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The kids go crazy for this apricot fruit leather. I used to buy fruit roll ups and fruit leather all the time but you won’t even believe how much better this tastes than store-bought!
There are only TWO INGREDIENTS, way less sugar, zero preservatives and 100% real fruit which has great natural fiber. If you have a large crop of stone fruit like apricots, peaches or plums, by golly you had better make this! I don’t usually say by golly but it is fun to say, “by golly!” 😉 The adults love fruit leather as well. It’s a wonderful snack and a great way to preserve a bumper crop of fruit.
Great news!…You can either dry your fruit leather out in the oven or in the sunshine. The sunshine method is my favorite because you can make a whole bunch at once without heating your oven in summer.
Ingredients for Apricot Fruit Leather:
5 lbs ripe sweet apricots
1/2 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
How To Make Apricot Fruit Leather:
1. Rinse apricots, cut in half and discard pits. Place on a large baking sheet cut-side-up and bake at 400˚F for 15 minutes (it’s ok to crowd the fruit snuggly in a smaller pan, just keep them in a single layer). Remove from oven and let cool until just warm enough to handle.
2. Transfer to a blender or food processor and process until a smooth puree (process in 2 or 3 batches if needed).
3. Pour puree into a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste and stir until sugar is incorporated.
There are 2 ways to dry these out:
1. How to Make Fruit Leather with Sunshine (my favorite way):
Spread puree between 1/8″ to 1/4″ thick on a large parchment sheet or plastic wrap covered baking sheet, extending the paper slightly past the rim. This recipe fills 3 large baking sheets. Set in the sunshine until no longer sticky when you poke the centers. If it sticks to the paper, let it dry longer. It can fully dry out in 1 day if it’s hot out or 2 days if warm and sunny (store indoors uncovered overnight).
Note: if you want to make big batches, you can lay out large strips of parchment paper on a portable surface and just put the puree directly on the paper without needing baking sheets. We literally used 40 lbs of apricots for fruit leather this year.
2. How to Make Fruit Leather in the Oven:
Spread puree on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place baking sheets in a preheated oven at 200˚F for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours, depending on how thick you spread it. It’s done when it no longer sticks to your fingers when you poke the center. Note: do not place in the oven while it’s preheating or it can burn.
We slice fruit leather into strips with the backing attached and make fruit roll ups. Store at room temperature in a large ziploc or foodsaver bags.
How to Make Apricot Fruit Leather
Ingredients
- 5 lbs ripe sweet apricots
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar, or to taste
Instructions
How To Make Apricot Fruit Leather:
- Rinse apricots, cut in half and discard pits. Place on a large baking sheet cut-side-up and bake at 400˚F for 15 min (it's ok to crowd the fruit in a smaller pan). Remove from oven and let cool until just warm enough to handle.
- Transfer to blender or food processor in batches and process until a smooth puree.
- Pour puree into a large mixing bowl. Add 1/2 cup sugar, or to taste and stir until sugar is incorporated.
How to Dry Fruit Leather with Sunshine (my favorite way):
- Spread puree between 1/8" to 1/4" thick on a large parchment paper or plastic wrap covered baking sheet, extending the paper slightly past the rim. This recipe fills 3 large baking sheets. Set in the sunshine until no longer sticky when you poke the centers. It can fully dry out in 1 day if it's hot out or 2 days if warm and sunny (store indoors uncovered overnight).
How to Make Fruit Leather in the Oven:
- Spread puree on a large cookie sheet lined with parchment paper and place baking sheets in a preheated oven at 200˚F for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours, depending on how thick you spread it. It's done when it no longer sticks to your fingers when you poke the center. Once at room temp, roll and store at room temperature in large ziploc or foodsaver bags.
If you make this recipe, I’d love to see pics of your creations on Instagram, Facebook and Twitter! Hashtag them #natashaskitchen
It’s so sweet how much my kids LOVE this apricot fruit leather! I hope you try your hand at this fruit leather. It’s so easy and you can give the kiddos in your life a sweet surprise :).
Natasha Kravchuk
Hi! I'm Natasha Kravchuk. Here you'll find delicious, trusted recipes with easy step-by-step photos and videos. 
I just have to say, this post changed my life! I have four apricot trees so needless to say, I tried apricot fruit leather. But if you don’t bake it it ends up papery and the kids won’t eat it. 🙁
I tried mixing it with applesauce or pear puree which have great texture. but the kids preferred the pear fruit leather on it’s own so it was a waste to mix it with apricot. But the baked apricot…Awesome!
My guess is that the heat activates the pectin? That or it allows the air bubbles created by blending it to stay in. I don’t know but it is so much more enjoyable. I didn’t have to add sugar because we had ripe homegrown apricots so that was awesome!. Thank you!
Also, I use a dehydrator because, like I said, I have a ton of fruit. Because of that I don’t put wax paper on the back. I just roll it and put it in glass jars.
I’m so happy your like and discovered this recipe, Megan!
I forgot to bring my apricot leather in the first night until 2:30 a.m. and I set it on the table but forgot to uncover it. The next day was 100 degrees and windy so by noon it felt dry. Is it safe to eat?
Hi Elna, it should still be safe to eat, but it may be a little tough/chewy if it is overly dried out.
Have you tried replacing the sugar with coconut sugar, and if so how did it turn out?
Hi Samantha, I haven’t tried that so I can’t really speak to that substitution. I checked both of my fruit leather recipe comments and no one has reported trying it yet.
If anyone else has tried it, please let us know and thanks in advance! 🙂
I wasn’t planning to make fruit leathers (although they look absolutely delicious but I live in Norway so not a lot of natural sunshine right now) The beautiful little girl eating the fruit leather is irresistible. You should use her more often in your pictures!
Thank you Ferzanna! 🙂 Please let me know what you think of the recipe when you decide to make it!
Hi, I was wondering at what temp and for how long would you recommend for making Peach fruit leather?
Hi Sarah, peaches would be a similar process but may take longer to dry out since peaches tend to be juicier than apricots. If making in the oven, I would recommend the same temperature but let it bake/dry out until it no longer sticks to your finger tips when you poke in the center.
Ok, thank you. I had tried it at 200° but the edges seemed to dry out too fast while the center wasn’t at all. I tho’t maybe I should do it more like your plum recipe but it didn’t seem to make much difference, except take even longer. 🙂 Oh, well, there are 3 pans left to dry and what is done is being throughly enjoyed by the whole house! My daughter can’t wait to have some in her lunchbox. 😊
P.S. Your blog is pretty much my only go to for food ideas and new recipes! 😉
Hi Sarah, I’m so glad you are enjoying our recipes 🙂 Thank you for sharing that with me 🙂
HI Natasha. Just wondering if there is any tips on fixing my mistake.. I made those too thin and it overdry!! Can I do anything to make it not as dry? Thanks
We have had that happen when we left the fruit leather in the sun too long. You can wrap a damp towel around a roll of fruit leather and that will help to soften it some.
Thanks for sharing! I just took them out from oven and it had lots and lots of juice, I drain it but it looks like there is still lots of juice( my apricotschedule wore overripe I guess), should I just keep drainin till no more liquid? Thanx
Hi Tanya, it could be that they were overripe or that they were baked too long, or both :). I would drain off the excess juice so it dries into fruit leather quicker.
Hello! I’m excited to try out this recipe! However, I do have one question; when sun drying are they left uncovered? —You mention to bring them in overnight if needed and leave them uncovered but I don’t see where you do cover them. Did I misread something? Thanks!
Hi Meghan, we do not cover them while they are outside in the sun – you want the moisture to evaporate. It is also not necessary to cover them once they are indoors. We keep them uncovered. If you cover them before they are dry, it will stick to the fruit leather.
fantastic to find your site and receipe as i live in southern Italy and my apricot tree has had a bumber year and gor over 100 kilos of fruit. Just made it and it is on the roof drying in the sunshine. Fingers crossed.
I’m so glad to hear you found my site! Please let me know how the recipe turns out Maurice! 🙂
Love these recipes, thank you. When I do make my fruit leather, here in Arizona,
in our heat,,, we surely do not want to turn our ovens on. So I discovered my car was already an oven! I bring my cookie sheets out to my car, and put them on the dash and back seat window.
No flies or ants! (don’t know what the neighbors are thinking), but it works.
Oh WOW! Now that’s some extreme heat! I’m glad you’re enjoying the recipes! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Good idea! I was thinking I could only do the oven because I was worried about the flies. If you can’t cover it then flies would be all over it if I put out in the sun.
This is an excellent idea!! I live in central Florida, so laying out uncovered would be a no go with all the bugs😂 I do have a Ford Expedition which could work nicely! Thanks again 😊
Oh good idea. I have been trying to figure out how to keep the wasps out of it…the van will do nicely 🙂
just like yours in the picture. They were very nice and it used up loads of apricots
I’m glad it turned out nicely Maurice! Thanks for sharing 🙂
We had a good aprium crop this year so I’m looking forward to trying this. Do you know how long they store before going bad?
Brandy, it depends how you store it. It keeps pretty well sealed in a food saver bag for few months, that’s what we did 😬
Could you please make a recipe for peach leather!!
Possibly this coming year if my parents have a bumper crop of peaches 🙂 It would probably be very close to this one though 😉
Thanks so much! This tastes so great! I made it today! I would like to make some more but had a few questions. I ended up cooking it a lot longer to get the middle done but then the edges got overcooked any suggestions?? If it’s not done in 3 1/2 hours should I turn oven off to finish instead?
Hi Brandy, the edges will dry out faster than the center but it helps to spread the puree an even thickness (I found that an offset cake decorating spatula helps). Are you using a convection oven or conventional oven? Also, make sure you don’t put the fruit leather in until the oven is fully pre-heated. I’ve put it in while it was heating and it overcooked and got crispy quickly because the fan was circulating air to preheat it and it dried out way too quickly. I hope that helps for next time! 🙂
Hi natasha, should i preheat the oven to 200 and turn it off and leave the fruit leather in the warm oven, or should i bake it at 200 degrees for all 3 hours?
Hi Nina, you want to keep it at 200 the entire time so leave the oven on. If you find it’s taking too long, you can turn the oven OFF and leave it in there overnight to finish up.
We used to call it ‘pastila’ in Ukraine, in the old days of my Soviet childhood. I never knew it was so easy to make (too bad, I am not a kids anymore, I’d be eating this non-stop). The only challenge I ran into was to spread it evenly for even drying. And I made it with peaches.
Hi Anna, I have found it’s easier to spread it with an offset spatula like this one for frosting cakes. When we were quadrupling this recipe, it was the quickest way to spread the puree.
I LOVED your plum recipe! Now trying with apricots. Do you know if I could sweeten with a healthier option, like honey?
Hi Mariah, I think honey would work to sweeten it but if you are incorporating more liquid (the honey), it may take slightly longer to dry out and it might be a little darker in color versus using granulated sugar. Also, keep in mind that honey is sweeter than sugar by volume so you probably won’t need as much if you’re substituting. Let me know how you like it 🙂
Do I have to bake this in 3 batches? Since it said it makes 3 trays?
I was able to fit all three pans in my oven at one time, keeping the racks towards the center of the oven. It depends on the size of your oven. I was able to fit two baking sheets on one rack, plus one below it.
very very very nice tnk for you. kiss yor girl
Thank you 😀.
such a doll. And even Eric loves this stuff
Thanks Tanya :-). Good thing we made loads of it for all the kids to enjoy this winter 🙂
My apricot puree stuck hard to the parchment paper. Will have to try plastic and throw away a full batch. so sad.
That’s unusual that it would stick to parchment paper. Are you certain it was parchment paper and not wax paper? I’ve had issues with wax paper so I don’t recommend using it. It’s also possible to overdry it to the point where it’s breaking and flaking off. The way we saved a batch that stuck once was to place damp papertowels over it overnight and the next day it peeled off easily. Also, if it’s still too moist and not completely done, it will stick to the paper. I sure hope that helps!
Your daughter is too gorgeous for words!!!!!!! 🌸💕😍 and thank you for such a cool recipe for the kiddos !!
You’re so sweet :). Thanks Alina!