Apple Pie Filling takes less than 15 minutes to make and has a great homemade flavor.
Tender chunks (or slices) of apples are perfectly sweet-tart simmered in a simple cinnamon sauce. They take just minutes to prep and taste so much better than canned!
They can be used in pies or tarts or replace a can of apple pie filling in any recipe. Scoop it over ice cream, yogurt, or cake for an easy treat.
Homemade is Best (and SO easy!)
I looooove Apple pie filling but not just for filling pie crust! It’s great over anything from yogurt to cake to oatmeal.
- Homemade always tastes 1000x better! Delicious apple flavor with a hint of warm spices.
- The apples come out tender and not soggy.
- Making this apple pie filling is less expensive than canned (and has a homemade flavor).
- Needs just a handful of ingredients.
- Ready in about 10-15 minutes, it’s so easy to make.
The Best Apples for Pie Filling
Much like when baking apple pie, you’ll want apples that stand up well so you don’t end up with applesauce! We think granny smith apples are the best for pie filling because they have a tart flavor which means the filling isn’t overly sweet.
Try any of the following: braeburn, golden delicious, honeycrisp.
Other ingredients needed in this recipe are sugar, water, spices and cornstarch (this makes the sauce portion).
How to Make Homemade Apple Pie Filling
You’ve heard the saying as easy as Apple Pie, this recipe is exactly that!
- Peel and chop apples: apples are peeled and sliced and simply added to a pan with a bit of water, sugar and cinnamon.
- Thicken: once tender, I add a bit of cornstarch to thicken up this apple pie filling. Any of the juices released from the apples make the “saucy” part.
Replace the Can
This easy apple pie filling recipe makes the equivalent of 1 can of apple pie filling and takes just about 10 minutes.
It’s perfect to substitute for a can of apple pie filling (and tastes so much better than the store bought)!
Variations
- Chop the apples or make apple slices instead.
- Swap out white sugar for brown sugar to add a caramel flavor.
- Add a teaspoon of lemon juice.
- I use ground cinnamon but you can use apple pie spice, a pinch of nutmeg, pumpkin pie spice or your favorite warm spice mixture.
How to Freeze Apple Pie Filling
This apple pie filling is delicious and can be used right away. We mainly make it to replace cans of pie filling in recipes, if I am making an actual apple pie from scratch, I don’t pre cook the filling. If you do make this filling you can of course freeze it.
Simply cook as directed and cool. Freeze in a freezer bag. Once ready to use, defrost overnight in the fridge and use as you would from fresh!
Ideas for Apple Pie Filling
We love this on its own or served over ice cream but this easy apple pie filling works perfectly in the recipes below!
- Apple Pie Egg Rolls: If you like the OLD McDonald’s apple pies (the fried ones!) you will LOVE these!!!
- Serve over ice cream, yogurt, or oatmeal.
- Place in a bowl and top with crumble to make a quick apple crisp.
- Wrap in pie pastry (or homemade pie crust) to make apple hand pies.
- Use it to top pancakes or waffles.
- Apple Pie Tacos: Crispy Cinnamon Sugar Shells filled with Warm Apple Pie Filling!
- Apple Pie Roll Ups: Easy baked apple pie roll ups rolled in cinnamon sugar and served warm!
- Apple Pie Dumplings: 2 Ingredient Apple Pie Dumplings! This is the easiest dessert to put together!
Ingredients
- 4 medium apples
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons water
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons water
Instructions
- Peel, core, and chop or slice apples*.
- Melt butter and cinnamon over medium heat. Stir in apples, sugar & water.
- Cover and cook stirring occasionally for 4-6 minutes or until very slightly softened.
- In a small dish combine cornstarch and 2 tablespoons water. Add to the pan while stirring and continue to cook until apples are soft (not mushy) and filling is thickened.
- Let bubble 1 minute. Cool.
Notes
Nutrition Information
Nutrition information provided is an estimate and will vary based on cooking methods and brands of ingredients used.
Course Dessert, Pie
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.
475 degrees is too high… 425 will suffice.
Great recipe! I added 1/4 tsp of ginger and 1/4 tsp of nutmeg and subbed out 2 tbsp of the water for the same of lemon juice. It turned out really good. Thanks for the great process and base recipe.
You have a different apple pie filling recipe on the recipe for apple pie from scratch.
Which is the best? I want to make the filling one day ahead, so which filling recipe is
better for that?
This pie filling recipe replaces a “can of apple pie filling” and can also be used to fill a pie. While it can be baked, baking is not required. The filling in our homemade apple pie recipe bakes in the oven. Either would be great, if making ahead you can prepare the homemade apple pie and bake before serving.
Absolutely delicious! Thank you for sharing the recipe! A quick tip for canning this …. after thickened, hot pack into jars and process in the oven @ 300°F for 10 minutes. – Place the packed jars into the cold oven. Screw on the lids but not to tight. Then set the oven to 300 and start timing the process after the oven has reached 300°F.
This is the best apple pie filling I have tried so far– it’s not too sweet, just sweet enough. I used it for an apple tort :)
I make different types of pie fillings. I would like to know if I can jar this rather than freezing it.
I have not tried canning this and unfortunately can’t say for sure. Perhaps a reader with more canning experience will have a better idea.
This is one of my family’s favorite pie fillings. we love it!
I’ve used this recipe twice now to use on pancakes and it was amazing! I will definitely keep using this recipe and look forward to using it for actual apple pie some day soon!
Delicious! will save the recipe for sure!!
I threw in some Apple Jack Brandy, mmmmmm
I love this recipe, I substituted Splenda for regular sugar, and it came out very good. Very easy! Thanks
So good love this recipe, I put it in pies, hand pies, on toast, and yogurt. So yummy!!!
This was absolutely amazing and so easy to follow. I needed to do something with some bitter tasting Fuji apples and this just hit the spot. Thank you so much!
I needed a sweet fruit filling for some crepes my son wanted, but did not have any pie filling on hand, however, I did have everything on hand to make this recipe. I used some Fuji apples to make this and the whole family enjoyed this very much! A very simple recipe to make, I’ll keep this recipe handy especially once we get closer to fall and the apple season!
So good & super easy to make!
Fantastic! The family loved it. We had it on crepes with vanilla ice cream!
Delicious and very easy!
used this to make a pie to impress my friends family lol! it was a huge hit ! and so easy to make :)
Why cant these be printed out?
Would you kindly let me know what browser you are using Gary? We’ll try to see if we can figure it out! Have you tried the print button on the recipe card?
This recipe is delicious! And very easy as it was my first time making it!
So happy to hear that Mona!