Print

Homemade Slow Cooker Spiced Apple Butter – Easy & Perfect

homemade slow cooker spiced apple butter - featured image
Print Recipe

This homemade slow cooker spiced apple butter is a velvety, dark amber spread that tastes like fall concentrated into a jar. With simple ingredients and minimal effort, the slow cooker does the work while you go about your day, resulting in a deeply flavored, versatile spread perfect for toast, pancakes, pork chops, and more.

Ingredients

Scale
  • 5–6 pounds apples (mixed varieties like Honeycrisp, Gala, and Granny Smith)
  • 1 cup brown sugar, packed
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 3 whole cinnamon sticks
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ½ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
  • ¼ teaspoon allspice
  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¼ teaspoon salt

Instructions

  1. Prepare the apples: Wash, peel, core, and chop the apples into 1-inch chunks. Place directly into the slow cooker.
  2. Add the sugars and lemon juice: Sprinkle brown sugar, granulated sugar, and lemon juice over the apples. Stir to coat evenly. Let sit for 5 minutes.
  3. Add the spices: Nestle cinnamon sticks into the mixture. Sprinkle ground cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, allspice, and salt over the top. Stir gently. Add vanilla extract and stir again.
  4. Slow cook the apples: Cover and cook on low for 8-10 hours (or high for 4-5 hours). Stir once after about 4 hours.
  5. Puree the cooked apples: Remove cinnamon sticks. Use an immersion blender to puree until smooth. (Alternatively, let cool slightly and blend in batches in a regular blender.)
  6. Continue cooking to thicken: Return to low heat with lid off or slightly ajar. Cook for 2-4 hours, stirring every 30 minutes, until thick enough to coat the back of a spoon.
  7. Final seasoning and canning: Taste and adjust spices if needed. Ladle hot apple butter into sterilized jars, leaving ½ inch headspace. Wipe rims, screw on lids, and let cool completely.
  8. Cool and store: Let jars cool completely. Refrigerate for up to 3 weeks, freeze for up to 6 months, or water-bath can for pantry storage up to 1 year.

Notes

For a lower-sugar version, reduce brown sugar to ½ cup and granulated sugar to ¼ cup. For a sugar-free option, use ½ cup monk fruit sweetener. If you don’t have whole cinnamon sticks, use 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon added toward the end of cooking. The apple butter will continue to thicken as it cools, so stop cooking when slightly looser than desired final consistency. Hot apple butter tastes different than room-temperature; let a spoonful cool before adjusting spices.

Nutrition

Keywords: apple butter, slow cooker apple butter, spiced apple butter, homemade apple butter, fall recipe, apple spread, easy apple butter

Find it online: https://milaspoon.com/homemade-slow-cooker-spiced-apple-butter-easy-and-perfect/