Best Applesauce Pouches, Cups, and More

Copy this link to share with your friends!

https://sporked.com/article/best-applesauce/

The best applesauce is sweet, fruity, and slightly tart. It is one of the few mushes that spans generations and ages. It’s a stone cold classic snack. But not every brand you see on the shelf is A+ stuff.

Over the course of two taste tests, we sourced 26 different applesauce jars, cups, and pouches. Here’s what we were looking for: The best applesauce should have texture instead of being as smooth as baby food. It should strike a balance of sweet and tart. There shouldn’t be too much added sugar. And bonus points if it’s easy to toss into a lunchbox or backpack or purse. Added notes of cinnamon and other blended fruits were welcomed in our tastings, but not absolutely necessary. Bottom line: Applesauce should taste and feel like it’s made of apples

Here are the nine best applesauce pouches, cups, and jars you can buy at the store (strawberry applesauce included!).


mott's strawberry applesauce

Best Strawberry (Sweet)

Mott’s Applesauce Strawberry

If you’re looking for strawberry applesauce—emphasis on the strawberry—then Mott’s is the best applesauce brand for you. These little cups are filled with pink puree that is heavy on the strawberry. And it is sweet. In fact, Sporked managing editor Gwynedd Stuart called it “upsettingly sweet.” But I think there’s just enough tart apple in the mix to balance out the flavor and keep you coming back for more. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Walmart

Rating:

7/10

Sporks

target applesauce

Best Unsweetened Cups

Good & Gather Unsweetened Applesauce Cups

Target makes good applesauce, man. The consistency is viscous, not soupy, with a coarse texture you can savor. Plus, we just like applesauce that doesn’t have a ton of added sugar. To me, applesauce cups are still the most convenient form of the product—great for school lunches or to keep around the fridge at home. And Good & Gather makes some of the best applesauce cups we tasted for a good price. —Danny Palumbo

Sarah Demonteverde / Target

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

365 strawberry applesauce

Best Strawberry Pouches

365 Strawberry Applesauce Unsweetened

If Mott’s is too sweet for you but you still want some strawberry applesauce, head to Whole Foods for the best applesauce brand for your tastes. Available in grown-up-sized pouches, this strawberry applesauce is a delightful blend of the two fruits. It has a vibrant strawberry flavor that tastes like real strawberries—which are tart and sweet. I would gladly pack this in my kids’ lunches as well as my own. —Justine Sterling 

Credit: Liv Averett / Whole Foods

Rating:

7.5/10

Sporks

trader joe's apple mango fruit crushers

Best Fruit Combo

Trader Joe’s Apple Mango Crusher

Trader Joe’s is known for crunchy snacks, but this puree is another snack that deserves some praise. Big enough to satisfy a grown-up or hungry kid, this (admittedly liquidy) applesauce pouch gets the edge from its delightful flavor. Thanks to the mango, it’s extra fruity with some citrusy notes that make it taste like a smoothie that should cost way more than it does. —Justine Sterling

Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

aldi applesauce pouches

Best Unsweetened Pouch

Simply Nature Squeezable Fruit Blend Apple

I love these Aldi applesauce pouches. The applesauce inside is thick and creamy. It tastes natural and very wholesome and homey. The difference between these kid-sized applesauce pouches and GoGo Squeez is that these taste like cooked, homemade applesauce and GoGo Squeez tastes more like pureed raw apple. Plus, because they’re Aldi, they’re super affordable. —Justine Sterling

Credit: Liv Averett / Aldi

Rating:

8/10

Sporks

good & gather cinnamon applesauce cups

Best Cinnamon

Good & Gather Cinnamon Applesauce

This is the applesauce we kept eating around the office after the taste test was over. Target’s brand of cinnamon-spiked applesauce comes in delightful little cups, which makes it ideal for packing school lunches or bringing to work. The flavor is the perfect balance of sweet and tart; you can still taste apples even with the added sugar. It’s so sweet and fragrant that it feels like dessert. The consistency is on point, too, which is huge for a nationwide store like Target. This easily could’ve taken the top spot on our list, but we realize that cinnamon isn’t for everyone. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Target

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

Trader Joe’s All Natural Unsweetened Applesauce

Best Tart

Trader Joe’s All Natural Unsweetened Applesauce

This unsweetened applesauce is big on apple flavor. Its tartness and fruitiness gave me Granny Smith vibes. There’s no added sugar, but the sauce itself is still sweet enough that it feels like a treat. The texture also achieves that pleasant, somewhat chunky feel that we adore. Not too smooth and not too sugary—that’s what makes a good applesauce, and that’s what Trader Joe’s does so well here. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon

Rating:

8.5/10

Sporks

365 Organic Unsweetened Applesauce

Best of the Best

365 Organic Unsweetened Applesauce

This applesauce does everything right. Whole Foods’ applesauce doesn’t have a ton of added sugar, so it’s not cloying like many other name brand applesauces. The texture is also just wonderful—coarsely blended so that it resembles something homemade. No, you can’t suck this through a straw, and that’s a good thing! This applesauce is just so versatile: It would be great as a snack, as a side to pork chops, or delicious dolloped on some latkes. Whole Foods proves that you don’t need anything besides delicious, organic apples to make the best applesauce. —Danny Palumbo

Credit: Sarah Demonteverde / Amazon

Rating:

9/10

Sporks

Other products we tried: Sprouts, Northcoast strawberry apple, Kirkland, Tree Top, Tree Top Cinnamon, Mott’s Grannysmith, Mott’s Cinnamon, Good & Gather Homestyle, 365 Strawberry, Santa Cruz Organic, Musselman’s Cinnamon, 365 Cinnamon, Mott’s Mighty Strawberry and Peach, Mott’s Mighty Honeycrisp, Mott’s No Sugar Added Granny Smith, Mott’s Unsweetened Applesauce Cups, GoGo Squeez Fruit on the Go Variety Pack

Copy this link to share with your friends!

https://sporked.com/article/best-applesauce/



Thoughts? Questions? Complete disagreement? Leave a comment!

Your thoughts.

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Thank you for this input. Especially with saying applesauce should have texture not creamy smooth like baby food! At almost 60yrs old I don’t recall ever having so much trouble buying applesauce until the last couple of years! And I used to eat applesauce with my dinners 4-5 nights a week . I miss the ole regular applesauce with the right texture!! I’ve been buying the single serve cups and I thought I got a batch. But it soon became apparent they had to changed the recipe in consistency and taste. I just don’t like it soupy or super sweet plus it has to have the flavor of APPLE not something that has a hint of something being tart. And then there are those that are just a total waste for I can’t get myself to eat anymore after the first bite. Those are the ones that have a super smooth creamy texture. The ones you described as having a texture like baby food. I can agree with that though I think it is actually worse! I can tolerate applesauce made for babies lol. For me the creamy texture is more like , well ok imagine apple flavored pudding a little on the runny side. Hahaha that’s gaggy to me. That’s a solid no go!! So I guess it’s back to the good ole glass jar where I am going to give 365 Organic unsweetened apple my first try where I now feel there’s hope that there will be no need for second. Thanks for sharing this! ✌🏼

    Reply