My super easy Apple Butter recipe is perfectly spiced with rich fall flavors. It takes just 10 minutes to prep with NO peeling required! Recipe includes a how-to video.
All the Best Flavors of Fall in a Jar
Apple butter is the richer, prettier, and perhaps more sophisticated sister to plain-Jane applesauce. It’s truly the embodiment of fall, with colorful crisp apples cooked down and caramelized in spices, brown sugar and vanilla. It tastes great on just about anything, but we love it spread over an English muffin or warm scone (heavenly!).
My favorite thing about this apple butter recipe is that there is NO peeling required! I’ve tested this recipe with peeled and unpeeled apples, and I didn’t notice a difference between the two. When cooked for as long as my recipe calls for, the peels break down completely and are not perceptible in the finished product. Save yourself the time and skip the peeling!
Why you’ll love this recipe:
- Easy: only 10 minutes of prep before the slow cooker takes over.
- Perfectly flavored: the apples are the true star, with just enough sugar and spices added to accent them and make a warm, cozy fall flavor.
- Plentiful: this recipe makes a lot (3 pints!), so you’ll have some to share or gift (if you’re the generous type).
- No peeling: saves you SO much time and effort.
What You Need
To achieve a silky smooth and flavorful spread, you’ll need to slow cook just a few simple ingredients:
- Apples. What I love about my apple butter recipe is that there is no peeling needed! Just core and dice your apples into small, even pieces. Do not use a firm, tart apple like Granny Smith; stick with softer, sweeter apples like Golden Delicious (my favorite all-around apple for most recipes, like my apple turnovers!), Fuji, Gala, or McIntosh. A combination of apples works too!
- Sugar. A combination of brown and white sugar provides depth of flavor and helps the apples to break down and caramelize, giving the final product a fantastically rich fall flavor. Don’t forget, if you don’t have any on hand just follow my tutorial on how to make brown sugar!
- Spices. Lots of ground cinnamon and a pinch of cloves elevate the flavor of the apples by providing warmth and richness.
- Vanilla. A subtle hint of vanilla rounds out all of warm flavors. I recommend using a vanilla bean if you have one, but otherwise regular vanilla extract will work.
SAM’S TIP: The hardest thing about this recipe is waiting for it to be done. To mitigate this, I often like to prep everything before going to bed and let it cook while I sleep, but please always check your own slow cooker’s safety guide before leaving it unattended.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Apple Butter
- Core and chop (don’t peel!) your apples and place them in the basin of a slow cooker.
- Mix together spices and sugars. Sprinkle these over the apples and toss to combine.
- Cook apple mixture on low heat for 10 hours.
- Puree apples. I like to use an immersion blender (I linked to the one I use, affiliate), but you can use a regular one instead.
- Remove the lid and cook for another 2 hours or until the consistency has thickened to your liking.
SAM’S TIP: The additional two hours of cooking might seem like a pain, but it’s important and worth it to get the proper consistency. If you want an even thicker butter, you can continue to cook yours even longer; but I’ve found the two hours to be plenty (and keep in mind it will continue to thicken as it cools!).
Frequently Asked Questions
Typically it is used as a topping for biscuits or bread, but it’s also delicious on oatmeal, pancakes, my favorite waffle recipe, crepes, etc. Some people even serve it with scrapple, or you can take my dad’s approach and enjoy it by the spoonful!
Apple butter is typically sweeter, richer, and thicker (more of a buttery/spreadable consistency). It’s often much darker in color than applesauce, largely because of the added ingredients (in this instance, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, etc) and the caramelization that occurs from the longer cook time.
Yes it does. If you’d like to try canning yours, that’s a great option for extending its shelf life outside of the fridge (I don’t have experience canning, so I can’t offer any advice there, but here is a guide on canning I found that should be helpful.).
Apple butter gets its name from its butter-like consistency, there’s no actual butter in it. If you’re looking for a flavored butter, try my honey butter instead
Looking for more? Here are some of my favorite fall recipes.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! I’ll be walking you through all the steps in my written recipe and video below! If you try this recipe, be sure to tag me on Instagram, and you can also find me on YouTube and Facebook
The Best Apple Butter Recipe (No Peeling!)
Ingredients
- 5.5 lbs soft, sweet apples (see note 1) Cored and chopped into small pieces, about ¼" (2.5kg)
- 1 cup brown sugar firmly packed (200g)
- ¾ cup granulated sugar (150g)
- 1 Tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 vanilla bean (may substitute 1 ½ teaspoons vanilla extract)
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Slice apples into small pieces (about ¼") and dispose of cores (you do not need to peel the apples).
- Place apples in the basin of large slow cooker
- In a medium-sized bowl stir together sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, and cloves until well-combined.
- Pour sugar mixture over apple pieces and stir until well combined.
- Place lid on crockpot and cook on low heat for 10 hours.
- Once 10 hours has elapsed, use an immersion blender to puree apples until smooth and no chunks remain (see note 2 if you do not have an immersion blender).
- Scrape the inside of the vanilla bean into your apple puree (or add vanilla extract).
- Turn crockpot on to low heat and cook another 2 hours uncovered, stirring occasionally.
- Store in the refrigerator in an airtight container, where it will keep about 2 weeks.
Notes
1. Apples
I recommend using Golden Delicious, McIntosh, Fuji, or Gala. Don’t use Granny Smith; they are too tart and firm for this recipe. Weigh your apples before coring and chopping. Do not peel them! For me this was about 13 apples but this could vary wildly depending on the size of your apples.2. Pureeing
If you do not have an immersion blender, pour the apples into a blender and puree until smooth, then return to crockpot. You may need to work in batches, depending on the size of your blender.Storing
Store apple butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for several weeks or freeze for up to several months.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Related Recipes
This recipe was originally published in October of 2017, photos and recipe remain the same but text has been updated to be more helpful and I’ve added a how-to video!
Leta
This is my first attempt at making apple butter, it is in the crock pot now. It did take longer to dice the apples than I thought, but I switched to my Pampered Chef chopper and that worked quicker. I am planning on canning a couple small jars. So I hope that works. Thanks for your advice.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We hope you love it, Leta!
Pat
Do you leave the vanilla bean whole or do you split and scape the vanilla seeds?
Sam
Hi Pat! See step 7 for how to use the vanilla bean. 🙂
Ms Manu Parker
I totally followed your recipe – used Fugi apples. I used my commercial immersion blender and yet, there were still very tiny bits of peel in the end results. I have made apple butter for many years and will be going back to peeling the apples before cooking my next batch.
Otherwise, the apple butter was good and has disappeared quickly!
Samantha
Hey is ok to use a 4 quart? Do I need to increase the time or decrease? I love your blog ❤️
Sam
Hi Samantha! I’m not sure everything will fit in a 4 quart. Mine was pretty full when I started and it’s a 6 quart. I’m not sure the cook time would change much, because you’ll probably have to scale the recipe down and without having tried it I can’t say for sure exactly how to alter the process. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Samantha
Hey I tried it. It was almost full to the top but I’m shocked how much it cooked down. I figured I would reply to your comment if anyone else has a four quart. This is an awesome recipe. I did however cut the apples teeny tiny.
Sam
Thank you for the feedback! I’m so glad it still worked out for you. 🙂
Gwen
I do not have a blender or an immersion blender. Can I hand mash these or would it not be the same consistency.
Sam
Hi Gwen! I’m not sure you’ll get to quite the same consistency doing it by hand, but it should still be delicious, maybe just a bit chunkier. 🙂
Julie
Can you double this recipe and if you can does ot change the cooking time?
Sam
Hi Julie! I haven’t tried doubling the recipe. I think as long as your crock pot will hold it all you could double it successfully. That being said, I’m not sure how to adjust the cook time. I would think it would be a bit longer, but I don’t think it would need to double. If you do try it let me know how it goes. 🙂
Kathy Heitkamp
I plan on making this recipe. I want to know if you can freeze some of the apple butter? Or can I can it? Which would be a ‘trip’ for me.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Hi Kathy! We haven’t tried freezing it, but we don’t foresee any issues in doing so. Yes, it can be canned 🙂
Maggie
Could this be done in the instant pot?? And if so how would I do that. Thank you!
Sam
Hi Maggie! I haven’t tried it in the instant pot, but I imagine it could work. Let me know how it goes if you try it. 🙂
Judy
Hi Sam, if I were to can this, what is the best method and for how long? Anxious for apple season to make some of this, I think it is going to delicious on your recipe for biscuits!! Yum. Thanks for sharing ❤️
Sam
Hi Judy! Unfortunately I am not very familiar with the canning process so I wouldn’t be able to advise here. I have had someone else in the comments say that the jar company “Ball” has canning guidelines and processes on their site.
Tracye Waldroup
Judy, water bath in a large pot. Put a rack in bottom of large pot. Heat your jars in the large pot of water. Take out of water and fill with apple butter leaving 1/2 inch head space. Wipe rims of jars and put on lids and rings. Put filled jars back in hot water. Make sure water covers at 2 inches above jars. Bring to boil, then turn heat down to simmer. Simmer jars. 1/2 pints and pints for 10 minutes and pints 15 minutes. Take out and let cool. You should hear jars ping as they seal.
Brenda
This apple butter is absolutely amazing 🥰🥰
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
SO happy you loved it, Brenda!
Sue Long Beck
love this recipe, will honeycrisp apples be ok in this recipe?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
That should work fine. Enjoy, Sue!