Easy Slow Cooker Apple Butter

This post may contain affiliate links, my full disclosure can be read here. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Slow cooker apple butter is a rich, spiced apple spread made by cooking apples with brown sugar and cinnamon until they thicken and caramelize. It’s an easy, mostly hands-off way to turn a big batch of apples into something that tastes like spreadable apple pie, and it’s wonderful on toast, biscuits, or stirred into oatmeal.

Unlike stovetop versions that need almost constant stirring to keep from scorching, this one simmers away in the slow cooker while you go about your day.

Traditionally, apple butter was cooked low and slow in a cast iron kettle over an open fire, which meant a lot of watching and stirring to keep it from burning. I love that bit of history, but with a busy family to keep up with, my slow cooker gets the same job done with a lot less babysitting.

While it cooks, I love using the time to make my chunky applesauce or a batch of biscuits to go with it once it’s done.

If you’ve got a bigger apple harvest to use up, my easy electric roaster apple butter guide walks through the same method scaled up in an electric roaster, so you can make a much bigger batch at once.

I make a batch of this every fall when we’ve got more apples than we can eat fresh. It’s one of the easiest ways to preserve a big harvest since the slow cooker does almost all the work.

Once it’s done, I like to freeze some and can the rest, so we have it on hand all winter. Below I’ll walk you through exactly how long it keeps in the fridge, freezer, and pantry, plus what to do if your batch doesn’t turn out quite right the first time.

Best Apples For Apple Butter

You can use just about any apple for this recipe, but a mix of sweet and tart varieties gives the best flavor. Soft-cooking apples like McIntosh or Golden Delicious break down easily into a smooth, thick butter. While a tart apple like Granny Smith or Jonathan adds a little brightness, to the finished apple butter isn’t overly sweet.

If you like a deeper, more old-fashioned flavor, Honeycrisp or Fuji add natural sweetness without needing much added sugar. Mixing two or three varieties, rather than using just one, usually gives the most well-rounded flavor.

Equipment You’ll Need

• Victorio Apple Peeler, Corer, and Slicer – optional, but makes quick work of prepping a big batch of apples.
• Crock-Pot 6-Quart Programmable Slow Cooker (6-quart or larger)
• KitchenAid Hand Mixer or an immersion blender
• Canning jars, if canning
• Canning jar lids and rings, if canning
• Jar Lifter, if canning
• Canning funnel, if canning
• Water bath canner, if canning
• Wide Mouth Canning Jars and Ball Plastic Storage Lids, if freezing

If you’re freezing your apple butter in mason jars, make sure to use wide-mouth jars instead of regular ones. Wide-mouth jars have straight sides, so they can handle the apple butter expanding as it freezes without cracking at the shoulders the way a regular jar can.

Any brand works fine, Ball, Kerr, Bernardin, whatever you have on hand, as long as it’s wide-mouth for the freezer.

Ingredients

• 6 pounds apples (enough to fill a 7-quart slow cooker)
• 2 cups brown sugar, optional (white sugar also works, or skip it if your apples are sweet or you’re watching sugar)
• 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon

How To Make Easy Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Prep The Apples

Wash your apples well, then peel, core, and slice them. I love using an apple peeler, corer, and slicer for this. It makes quick work of preparing a big batch.

Fill The Slow Cooker

Fill your slow cooker with the sliced apples, then add the brown sugar and cinnamon. Stir until the apples are evenly coated.

Cook Until Tender

Put the lid on and cook on high for 4 to 5 hours, or on low for 8 to 10 hours, until the apples are completely soft.

Puree The Apples

Once the apples are tender, puree them right in the slow cooker with an immersion blender until smooth. Give it a taste and adjust the sugar or cinnamon if you’d like.

Thicken It Up

Cook uncovered for another 1 hour on high, or 2 hours on low, stirring occasionally, until the apple butter is as thick as you like.

Check For Doneness

You’ll know it’s ready when it’s a deep brown color and thick enough that a spoon can stand up on its own in the center.

Once your apple butter is done, it’s time to decide how you want to save it for later. You can store it in the fridge for a few weeks, or freeze it to enjoy later.

Overnight Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Short on time to babysit that last uncovered stretch? Skip the active cooking altogether and let your slow cooker do the work overnight. Just turn it down to low, tilt the lid so steam can escape, and let it cook while you sleep. By morning it’ll be just as thick, and your kitchen will smell incredible.

How To Freeze Apple Butter

To freeze it, let the apples cool down completely first. Then spoon it into your freezer-safe containers or jars, leaving at least 1 inch of room at the top for it to expand. Place the lids on, label, and pop it in the freezer, where it’ll keep for up to a year.

Wide-mouth jars are my go-to for freezing, since their straight sides give the apple butter room to expand without cracking. A regular jar with narrower shoulders is more likely to break if you pack it too full before freezing.

How To Can Apple Butter

Canning is the perfect option if you’d rather not use up freezer space, and it makes the jars easy to hand out as gifts, too.

Ladle the hot apple butter into hot jars, leaving 1/4 inch of headroom. Slide a spatula around the inside edge to release any trapped air bubbles, wipe the rims clean, then add your lids and rings.

Process the jars in a water bath canner, using the times below (from the USDA) based on your jar size and altitude:

Jar Size	0–1,000 ft	1,001–6,000 ft	Above 6,000 ft
Half-pints or pints	5 minutes	10 minutes	15 minutes
Quarts	10 minutes	15 minutes	20 minutes

Once the time’s up, lift the jars out and set them on a towel undisturbed for 24 hours so the seals have time to set.

If any jar hasn’t sealed after that, just move it to the fridge and use it up first. Or you can try reprocessing the jar with a new lid.

Substitutions

• White sugar for brown sugar: Works just as well if that’s what you have on hand.
• Skip the sugar entirely: If your apples are very sweet or you’re watching sugar intake, you can leave it out and still get a good result.
• Apple pie spice for cinnamon: Swap in apple pie spice, or add a pinch of nutmeg or cloves, for a different warm spice flavor.

Variations

• Add a splash of vanilla: Stir in a teaspoon of vanilla extract near the end of cooking for extra warmth.
• More warm spice: Add a pinch of nutmeg, cloves, or allspice along with the cinnamon for a more complex flavor.
• Bigger batches: If you want to make a much bigger batch at once, my easy electric roaster apple butter recipe covers the same method scaled up in an electric roaster, making about 18 pints at a time.

FAQ’s

Connect With Homestead Acres!

Be sure to follow me on social media, so you never miss a post!

Facebook | Twitter | Pinterest | Instagram

Visit my Amazon store to find all my favorite gardening, homesteading tools, and gadgets plus all of my printed garden books and journals!