Easy Pear Sauce
Updated March 26, 2019
Homemade Pear Sauce is similar to applesauce, but made with fresh pears, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla. Your house will smell amazing while this simple Pear Sauce is simmering on the stove!
Our neighbors gave us a huge bag of pears from their pear tree. I accepted the bag with open arms. I love pears! I’ve already made a Pear Galette and we have been enjoying Pear, Brie, and Honey Quesadillas for lunch. I also made a batch of homemade Pear Sauce. I posted a photo on Instagram and several people asked for the recipe. We aim to please, so today I am sharing my recipe for Easy Pear Sauce!
This recipe is easy peasy and will make your house smell like fall! Pear Sauce is the best kind of potpourri. Do people still even use potpourri? Well, if you do, you don’t need to. Just put a pot of Pear Sauce on the stove and your house will smell amazing!
I combine chopped pears with a little lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger , vanilla, and let the mixture simmer away on the stove. That is it! I don’t add any sugar because I don’t think it needs it. It is plenty sweet on it’s own!
When the pears are soft and tender, I use our KitchenAid hand blender to puree the mixture until smooth. If you like a chunky texture, you can use a potato masher. And if you don’t have a hand blender you can transfer the mixture to a food processor or blender to puree. Just make sure the mixture cools down first.
When the Pear Sauce cools down, I pour the sauce into Weck Jars and put the jars in the fridge. The sauce will keep in the fridge for about 5 days. You can also freeze or can the sauce, but we usually eat ours right up! Caleb loves eating it as a snack and so do I! I also love it on pancakes, waffles, and toast!
Gather up some pears and make Homemade Pear Sauce! It’s so simple and so good! We are on our last jar already which means it’s time to make another batch!
Easy Pear Sauce
Ingredients
- 8-10 pears, peeled, cored, and cut into 1-inch pieces (I use Bartlett)
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Combine pears, water, lemon juice, cinnamon, ginger, and vanilla in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pears have softened, about 25-30 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to process the pear sauce until smooth. If you prefer a chunky pear sauce, mash with a potato masher. You can also transfer the cooked pear mixture to a food processor or blender to process, just make sure the pear sauce has cooled down.
- Once the pear sauce has cooled down, pour into glass or plastic containers. Cover and store in the refrigerator. The pear sauce will keep in the fridge for one week. You can also freeze or can the pear sauce.
Nutrition
Have you tried this recipe?
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Yum! I love pear sauce! It’s one of the best ways to eat pears and goes great with so many dishes! Awesome recipe and happy Friday!!
You’re so lucky to have a neighbor with a pear tree – love the idea of making your own pear sauce. I bet Caleb loved it! He’s so lucky to have a mom like you who can make such good food for him.
I am not really a fan of pairs, but simmered down with cinnamon, nutmeg and vanilla? Yeah, that I think I would love!
This is totally up my alley, can’t wait to make them with waffles on Sunday!
Best neighbors ever. I love how good ingredients can make something so wholesome and flavorful. It seems like you are putting those pears to amazing, tasty use!
Awesome…..thank you!
This sounds wonderful, Maria! I’m sure my kiddos would devour this! 🙂
Ooo, Pax would LOVE this. Will try soon!
we have a pear tree!! I am going to go check the ripeness today!!
Why have I never made pear sauce before!! Obviously this issue of mine needs to be remedied immediately!
This looks so yummy!!! Love the idea of a pear sauce. Would love to dig in with a spoon, or use this in fall desserts and baking! 🙂
This is the perfect healthy snack. Now if I can only get a hold of some nice pears…
You can also make.it with just pears. Pears simmer down so much quicker than apples that it really helps preserve that fresh taste. This year I canned 100 pounds of pears into pear sauce. People look at me like it is going to taste like baby food but once they have it, they are hooked. So much better than apple sauce! It is my every year “must make.”
I would like to can some pear sauce- how long should I process 1 pint hard for?
Quarts and pints of pear sauce process in boiling water bath canner for 20 min. I’ve made it every year since my boys were little. The triplets are 19 now and love to eat the pear pieces as they prep the pears! We don’t put anything in it either and it’s our favorite for toast, pancakes, waffles…
You have such awesome neighbors, Maria! And what a wonderful way to use up your pears!
I love this so much! Big fan of applesauce so pears are right up my alley!
I wish my neighbors would come over and give me some pears! haha – this is a great way to use them up!!
I know what my weekend project will be. Lovely recipe, Maria!
LOVE- I wish I had this when I was sitting here wondering what I would do with 40 pounds of pears 🙂 I will be printing for the next batch though.
so pumped for pear season!! woot woot!
Your neighborhood is awesome! LOVE that yall exchange fruits, vegetables and baked goods! I need in! This pear sauce looks yummy
Oooh, pear sauce! What a great idea! I have never had it before but it sounds delicious.
Do you make pear jam? My grandma made it every year to put up. I never got the recie and really am wanting to make some
This looks amazing! I adore pears too!
OOh, I love pears too! This looks fantastic!
I love making homemade applesauce, but have never tried it with pears. What a great idea! I can’t wait to try this — thanks so much for the inspiration!
What a great idea for pears! This will be great on some Hanukkah latkes!
Perfect! Have always wanted to try making this!
I made a variation – I had a couple of overripe plums on hand, and I cooked them and the pears with a little lime juice with a little water. It was simple and very delicious. I haven’t made the version in the recipe posted by Two Peas, but I’ll try that next time.
Question!
I made this and out in baby food pouches. Do you think this would be ok out of the fridge for a few hours?
We’ve made this about 5 times now and my husband and I and our 3 kids REALLY love it! Thank you so much for this healthy, no sugar added recipe! It’s especially good right off the stove with a little vanilla ice cream on top! 🙂
I made this today but didn’t puree the pears. They taste so delicious & yes, require no sugar! I needed much less water because my pears are so juicy. I will definitely make this again. Thank you so much for the easy recipe.
Whipped this up late last evening with some old pears that had been left on the counter too long. Ran it through the foodmill when it was finished, absolutely delicious!
Great recipe!
Just made some this morning, went out on the porch with a bowl, still warm and a scoop of ice cream, I went to HEAVEN!!! I will let you know when I return:)
Could you use fresh ginger instead? If so, how much?
I just made this and oh my gosh, it is AMAZING!! I doubled the first batch and will be making even more soon!
Yay!
How would I go about canning/preserving the sause? Just a boil the full jars after?
I’m borderline diabetic, so I’m always looking for low carb and low sugar recipes. I’d heard that pear sauce is better than applesauce for diabetics. Do you have any idea of how many carbs might be in a 1/2 cup serving? Thanks for any info you can provide.
You have forgotten the best uses for pear sauce. Warm sauce just a little. Put over ice cream for a topping I use a kruncky ceraeal.
I have a relative that is allergic to apples, so, I will make this pear sauce so she can get a homemade gift this Christmas, too.
So glad to have found this recipe, sounds wonderful!
Thank you so much!
I was also curious about using fresh ginger…. I always have some in my freezer and prefer to use fresh if possible….
I am sure fresh ginger would be good!
Mmmm. I just made some pear sauce but I never thought to add cinnamon to it. Bet that’s GOOD! Thanks for the idea.
I love adding cinnamon!
I have a bunch of pears that never ripened. Would those work?
I have some pears that are already soft. Can I just peel, core, cut, and puree them and THEN cook the pearsauce?
Sure!
How do you freeze it or can it. Without sugar. We cooked our pears and they taste awesome without sugar. I was told that the sugar was the preservative
I always leave the skin on my fruit for better nutritional value. Is it ok to leave the skins on for this recipe?
”delicious”
Just made this tonight and WOW!! Absolutely amazing. Tastes fantastic and you’re right about the house smelling great. I’m pretty sure potpourri is out anyway 😉
Is 1/4 cup of water correct? Just wondering because I can’t really bring that to a boil in this big pot full of pears… Smells divine already and it hasn’t started cooking!
Yes, if you use too much more you might end up with really runny sauce.
We LOVE this sauce! We’ve made it for years when a friends’ tree is full of pears and I freeze big batches of it for my kids all for the Winter. I don’t peel the pears, which makes it much faster….just blend it all at the end and it makes a thicker, more filling sauce (the kids call it pear pudding). And I love that it doesn’t have any added sugar.
Worked well for me. My first batch had difficulty processing (might have been due to a low quality food processor), so if you run into this I would recommend covering the pears while simmering, and maybe adding a little water when processing – a moister mixture should process easier.
I was so glad to find a recipe with no added sugar. It’s delicious and easy.
Delicious and easy! For step 3, I put the pint jars in a water bath for 15 min., so I could make it shelf stable.
I have made this twice already. The pear sauce is amazing! I like that it has no sugar and very few ingredients. My house smells Fall-ish while it’s simmering.
Can’t wait to try, sounds great, looks wonderful! Thanks for posting the recipe.
Quick and absolutely lovely tasting! Since pear skin contains most of the fruit’s vitamins, nutrients, antioxidants & fiber, I just core the pears and leave the skins on! Then use a blender after until desired consistency.
For those who are looking for exact measurements & are addicted to their kitchen scale, I have found 3 lb 12 oz of cut pears was the perfect amount for one batch.
Thank you so very much for the wonderful recipe!
Yum! Used 8 medium-large pears, and left skins on. Definitely doesn’t need any sugar, so sweet! Kept lid on for first half of cooking, then took off. Enjoyed consistency, used immersion blender. Easy recipe, thanks!
Good spice suggestions, but ever since I made Kitchen Aid’s pear pie recipe, I can’t have pears cooked without a dash of cloves. Yep, some clove and piloncillo sugar made this Peariffic.
Good spice suggestions, but ever since I made Kitchen Aid’s pear pie recipe, I can’t have pears cooked without a dash of cloves. Yep, some clove and piloncillo sugar made this Peariffic.
Used about half this morning for fondue sauce with chunks of dry multigrain bread. Delicious!!
I love this recipe! Especially since there is no need to add sugar. Could this recipe be made into a pie filling? All the recipes i have found call for sugar.
I only need a cup of pearsauce so how many pears and how much water should I use to make a cup?
I love how seat the sauce is without any added sugar! I’m putting this in my recipe box.
I hope you like it!
Hello. Sounds good. Do you leave peelling on what?
Hi
Can I use tinned pears rather than fresh?
Thank you
DD
So easy and taste so good, yummy!
I’m going to make pear sauce(1st time) but was wondering if I could mix it with applesauce and hot bath them?
Can this pear sauce be canned in a hot water bath canner?
This recipe was very easy to follow!
Turned out perfect! I mixed with apple sauce and that was amazing.
Thank you
Glad you liked it!
Do you peel your pears first?
You can! It will work either way, if the skins bug you, peel them first.
What I’ve done is take the pear when it’s really soft and just squeeze it in your hand over a bowl and for the most part the skin stays in your hand and the rest goes into the into the bowl And then just pick the core out
jacksflowers
I have a small pear tree in my back yard. I cut most of the sucker s off last fall and the tree was just loaded. I gave a lot away but I have so many more. I would take them to the food pantry but I do not have a car. I canned 5 quarts and have no more jars.
I just bought a home with a pear orchard. Thanks so much for the pear recipes! I wasn’t
what to do with so many pears, this certainly helps. The trees have been a bit neglected but we are trying to get them all better. We do have some pears, my question is do the pears have to be ripe to make the sauce?
How do you freeze pear sauce. Just put into plastic freezer bags or containers. And put in freezer?
Yes, in freezer bags or containers is fine.
Cant wait to eat it!! Smells amazing in the house right now. Takes forever to peal, I pealed a few then blanched the rest. pealing and cutting and coring take forEVER!!!!
Was easy to make and delicious! About to make it for the 2nd time. Thanks for the great recipe!
So you don’t have to peel the pears get a food mill. Just cut off stem and core the pears and then simmer on stove until soft. Put through food mill and freeze in pint containers from the dollar store. No other ingredients needed either. Yummy having some thawed pear sauce right now in March.
Is the lemon juice used primarily for color? I have this on the stove as written, it does smell wonderful.
Wow…looks and sounds amazing! I just picked a huge bucket of pears off our tree. You are supposed to pick them when they’re still hard but come off the tree readily, and then let them ripen and soften in the house. Were your pears hard or soft before you cooked them?
Thank you for such a quick and easy recipe. Was really yummy. I love the fact no additional sugars etc.
I had several pears in a bag that turned very ripe seemingly overnight and knew we wouldn’t be able to eat them all. So i decided to make pear sauce, but never did that before. I found this recipe online right away and thought I’d give it a try. Soooo glad i did!! It is Easy Peasy and tasty too!!! I’m freezing some and saving some in the fridge for us to enjoy now!
So glad you like the recipe!
Easy Peasy and tasty too!
Pear sauce is great with pork, lamb, pancakes and waffles, etc. We process 45 pounds per day of pears. We freeze them in one-quart zip lock bags and freeze once they cool to room temp. They freeze well for three years at least. No sugar added. I go light on nutmeg and cinnamon so the pear flavor reigns supreme.
I have made this several times. I prefer to use the soft riper Bartlett pears. I do leave the skin on; so I buy organic; because we like the extra fiber. Once cooked, I will take the hand blender to roughly smooth out some pieces for a chunky pear sauce. Topped with some cinnamon granola; and warm it up for a few seconds……DELICIOUS!!!!
So good! I just made this tonight with a few pears that had gotten banged up in the back of the fruit drawer. It was delicious! My 19 year old suggested it as a topping over vanilla ice cream and she was right! I used the warm sauce as a topping and ate every bite. I love it has no added sugar; everyone who tasted it thought it was perfect. Thanks for sharing your recipe!
I am wondering if this recipe can be canned in water bath canner?
Recipes states it can be canned, but there are no canning instructions. Pressure/water bath, how long, size jars, altitude adjustments?
I don’t can so I don’t have exact instructions, but others have canned it with success. It is very similar to applesauce, so I recommend following canning instructions for applesauce.
I do 20m for pints, 25 for qts for pear sauce. Jar hot and right into the water bath.
I canned this, and it is amazing. Very good recipe indeed 🙂
Forgot to add that I got the instruction from the Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, and it states 20 minutes to process. I am in Canada, so I am below 1,000 feet from Sea Level.
I also canned this recipe. I doubled the recipe and it made approximately 6 pints. My husband said it was wonderful
Can u tell me if you water bathed? If so how long
Hi Tasha – can you tell me more about how you processed this? I would love to can it so it lasts longer, but I am still relatively new to canning. Any insight you can offer is appreciated. Thank you in advance!
Have you made it in a slow cooker?
No, but I am sure it would work well!
The pears from my trees vary greatly in size. About how many cups of pears would be needed for this recipe?
I found a similar recipe that calls for 3.5 lbs so did that.
I forgot lemon juice and canned my sauce. Will it keep
I like to add lemon juice to prevent the pears from browning. They might color a little, but should be just fine.
I would refrigerate. Low acid foods are not safe for canning so that is why they tell you to add the lemon juice. Sealed jars should last quite a long time in the fridge though.
I just made this because I had some pears that got soft in the fruit bowl.. I didn’t have many expectations but I gotta say it is AMAZING!!!
The house smelled so good too!!
I will go buy more pears to make some for the freezer!
So happy you loved it!
I’ve been threatening to make pear sauce for a few years now and finally got around to doing it I would have done it sooner if I had known it was this easy I used your recipe as a Guide but at the end I added some left over cranberry Orange sauce. I then poured some over a freshly grilled pork chop And this is definitely in my top 5 pork chop recipes
I don’t even know the way I ended up right here, however I
thought this publish was once good. I do not recognize who you’re however definitely you are
going to a famous blogger for those who aren’t already. Cheers!
Very delicious, my family members like it. My daughter said this is better than apple sauce.
It has a rich of flavor, fantastic.
It was pear-fect!
Can I use fresh ginger instead of ground ginger? I plan to water bath can the pear sauce, didnt know if it would be suitable to use fresh grated ginger.
Sure, you can use fresh ginger to taste.
Nice that the recipe uses the natural sweetness of the fruit rather than adding sugar. The results are . . . delicious! Thank you!
This is such a good recipe! The sauce has a delightful taste. Great on toast, pancakes, cottage cheese, or as a side. I’m making it by the dozens and canning it in jars as well as freezing it in plastic containers! It’s the answer to my boat-load of a pear harvest!
I forgot to give a rating: 5 stars!
I multiplied by 8 and added 1c of sugar and it was excellent. Thank you
This pear sauce is the best I have tasted! I will be using your reipe from now on. The spices are perfect and I followed instructions to a “T”. I canned it, I processed in the water bath for 20 minutes. This will be even tastier mid-winter…
I made mine today with boss pears (they were free, lol). I also just finished making applesauce and mixed 1 pint jar in with the pear sauce. Absolutely the best pureed fruit I ever made. You won’t be disappointed.
I love pears and always wondered why we all eat apple sauce but not pear sauce so I was delighted to find this recipe. I used a variety of pears – Bartlett, Anjou, red. It is as delicious as I had hoped it would be. I just made a big batch with 10 pears, but I don’t think it will last long especially after I feed it to my granddaughters. One big caution, though, on the recipe: it does not take 5 minutes to prep if prep means to core peel and cube 10 pears. That took me 40 minutes, and I am an experienced cook. It was definitely worth the time, but don’t think you’ll be whipping this up in 35 minutes. It took 40 minutes to prep; 30 minutes to cook (stirring often) and 5 minutes in the Cuisinart.
It’s really 10 stars. I had picked the huge Bartlett’s off my tree a couple weeks ago to let them ripen not know what to do with them once they were. Figured I’d try to eat them but that was not realistic given the huge fruit. Other years, shamefully, I did nothing with them. I started looking for ideas and found this recipe for pear sauce with some inviting, home warming spices. Perfect! I’m so glad you didn’t make it sweetened because I don’t like sweetened applesauce. My end product is a huge cauldron of brightly, wonderfully flavored pear sauce, a little on the chunky side my preferred way. I will be freezing and enjoying my pear sauce all year determined to get every single pear next year from my tree and repeat this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing what really seems like a foolproof recipe!
I made this for my kids (and myself) who love pears. It was great as is but I added a bit of maple syrup and a dash of nutmeg for a festive holiday taste. The ice cream topping suggestion was spot on. Yum!
We have a pear tree that is always generous with fruit. I’m always looking for ways to use them. I found this recipe today and tried it. Wow! It’s sooo good!! I left some chunky for my husband and blended the rest. I’m going to go pick some more pears now!!
I made cranberry pear muffins. I replaced applesauce in a muffin recipe with this pear sauce. It was awesome!
I tried this recipe and it’s wonderful! My pears were hard, so I added a little more water to extend the cooking time. NO SUGAR added which I love about it. I followed the recipe to a “T” and it was perfect! I froze some in the freezer in tiny mason jars for later.
Perfect!!
My Aunt made this while I was visiting. Since then, I’ve made it several times using, in addition to pears, whatever fruit I’ve got on hand that needs to be used up….adding apples, plums, banana, peaches, even once some mango. We put it in portion sizes in the freezer, shave it with a spoon for a tasty treat. It always turns out great!
Love this!
I made 3 batches at once, cut the liquid down to 1/2 and still took off2 cups of liquid before mashing to make it thicker. Very good
Truly easy and delicious. Don’t let ripe pears go to waste! This is a delicious version of pear sauce. Bet you can sub apples for the same great end result. I used an immersion blender but left it a little chunky. Also peeled just sparingly for the added fiber.
This recipe looks amazing! Has anyone made this recipe in a bread machine?
Thank you!
Kristi
This is so good I made it twice in two days! I didn’t peel the pears, and added the water the first time. Cooked in a crock pot on high for about three hours, stuck my good ol emersion blender in and blended until smooth. This batch was a bit runny.
The second time the only thing I changed was I added NO WATER, and this batch was not as runny. Making in my crock pot was a win as I didn’t have to stand over the stove top and stir!
SO glad you you love it!
Simply wonderful! I made this for my two year old, and he definitely approves. He doesn’t like pears normally, but the flavor and texture of this pear sauce is perfect for him. I also snuck a few bites myself because it’s that good. This recipe is easy enough to make weekly and healthy enough to feel good about it. Adding this to my favorites for sure. Thank you!!
Perfect for pear season.
bad instructions. do you core and peel the pears? which kind of pears, how ripe?
Made this today and it was so easy! No added sugar was a big bonus!
Yay!
Great recipe and super quick to prep! For one serving, I only used 2 large pears and it was plenty. I’m going to add the sauce to my oat flour and make some chocolate chip oat and pear muffins.
Can I use pears that haven’t ripened yet?
It is best to use ripe pears.
Could this be made with canned pears (from the grocery store, not canned at home)? If so, how would you adjust the cooking process?
I haven’t tried it.
Pretty pleased with this recipe! I used 10 somewhat-banged-up pears and cut out the bad parts but didn’t peel them. I ended up with 2 full pints and a little extra.
The calories listed in the nutrition section are for how much of the pear sauce? What is a serving?
Made this but combined it with applesauce I had made too. Couldn’t stop “tasting” it. It was great. In the process of doing it again!!!
So glad you loved it!