Apple Pear Sauce

This smooth and flavorful Apple Pear Sauce combines the sweetness of apples and the delicate taste of pears. Perfect as a side dish or a topping for your favorite desserts and breakfasts.

Apple pear sauce is basically applesauce upgraded with pears. It is naturally sweet, easy to make, and perfect for canning to have it in your pantry through all winter and spring.

Apple and pear picking is a cherished childhood memory and the flavors are just embedded in us and I can feel the craving every fall! So while there are tons of apple recipes and great use for pears, I feel like I have to make a small batch of homemade pear sauce with apples every single year.

If you’re with me and want to take your applesauce recipe to the next level, let’s make some sauce.

Why I Love This Recipe

• 6 simple ingredients with no refined sugar or preservatives. Completely homemade and healthy homemade pear and apple sauce.
• Heavenly sweet flavor but a balanced taste and makes the house smell like freshly baked pie.
• Taking advantage of apple and pear season. Apples and pears are abundant during the fall season, affordable fruits, and often easy to access through friends with a farm.
• One-pot recipe, with little skills involved.
• Versatile – serve warm and dig in with a spoon, use in pies, or even with meat.

Ingredients Notes

This delicious sauce is based on apples and pears, and some spices to open up the flavor.

• Fresh apples, peeled, cored and chopped. As pears are sweet, you can use tart apples to balance the flavor and make it more complex. In general, use any variety of apples you have. Honeycrisp, McIntosh, and Granny Smith are my go-to choices. Granny Smith apples just like Bosc pears are firmer fruits so they will have similar cooking times and will pair the best, while McIntosh or Honeycrisp work best with Bartlett pears.
• Fresh pears, peeled, cored and chopped. Ripe pears make the sauce sweeter and have more natural juices than apples. Pears take a little longer to cook than apples too. You can easily use more than one variety of pears in the sauce. Any pears are great, for ex., Bartlett, Golden Spice, Bosc, Seckel, and even canned pears are great options. Asian pears are my least favorite pears for this sauce. Pears’ skin and cores must be removed as the skin is rather tough and the center can be really gritty which will ruin the smooth nature of the finished sauce.
• Brown sugar. We don’t need to use added sugars for sweetness, so instead of white sugar, I use brown sugar to add caramel flavor. If you really love sweet sauces you can add a tiny bit (1-2 tsp) of maple syrup or honey.
• Ground cinnamon and Nutmeg give the sauce fall warmth, and amazing hints of spices and contribute to overall rounded taste. You can use cinnamon sticks to cook down the sauce too and remove them before pouring the sauce in jars.
• Lemon juice preserves the fresh fruit, keeps them from browning, and lightens up the sweetness. Fresh lemon juice is best but store-bought works too.

Optional add-ons: pure vanilla extract or fresh vanilla beans, ground ginger, star anise, allspice, cardamom, and clove pair nicely with fresh fruit. For a more Fall or even Thanksgiving dessert, add some cranberries or orange zest. Ginger adds incredibly nice heat!

I use water in the pot to cook down the fruits, but it is ok to use pear or apple juice too. The amount of added liquid defines how thick or runny the end product will be. But it is always easy to adjust by adding more water or cooking longer to thicken the sauce.

If you add a lot of water, and it will not all cook down, do not discard it – use it! It is a good apple-pear juice alternative, homemade!

Equipment

• Saucepan, Dutch oven, or simply a large pot to prepare the homemade sauce.
• Potato masher to mash almost cooked fruits. You can also use a food processor, a food mill, or a hand blender. We need to mash the fruit at some point to help balance out the cooking time difference between apples and pears. Pears take so so much longer to cook than apples and pureeing them helps speed up the process without scorching apples. Masher will make a bit chunkier, more textured sauce, while the blender is a great way to smooth it all out in a silky sauce – it is a matter of personal preference, I love some fruit bits in my scoop of sauce.
• Mason jars, plastic containers, or canning jars to store. This recipe makes around 32 oz (4 cups) and if you know you won’t finish all within a few days, it is a great idea to can at least some of this homemade applesauce with pears.

How To Make This Apple Pear Sauce Recipe

1. Combine the apples, pears, and water in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat.
2. Reduce heat to medium-low heat, cover, and simmer the fruits for 20-25 minutes, until the fruit is very soft.
3. Mash the fruit with a potato masher or blend with an immersion blender until you reach your desired consistency.
4. Stir in the brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and lemon juice using a wooden spoon. Cook for an additional 5 minutes or until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is no longer gritty.
5. Remove from heat and let cool before serving.

Slow Cooker Method

As the sauce really needs to be slow-cooked until the fruits break down and release all the juices and natural sweetness, making the apple pear sauce in a crock pot is an amazing idea.

1. Load all ingredients in the crock pot and fill it with water or juice.
2. Stir, cover, and cook on low for 4-5 hours. Stir after 2 hours.
3. Once cooked serve slightly cooled, or blend to make a smooth sauce.

Easier than the stovetop method!

Instant Pot Method

Another hands-off option to cook delicious apple pear sauce is to use a pressure cooker.

1. Load apples, pears, and spices into the pot. Pour the water or juice over.
2. Pressure cook on high for 4-5 minutes and first let the pressure release naturally, then open the valve.
3. Open the lid, and puree the cooked fruit. Serve once cooled slightly or store.

How To Store Pear And Apple Sauce

Store in jars or an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 weeks. Can served chilled or quickly reheated. I love my pear applesauce warm.

In the freezer, apple pear sauce can last for 6 months in freezer bags or freezer-safe containers.

Canned pear and apple sauce can be stored in a dark, dry, cool place for up to 1.5 years.

Canning Instructions

For extended shelf life and to save space in the fridge, you should can the sauce using either the hot water canning method or water bath canning.

Hot Water Canning

You’ll need a canner and a few pint jars with rings and lids.

1. Boil water in the canner, enough to cover the jars.
2. Fill each jar with the sauce leaving some space at the top, clean up the rim, place the ring, and the lid.
3. Process for 15 minutes (or more if you live above 1,000 feet)
4. Once done, let the jars cool slightly inside the canner for 5-10 minutes.
5. Then move them to the kitchen towel and wait until they cool completely.
6. Once they are cool, remove the rings and test the seal. If all is good, store it in a dry cool place for a year. If the seal isn’t good, pop them in the fridge and eat within 2 weeks.

Sterilizing Jars + Water Bath Canning

Another way is to pour the cooked sauce into pre-sterilized jars.

1. Preheat oven to 200 F and sterilize jars for 10 minutes in the oven. Meanwhile, boil the water in a small pot and place the lids into the boiling water for 5-10 minutes.
2. Pour the sauce into the jars, leaving some space at the top. Close lids.
3. Assemble a water bath and cook for an additional 10 minutes.
4. Let them cool completely on kitchen towels, check the lids, and store them.

What To Serve Apple Pear Sauce With

For dessert, add vanilla ice cream and a pinch of cinnamon, and serve the apple-pear sauce warm with some fresh sliced apples or apple chips. A bit of the sauce can go on top of the apple pies too. 

Apple pear sauce is good with pork chops, duck, and venison in marinades or condiments.

With baked goods, like quickbreads, for both baking and eating, apple sauce with pears is amazing.

Tips To Make The Best Apple Pear Sauce

• Apple and pear skins contain added fiber, so you don’t have to peel them for the sauce if you don’t want to. Peel fruit to make a smoother silkier sauce.
• Make sure apples and pears are either organic or boiled in vinegar if store-bought to remove any waxy coating. 
• When the sauce cools it loses its natural sweetness a bit, so you may use additional sugar for serving.
• Booze the sauce up with a splash of Amaretto or similar liquor!
• As pears are much sweeter and juicier you can adjust the apple-pear ratio. You can add more pears and fewer apples easily.

Cook the apple pear sauce longer to naturally thicken it before storing or canning.

DON’T MISS THESE HOLIDAY E-BOOKS!

If you love this sauce recipe, you’re going to love these other apple and pear recipes too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

Recipes to Make with this Sauce

Applesauce Muffin Recipe

Applesauce Oatmeal Cookies

Apple Butter Bread

Apple Butter Pancakes

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