This Homemade Apple Butter recipe is velvety, rich, and tastes like apple pie!
Perfect on top of a homemade biscuit or roll, a slice of toast, or even by the spoonful, you’ll love the spiced apple flavor, with just enough sweetness of this homemade apple butter to keep you coming back for more.
In the past, I’ve only made apple butter crockpot style (those directions will be in the recipe notes section), which is great when I remember to plan ahead. Buuuuut if you’re like me, sometimes the mood for apple butter strikes you when you didn’t put everything in the slow cooker hours ago.
You may be wondering about how to make apple butter on the stove, and this is one of the best apple butter recipes and can be made in about an hour or hour and a half. That may seem like a long cooking time, but a lot of it is hands off and with this easy apple butter recipe, it can cook while you work on other things, like maybe make some Easy Homemade Buttermilk Biscuits or even sit back and enjoy a Raspberry Mimosa (or Mocktail).
If you’ve never had apple butter, you might be wondering what the heck it is!
WHAT’S THE DIFFERENCE BETWEEN APPLESAUCE AND APPLE BUTTER
They’re both similarly flavored, and made by cooking apples with spices and some sugar until tender. But where apple butter differs is that instead of stopping when it’s nice and saucy, you continue to cook it down until it becomes darker in color, more concentrated, thick, and glossy.
WHAT DO YOU DO WITH APPLE BUTTER
Honestly my favorite thing to do with apple butter is grab a spoon and dig in! However, spreading some on a slice of toast or a freshly baked biscuit or homemade dinner roll is a VERY close second. I know a lot of people use it to bake with (like apple butter bars or apple butter pumpkin pie), and it’s even used in sauces (such as ribs or glazed over a ham). It’s pretty versatile!
You might be wondering if apple butter is healthy, since it’s made from apples. Apple butter ingredients are fairly basic, but sadly, it’s pretty high in sugar, and therefore calories. That said, it does contain some fiber from the apples themselves. I wouldn’t put it in your list of diet-approved foods just yet, but it’s wonderful for a treat!
awesome apple recipes
- Creamy Apple Slaw Recipe –FRESH!
- Mini Caramel Apple Dippers
- Apple Cheese Danish Bars – Easy dessert idea!
- Apple Pie Cupcakes
- Easy Apple Cinnamon Rolls – Family favorite!
- Apple Pumpkin Butter
HOW LONG BEFORE APPLE BUTTER GOES BAD
That answer depends on how you’re storing it. If you are canning apple butter in sterilized jars, it should keep just about indefinitely. In the refrigerator, it’ll last several weeks to a month. In the freezer, about 4-6 months.
When you’re craving a taste of Fall, any time of year, pick up a bag of apples from the grocery store and whip up a batch of this easy homemade apple butter! For other amazing apple recipes check out this old-fashioned apple crisp or these caramel apple pie bars!
Homemade Apple Butter
Equipment
Ingredients
- 3 pounds sweet apples (fuji, braeburn, red delicious, golden delicious, etc)
- ⅔ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- ¾ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ¾ cup apple juice or cider
Instructions
- Peel, core, and chop apples. Add all ingredients to a large dutch oven or heavy-bottomed pot. Stir well, then heat over medium heat until apples are soft, about 20 minutes.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the mixture. Alternatively, transfer the mixture to a regular blender and puree, then pour back into the same pot.
- Cook over low heat for approximately 45 minutes, stirring occasionally to prevent spattering, until apple butter has thickened to desired consistency.
- Cool completely and store in an airtight container in the refrigerator. Apple butter can be frozen as well.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Snack
Cuisine American© SpendWithPennies.com. Content and photographs are copyright protected. Sharing of this recipe is both encouraged and appreciated. Copying and/or pasting full recipes to any social media is strictly prohibited. Please view my photo use policy here.
Like our recipes?
Follow us on Pinterest!
REPIN this Super Apple Treat Recipe!
More Recipes You’ll Love
Baked Apple Pie Roll Ups (video)
The Best Apple Crumb Pie Ever!
You can also use a potato masher to mash them in the crock pot if you want chunky apple sauce. This is how I make mine and it comes out wonderfully chunky
Great suggestion, Donna! Thanks for sharing. I love a chunkier apple sauce too!
Delicious, great recipe. My favorite way to enjoy apple butter is about a tablespoon in with a half a cup of cottage cheese, delicious very diet friendly.
So glad I stumbled onto your wonderful and easy apple recipes!
Delicious!!!
This is a great recipe. I love my immersion blender for it. I’m on my second batch of crockpot version. I left out the cloves because I didn’t have ground, only whole. I used the 1 Tablespoon lemon juice, but at the end I felt it needed more brightening so I added juice and zest of half an orange. It was perfect!! I’m bookmarking this, it’s a keeper!!
I have made this in the crock pot twice this season already! It is a huge hit with all who try it. I don’t use cloves, bump the cinnamon up a bit, and throw in an extra apple when I think I’m done (just for good measure). Turn the crock on high for 3-4 hours until tender, turn to low, and mash with potato masher a few times as it thickens. I would not be able to get the mixture in the blender until it cooled, but we like it a little chunky anyway. Thanks for a new go-to recipe!
I made the crockpot recipe and after 24 hours it’s still only slightly watery applesauce. Fabulously flavored applesauce, but definitely not apple butter.
Hi Bettin, we retested this recipe and to make in the crockpot you will want to omit the apple juice to ensure it thickens enough. The recipe has been updated to reflect this. Thanks!
This is soooo delish! I’m commenting to hopefully save someone else some trouble though. I didn’t have my kitchen scale handy and had to google how many apples makes a pound… bc I didn’t see it anywhere here and I have bulk apples. To hopefully make life easier for another, I found that 1 pound of apples makes about 3 cups of chopped, so I used 9 cups of chopped apples. Also, I didn’t have allspice and I’m not really a fan of nutmeg so I only used 1/4tsp. It came out excellent! Bookmarked so I can make it again :) Thank You for a great recipe!
Thanks K Tallo. So glad you enjoyed it.
Can you can this recipe? And store it for a year?
Hi R.Wilbur, this recipe can be canned, and should last a year or more if done properly :) Good luck!
omg cloves ruined my entire batch, and i only put in 1/8 teaspoon, this is probably a good recipe if you leave out the cloves.
I’m sorry to hear that you didn’t enjoy the cloves in this recipe Steve. Leave them out next time, and you’re set!
Can you put the apple butter in the jars and do a hot process ?
I’ve only made the recipe as written. I don’t do canning, so can’t say for sure Linda.
Do you have any recipes for APPLE BUTTER made Sugarless ???
I am sorry JD, this is the only way I have made apple butter.
Just leave the sugar out completely or if you want some sweetness cook with Splenda instead of sugar. Works just fine.
Do you use sweet butter or unsalted ?
This recipe doesn’t add butter.
Is this 3lbs of whole apples or peeled and cored??
3 lbs of whole apples.