How to make homemade CrockPot apple butter filled with cinnamon spice flavors! Easy slow cooker recipe perfect for canning or freezing.
Every year in August and September, I love to make apple butter. So far I've written an Instant Pot apple butter recipe; and now I'm sharing how to make apple butter in a CrockPot.
While I normally like to wait for Jonathan or JonaGold seconds in the fall, I used a mix of Gala and Fuji for this batch, since it's all I could find. And I have to say, they made a really delicious homemade apple butter. I'd go so far as to say it's been my best batch yet.
There's not a whole lot of work to this recipe, besides peeling and slicing the apples. And even that's made easy with the apple peeler/slicer/corer I prefer to use; it makes the job a whole lot quicker and easier.
I love eating slow cooker apple butter on my toast in the mornings at breakfast; it's perfectly delicious on Grandma's homemade biscuits too.
If you're wondering whether or not I've made a stovetop version of apple butter, fret no more. You now have your choice of how to make it, including a delicious stovetop apple butter.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE ACTUAL RECIPE CARD?
If you’d rather skip all of my apple butter making tips, important cooking info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the CrockPot apple butter recipe – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card.
WONDERING, “WHAT IS APPLE BUTTER?” HERE’S THE ANSWER!
According to Wikipedia, “Apple butter is a highly concentrated form of apple sauce produced by long, slow cooking of apples with cider or water to a point where the sugar in the apples caramelizes, turning the apple butter a deep brown.”
Apple butter is a mixture of apples and spices, very similar to applesauce and cinnamon applesauce, but a little sweeter, a little darker, and filled with cinnamon spice flavors.
For this recipe, we use spices like nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and cinnamon. You could also use homemade apple pie spice. And we put everything in the slow cooker and slow cook it for 6 to 8 hours.
INGREDIENTS YOU'LL NEED:
- Fresh apples – We'll talk about the best types of apples to use a little further below.
- Molasses
- Sugar – I use pure cane sugar; you can use granulated sugar too.
- Light brown sugar
- Ground nutmeg
- Ground cloves
- Ground allspice
- Ground cinnamon
- Lemon juice
- Vanilla extract
Remember, all of the ingredient amounts you’ll need are in the printable recipe card below.
KITCHEN TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT YOU'LL NEED:
Apple Peeler/Corer/Slicer – I’m telling you, this tool is so worth every penny we spent at the thrift store, but I’d order one brand new too. My advice is to go with the one that clamps to your tabletop versus the apple peeler with a suction cup.
Paring Knife and Cutting Board – for trimming off any bad spots or slicing the apples.
Slow Cooker – Mine is a 7-quart Crock-Pot slow cooker.
Immersion Blender or Potato Masher – This will allow you to get the texture or consistency that you want. An immersion blender makes it easy to purée the apples when they've fully cooked, without having to take them out and put them in a food processor or blender. You can just blend them up right in the CrockPot.
Jar Funnel for canning apple butter – This helps to pour the apple butter into the jars without making a huge mess.
Ladle or Cupcake Scoop or Funnel Pitcher – to pour the apple butter into the jars.
Jars – You can use 4-ounce jelly jars or pint jars. I’ve found 8-ounce jelly jars are just the right size for us with the amount of jam and apple butter we eat in a 3-week period. If you already have jars, you may need new lids or a pack of lids and bands.
Water Bath Canner or Pressure Canner and Cooker
Sharpie and/or Jar Labels – so you can label your jars and know what it is and when you made this particular batch.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE BEST APPLES FOR APPLE BUTTER?
Fall is the best time to find apples, but you can use any apples you can get, whether you’re shopping at an orchard, a farmer’s market, or buying store bought apples.
However, in the fall, you can usually buy seconds at just about any orchard, and sometimes at the farmer’s market. Meaning you can buy a HUGE box of apples for a lot less than normal cost, which is going to save you a ton of money.
Now I will say… It takes a LOT of apples to get very little apple juice, apple jelly, apple butter, or homemade applesauce. But in my opinion, it’s totally worth it.
WHAT ARE THE BEST APPLES TO USE?
There are certain types of apples that are sweeter and certain types of apples that have a more tart taste. Galas and Fujis are sweeter with a slightly tart taste.
The best apples for apple butter may include:
- Jonathan
- Jonagold
- Braeburn
- Fuji
- Gala
- McIntosh Red
- Cortland
- Winesap
HOW TO MAKE APPLE BUTTER IN A CROCKPOT
You can make this recipe on the stovetop, and you can even make it in the Instant Pot. Of course, cooking times will differ.
Before starting anything, it's important to wash your apples. I usually like to soak mine in a vinegar/water bath for at least 10 minutes, then rinse.
You'll need 4 pounds of apples.
It's also important to prep your jars for canning or freezing.
THEN JUST FOLLOW THESE STEPS…
- Core, peel, and slice the apples; again, an apple slicer, corer, parer for apple butter makes this step so easy. Cut out any bad spots, as well. Note: While I do leave the peeling on when making homemade applesauce, and you can do that for apple butter too, I chose not to for this recipe.
- Put the sliced apples in the slow cooker.
- Add molasses, sugar, brown sugar, spices, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to the apples.
- Stir everything together well.
Place the lid on the slow cooker, and cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours, or 'til the apples are tender.
HOW TO MAKE APPLE BUTTER SMOOTH
Once your apples are tender and it's fully cooked, it's ready to blend.
Uncover your slow cooker, and use an immersion blender to purée the apple butter 'til it's smooth. If you feel it needs to thicken, you can cook it on high with the lid off for an additional hour.
TIPS FOR FREEZING OR CANNING APPLE BUTTER
Using a jar funnel, pour the apple butter into each prepared jar… You can use a ladle, but I like to use my cupcake batter scoop or funnel pitcher to dip and pour. It makes the process so easy and less messy.
Wipe the top rim of each jar with a wet towel or rag, place the lid on, and tighten the band.
Choose to can or freeze it…
- You can freeze apple butter, but be sure to leave about a 1/2-inch gap at the top of each jar to allow for expansion in the freezer. Also, allow the jars to completely cool before placing in the freezer.
- We prefer to use a hot water bath canning method (at least 15 minutes in a hot water bath) to can the apple butter. If you choose to can it, Ball has wonderful Canning Guides to guide you through the process. You can also consult the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
Before you put your apple butter in the freezer or the pantry, be sure to write what it is and the year on the lid, so you know when you made it. There are plenty of options for pretty jar labels for apple butter too.
This recipe makes probably about 4-6 pints.
HOW LONG WILL APPLE BUTTER LAST?
Canned apple butter will last about 2 years; frozen apple butter will last about 1 year.
MORE APPLE RECIPES YOU MAY ENJOY:
- Apple Crumb Pie
- Old-Fashioned Apple Crumble
- No-Peel Cinnamon Applesauce
- CrockPot Mulled Cider
- Cinnamon Baked Apples
- 50 Apple Recipes for Fall
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Easy CrockPot Apple Butter Recipe
Equipment
- Johnny Apple Peeler Cast Iron Clamp Base, Apple Slicer, Corer, Parer & Pie maker, Red
- Mueller Austria Ultra-Stick 500 Watt 9-Speed Immersion Multi-Purpose Hand Blender
- 1.5″ Homemade with Love Canning Labels for Jars / 500 Labels Per Roll
- Mason Jars 8 OZ with Regular Lids, 15 PACK
- Granite Ware Enamel-on-Steel Canning Kit, 9-Piece
- All American Canner Pressure Cooker, 30 qt, Silver
Ingredients
- 4 pounds apples
- 1/4 cup molasses
- 1/2 cup pure cane sugar*
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Before starting anything, it's important to wash your apples. I usually like to soak mine in a vinegar/water bath for at least 10 minutes, then rinse.
- It's also important to prep and sterilize your jars for canning or freezing.
- Core, peel, and slice the apples; an apple slicer, corer, parer for apple butter makes this step so easy. Cut out any bad spots, as well. Note: While I do leave the peeling on when making applesauce, and you can do that for apple butter too, I chose not to for this recipe.
- Put the sliced apples in the slow cooker.
- Add molasses, sugar, brown sugar, spices, lemon juice, and vanilla extract to the apples.
- Stir everything together well.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker, and cook on low for about 6 to 8 hours, or 'til the apples are tender.
- Once your apples are tender and it's fully cooked, uncover your slow cooker, and use an immersion blender to purée the apple butter 'til it's smooth. At this point, if you feel it needs to thicken, you can cook it on high with the lid off for an additional hour.
- Using a jar funnel, pour the apple butter into each prepared jar… You can use a ladle, but I like to use my funnel pitcher or cupcake batter scoop to dip and pour. It makes the process so easy and less messy.
- Wipe the top rim of each jar with a wet towel or rag, place the lid on, and tighten the band.
- You can freeze apple butter, but be sure to leave about a 1/2-inch gap at the top of each jar to allow for expansion in the freezer. Also, allow the jars to completely cool before placing in the freezer.
- We prefer to use a hot water bath canning method to can the apple butter, immersing the closed jars in boiling water for at least 15 minutes. If you choose to can it, Ball has wonderful Canning Guides to guide you through the process. You can also consult the Ball Blue Book Guide to Preserving.
- Before you put your apple butter in the freezer or the pantry, be sure to write what it is and the year on the lid, so you know when you made it.
Notes
- Jonathan
- Jonagold
- Braeburn
- Fuji
- Gala
- McIntosh Red
- Cortland
- Winesap
Really delicious and easy. I also freeze some of mine in plastic freezer bags, laying flat in the freezer.
Thanks so much, Holly! Yes, this apple butter keeps very well in the freezer.
Thanks so much for the recipe. I’ve been wanting to make apple butter. Your recipe has molasses. That’s different and interesting. It’s in the crock pot now. Smells wonderful! Love the spices. I added figs from my tree. Only a few were ripe 10, so will let you know how it turns out. Thanks again.
The molasses adds a lot of flavor to the recipe without making it overly sweet. We really like it. That’s a great idea, adding figs to the pot!
Can this be done in an instant pot to speed up the cooking time?
Yes, that would be fine, Dean. In fact, I have a recipe for Instant Pot apple butter. Just type “Instant Pot Apple Butter” in the search bar.
I loved the apple butter i made making it again today going to try to add some cranberries to it
I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe! Be sure to report back the results of adding cranberries to it!