Making your own crabapple sauce is the easiest crab apple recipe I know of. It’s also a great way to use wild crab apples. Like regular applesauce, it can be sour or sweet, pink or clear, depending on your taste and the types of crabapple trees you have. Read on and Ill explain how to make it.
The crab apples you choose will have a big effect on the finished product. Dolgo crabapples are tart and will make a nice red or pink sauce.
Chestnut crabapples and centennial crabapples are very sweet, and will make a sweet sauce like regular applesauce.
Crab apples are one of the most versatile fruits out there. While often overlooked, these tiny tart apples can be used in a variety of sweet and savory dishes. Keep reading to discover 15 amazing ways to use crab apples in your cooking!
What are Crab Apples?
Crab apples are tiny bright red apples that pack a mouth-puckering tart flavor. They are generally 1-2 inches wide and have hard bitter flesh. While crab apples are too tart to enjoy raw, their dynamic flavor shines when cooked.
Crab apples grow wild across North America and have been used for centuries to make jelly wine sauces, and more. They ripen in late summer to early fall. Seek them out at farmers markets or harvest them yourself to take advantage of their short season.
15 Creative Ways to Use Crab Apples
- Crab Apple Jelly
Crab apples are known for making incredible jelly. Their natural pectin and tart flavor creates a rich jammy jelly perfect for spreading on biscuits or toast. Simmer the crab apples with sugar and strain through a jelly bag to make pure crab apple jelly.
- Spiced Crab Apple Chutney
Chutney is an easy way to preserve a harvest of crab apples. For a savory-sweet condiment, cook chopped crab apples with garlic, onions, vinegar, brown sugar, and warming spices like cinnamon, ginger, and cloves. Spoon over pork chops or mix into rice pilaf.
- Crab Apple Pie Filling
Slice crab apples and use as the filling for your next pie. Add sugar and spices like cinnamon and nutmeg to temper their tartness. Bake in a pie crust for a stellar dessert.
- Crab Apple Applesauce
For an easy snack, puree chopped crab apples with a little water or apple juice in a saucepan. Add a touch of sugar or honey if needed. The applesauce keeps for a week in the fridge.
- Crab Apple Fruit Leather
Dehydrate pureed crab apple sauce into chewy fruit leather. It’s a healthy alternative to store-bought fruit snacks.
- Crab Apple Cider
Harness the juice of crab apples to make a hard cider. Press or mash the crab apples, add yeast, and ferment for 4-6 weeks. Enjoy your homemade bubbly cider!
- Pickled Crab Apples
Pickle quartered crab apples for a fun homemade garnish. Heat a brine of vinegar, sugar, and spices then pour it over raw crab apple chunks in jars. Refrigerate for 1-2 weeks before eating.
- Crab Apple Wine
Did you know crab apples can make wine? Crush or press the apples, strain out the solids, and ferment the juice with wine yeast. In 2-6 months you’ll have crab apple wine!
- Crab Apple Butter
For an apple butter with more texture, use crab apples. Slow cook chopped crab apples with sugar, spices, and lemon juice for 2+ hours until thickened. Enjoy on morning toast!
- Crab Apple BBQ Sauce
Blend crab apples into your next batch of bbq sauce. They add tangy sweetness and texture. Or cook mashed crab apples with ketchup, spices, vinegar, and brown sugar for a quick bbq-style crab apple sauce.
- Crab Apple Glaze for Meat
Puree crab apples in a food processor then heat in a pan with sugar and spices to make a sweet and sour glaze for chicken, pork chops, or meatballs.
- Crab Apple Relish
Make a fresh relish by dicing crab apples and tossing with red onion, mustard seeds, vinegar, salt, and pepper. It’s delicious paired with rich meats like sausage and duck.
- Crab Apple Cake
Bake chopped crab apples into cakes, muffins, and quick breads. They add moisture and a sweet-tart zing. Coat them in sugar or combine with sweeter apples.
- Crab Apple Syrup
Simmer mashed crab apples with sugar, lemon, and water, then strain out the solids. Use the refreshing syrup to sweeten drinks or drizzle over pancakes and ice cream.
- Savory Crab Apple Stuffing
In place of dried fruit, add chopped crab apples to your Thanksgiving stuffing. They bring a pleasant tartness that pairs perfectly with the traditional stuffing flavors.
Preserving Your Crab Apple Harvest
Crab apples are highly perishable and only last 1-2 weeks in the fridge. Luckily, there are many ways to preserve them:
- Canning crab apple sauce, slices, jelly, or chutney
- Freezing crab apples whole or cooked into purees, butters, sauces, or baked goods
- Drying crab apple slices in a dehydrator
- Pickling crab apples in vinegar
- Infusing crab apple juice, cider, wine, syrups, and liqueurs
The next time you spot crab apples at the market, bring some home! With the simple preserving methods and recipe ideas above, you can enjoy crab apples all year round. Their dynamic tart flavor will give your recipes a delicious pop.
How to use it
You can use crab applesauce any way youd use regular apple sauce. Heres a few ideas.
- I like to use ⅓ to 1/2 wild red crab apples to make a sour sauce that goes well with grilled pork chops, pheasant, and game.
- In quick-bread recipes like banana bread, you can use apple sauce instead of oil.
- For breakfast, I love the sauce with yogurt and granola.
- You can spin the sauce to make apple sorbet without any added sugar.
- Reduce the sauce to make crab apple butter.
How to Make Crab Applesauce
First the apples are washed to clean them. If your apples vary in size, youll want to cut them into equal-sized pieces for even cooking. The apples are put in a pot with just enough water to cover the bottom. They are then cooked until they are soft enough to mash.
If you cut the recipe in half, you can also use a slow cooker. If you’d rather, you can use apple juice instead of water.
The cooking process should take about 20-30 minutes. You can also cook the apples whole until they break down if you don’t have much time. Just make sure to stir the pot so the bottom doesn’t burn.
If making a large batch as pictured, an apple sauce maker is much more efficient than a food mill. Below I made a batch of sweet crab apple sauce using only sweet crab apples. If you skip adding red crab apples the sauce will look like regular apple sauce.
Put the sauce through a food mill or apple sauce maker to make it smooth. Then, add cinnamon and maple syrup or sugar to taste. Then the sauce is transferred to canning jars and processed in a boiling water bath canner.
Apples vary drastically in natural sugar content. Depending on your apples, your sauce may need no sweetening. Do not add sugar to the apple sauce. Instead, add 1 tablespoon of lemon juice to each quart jar of sauce. Wild red crab apples will always be tart, and I always sweeten sauce made with them.