What’s homemade pear sauce? It’s like applesauce, only harder to peel. Slow cooker or crockpot pear sauce makes a great snack or side dish and is super easy to make and preserve. Your kids will highly approve of this one.
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Pear Tree Droppings
Later summer/early Autumn is the season for pear trees to start bearing their fruit and dropping it on the ground. Which means you need to collect and do something with that fruit, lest you be wasteful.
My children ages 11 and 7 highly approve of this recipe. You’ll approve, too, of how easy it is with few simple ingredients and a crockpot.
An Easy Pear Sauce Recipe
I do prefer my pears peeled which takes more time but I’ve found several recipes that call for skins to be left on. You’ll need an immersion blender to smooth well after pears are cooked. This tool will help if you choose to core pears but leave the skin on.
- 10-15 pears, depending on size, peeled and cored (or enough to fill the crockpot)
- 1/4 cup lemon juice (fresh or bottled)
- 1/2 cup sugar (optional*, I generally leave it out and add honey or maple syrup when pouring a bowl for the kids)
- 1 tbsp cinnamon (optional*)
Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours in a slow cooker. No need to mix ingredients. Just add to the crockpot and let them cook.
After cook time, use immersion blender to smooth pears to a sauce, leaving all the juices in the crockpot as they’ll help make a smoother homemade pear sauce.
With a spoon, taste test your pear sauce to see if it needs more sweetener or spices according to your liking.
*Optional Ingredients NOTES: I prefer to leave out the additions like sugar and cinnamon. One, for the health factor of no-added-sugar. Two, because one child likes cinnamon, one doesn’t. So I make adjustments just before serving the pear sauce.
How to store pear sauce long term
To store pear sauce, fill sanitized jars with sauce and close with sanitized lid and ring.
- You can water bathe the jars for 15 minutes for shelf stability and long term storage.
- Store them in the refrigerator to be eaten within a month.
- To freeze, add sauce to freezer safe containers and store for up to 6 months.
Pear sauce flavor options
Pear sauce an easily be added to for more flavor or taste preference. Here are some great flavor options:
- vanilla extract (learn how to easily make your own here)
- maple syrup
- nutmeg
- pumpkin pie spice
- honey
To use this recipe for apple sauce, simply substitute the pears for apples or add a little razzle-dazzle by combining the two fruits.
Can I feed this sauce to my infant?
This is great for parents trying baby-led weaning, meaning you’re letting your infant who’s interested try out food from your plate that is suitable for them.
Soft, easy to gum up foods such as green beans, finger-mushed peas, mashed potatoes or sweet potatoes, and fruit sauces.
Perhaps you simply want to make your own homemade baby foods for your little one so you know what’s REALLY in your baby’s food. This homemade pear sauce is a great option for starting fruits.
Fun fact: pear sauce helped my little ones out when they were constipated.
Please read my DISCLOSURE statement!
If you want to make homemade baby food using this recipe, I highly suggest simply cooking down your peeled pears with 1 cup of organic apple or pear juice (or breastmilk), blending the fruit smooth then freezing in ice cube trays for easy freezer bag storage. A cube or 2 is perfect for your infant learning how to eat real food during baby-led weaning.
Can I use an Instant Pot instead?
Sure! I hear it saves you even more time.
Most Instant Pots have a slow cooker setting.
Personally, my Instant Pot is REAL slow at cooking on the slow cooker setting. If the recipe calls for 8 hours, I will need to slow cook in my IP for 10 hours. Know your machine.
To make pear sauce quicker, put ingredients in the Instant Pot and use the high pressure setting for 5 minutes. Then use the immersion blender to mix together well.
Again, know your machine and/or use the user manual for recipes and the correct settings to use.
I do prefer the slow cooker method because I have adult ADHD (self-diagnosed) especially when in the kitchen. There’s almost always 5 different things going on at once and to free up brain space, the slower cooker “set and sit” method works well for me.
Can you relate? If so, you must be a busy mom too. Hi! Let’s be friends.
If you love this recipe, you might like…
If it’s “fast”, “easy”, “simple”, “quick”; those are the keywords I look for in any recipe! That’s just the kind of mom and person I am, I reckon. I like efficiency because I can get more done that way.
On my blog, I make every attempt to write recipes the way I like to receive them– fast and easy. I may not always get it right but I do try.
Here are more “my kids-approved” recipes that are fast and easy (generally, anyway):
Pizza Sauce homemade but in a hurry
Quick and Easy Chocolate Chip Cookies
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PIN IT FOR LATER!
Crockpot or Instant Pot Pear Sauce
Ingredients
Equipment
Method
- Cook on low for 8 hours or high for 4 hours. No need to mix ingredients. Just add to the crockpot and let them cook.
- After cook time, use immersion blender to smooth pears to a sauce, leaving all the juices in the crockpot as they’ll help make a smoother homemade pear sauce.
- With a spoon, taste test your pear sauce to see if it needs more sweetener or spices according to your liking.
thanks for the great article, keep up the good work