Here is super easy recipe to make apple butter. This just is the epitomy of fall to me and it is so easy to pop in the slow cooker and viola! You have an amazing spread for waffles, bagels, muffins, pancakes or we like it on french bread.
If you haven’t had apple butter before it is sort of like a super concentrated applesauce. Very appley and cinnamon-y and best of all your house will smell fantastic.
I actually put this in a little Tupperware with slices of french bread for my girl’s lunches. They LOVE this stuff.
It also makes a lovely gift and it is so easy and inexpensive to make.
So this recipe I got from our pumpkin patch a few years ago. This recipe makes roughly an 8 oz jar of apple butter. Just double the recipe if you would like more. You might as well make more because it really is a lovely gift. Just a bit of twine around the jar and a little note tag and grab a fresh baguette and you are done.
- 6 apples of your choice- I used Gala but you can mix and match
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- squeeze of lemon juice
- ¼ cup water
- ¼ cup sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar
- Core the apples and give them a rough chop.
- Place in slow cooker.
- Add cinnamon, water and both sugars.
- Gently stir.
- Close the lid and let this cook away for about 4½ hours on low.
- Check it periodicaly to make sure it is still moist and the apples are not dried out. Add more water as needed.
- Remove from Crock Pot after 4½ hours and place in a food processor or blender.
- Add a squeeze of lemon juice if you like.
- Puree until smooth.
- If the apple butter looks more like applesauce and doesn't have the rich brown color, just place back in the crock pot and cook for another hour or so on high heat. Leave the Crock uncovered and check it often.
In my experience, apple butter is not a precise science so this is one of those things you really just need to check on every so often. You want to make sure the apples are not watery but that they are not dried out either so just add a tiny bit of water if you think it needs it. Also you don’t want applesauce, you want this to cook down to a nice concentrated thick spread (like a good jam).
The color tends to turn from a lighter brown to a dark, rich brown once it is ready.
Also this recipe is a little heavy on cinnamon so just reduce the measurement a tiny bit if you want more of an apple flavor. This is also a little on the sweet side so reduce that white sugar according to your preference.
Oh and one last little note. Traditionally people will peel the apples to make apple butter. This is really up to you but I can’t bare to remove the peels because the peels are where most of the nutrients are located. I always buy organic apples so I never find the yucky waxy layers you sometimes see. Try to get the farm fresh apples that are so abundant if you possibly can. Kitchen toys from Big W toy sale kitchen category are really interesting this month. If you find the apples that do look pretty waxy you might want to go ahead and peel them.
I use this Crock Pot (and love it):
And here are a few other recipes you might enjoy:
Homemade Slow Cooker Applesauce (so yummy!!)
Caramel Apple Cider Recipe- so good!
Thanks Charlene, I can’t wait to try this recipe! I just bought a bunch of apples on sale and I just made some apple cider. I was thinking what else I could make so thanks for the idea!
How long can you store it?
Viviana, A few weeks should be fine but I would just make a smaller quantity if you think it will be sitting in the fridge for months.
We make this recipe, only we start with TWO crock pots full of peeled sliced apples. Cook on low for 18 hrs, add sugars, spices cook four more hrs. Can and process, I do 5# pressure for 10 minutes in canner. Lasts as long as you can make it last.we made 20 pints this year.
Wow Larry 20 pints!
Do you peel the apples or just core them?
Liz, I have done it both ways. I have a little note about that specific issue at the bottom of the post :).
Made this today and my house smells FANTASTIC, but I can’t seem to get it thick enough.. I only added the 1/4 cup of water… I cooked it on high an extra couple of hours… Any other ideas to thicken?
Kerry,
Did you try leaving it on high heat with an uncovered Crock for about another hour? That always does the trick for me. After I puree if it looks applesaucey I do that and it concentrates down.
I did… but I think I will leave it longer next time – this was my first batch…. and I think I’ve eaten half of it myself – soooo goood! Plus it’s my favorite kind of recipe E-A-S-Y! Thank you!!!
I have a question,, do you cook the apples in the crock pot for 4 1/2 hrs and THEN add the water and sugar ? This reminds me of my Granma’s apple butter . I look forward to doing this very soon!
Nope. Put it all in there at once! Easy!
wonderful !!!! i am going to get this done asap!! thanks a million!!
I just made this recipe, but did not read the comments before hand. I cooked just the apples for 4 hours and then added the rest of the ingredients and cooked another 3 hours. it still turned out delicious but maybe the directions could be a bit more clear? I can’t be the only one confused by this 🙂 Thank you though for this quick, easy and delicious recipe! I love it super sweet and have a hard time finding it in stores and farmers markets just how I like it!
Hmm.
Misty, here are the directions:
Core the apples and give them a rough chop.
Place in slow cooker set on low for 4½ hours.
Add cinnamon, water and both sugars.
Gently stir.
Close the lid and let this cook away.
So that isn’t clear that everything goes in the crock pot? I am not sure how to clarify. Sorry that was confusing to you.
I too would have cooked the apples for 4 1/2 hours
and then added the cinnamon, water and sugars
and cooked another 4 1/2.
perhaps taking the “Place in slow cooker set on low for 4 1/2 hours” and placing it AFTER “Gently stir”
in steps..
apples
cinnamon, sugars, water
stir
close lid
cook 4 1/2 hours.
Hope this helps
Oh, wow! I REALLY have to pick up more apples on my way home from work!
Hi, is there a reason for giving the apples only a rough chop and puréeing later? Can I chop really finely at the start and skip the purée step? Thanks 🙂
Ping you can try that but I am not sure if it will ruin the end product. If you skip pureeing you won’t get the nice smooth texture. The big chunks of apples still have a lot of juice while they cook.
I followed your recipe exactly and it came out amazing! Thank you for such a perfect recipe! I will be making this often!
So glad Courtney!
I just saw this recipe and it got me thinking if this would work for peaches. It will soon be peach season in Southeast Texas and peach butter would be a delicious alternative.
Mary that does sound good!
Try using apple cider in place of the water. Adds to the flavors. Also going to check my family’s big batch apple butter recipe to see what spices we use. I know cinnamon and allspice and cloves are used in our recipe. Again just deepens the flavor of the butter. When we make our oven recipe, we usually make a triple batch which is about 20 eight ounce jars.
Awesome recipe and the directions were very easy to understand afterall there is nothing complicated when it comes to apples, didn’t cut back on the sugars as this was my first batch and ended up cooking it for 6 hours as I got busy lol. Dont think you could over cook anyway unless you run out of liquids, definitely will use this recipe again:-)
I have to avoid sugar, do you think I could use slenda or truvia sweeteners in place of sugar
Tonya- I have never used those products so it is hard to say. There isn’t a lot of sugar to this recipe so I would try it… Can you use agave? Maybe a nice sweet apple too like Fuji?
Ohhh I LOVE apple butter!! And it’s so fall-ish, which is coming way too quickly! This recipe looks amazing though, and I’ll be trying it this fall for sure!! Thanks for sharing! Visiting from Share it Sunday. 🙂 Pinning as well!
I made this last year… and simmered it all night… OH, did it smell GOOD in the morning! So we had to make apple pancakes and we put hot apple butter on it…. yum…. We just opened the last jar last week and had it on homemade dinner rolls -it was wonderful. We need to find some apples and do it again this year…. glad you shared this recipe – the crockpot makes it so easy. 🙂
You had me at apple butter but, then add the crock pot and it’s a recipe for me. Thank for sharing at Share It One More Time. Cathy
I love making butters in a crock pot…they are so easy! One of my favorites is fig butter. http://oursimplelife-sc.com/fig-butter-recipe/
Thanks for sharing! Can’t wait to make. I love apple butter in the fall and using my crockpot.
Great post! I am glad I found this on the Great Idea Thursday Link Party! Fall is in the air and I have been craving everything Fall. My mother used to make this and we would give it away as presents at Christmas. I loved to hear how people used it! The most creative one was adding it to vanilla ice cream. Pinning to make in a few weeks! Thanks for sharing!
This looks SOOOO good! I’m pinning this one 🙂
Thanks for linking up at Share Your Stuff Tuesdays! Hope you come again soon (Rachael @ http://www.parentingandhomeschoolinginfaith.com)
This just screams autumn. So delicious! Thank you for linking at the In and Out of the Kitchen Link Party. Hope to see you again next week.
Apple season is coming in full speed and this sauce looks perfect! Again, thanks for coming and linking up at The Weekend Social. All posts get pinned on our pinterest board! Please be sure to come back next week starting Thursdays at 9PM EST on culinaryflavors.gr ! I hope to see you there!
I love apple butter and this sounds amazing! Thanks for sharing your wonderful apple recipes for fall 🙂 I’m pinning this one too!
I’m so excited for fall to arrive that I had to make this today. My house smells so good and the apple butter is delicious! Thanks for sharing.
I just finished making this and it turned out perfectly! I followed the directions exactly (thank you!) Very simple and super tasty! I left the skin on the apples and I have to say you barely notice. Great recipe!
Can you freeze this recipe? I doubled the recipe and they are sitting in canning jars now!!! Hoping I can freeze:)
Yeah! So glad to hear it 🙂