Crock Pot Apple Butter
For instructions on how easy it is to can this apple butter, please click here. Thank you so much for reading Southern Plate and don’t forget to check back in tomorrow for another apple recipe! Gratefully, Christy
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.
We are very fortunate to have our Cracker Barrel restaurants, where you can get an apple butter fix any time of day. The Apple Barn in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee is also a favorite by all who have been there and had fresh apple butter spooned over a hot apple fritter. We even have some good brands in our grocery stores such as Bama brand apple butter (Which I just found out is actually made by Welchs and available only in the Southeastern United States). Still, when it comes to filling your house with yummy scents and filling your tummy with spicy goodness, nothing beats homemade.
Apple butter is surprisingly easy to make, especially with the help of a crock pot. Still, folks seem to be intimidated by it. Perhaps its the complex taste of the spices combined with how few people actually do make it anymore which causes it to be shyed away from in our kitchens. There is no need though as making apple butter with this recipe is likely one of the easiest things that I’ve brought you so far!
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 apple butter smell (you might want to save this until after you’ve made biscuits because that breakfast table will fill up pretty quickly!). We eat a breakfast of 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.
Our ingredients are: Two large jars of unsweetened applesauce (three pounds or fifty ounces), sugar, 3 lbs granny smith apples, apple juice, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice. Exact recipe is at bottom of page.
“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 them and cutting little chips of them off. Place in large crock pot along with both jars of apple sauce, sugar, spices, and a bit of apple juice (exact quantities at the bottom). If you feel like it is too much sugar for you or too much 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 Splenda instead of sugar!
My advice in doing that would be to put a wee bit less Splenda than the amount of sugar it calls for.
Stir well and cover with lid. Cook on low overnight, eight to ten hours.
At this point your butter will be dark brown and rich, but with 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 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 “its 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, you can simply leave the jars on a shelf in your pantry. Otherwise you would need to refrigerate them and use within two to three weeks. You can also place in jars and freeze to keep it longer without having to can it. Personally, I ended up with eight pints of it. Last time I made it, my company ate almost two pints at dinner. I sent a few pints home with them, gave one to another neighbor, one to another…..and so on and so forth. Long story short is, out of eight pints, I have one left for my own personal use. ~grins~ Now that’s when you know you’ve done good!
Ingredients
- 2- 3 lb (50 oz) jars unsweetened apple sauce
- 3 lbs granny smith apples
- 4 cups sugar
- 1 1/2 cups apple juice
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp cloves
- 1 tsp allspice
Instructions
- Peel and cut apples into small chips. Place all ingredients in the crock pot and stir.
- Cover and cook on low overnight (eight to ten hours). Remove 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 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!
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Posted by Christy Jordan
on Jul 7 2008. Filed under Breads, Breakfast, Crock Pot, Dessert, FEATURED Southern Favorites!, Sauces/Other, Southern Classics.
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Hello. I made apple butter in the crockpot with the intention of canning same day. I could not find my pot so had to stick butter in the fridge. I want to can the batch tomorrow. Do I need to rewarm the apple butter before placing in cans.
Hey Monica! I would rewarm it. Just stick it in the microwave if you want, until it is very hot throughout. You can also stick it back in the crock pot until it reaches a good hot temp throughout as well. Whichever is most convenient for you. I’ve had to do that before when I didn’t have the jars I needed and it worked out fine. (I used the microwave).
Thanks!
Christy
Thank you for the info and the quick resonse.
Christy, I did the same as Monica except that I put mine in canning jars and then into the freezer. Now with the holidays approaching I NEED the freezer space. Can I thaw the apple butter in the fridge, re-heat and then can in a water bath canner??? Logically, it sounds ok, but is it?? Thanks, Christy.
I cooked this in the crock over night…actually I had to put it in two. I wake up and there are still chunks of apple in my butter
ALSO it is kind of tart also could be my taster first thing in the morning BUT incase it is not…any ideas? Making this for the hubby, we had a long talk about how we use to eat apple butter right out of the jar as kids and he smiled and laughed the whole time …he is so cute 
Holy Cow !!!!! I never in my 60 years tasted something so good nor saw something get gone so quick as I did this apple butter.. It was simply delicious, Christy.. I canned 5 quarts the latter part of November and it is all gone.. I told my wife I could kick my own rear end for not doing this long ago.. I never knew canning could be so easy to do.. I look forward to many more of your ” award winning ” recipes.. God bless !!
OOPS .. Should have been 5 pints..
Oh yum! Crock Pot Apple Butter reminds me of what it must have been like in the ole homestead when Mom put on a pot of something from scratch that cooked all day. The delicious scent tweaked the nose and permeated the house when the family came in from milking or farm work or the kids came home from school. If it was vegetable soup or stew it was savory; and it if was sweet, cinnamon-y and apple-y, it was apple butter, which was SO delicious on fresh biscuits right out of the oven. This was aromatherapy before they invented the word! Take me home, country roads… to the place, I belong…
[...] Slow Cooker Apple Butter [...]
This is the greatest site for REAL southern recipes
Thank you Angelya!!
OK, so you don’t actually put butter IN the recipe? I can’t wait to try. I’ve always wanted to can something.
Can you use regular apples that are green? My hubby bought the wrong ones. Not Granny Smith.
THX!!
Lesley Cox
Sure can!!
So is there a total of 50oz of applesauce in the recipe or 100oz? I was confused by the 2-3lbs.
You may not see this, but it’s 2 big 50 oz jars of applesauce so 100 oz total
You can tell because the picture has 2 jars and in the recipe itself she refers to them as jars with an s rather than just jar. In the step by step blog post, she writes out “two large jars.” That’s how I’ve made it and it’s great! You can make the apple butter without any apple sauce (just use a lot more apples), but that’s a lot of apple coring, peeling, and slicing and would get pretty expensive if you don’t have a source of inexpensive apples.
I’m making your apple butter for the second time right now, it’s simmering away in the crock pot and smells amazing! We just loved it when I made it last year
This time I have my fancy 3 crock crock pot so am making a great big batch in the 6 quart crock- last time I had to halve the recipe! Can’t wait for it to be done.
[...] – Sweet and Sour Green Beans….I don’t make them any other way anymore…made the apple butter in the crock pot…canned 5 pints…my nephew who gave me the apples thinks I’m a genius. I have [...]
If you are planning to can this recipe, how long do you process the jars? Or, if it requires more than just a hot water bath processing, how do you go about canning it?
Have I got a post for you!
Canning, the Musical! http://www.southernplate.com/2008/09/yes-you-can-can-canning-tutorial-with.html
[...] two nights before. I heated that up, made this casserole, and then made some hoe cake. I put some crock pot apple butter, grape jelly, and molasses on the table to go along with the hoe cake. My leftover night did NOT [...]
[...] written about Southern Plate at Life At The Lake. So very sweet! The Adventures Of Heather made apple butter and canned it using the canning [...]
Christy, just found your website a couple weeks ago and I am loving it so much. I have tried the home brewed coffee and the House Autry pork chops. Both were so good. I have on my list for this week the sweet and sour green beans and the grilled chicken without the grill. This afternoon I am going to the Apple house to get apples for the slow cooked apple butter. Going to can a couple jars and freeze what is left. I really want to can it all but don’t have a large enough pot. I’m going to my brother’s house soon to snoop around and see if he still has our Mom’s cold bath canner. lol. There are so so many things on your site I want to try and I will soon. We have been getting so bored with eating out and having the same old things at home. You have given me so many great ideas. One more thing I have been doing is making and freezing the leftover bread as french toast. Not one piece of bread was thrown out this week..(Sorry birds, you will just have to make do with all the sunflower seeds we buy for you.) I have been passing on some of these ideas to my super busy daughter as she has no time to be on the computer for fun. Well off I go now to the Apple House. By the way, have you ever had a Mutsu apple? My fav but you can only get them around the 2nd week of September for about a month.
I haven’t ever had a Mutsu Apple. I am going to have to look for them and see if I can find some. What do they compare to?
We like to get the Mutsus from an orchard shortly after they come in. Here in East Tennessee that would be the second week of September. They are only around for about 3 or 4 weeks. About that time they taste and look like a Golden Delicious. BTW I made your slow cooker apple butter and it was very good. I always loved apple butter as a child. In recent years I could never find any that tasted good, just bland. I never knew it was so easy to make. I used Ozark Gold apples. I have tried several of your recipes and tips and it has sure improved my life. Love the cold brewed coffee, the house Autry chops. I have cooked roast beef in the slow cooker for many years and never thought to put the gravy in first. What a difference!! Thank you so much for all you do. It is much appreciated.
I need suggestions on making this sugarfree. Can I use splenda?
Great recipe – I think I will make some later today or sometime tomorrow. My Mom has an apple tree in her back yard so I make my own apple sauce to make the apple butter. This cuts down on her production as she usually makes about 100 apple pies to be shared amongst my siblings, the grandkids and the great grandkids. I also make crabapple butter or a combination of the two – apples and crabapples. I have been known to combine fruits as well just to make a “fruit butter” – apples and raspberries is great and sometimes I add some raisins to the apple butter. Depends if it is going to be eaten as a “jam” a “butter” or as a condiment with roast port, ham or pork chops. I also just slice and freeze to be used later in the winter for cakes and other desserts or to make up another batch of apple butter. I have to be creative as don’t want the apples to go to waste.
Right now I am cooking up the chokecherries b and only tasting (several times) will prove that. In otherwords, they need a pint jar or so………LOL I tell them that I might be getting Old(er) but it hasn’t had an effect on my logic…
PS – Mom is 81 and still going strong in the canning, freezing and preserving department.
Hey you had similar recipe out a little while back and in that one you were freezing the jars. can you do that with this one?
Hi Christy, This apple butter is awesome. I made a half recipe and it turned out great. When I get up Sunday morning, the first thing I will do is make some homemade biscuits for this apple butter. The aroma of the apples and all those spices cooking filled my house with a sweet scent. Better than any potpourri. I am currently looking for a great mincemeat pie recipe. Any recipes you can recommend?
This summer I got a great deal on a case of jelly jars. I don’t really want to make jelly, but couldn’t turn away from a good deal. Now I know what to do with them. I think I smell Christmas gifts simmering in the crockpot…LOL A jar of apple butter, a loaf of fresh bread, and maybe an assortment of tea bags all packaged in a nice gingham lined basket. Or maybe just wrapped in a cute tea towel with a raffia bow. Thanks Christy
Great idea Beth!!
I need an answer!! I know it is short notice but I need an answer by Thursday afternoon. I made this apple butter a couple of weeks ago and it is amazing. I am wanting to make another batch Thursday night and can it on Friday. This time I was unable to find the 50 oz jars of applesauce. I got 46 oz ones. My question is would it be ok to just add 1 or 2 more apples and just keep the other ingredients the same? I am fairly confident that I can but I am a new canner and just want to be sure. Thanks in advance for any help you can give me, Christy or anyone else who may be reading this. Oh and one more question–The batch I made before made 3 pint jars and some that I put in the freezer. I only had 3 jars and I wanted to try it both ways anyway. I waterbathed canned them but I forgot to sterilize my jars!! I ate one pint, gave one away and it has been eaten. The other jar is sitting in my cupboard. Do you guys think it will be safe to eat? Just so ya’ll know–in my opinion–there is no difference in taste between the canned and frozen. Both are delicious.
I answered one of my own questions! I just read on the website of the National Center for Home Food Preservation that it is safe to not sterilize your jars if you do the waterbath boil for 10 minutes which I did. I will sterilize from now on though.
My husband loves PEAR butter…can I use the jarred applesauce but use fresh pears in place of fresh apples to make pear butter?
I’m getting ready to make this! I can’t wait until tomorrow morning to see how it tastes…and how the house smells.
What would be the hot bath time if one wishes to can this applebutter?
This is so good!!!! I’ve been eating spoonfuls of it all day!
Can this be frozen? I’m not brave enough to try canning!
Christy, I cooked that apple butter forever, it is still a bit runny (or it may just be me) but once it completely cools will it get thicker? It sure smells and tastes good, it just doesn’t look like yours.
This is the easiest apple butter to make! I made it and posted I had made it and everyone wanted the recipe or some apple butter! Also there is a neighbor whose husband has cancer and I took a jar of the apple butter and also a container of pumpkin butter that I also made and a loaf of home made bread over to them! They were so appreciated by my gift to them!
I just took my Apple Butter out of the crock pot. It smells & taste amazing!
Anyone know how to convert this to oven or stovetop? My crockpot went caput.
Can I use apple cider instead of apple juice?
I made this recipe about 3 years ago and handed it out for Christmas gifts. EVERYONE LOVED IT!!! They would call and ask if I had any left and for the recipe. I gladly gave it to them but always keeped mine guarded. In April of this year (2011) we suffered a flood and pretty much lost everything including my recipe. I really wanted to make it again so I searched and searched on-line, passing up some other decent looking recipes until i finally found this one. It is my favorite and I am so glad i was able to find it again.
Cristy I made the mistake of buying sweet applesauce how much should I cut the sugar amount?
This is definitely on my “to make” list! I love home-made apple butter, and I’ve been buying it when we go to Amish Country for $4.50 a pint! Expensive? Yes.
Delicious? Absolutely! Can’t wait to try my own! Thank You, Christy!!
I hope you enjoy it Debbie and you will love how your house is going to smell!!
I made the apple-butter last week, I only made a half-batch because of my crock pot size…. It’s all gone! I went today and bought the ingredients to make it again.. Absolutely Delicious!! Thanks again, Christy!! The smell coming from the kitchen is wonderful
I am so glad you liked it Debbie. I love the way it smells up the whole house!!