It’s a gorgeous and easy recipe. I made it with the peel on so much easier. Thank you.
Robyn says
So happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe Wendi 🙂 Robyn