The Best Slow Cooker Apple Butter Ever
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This is the best slow cooker apple butter you’ll ever have, I promise. It’s really hard to find really good apple butter at our local grocery stores. This recipe can be made with or without the cinnamon red hots.
Apples are being picked and delivered to grocery stores in my area at this time. In my humble opinion, the best ones come from Washington State. But maybe that’s because I live in Utah, and those are the best-tasting ones we can buy here.
I remember growing up and making apple butter with my mother from the surplus apples we were given. Of course, back then we didn’t have a slow cooker, but the results are the same. It’s just easier to make it now with a slow cooker because you can prep the ingredients, set it, and forget it.
The house smells heavenly, by the way, with those apples simmering in the slow cooker. I remember making apple pie filling with my daughters, and I can’t find that recipe. The house would smell so good with the combination of apples and cinnamon cooking on the stove.
The Best Slow Cooker Apple Butter Ever
Step One
The first step is to grab your slow cooker. You can peel, core, and slice or chop your apples as needed. I like to use an apple peeler. Of course, you can use a good knife to prep the apples as well.
Step Two
Now you cover the apples in sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and red hots. Now, the red hots are optional, but they add a little twist to the apple butter. The finished product looks beautiful in jars, making it an ideal gift.
Step Three
Cover and cook on high for one hour.
Step Four
Continue cooking on low for three to four hours. Your house will smell amazing!
Step Five
Cool slightly, and run the apples through a blender until smooth. Now, place the mixture back into the slow cooker and continue cooking throughout the day. You want it to cook down and thicken up.
Step Six
Remove the excess liquid and place the remaining apple butter in mason jars. This batch will make about 6-8 pints, depending on how many apples you start with.
When cool, place the jars in the refrigerator to store them.
Is your mouth watering yet? Oh my goodness, this is incredibly easy to make, and your neighbors will love it! I say bring on the apples, now.
It’s perfect to spread on your freshly toasted bread.
Slow Cooker Apple Butter Recipe
- 12 cored, peeled, and chopped apples (fill the slow cooker)
- 4 cups sugar
- 4 teaspoons cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 cup cinnamon red hots (optional)
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Start by filling your slow cooker with your apples.
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Wash, remove stems and cores. Chop or clice apples.
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Cover in sugar, cinnamon, cloves, salt, and red hots. Cook on high for 1 hour.
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Lower the heat and continue cooking for an additional 3 to 4 hours. Run through a blender until smooth.
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Place back in the slow cooker and cook for the remainder of the day (total cooking time about 9 hours).
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In the evening, fill the mason jars and seal. Keep in mind it will thicken as it cools. It will keep safely for about two weeks in the refrigerator.
Which Apples Make The Best Apple Butter?
- Jonathan
- Winesap
- Stayman
- Golden Delicious
- Macintosh
- Gala
- Or any other tasty soft apple. The softer the apple, the quicker it will cook down to make apple butter
Where Did Apple Butter Originate?
Apple butter has an interesting history. This is a great way to enjoy apples, which originated in Europe and were brought to America by the colonists. Since there wasn’t any way to keep the apples grown by farmers and monastery residents fresh, these people experimented and developed a “preserve” process that has been used for centuries. Now we have fruit and vegetable canning as an approach to keep the aging apples safe to eat.
Is This Recipe Safe To Can?
No, it is not. I’m a Master Canner and Preserver, and I know this recipe is not safe to can. If you want to bottle some jars, please look at the recipe in the USDA Complete Guide to Home Canning or the Ball Canning Guide.
What’s The Difference Between Apple Butter and Applesauce?
They are both cooked with a combination of white sugar, brown sugar, and spices, but apple butter is cooked down to become a thick, caramelized spread.
Does Apple Butter Contain Butter?
No, it does not. It’s like Peanut Butter, it doesn’t have butter, either. The term butter refers to the thick, spreadable mixture. It’s as simple as that.
Can You Freeze This Recipe?
Yes, you can, just remember to leave enough room in the jar for the mixture to expand in the freezer.
Final Word
I really hope you try making this slow cooker apple butter. Here’s the deal: we need to prep, but we need to try new recipes whenever we can. Let me know if you’ve made homemade apple butter. I love to hear from you. We need to store water, food, emergency preps, and know how to cook from scratch.
I’m sure most of you know how to cook from scratch, but many people lack this skill. We need to teach others, and we need to know. Please keep prepping, we must. May God bless this world, Linda
Linda
The little town im from does Apple butter the old fashion way every fall. The peel, core and cut up about 50 bushels of apples and place in old fashion kettles outside and cooked over a fire all day and someone stirs it all day with wooden paddles. They make about 525 quarts. The Amercian Legion Auxiliary has been doing this for about 5 decades.
Hi June, oh my gosh, I can almost smell it! LOL! That would be so awesome to see!!! Thank you for sharing this, Linda
I have made slow cooker apple butter many times. Way easier than the way my mother made her homemade butters. One thing that I do differently, though, that as the apples get soft, I don’t puree the “sauce” but I use a potato masher to mash up the apples. I do this after the initial cook down and again as the butter thickens. It does leave some small chunks but I am ok with that. Also, after the initial cook down and mashing/pureeing, I use a wooden spoon to keep the lid lifted a little as it further cooks and thickens. This eliminates the liquid or most of the liquid you mentioned.
As I was growing up, we put apples in the freezer for pies. We had one lone apple tree on our property and it grew huge apples. They made great pies! Well, all of the cores and peels went into a large (turkey) roasting pan with the sugar, cinnamon and cloves and a bit of water (don’t ask for measurements – mom did all of this by sight not by measurements!!). This all went into the oven at 250 F. We stirred it occasionally and cooked it down for hours (again, no particular time frame). When it was cooked to mom’s satisfaction, we put it all through a food mill. Finally, we DID can the butter by water bath canning.
So, without purchasing the book you mention on canning, why do you say it cannot be canned?
Another “butter” that we did by the same method was pear butter. It was the same in respect to the sugar, cinnamon and cloves and methods. It was also VERY good!!
This time of year, we can purchase pumpkin butter at Trader Joe’s. I suppose it is made basically the same as apple butter as well. It is a wonderful substitute for peanut butter in cookies! OH my – I need to get some to make cookies now!
Hi Leanne, the recipe in my Master Canning book has these ingredients that are acceptable to canning. 8 pounds apples, 2 cups cider, 2 cups vinegar, 1-1/4 cups sugar, 2-1/4 cups brown sugar, 2 tablespoons cinnamon, 1 tablespoon cloves. It’s a hot bath recipe and then water bath canned. I knew someone would ask me if it was safe to can. I cannot in good conscience say it is safe to can. I have never made pear butter, sounds yummy! Linda
We’ve called it Pear honey. Well, my mother did. We water bath canned it. I’ve also made pear preserves. Neither are very hard to do.
Hi Deborah, oh I’ve never made pear preserves. I have only water bathed pears, oh my gosh, they are so good!! Hard to peel, but so worth it! Linda
Pear preserves were one of the first things I ever canned. My Ex-father-in-law wanted me to make him some. He had some huge pears. I called my grandmother to find out how to make them.
Peel the pears. Cut into chunks or slices. Sprinkle with plenty of sugar. Let them sit overnight. They will make their own juice. Add any spices you want, I didn’t add any. Cook until pears are soft and the juice is cooked down. Put in hot jars. Wipe rims of jars. Add lid and ring finger tight. Water bath can for about 10-15 minutes, after it comes to a full boil. Lift jars out onto a towel out of a draft. Wait for the pings. If any don’t ping, place in refrigerator. I’m not big on pear preserves, but love pear butter (honey).
Hi Deborah, thank you for sharing this recipe! Yummy! Linda
Many years ago I was a young wife, hugely pregnant with my sixth child & my husband came in, proud as can be, & presented me with 60 lbs of pears he had been given by his employer. We were too poor to waste such a bounty but in my condition putting up that many pears was overwhelming! I had never heard of pear butter but knew how to make apple butter so that became my mission. It was wonderful & I usually make (a smaller amount) each year. Always takes me back over 40 years.
Hi Linda, I got the giggles about the pears because I can totally relate to needing those pears to feed the family. It’s just pears are harder to peel to can!! Oh, how I loved them after they were canned!! But hugely pregnant and needing to peel 60 lbs!! I love hearing you figured out how to make pear butter, I have never made that, great story, thank you for sharing!! Linda
I have an abundance red delicious apples. Would I be able to use this Apple to make apple butter? The recipe looks so good and simple. Thanks
Hi Jill, I use all kinds of apples, go for it, you will love it! Linda
Last year, out pear trees were loaded with pears. Overnight every one disappeared. The trees are really thin and tall. We didn’t get even one. Oh, and there were nothing on the ground. This year, we got none. =(
We had two apple trees. One died. The other has never made any apples. We need to get another apple tree.
Hi Deborah, they were loaded with pears, and overnight they disappeared? Are you talking about the blossoms? Or did critters eat them? Dang!! Linda
We think it was a two legged critter that got them. They were pears. Not blooms. Full not quite ripe pears. If we have pears next year, we will put our game camera out to see who or what gets them. We did tell our neighbor that we were turning back on the security camera.
Hi Deborah, wow, good thing you have the game security camera. Darn those critters! Linda
I agree. We also have regular security cameras in other places around the house. They will record if needed. We do have one pointed at the gate to our driveway. You can’t get in unless you have a remote or know the code.
Oh, we also have a hot wire on top of the chain link fence. It will bite you! Ask me how I know. LOL
Hi Deborah, yikes, oh my gosh!! LOL! Funny, not funny! LOL! Linda
I don’t use the red hots or the cloves but often add some Ceylon Cinnamon. I also pressure can apple butter. I use it every time we have pork chops, also on waffles and pancakes, or French toast, and just as a snack. And you are so right about how it makes your house smell like apples and cinnamon.
I need to try this recipe though. I’ve got a couple of bushels of apples we just harvested.
Oh, and when I make apple pie filling or apple sauce I use my apple corer/peeler. It spiralizes the apples into perfectly even cuts so they cook evenly. I use it when I’m dehydrating apple slices too. And there’s almost no waste since my chickens love the peels. (I don’t feed them the cores since apple seeds contain small amounts of cyanide.)
Hi Ray, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend. I love using the apple peeler! I need to pressure some apples, great idea! I would love them on waffles, pancakes, or French toast. My neighbor has chickens, I will take my peelings to her, great tip! We trade my hydroponic lettuce for her eggs. You are so blessed to have fruit trees! Love it! Linda
Linda, I’m also buried in cucumbers right now–all of them from just two hybrid Sweet Success plants. For the first time ever I have more cukes than zucchini. I’ve also been giving away Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes. My Tuscany cantaloupe and Kajari Honeydew melons all have several fruits on them that will be ready for harvest soon–and my Crimson Sweet and Cal Wonder watermelons have finally set fruit as well. So far this year between the garden and the fruit trees we’re eating well.
Don’t recall if I told you but more than a week ago I dug 15-20 lbs of Red Pontiac potatoes from a 4×8′ section of one of my raised beds.
Tomorrow I’m digging up the Canola Russets from the other half of that bed and hoping for similar results.
This is the first year I can deem my potato growing efforts a true success as several have been fist sized, so it seems I’ve finally figured out how to grow potatoes to a useable size here in the desert.
Hi Ray, yay on the cucumbers! Those melons sound so good! I love hearing you harvested so many potatoes! Oh how I wish we lived closer to you! I would love some more land! Texas and Oklahoma sound good too! But I’m getting too old to move and start again! Whew, this move did me under, almost! LOL! Linda
I’ve given serious thought to Texas (close to the coast) and Eastern Oklahoma (around Grand Lake of the Cherokees), as those places get this weird stuff called rain. You know, water actually falling from the sky. Something we’ve heard about here in the desert but rarely experience.
But I suspect we’ll remain here and make the best of it since we are old enough to not want to move again.
HI Ray, I would stay put, you have your gardens all set up and producing so well. Rain from the sky would be nice unless it starts flooding like Texas! I’m not sure I could pack up my house again. I’m giving away everything possible to my dear friends I knew when we lived here years ago. It’s called decluttering, and it feels so good to give high quality pans to friends! I’m becoming more simplistic these days. LOL! Whatever that means! Linda
Looking forward to making with granddaughter who loves apple butter.
Saw comments on pear honey. Hubby’s WKY family makes with an old fashioned ugly pear but add shredded canned pineapple!
Hi Marilynne, thank you for the 5 stars, my sweet friend! Pear honey sounds good as well! Yummy!! Linda