Apple Butter in the Crock Pot
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Made with apple sauce, fresh apples, and apple juice, this apple butter in the crock pot recipe is bursting with apple flavor. Add in some delicious spices like cinnamon, cloves, and allspice and you have a treat that’s to die for when spread on a warm biscuit.
From time to time I run across a person who has never heard of apple butter. When I am finished gasping in horror at the wasted life they have led up until that point, I make it my first order of business to slather some on a biscuit and get it to their mouth as soon as possible.
Some people are intimidated by apple butter because they think it’s hard to make. But I’m here to tell you it’s surprisingly easy, especially when you make apple butter in the crock pot. Perhaps it’s the complex taste of the spices combined with how few people actually do make it anymore which causes it to be shied away from in our kitchens? There is no need though as this apple butter recipe is likely one of the easiest things that I’ve brought you so far!
All we need to do is add all of the ingredients to the crock pot and let it do its magical thing. The ingredients include apple sauce, Granny Smith apples, apple juice, granulated sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Oh, the combination of all that apple flavor with the spices makes this apple butter SO tasty, y’all.
I like to put my apple butter on to cook in the slow cooker just before I go to bed and let it cook all night long. When I wake up in the morning, the house is filled with the most delicious and fragrant smell that I often reserve making it for a time when we have company! I wake up first thing, take the lid off, and give it a few fans just to make sure the house is thoroughly saturated with that sensational apple butter smell.
We eat a breakfast of buttermilk biscuits and fresh, hot apple butter while I let the rest continue to cook. This is about as close to heaven as you can possibly get while still drawing breath. I’ve convinced you now, right?
Recipe Ingredients
- Unsweetened applesauce
- Sugar
- Granny Smith apples
- Apple juice
- Cinnamon
- Cloves
- Allspice
How to Make Apple Butter in the Crock Pot
“Chip” your apples like we did in the apple pie. If you have not read the apple pie tutorial, you now have your first official homework assignment.
Do this by peeling the apples and cutting little chips of them off.
Place in a large crock pot along with both jars of apple sauce, sugar, spices, and a bit of apple juice.
The exact quantities are at the bottom of this post.
Stir well and cover with the lid. Cook on low overnight for 8 to 10 hours.
After cooking overnight or throughout the day, your apple butter will be dark brown and rich.
However, it will have a bit too much water in it. This is where you will taste it and see what you want to add. I am including the exact quantities I use at the bottom of this crock pot apple butter recipe.
Leave the lid off and continue cooking for a few hours until it cooks down a little bit. “Cooks down” is how old folks say “it’s too runny, you need some of that water gone!”.
After it cooks down a bit, fill up pint or quart jars and seal.
If you go through the process of canning this slow cooker apple butter, you can simply leave the jars on a shelf in your pantry. Otherwise, you would need to refrigerate them and use them within two to three weeks.
You can also place it in jars and freeze it to keep it longer without canning. For a complete tutorial that makes canning easy, please click here (yes, I said “EASY” because it is!).
Here’s some scrumptious apple butter on a spoon roll. I’ve included more serving suggestions below!
Storage
- Refrigerate the jars of apple butter and store them in the fridge for up to 3 weeks.
- You can also freeze apple butter for up to 1 year. Thaw in the fridge before using.
- Alternatively, click on this canning tutorial to store them in the pantry for months.
Recipe Notes
- If you feel like it is too much sugar for you or too many cloves or allspice, just do a little less. The beauty of this recipe is that you cook it all night in the crock pot, then taste it in the morning and add what you prefer to make it to your taste. You can also use Stevia or Monk Fruit instead of sugar if you like. However, it will require much less as these sweeteners are a lot sweeter than sugar.
- For a different flavor, use a combination of granulated sugar and brown sugar.
- A jar of homemade apple butter is the perfect Thanksgiving hostess gift!
- You can easily substitute the cloves or allspice for ground nutmeg and/or ground ginger if that’s what you have on hand.
- Another way to add sweetness is to add 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract. Stir this in when you taste it after it’s been slow cooking overnight.
- If you want smoother apple butter, you can blend it using an immersion blender until smooth, before storing. Use the immersion blender directly in the slow cooker or transfer the mixture to a standing blender and puree.
Recipe FAQs
How do you serve apple butter?
The options are basically endless when it comes to serving your crockpot apple butter, but here are some suggestions:
- Use apple butter instead of apple sauce the next time you serve pork chops.
- Serve it on a Southern biscuit, toast, scone, cornbread, pancakes, crepes, or waffles.
- Use it on your next charcuterie board, as it tastes delicious spread on a cracker with a slice of sharp cheddar cheese.
- Add a dollop to a serving of vanilla ice cream.
- Use as an oatmeal or yogurt topping for breakfast.
- Enjoy a peanut butter and apple butter sandwich for lunch!
Can you overcook apple butter in the crock pot?
No, you can’t overcook apple butter in the crock pot. The longer you leave it in there on low, the more intense the flavors will become.
What are the best apples to use in apple butter?
While I opt for Granny Smith apples because they’re a great baking apple, many apple varieties work. This includes Fuji, Golden Delicious, Gala, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, McIntosh, Braeburn, and Jonagold.
What is the difference between apple sauce and apple butter?
Apple butter is basically a more concentrated and thicker version of applesauce as it’s cooked for a longer period of time. But if you want to make apple sauce instead, check out my crockpot cinnamon apple sauce recipe.
You may also like these sensational spreads:
Peach Preserves That Will Knock Your Socks Off
How To Make Strawberry Jam (No Cooking, No Canning)
Peach Freezer Jam (No Canning Involved)
Ingredients
- 2-3 50-oz jars unsweetened apple sauce
- 3 lbs Granny Smith apples
- 4 cups sugar
- 1.5 cups apple juice
- 2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp allspice
Instructions
- Peel and cut apples into small chips.3 lbs Granny Smith apples
- Place all ingredients in the crock pot and stir.2-3 50-oz jars unsweetened apple sauce, 3 lbs Granny Smith apples, 4 cups sugar, 1.5 cups apple juice, 2 tsp ground cinnamon, 1 tsp cloves, 1 tsp allspice
- Cover and slow cook on low overnight (eight to ten hours). Then remove the cover, stir, and taste. Add more spices or sugar if desired.
- Continue cooking for a few more hours, uncovered, until some of the liquid has gone and the butter has cooked down a bit.
- Pour into jars and refrigerate (unless it is canned properly).
- Serve over hot biscuits, toast, scones, or just eat it out of the jar if no one is looking!
Nutrition
I can smell these cooking even before they’re actually cooking in the crockpot. Years ago, I put apples, butter & sugar into my crockpot & cooked them on low all day, they were fabulous……glad you posted these recipe…time to do it again. 😀
Ohhh, I can smell them too Peggy!
My husband and I had to move away to West Virginia a few years ago, and lived there for about 31/2 years. Folks in West Virginia make apple butter in the fall, host big events for it, churches get together and make it, and the Girl Scouts sold it every year. I did not grow up with apple butter and had not known about it until I was grown and learned about it from Cracker Barrell. We are back in Alabama now, but glad for our apple butter experience in West Virginia! I would love to try your version and smell that wonderful goodness in my kitchen!
Vicki, Wasn’t it so fun to come together and make apple butter with all of the awesome aromas drifting through the air then looking up in the mountains that God had so amazingly painted like the canvas of a masterpiece. Which it was, God’s masterpiece. So glad you got to experience that in your life. I live in Texas and do miss seeing the Autumn Glory!
I hope you get to try it soon Vicki!!
Christy THANKS for bringing back some beautiful memories of my childhood. When I was a child in West Virginia and it was apple harvest time the ladies in the neighborhood would all gather at one house and either peel with a knife or an apple peeler if you were lucky enough to have one. Then us kids would stand taking turns with a wooden paddle that had holes in in it and a long handle and we would stir those apples all day over an open fire with a huge cast iron pot on the fire. OH talk about an AMAZING aroma we couldn’t wait until the end of the day when the apple butter was finished and all jarred up to be divided amongst the families. What was left over we all got to take a biscuit left over from breakfast or lunch and smear that biscuit real good against the side of that big ol’ pot then put a gob of home churned butter. thank you Lord for such beautiful country memories! I would not have dreamed about being rich with money as we always new we were rich with love, family, God, and neighbors. the best kind of rich there is.
Oh wow, what wonderful memories Marsha!!
Christy, Have you ever tried pear butter in the crockpot? And friend gave me a good bit of pears, and I was thinking of putting them in my crockpots and trying to make pear butter!
Just wondering if you have and if so, what seasonings have or would you use.
Thanks Christy!
Hi Tina,
I have made two crockpots full of Pear Butter in the last couple of days. It is great & has about the same texture as Apple Butter. I also gather pears from our tree & peel/core them into a large bowl of salty water then drain & bag for the freezer. I don’t go to the trouble to cut into small pieces, a potato masher takes care of that in minutes after they’ve crocked for several hours. Good luck!
Do you use cinnamon oil and can u do more apples and not the Apple sauce cuz I have slot of apples please let me know thanks
I see several people have the same question as I do, does this freeze. I freeze apple sauce all the time and would love to try this recipe if I can freeze it.
Absolutely! Be sure and leave about an inch headspace and freeze away! Yumm!
Thank you I am headed into apple country this week I will pick some up and make a batch
Just waiting for it to cook down now……..I used the cheese grater for the apples (they were so nice and crisp!), I was too impatient to ‘chip’ them, I sure hope it won’t ruin it somehow……it looks and SMELLS fabulous!