Making crock pot apple butter is a delicious way to start the fall season. Learn how to make the best homemade apple butter recipe in your slow cooker.
Growing up, I never experienced apple butter. Lots of apple sauce, but never apple butter. My husband is actually the first one that introduced me to it. At first I thought it was something made with actual butter, but after a quick search online, I realized it had nothing to do with butter!
The first time I made it, I did it on the stove and it took forever. I got so tired of stirring it, that I didn’t let it get quite thick enough. After that, I decided it was just too much work.
However, now that it’s apple picking season, I decided to give it another try. This time in the crock pot, one of the handiest inventions ever.
Even though it’s a very long process to make apple butter in the slow cooker, it’s so worth it because you can leave it for hours without stirring it! All in all, I left mine running for 30 hours, but almost everything takes longer to cook at altitude, so it may not take you quite as long.
Super Easy Crock Pot Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 4 pounds apples
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Equipment
- Apple corer
Instructions
- Core, peel and chop apples. I use a gadget that cores and chops them, then I peel each of those pieces. Make sure to peel them well or you'll end up with pieces of peel in your apple butter.
- Put apples into your crockpot, then sprinkle the sugars and pumpkin pie spice over them and stir.
- Turn the crockpot on low and allow to cook for 10-12 hours or overnight.
- Mash the apples (I used a potato masher), add the vanilla, then continue cooking on low (or warfor 2-3 more hours.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the apple mixture. Alternatively, you could put it into a blender to puree.
- Continue cooking in the crockpot on low or warm, stirring every couple hours, until it reaches the desired consistency. It should be thicker and richer than apple sauce.
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator once cooled.
