I love the fall. The air is crisp, the leaves are turning, and the apples are perfect for picking and eating. And picking, and eating. And picking and eating. Okay, you get my point – sometimes you may have an excess of apples. Are you wondering what to do with too many apples?
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Apples are our go-to snack in the house. They are easy, they are healthy, and when my kids say they are hungry 543 times a day but refuse to eat an apple, my line is, “if you aren’t hungry enough for an apple, you aren’t actually hungry.”
Apples is that one thing that I really don’t mind the kids eating too many of. But, after awhile they do grow tired of them. I don’t blame them, I was the same way as a kid. I didn’t want another apple for a snack. It was boring.
However, apples are anything but boring. You just need some ideas on how to jazz them up a bit. If you have access to free or cheap apples, you don’t want them to go to waste, especially these days when food is insanely expensive as it is. Food waste just adds to the pain of the cost of groceries, so you want to use up everything you have – even if everyone is sick of eating apples.
Today I’m going to share with you some different things you can make with apples.
Also, side note, is it just my house, or do your kids swear that apples taste better when they are cut up? My youngest never wants an apple whole. He wants it sliced up. I make him eat it both ways (you know, because sometimes you ‘get what you get, and you don’t get upset.)
If you don’t already, I recommend you get an apple peeler and corer. It’ll make your life so much easier if you have overabundance of apples!
What to Make with Apples
Dehydrated apple slices
If you have a dehydrator, peel and slice the apples, soak them in some lemon juice, and put them on a dehydrator tray for about 8 hours at 145 degrees Fahrenheit. This is a great, healthy snack.
Dip them in peanut or almond butter
Fruit and protein make a perfect snack for everyone! Almond or peanut butter takes a bland apple and makes it a little less boring.
Apple Nachos
It’s a thing. Okay, maybe calling them nachos is a stretch, but nonetheless, it’s delicious. Slice up apple pieces, sprinkle things like raisins, coconut, your favorite nuts, chocolate chips, and then drizzle some melted nut butter over top of them. You’ll want to soak the apple slices in lemon juice so they don’t go brown. No one wants to eat brown apple nachos.
Slice them up and put them in your oatmeal
I use whatever fruit I have on hand for my daily oatmeal. When it’s apple season you can bet that I put a lot of apples in my oatmeal. You can also add them to baked oatmeal.
Add them to muffins
Apple muffins, like this recipe, are a perfect snack for fall. Something about harvest season and apple muffins that just go hand in hand. Of course, I’d eat apple muffins any time of the year.
Make apple spinach salad
What’s healthier than eating an apple? Why, eating an apple with spinach of course! This salad looks amazing and you can feel good about eating it, too!
Preserve applesauce
If you have an abundance of apples, make some chunky apple sauce, and can it up with your water bath canner so you can enjoy apples all winter long! Apple sauce is one of those recipes that use a lot of apples.
Make apple butter in the slow cooker
Apple butter is so easy to make when you use your slow cooker! Switch out plain old butter on your toast for apple butter. Check out this recipe.
Bake apple pie
I like to make apple pie about once a year, and that’s during apple season. I mean, you can’t have too many apples and NOT make apple pie, can you?
Make apple crisp
Apple crisp is my go-to dessert when company is coming over. It’s quick, it’s affordable, and I usually have all the ingredients on hand. Check out this recipe.
Juice them
Juicing apples is an easy way to use A LOT of apples in a short period of time. You can toss them in a juicer by themselves, or you can add other vegetables to make your juice healthier. One of my favorite combinations for juicing is apple-celery-carrot juice.
Make apple bread
I made some apple bread tonight for breakfast in the morning. Pair this with a hot cup of coffee, and maybe some yogurt and fruit, and it’s a great way to start the day.
Whip up some apple stuffing for your next meal
You don’t need to save stuffing just for holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas. Why not make some stuffing with your dinner this week? Apple stuffing would taste amazing with some marinated pork chops.
What can you do with Apple Peels and Cores?
It’s always a shame to peel and core all those apples and then throw away the peels and cores! Especially when they can be so useful. While it’s harder to find uses for the apple core, the peels can be used in a variety of ways.
Apple Cider Vinegar
This is one way you can use both the peels and the cores. Fill a jar 3/4 of the way full with apple scraps (both the core and the peels), mix in 2 to 3 tablespoons of sugar, and about 2 and a half cups of water. Let it sit on your counter with a paper towel and elastic band around the rim.
Stir it once a day. After two weeks strain the apples from the liquid. Let it ferment at room temperature for another 3-4 weeks, stirring once a day. When it’s strong enough to your liking, put a lid on the jar and keep it in a cool, dark place.
Apple peel tea
I love any kind of apple tea. Maple apple, apple cinnamon, honey apple – you name it, I’ll drink it. This apple tea is a cozy way to use all those peels!
Add them to a smoothie
This really works best if you have a high-speed blender, like the Vitamix. A Vitamix will blend those apple peels so smoothly, they won’t taste gritty or chunky. You can add apple peels to any smoothie to gain a little more nutritional benefits from your glass!
Stovetop potpourri
Have you heard of stovetop potpourri? Basically, you put a few ingredients into a pot with a bunch of water, and let it simmer on low for as long as you like (keeping an eye on that water level though, because if it completely evaporates, it’s going to start to smell bad!) Stovetop potpourri recipes work best if you have a woodstove. That way you aren’t using tons of energy to keep it going.
What Can you Do With Small Apples?
Maybe you have a bunch of small apples that you picked from a tree. These wild apples are great because they most likely haven’t been touched by pesticides. However, the not-so-great part is that they are a little harder to work with.
Now, harder to work with doesn’t mean impossible. You really can use small apples for any of the above recipes I’ve listed, it’s just going to take you more work. But if you want something that’s a little easier, where you don’t necessarily have to peel them all, try making apple butter, where you can get away with not peeling them, or make this no-peel apple pie. You can also cook them and then put them through a strainer and make applesauce without peeling them.
Can you Freeze Apples?
Okay, so you’ve baked and cooked and chopped and sliced and you STILL have apples. What are you going to do with them? Well, you can freeze apples. Can you freeze whole apples? Well, yes you can. However, the texture will not be preserved. So, freezing apples in any form should be done with the end goal of using them in baking, cooking, or smoothies.
If you really want to freeze whole apples, you can place them on a cookie sheet so they aren’t touching, flash freeze them, and toss them in a big freezer bag once frozen. This is an easy method when you want to use the whole apples for something like apple sauce eventually.
However, for the best way to freeze them I would slice them up, dip them in lemon juice, lay them on a pan to flash freeze, stick them in the freezer until frozen, and then store them in a freezer bag.
Other posts that might interest you:
- 30 Things to make with Zucchinis
- What to make with Bananas that are going Bad
- What to make with too many Potatoes
- 30 Unique Rhubarb Recipes
Don’t let Those Apples go to Waste
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed by an overabundance of fruits or vegetables during harvest season. Maybe in the past you ran out of ideas and you watched all your hard work of picking rot away. This year can be different. Spend a day in the kitchen and prepare those apples in various ways to enjoy all season and all year long!
