This Slow Cooker Apple Butter is the easiest and tastiest way to fill your home with all the smells of fall, and you get a jar of spreadable, apple-y goodness!
This recipe is as easy as it gets! Just set it and forget it.
Then, when the time is right, you come back to a big ol’ vat of spicy-sweet fall goodness for your taste buds! What could be better than that?!
Apple butter is made by slow-cooking apples for hours, causing the sugars in the apples to break down and caramelize. This caramelization process is what gives apple butter a rich and deep flavor.
Today’s recipe is an easy apple butter recipe because the slow cooker does all the work! Just add all the ingredients, occasionally check up on its progress, and enjoy the smells of fall it fills your house with.
Is Apple Butter Healthy?
Much like all sweet treats, this apple butter recipe should be enjoyed in moderation. It is high in sugar, and there aren’t many nutritious ingredients in it.
However, you can consider this recipe to be healthier than traditional apple butter recipes. Heavily processed sugar is swapped for coconut sugar and raw organic cane sugar, and the amounts of sugar have been reduced to let the sweetness from the apples shine.
What Kind of Apple Should I Use for Apple Butter?
When deciding what type of apples to use to make your slow cooker apple butter, it’s really up to you! I used Fuji apples because they’re one of my favorite kinds, and this apple butter turned out great.
Opt for apples that are naturally sweet, flavorful, and break down easily during cooking. Granny Smiths, Fujis, Galas, McIntoshs, Honeycrisps, Cortlands, Jonathans, Golden Delicious, and Romes are all good options, but you can use whatever you have available to you. You can also combine different types of apples to enhance the flavor and texture of the apple butter!
How to make ahead and store
Once your apple butter has cooked and cooled completely, pour it into a glass jar like a mason jar or an airtight container. Stored this way, your apple butter will last for up to a week in the refrigerator! You can also freeze it for up to 3 months, just let it thaw in the refrigerator overnight before serving.
Serving Suggestions
Once you’ve made your pot of delicious and flavorful apple butter, it’s FINALLY time to enjoy it! Trust me – cooking it all day will be more than worth the wait!
I recommend serving this apple butter on some Air Fryer Toast, or as a garnish for your breakfast treats like this Bananas Foster French Toast or these Whole Wheat Blueberry Pancakes with Ricotta.
Ingredients
- 4 pounds cored and sliced apples
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 cup raw organic cane sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 2 teaspoons ground ginger
- Pinch of salt
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Instructions
- Place all of the ingredients, except the vanilla, in your slow cooker and stir to combine.
- Cover, and cook on LOW for 6 hours or HIGH for 3 hours.
- After the time is up, stir in the vanilla and cook another 4 hours on LOW or 2 hours on HIGH.
- Once cooked, transfer everything (including the liquid) to a blender and purée until smooth. You could also use an immersion blender.
- OPTIONAL: if you want it on the thicker side, you can place the apple butter in a large pot and bring to a boil and then simmer until it starts to reduce.
Nutrition Info:
Nutrition information are estimates only and may vary based on the specific brands, ingredients, and portion sizes you use. This data is provided for informational purposes only.
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