Slow cooked in warming spices and sweet maple syrup, this slow cooker apple butter comes together so easily and is amazing in baked goods, on toast, served on charcuterie boards, and so much more!
PSA: making apple butter at home is actually the easiest thing ever! And I’m here to say that your fall is pretty much incomplete without it.
Basically, we’re having the slow cooker do all the work and you just get to kick back and relax and enjoy the killer fall smells that are going to fill your entire house.
Plus, ya know you get some killer good apple butter at the end!
Everyone that tries this apple butter agrees that it’s SO much better than store-bought and can’t believe how easy it is to make! It’s just a fall necessity.
This Apple Butter features…
- A perfectly smooth and spreadable texture
- Sweet apples with lots of warming spices and maple syrup
- Minutes to prep and can cook all day in your slow cooker
Making the Apple Butter
(scroll down to the bottom of the post for the full recipe)
Ingredients You Will Need
- Apples
- Apple cider
- Cinnamon stick
- Cloves
- Nutmeg
- Allspice
- Maple syrup
Choosing Your Apples
This recipe is very forgiving as far as types of apples go. We typically try to stick with a sweeter apple such as gala, honeycrisp, braeburn, or jonathans.
We do recommend you stay away from using granny smith apples in particular for this apple butter because we found they give it a bit of a too-tart flavor and require more sweetener to balance that.
Tips for Perfect Apple Butter
- Cut apples into uniform cubes – this will help the apples cook down evenly.
- Use a cinnamon stick – if you don’t have a cinnamon stick, you can use 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon in its place, but we love the extra aromatic flavor the cinnamon stick gives this apple butter.
- Blend apple butter after cooking – you can use an immersion blender, food processor, or regular blender.
- Continue cooking apple butter – after blending, return the apple butter to the slow cooker to continue cooking for a few hours. This step will thicken the apple butter and give it a concentrated apple flavor.
- Sweeten apple butter to taste – feel free to add additional maple syrup to taste if you like a sweeter apple butter.
Ways to Use Apple Butter
Looking for ways to use your apple butter? Try these ideas.
- Baking – try it in cookies or quick breads!
- On toast or bagels
- In cocktails
- As a spread on a charcuterie or cheese board
Can Apple Butter Be Canned?
This is one of the most common questions we get with this recipe. The short answer is, I have not tried it myself, but I have heard from several readers who have had success canning this apple butter.
If you would like to try canning this recipe, I would strongly recommend reading this canning guide first and learn how to can safely.
Trust me, you’ll never turn back to grocery apple butter again after trying this recipe! The apples cook down so flavorful and the amount of spices are just perfect.
Let the slow cooker to all the heavy lifting for you and try this recipe this fall!
Save this recipe using the ‘save to recipe box’ button below. If you make it, please let us know! Leave a comment + star rating below, or take a photo and tag it on Instagram with #wholeandheavenlyoven.
Watch this apple butter made step-by-step on Google web stories.
More apple recipes to try next!
Slow Cooker Apple Butter
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Ingredients
- 6 medium apples (about 2 lbs) cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1/4 cup apple cider
- 1 medium cinnamon stick
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
- 1/4-1/3 cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Place apples, cider, cinnamon stick, spices, and 1/4 cup maple syrup in a 2-quart slow cooker. Cover slow cooker and cook on low heat 4-5 hours or on high heat 2-3 hours.
- Remove cinnamon stick from slow cooker and transfer apples to a blender (or use a handheld immersion blender) and blend on high speed until smooth.
- Pour apple butter back into slow cooker and add cinnamon stick back. Continue cooking apple butter on low heat 3-4 hours or on high heat 1-2 hours until apple butter has reduced and thickened.
- Remove cinnamon stick from apple butter and discard. Sweeten apple butter with additional maple syrup to taste if needed. Cool apple butter and store in refrigerator up to 2 weeks. Enjoy!
Notes
Nutrition
This post was updated with new recipe adjustments and photos on 10/5/23.
Cyndi Jackson says
Great idea to use your crock-pot! I make apple butter every fall and I have never thought of that! Something new to try this year!
Sarah says
It’s so much easier and hands-off than apple butter on the stove! LMK if you give this a try! 🙂