Easy Homemade Apple Butter Made In The Slow Cooker
A simple recipe for Homemade Apple Butter that you can make in the slow cooker. Use as a spread, a syrup or in your fall recipes!
Easy Homemade Apple Butter – Made In The Slow Cooker
Is it official fall yet? It must be if we are looking to make Apple Butter. Who needs an official date or it to be considered fall?
Fall is my favorite season. Filled with apples, pumpkins, cinnamon, hot apple cider and so much more.
Apple butter is one of my favorite things to add to my morning toast or bagel. It is also autumn’s sweetest sensation, stealing the show as a condiment that can be used alone or in addition to your meal. My favorite fall time condiment goes great with my homemade pumpkin pie, pork chops, baked chicken and more.
Your freshly picked apples are chopped up and slowly cooked in the crock-pot with sugar and spices. Then they become this beautiful caramelized sweet thick dark apple butter.
Making slow cooked apple butter is great for preserving apples, using the canning method. It’s hard to find good apple butter in the grocery stores, especially one which has no added preservatives or artificial additives, so homemade is the way to go for a great-tasting and nutritious apple butter.
What is the difference between Apple Sauce and Apple Butter?
Both apple sauce and apple butter can be created in the slow cooker. The biggest difference is the time need to create each. Apple sauce requires very little time to complete. Apple butter is cooked much longer, which creates a thick, smooth, intense apple flavored spread.
What do you do with Apple Butter?
The quick answer. Use it on everything! Spread it on toast, pour it over vanilla ice cream as a treat or use is as a condiment serve with your favorite pork chop recipe. My kids love it on their pancakes in the morning. The list of uses is endless.
How to Make Apple Butter
It is no secret how easy it is to make apple butter. It is as simple as adding some apples in a crockpot with apple cider, brown sugar, white sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, clove and a dash of salt. Let it sit there all day, stirring occasionally, and BOOM! After many hours of you doing nothing, you have apple butter. Below is the printable version of this recipe 😉 with the actual measurements.
Let’s Get Started
This recipe is very simple and easy to follow. The hardest part is peeling those apples. But thanks to this apple peeler and my slow cooker it went a lot smoother. This peeler allowed me to peel, core, and slice 7 pounds of apples in a matter of minutes.
Simply toss everything into the slow cooker, set the timer for 10 hours and went about my day. VIOLA! It really is that simple. (but see my note below). You will want to take sneak peeks throughout the day.
Just a note: If you are not preserving your apple butter by canning method (Please follow your pressure cooker instructions or Ball Canning book) then refrigeration is the next best thing. Your apple butter will keep for a month or longer in your refrigerator.
What Apples Are Best For Apple Butter?
I personally like to use a blend of sweet & tart apples such as Honeycrisp, Empire, or any in-season apple for that matter. If you are not from the Northeast, you may have a hard time getting each.
Macintosh, Red Delicious or Gala are easily accessible and just as delicious. If you choose to use a sweeter apple, you may want to consider decreasing the amount of sugar used.
Easy Homemade Apple Butter Recipe
Quick Note Before Starting
In my experience, this easy homemade apple butter is not a precise science. It is one of those things you have to check on every so often. Make sure the apples are not watery or for that matter to watery. Too much water will lead you to make applesauce. Continue cooking down until you notice a nice concentrated thick spread (like a good jam).
This will be your best friend in creating the smoothest Apple Butter. When nearing the end of completion, take out your Emersion Blender (aka hand blender) and puree.
You can of course leave it chunky. Just like peanut butter, some before chunky vs smooth.
Easy Homemade Apple butter
45 minutes
12 hours
12 hours 45 minutes
This slow cooker recipe makes one of the easy homemade apple butter I’ve ever tried. So delicious on waffles, muffins, french bread- a perfect gift idea. Inexpensive and easy to make and so delicious!
Ingredients
- 7 lbs of Apples (your favorite variety – I used a mixture of Granny Smith & Fuji)
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 tbsp cinnamon
- ½ tsp nutmeg
- 1 cup apple cider
- ¼ tsp cloves
- 1 ½ tbsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp Salt
Instructions
- Peel, core, and dice all the apples into cubes then combined with the brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, apple cider, cloves, and salt in a bowl until well combined.
- Place all combined ingredients into your crock pot on the low setting for 10 hours, stirring it every couple of hours or so and break up large chunks as it cooks.
- Once you have reached ten hours add in your vanilla and continue to cook for an additional 2 hours.
- If your apple butter is at your desired thickness use your immersion blender to puree it until it’s completely smooth and lump free.
- After it’s cooled, place it into containers that can be stored into the refrigerator or freezer.
And there you have it – Easy Homemade Apple Butter.
Other Fall Favorite Recipes
Pumpkin Spice Mini Cake Doughnuts with Pumpkin Spice Glaze
Mini Pumpkin Pies – Made with Cheese & Crackers
Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding Made in The Crock-Pot
Homemade Gingerbread Coffee Syrup Recipe
Love apple butter