Have you noticed that apples are usually sold by the pound at the grocery store? They really don’t sell bags of apples anymore. It makes you wonder how many apples are in a pound.
And how about when you go to make a recipe that calls for X cups of apples. How many pounds do you need to buy?
It’s time to demystify all of this and learn some fun stuff about apples along the way.
Related: Common types of apples at the grocery store
The answer depends on the variety of the apple. It takes less big Red Delicious apples to make a pound than it does small Macintoshes.
The general rule is that it takes four small, three medium or two large apples to make a pound.
Do you ever wonder how wide apples are? Large apples are 3-¼” in diameter. Medium and small ones have respective diameters of 3″ and 2-¾”.
Here’s a nice chart that shows the size and weight of regular apples versus the denser Golden Delicious variety.
Fun fact: The Japanese Black Diamond apple is the rarest apple in the world. This dark purple fruit is related to the Red Delicious.
If you need three pounds of apples, that equals 12 small, nine medium or six big ones.
For five pounds, get 20 small, 15 medium or 10 big apples.
How Many Apples In A Peck
If you ever have to buy a lot of apples, you can usually save money by buying them by the peck. You might have to go to a farmer’s market or an orchard. Some grocery stores don’t sell bulk fruit.
Don’t be confused by measurements like the peck. It’s a measure of volume, not weight. There are about 9-1/2 US quarts in a peck.
So how many apples is that? Well, a peck of apples weighs around 13 pounds. This doesn’t change much due to the size of the apples because peck is a measure of volume.
The math is pretty simple. There are 52 small, 39 medium or 26 big apples in a peck.
Apple science: The Honeycrisp apple was created by crossing the honey gold and Macoun varieties.
How Many Apples In A Cup?
Recipes almost always call for a specific volume of apples. They never tell you the weight you need. That can be frustrating.
One pound of peeled and sliced or chopped apples equals four cups. That same pound of finely chopped apples yields three cups.
Tip: If you’re not good at peeling and slicing apples, watch this video to learn an easy way.
So for each cup of sliced or chopped apple you need, you’ve got to have a half of a large apple or one small one.
Some recipes call for grated apples. In that case, one pound of apples will give you two and a half cups.
If you’re making applesauce, one pound of apples will make one and a half cups of sauce. One and a half pounds of apples will make a full pint of sauce. A pint is a size normally sold in grocery stores.
From our kitchen: If you love applesauce, try mixing in honey, ginger or cinnamon for an extra kick of flavor.
How many apples in a pound? That depends on what kind of apple you’re talking about. If it’s an apple that has a dense mesocarp and high water content, the apples will be heavier. But if the apples have low density and have less water content, then the apples will be lighter. It’s a mix between weight and volume.
There is no standard weight for an apple because they can vary in size from tiny to large – this means that there is some variation between the number of apples you’ll get per pound based on the variety you buy. For example, if you’re buying Rockit apples, a pack of three weights about 7.7oz, according to the package. This means there are 6.23 Rockit apples in a pound, whereas you might find anywhere from 2 – 3 apples in a pound of big Honeycrisp apples.
If you want to know exactly how many apples are in a particular package then it’s important to look at the unit measurement. For example, if your package says “5 lbs” and you count 17 apples in the bag, this means that each piece should weigh about 0.29 pounds. Too complicated? Let’s take a look at the statistics.