Crock Pot Apple Butter
Like magic your slow cooker or Instant Pot will turn a bounty of apples into a smooth, deeply colorful and flavorful spread with this recipe for crock pot apple butter. So let's head to the orchard and get apple picking!
Making your own jams, jellies, fruit butters or marmalade does not get any easier than this simple method of making apple butter. It is so easy that it barely counts as making-your-own—the crock pot does all of the work! Yes, a slow cooker or Instant Pot works well too.
Spices to use in apple butter
Apples plus sugar plus a few spices combined with the wonder of slow cooking gives you a beautiful and deeply flavored apple butter. This apple butter recipe should be labeled as Preserving 101; it is wonderfully straightforward and easy to repeat each season.
Spices like cinnamon are obvious choices to use in making small batch apple butter.
Other good options from your spice rack include warm spices like nutmeg and cloves.
What apples are best for apple butter?
It's always a baker's question: which apples are best for which recipe? Well, the easy answer is to make this crock pot apple butter with apples you like to eat. It's like wine-- who cares which wines are supposed to pair with particular foods, just drink what you enjoy.
In this batch of crock pot apple butter are honey crisp apples and granny smith apples. A great balance of sweet and tart.
What's the best way to peel apples?
Peel your apples any which way you like, but when a recipe calls for a peeled apple, I often turn to this gadget-- the apple peeler-corer. Clean up is a little bit of a hassle but well worth it considering how quick and efficient this simple machine is for the job of peeling and coring apples.
I use the apple peeler in this upside down apple cake recipe too. Love it!
Look how easily the peel separates from the fruit. Play around with the adjustable piece until you achieve the depth of peel that you desire.
See, easy as that! Apple peeler for the win!
Slow cooker magic
After your apples have cooked for six to eight hours you can choose the consistency you prefer for your apple butter. Gently stir the apple butter for a chunky texture or use an immersion blender to achieve a smoother texture.
Add a label to your jar of apple butter!
Did you know that I have a FREE Printables library? I love sharing labels that you can download and print yourself. When you are making jams, jellies, and marmalades, it is so nice to add a personal touch.
Crock Pot Apple Butter
Like magic your slow cooker or Instant Pot will turn a bounty of apples into a smooth, deeply colorful and flavorful spread with this recipe for crock pot apple butter. So let's head to the orchard and get apple picking!
Ingredients
- 12 apples (any combination will do-- Granny Smith and Honeycrisp were used here)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from one lemon)
Instructions
Start by preparing your apples. Wash, peel and slice them.
Fill your crock pot with the apple slices. Pour in the sugars and the lemon juice. Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon. Toss gently to stir.
Now sit back and let the crock pot do its thing. Six to eight hours on low should be plenty of time.
Stir once or twice.
Puree the apple butter with an immersion blender if you would like a smooth consistency.
Notes
A slow cooker, a Crock Pot or an Instant Pot all work well for this recipe. If using the Pressure Cooker function on your Instant Pot, cook on high for 12 minutes.
If your apple butter is not as thick as you'd like it after 6 -8 hours in the crock pot, put it back on low for another hour and check again. Every crock pot cooks just a bit differently.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
32Serving Size:
2 tablespoonsAmount Per Serving: Calories: 76Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 2mgCarbohydrates: 20gFiber: 2gSugar: 17gProtein: 0g
This data is provided by Nutritionix and is an estimate only.
More fruit butters and apple recipes
Once you catch the bug of making fruit butters you'll find reason to repeat the process with many fruits. Here are a few I've enjoyed along with more apple recipes:
- Pear Butter
- Pumpkin Butter
- Gluten free apple crumble
- Spiced Apple-Pear Butter
- Cranberry Butter
- Apple Cake for Passover
- Maple Apple Crisp
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Homemade preserves
Canning at home and making small batch jams and curds have really become a source of enjoyment for me in the kitchen. If you are interested in making more homemade preserves, here is a canning resource to give more more recipe ideas!
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Please note that this post was originally published in September, 2012, and was updated with fresh photos and text in August, 2018.
Holly Baker started the food blog, A Baker's House, in 2011. She is the writer, recipe creator, and photographer for the site. Holly loves to bake and shares recipes for gluten free food, canning recipes, as well as traditional desserts too. Her recipes and food photography have been highlighted by BuzzFeed, Reader's Digest, and She Knows.
Wow, this really takes me back to my childhood. There is nothing better than an apple butter sandwich.
An apple butter sandwich sounds good. I have been putting it on and in everything lately! At the moment I am making apple butter hand pies. Might not be as good as your coconut pies but hopefully close!
I forget how much I love apple butter and wonder why I don't have it on hand like I did with kids in the house? Maybe I'll have to try my own; using the crockpot for things other than meal items has been my biggest use ever. Although...I doubt I would do it without my own handy dandy apple peeler/corer/slicer...love that tool too!
Yes, the apple peeler is a great tool. It's one of the more useful gadgets I have in my kitchen. I used it again today for an apple pie. Wonder what else I'll use it for this week?
I just pinned this! Great recipe, and perfect for Fall! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Thanks, Devon, finding something I made on Pinterest is such fun, I appreciate your taking the time to say hello. Have a great week!
Oh, yum! I've heard about how wonderful this smells wafting through the kitchen. You've convinced me that I need to make this. I am you newest follower. I hope you'll visit me over at Posed Perfection and maybe even follow me back.
Blessings,
Nici
I'm your newest GFC follower coming over from the blog hop - You can find me over at Love Bakes Good Cakes. 🙂
Hi Jamie, thanks for stopping by and following along. I recognize the name of your blog and surely have stopped by before. I will do so again today, thanks!
I just took my crock pot out today...getting ready it is the season!
Glad the timing worked for you! I feel the same way and hope to get much more use out of my crock pot this fall/winter. With school days and soccer practices taking up so much time it's nice to have a crock pot meal waiting for you at home.
Oh my word... that looks soooooooooo delicious!!
Thanks so much for sharing this at The DIY Dreamer... From Dream to Reality!
This looks really really yummy! I heart my crock pot so I will definitely be trying this.
Yum, this looks so good! I am a follower of your blog and would love if you could hop over to my new blog (http://sarahsaturdiy.blogspot.com/) and share the blog love. Have a great weekend!
Hi Sarah, thanks for saying hello! Glad you like this recipe, it was an easy one to make which makes it a favorite on my list. Have a great weekend! Holly
Found your blog on a link up party and was so glad to come across this. Just the other day I was looking for a good apple butter recipe. Thanks! I pinned it 🙂
Thanks, Rebekah, your note and pinning brightened my day, thanks!!
Can't wait to make this, for the taste and the smell!! After your apples were pureed, did you have a half crock pot of butter? Trying to figure out how many jars to get. Thanks!
Hope you enjoy this easy way to make apple butter. This makes 5-6 half pint jars. Thanks for stopping by!
Hi Paula, Thanks for sharing your memory about the gift store. Hope you can make this slow cooker recipe, it makes the whole house smell good!
I see that this was posted in 2012, but I'm hoping that you'll still get this message! How do you can this? I can't wait to make it! I hope you can help! Thank you
Hi there, thanks for your comment! I have not canned this recipe because I do not know the precise level of acidity in the apple butter. I use less sugar than other recipes I've read in canning books. Because sugar helps to preserve the apple butter, reducing it may change the safety of canning the end product. I keep this in the refrigerator or freeze it. If you want to have a tested recipe that is suitable for canning I'd suggest using Ball's Blue Book of Preserving. Their ratio is 16 apples (4 pounds) to 4 cups of sugar with 2 tsp cinnamon and 1/4 tsp cloves. They process the apple butter for 10 minutes (at sea level). Hope this helps! -Holly
If you use the instant pot, how much water would you use or would you make it put-in-pot? Thanks so much! Ruth
Hi Ruth, I don't add extra water even in the Instapot but if you would like to do so perhaps just 1/4 - 1/2 cup water to coat the bottom of the pot. If the consistency is too runny or loose after cooking, put the setting on Saute and cook the mixture down until it is your desired consistency.
So good. I used all Fugi apples and cut back on the white sugar to 3/4 cup since this years apples were very sweet. I added a couple of tablespoons of apple cider as well, Cooked on low for 4 hours or so and then on high for 4 hours. Mashed the apples and the apple butter was perfect. Will do another batch today and freeze.
I like the idea of adding apple cider-- the more apple goodness the better!