Stewed Apples With Ginger And Cinnamon
These Stewed Apples are combined with coconut milk, ginger, and cinnamon to make a truly delicious topper for a variety of dishes. They’re warming and comforting adding plenty of extra nourishment to breakfasts, or desserts but they’re equally good as a snack too.
In This Article
What Makes This Recipe So Good?
This is a satisfying dish that contains plenty of top notch ingredients. That said, the apples are the stars here. They’re rich in antioxidants that help protect against free radical damage in addition to being rich in prebiotic fibre, which helps to keep our digestive system and microbiome balanced and healthy. And of course, they’re a great source of vitamins to boot.
Then there’s the ginger and cinnamon – which are anti-inflammatory, and aid digestion, while the cinnamon can help to balance blood sugar and fight off sugar cravings.
Ingredients – What You’ll Need To Make This Recipe
This simple recipe is a great food as medicine and a wonderful way to start or finish your day. The natural sweetness of the apples combined with the ginger, cinnamon, and coconut milk will help keep your sweet tooth in check too.
- Fresh Apples – The foundation of the dish, providing natural sweetness and fibre. Several apple varieties work well in this recipe, but sweet apples like Pink Lady or Fuji are ideal.
- Coconut milk – Helps to thicken the stewed apples and also adds flavour.
- Fresh ginger – Offers a warm, spicy kick that complements the sweetness of the apples and is a perfect match for the cinnamon.
- Cinnamon – Brings more warmth and depth of flavour to the recipe and complements the ginger.
- Rapadura sugar – Adds a hint of caramel flavouring and makes the liquid mix a touch more rich. You can substitute with dark brown sugar if you don’t have rapadura.
- Maple syrup, or honey – Help add sweetness while also offering trace minerals and antioxidants.
- Sea salt – Just a pinch to enhance the taste of the other ingredients.
For a sugar-free version, the rapadura and maple syrup can be omitted. This will change the flavour profile of the dish, but it will still be delicious. Taste before serving and if needed add a touch more cinnamon and a little more salt.
How to Make These Stewed Apples
This recipe is quick and easy and can be done in as little as 12 minutes. It is a choose-your-own adventure on the cooking time though. If you’d like the apples firmer, stick to the time outlined in the recipe. If you’d like them much softer, almost mushy – add in more liquid and keep cooking them down for an additional 10-15 minutes.
- Peel and core the apple then cut it into bite-sized pieces.
- Add the apple to a medium-sized saucepan with the coconut milk, cinnamon, rapadura, maple syrup, grated ginger and salt.
- Place the pot over medium heat until it simmers, then reduce the heat to low and continue simmering for 10 – 12 minutes or until the fruit is just fork tender.
Serve stewed apples warm as a dessert or as a topping for yogurt, vanilla ice cream, oatmeal, or pancakes. You can also top with a little extra rapadura sugar, honey or maple syrup and a drizzle more of coconut milk and enjoy it as a snack.
Substitutions And Variations
Honey crisp, Gala or Fuji apples can replace the Pink Lady if they’re not available in your area. You can also swap sweet apples for green apples/granny smith apples if you’d like your cooked apples to be a bit more tart.
The maple syrup, and rapadura sugar can also be replaced with rice malt syrup or date syrup if that’s what you have on hand. Any sweetener is fine – they will all offer slightly different flavour profiles though and do try and stick with one that’s less refined.
Add in some berries for lots of extra flavour! Replace ½ a cup of the apples with blueberries, raspberries, or blackberries.
Tips For Success With This Recipe
To prevent the apples from becoming mushy, cook them gently over medium heat. The goal is fork tender but not overly soft apples.
Storing/Freezing/Make Ahead
Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for a few days. They’re perfect for a quick and healthy snack or dessert.
To freeze, let the mix cool completely then transfer to freezer-safe containers or a ziplock bag. When you’re ready to enjoy them, thaw overnight in the fridge and reheat on the stovetop. I do find this makes the apples very watery though, so while you can freeze them, I don’t recommend it.
FAQ
Yes – any kind at all will work here though cooking time and level of added sweetness may need to be adjusted.
Try them over yogurt, oatmeal, waffles or ice cream. They also make a delicious snack when drizzled with a little more coconut milk and honey too.
Other Recipe To Enjoy In Autumn/Fall And Winter
If you try this recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment, rate it, and remember to tag @wholenaturalkitchen in your pics or reels on Instagram, Facebook or TikTok!
Stewed Apples With Ginger And Cinnamon
Equipment
- Medium-sized Saucepan
Ingredients
- 2 large Pink Lady apples (2 cups when diced)
- ½ cup coconut milk
- 1 tbsp maple syrup
- 1 tsp rapadura or brown sugar
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- Pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Peel and core the apple then cut it into bite-sized pieces
- Add the apple to a medium-sized saucepan with the coconut milk, cinnamon, rapadura, maple syrup, grated ginger, and salt.
- Place the pot over medium heat until it simmers, then reduce the heat to low and continue simmering for 10 – 12 minutes or until the fruit is just fork tender.
- Serve over oatmeal, granola, or eat as is with a little more warmed coconut milk and a good drizzle of raw honey.
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Notes
Nutrition
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Gabby Campbell
Gabby is a degree qualified Naturopath/Nutritionist (BHSc Nat) with a love of all whole foods. She started her Naturopathic career in clinical practice before making the move to recipe development and online education – a result of wanting to combat the misinformation that abounds on the internet about food and health. Whole Natural Kitchen aims to transform the way you think about healthy eating by helping you embrace an abundance of nutritious foods while leaving the health fads behind. MORE ABOUT GABBY
Wow, apples, blueberries, and cinnamon sound like a great combo! This is definitely going to be my topping next time I make porridge!
Thanks, Nart! It’s a brilliant topping for porridge… so deliciously warming and sweet.
This sounds delicious, and I love that you can use either fresh or frozen blueberries. So convenient!
Thanks, Monica. It’s a favourite for us.
Love this recipe..making it tomorrow as I have some organic apples..
I hope you enjoy it Priya!
Yum, I can’t wait to make this recipe it looks so healthy and fresh. I actually have fresh blueberries to pick and can use them for this stewed apples.
That’s perfect Jere! There’s nothing like fresh off the tree fruit.
Super easy to make and delicious. I topped some on almond flour pancakes. Super filling. I’ll be making again. Thank you,
So glad you enjoyed it Sandra!