Perfect Apple Butter
- PREP 10min
- COOK 12hrs
- TOTAL 12hrs 10min
This slow cooker apple butter recipe is easy and delicious! Perfectly sweet, lightly spiced, and with a rich and concentrated apple flavor, it’s so much better than store-bought.
The hard cider in this recipe makes slightly thinner apple butter. We love the flavor it adds and especially love the slight bitterness from the hard cider. If you find that your apple butter is too thin after cooking for our recommended times, don’t worry; we have provided tips in the recipe and tips section below.
You Will Need
3 ½ pounds apples, 8 to 9 medium apples
1 cup (200 grams) brown sugar
1 tablespoon Chinese Five Spice, see notes
1/2 cup (165 grams) honey
1 (12-ounce) bottle hard cider, see notes
Pinch salt, optional
Directions
Core and chop the apples into 1/2-inch pieces. There is no need to peel them.
In a large bowl, toss the apples with brown sugar and Chinese Five Spice, then add to your slow cooker.
Pour over the honey and hard apple cider. Season with a pinch or two of salt, if desired (I almost always do).
Cover and cook on LOW for 10 hours.
Uncover and cook on high for another 2 hours to reduce the liquid around the apples.
Use an immersion blender to puree the apples until silky and smooth. If the apple butter seems thin, don’t worry; you can thicken it easily. Continue to cook uncovered in the slow cooker for another hour or until you are happy with the texture (see tips below for fixing runny apple butter). Keep in mind that it will thicken slightly as it cools.
Adam and Joanne's Tips
- Chinese Five Spice: A blend of Chinese cinnamon, star anise, cloves, Sichuan (Szechuan) peppercorns, and fennel. It’s delicious in apple butter. If you do not have it, consider using this homemade pumpkin spice blend or substitute with cinnamon.
- Slow cooker: We use a 6-quart slow cooker, but you should be okay with a slow cooker as small as 4.5 quarts.
- My apple butter is too thin: Here are two ways to thicken apple butter: first, reduce it for a longer time. You can do this in the slow cooker with the lid off or on the stove over medium-low heat. Reducing on the stove will take less time but requires your constant attention since it can over-reduce and burn. The slow cooker takes more time but is more hands-off. Second, if you’ve already tried to reduce your apple butter and it’s still too runny, you can add a cornstarch slurry. Mix one tablespoon of cornstarch with two tablespoons of water and then whisk into the simmering apple butter. Cook for 10 to 15 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened.
- Alcohol-free version: Substitute the hard apple cider with non-alcoholic apple cider or leave it out altogether. Apple butter made without the cider will be a bit thicker.
- Vegan apple butter: Substitute the honey for maple syrup and use vegan-certified brown sugar.
- Storing: Store apple butter in an airtight container in the refrigerator for two weeks or freeze for several months.
- Canning: Apple butter can be canned, but you will need to use a pressure canner. We do not have instructions for pressure canning. We recommend following the instructions that came with your canning equipment.
- The nutrition facts provided below are estimates.