I love to make this apple butter recipe in the fall. Thick, smooth, and richly spiced, it's delicious on toast, pancakes, and more. Just 8 ingredients!
This apple butter recipe tastes like apple pie in a jar! It has a sweet, concentrated apple flavor with warm, cozy depth from spices and brown sugar. I’ve eaten more than I’d care to admit straight off a spoon, but it’s also wonderful on pumpkin bread, scones, English muffins…even overnight oats! This homemade apple butter makes anything it touches taste like fall. 🙂
This recipe is a perfect cooking project for a crisp fall day, especially after apple picking. It takes a little time to make, but I think it’s totally worth it. It doesn’t just taste delicious—it’ll make your kitchen smell amazing too. I hope you love it as much as I do!
What is apple butter?
Apple butter is a thick, flavorful spread made with apples, sugar, and spices. No actual butter here! It’s essentially twice-cooked applesauce: you’ll simmer apples until they’re tender enough to puree. Then, you’ll cook the apple puree again with the sugar and spices. Once it reduces into a thick, fragrant spread, you have apple butter!
Ingredients You’ll Need
This apple butter recipe calls for 8 simple ingredients:
- Fresh apples, of course! You’ll need 2 pounds, about 5 medium. For the smoothest texture, peel the apples before making this recipe.
- Water – It helps the apples steam and soften without burning.
- Sugar – I especially love the molasses-y flavor of brown sugar here, but feel free to use cane sugar if you prefer. A mix of the two would also be delicious!
- Fresh lemon juice – Its tangy flavor balances the sweet sugar and apples.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves – For warm depth of flavor. Other warming spices would be great here too—feel free to use your favorites! Try adding ground ginger, cardamom, or even a pinch of allspice. Or skip the individual spices and add apple pie spice instead.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
What are the best apples for apple butter?
Many different types of apples work well in apple butter. Unlike in baked goods like apple pie or apple crisp, we don’t need the apples to hold their shape, so we have a little bit more flexibility when it comes to type and texture.
I love tart or sweet-tart apples like Granny Smith apples or Honeycrisp. McIntosh, Fuji, Gala, and Golden Delicious are good choices too.
How to Make Apple Butter
The most common method for how to make apple butter is in a slow cooker, but since I don’t actually own one (it’s true!), I prefer to make this small-batch recipe on the stovetop. It requires a little more stirring, but it comes together in much less time. Here’s how it goes:
Start by peeling and chopping the apples. I like to cut them into small pieces to help them soften quickly.
Then, simmer the apples until tender. Place them in a medium saucepan with the water. Simmer, covered, until the apples are soft, about 20 minutes.
Puree the apples. You can do this with an immersion blender in the pot or transfer the cooked apples to an upright blender and blend until smooth.
Cook the apple puree again with the sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, lemon juice, and salt. Bring the mixture to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to low. Cook, uncovered, until the mixture has a thick, spreadable consistency and rich brown color, 40 minutes to 1 hour.
Tip: Stir the apple butter often as it thickens. This will prevent it from burning or sticking to the bottom of the pan. It will also stop it from sputtering (and splashing hot apple butter all over your kitchen!).
Set aside to cool to room temperature, then enjoy on pancakes, biscuits, scones, oatmeal, yogurt and granola, toast, and more!
Do you have a favorite way to use apple butter? Let me know in the comments!
How to Store
Once the apple butter has cooled, seal it in an airtight container or jar. It keeps well in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks and freezes well for up to 3 months.
More Favorite Apple Recipes
If you love this stovetop apple butter, try one of these apple recipes next:
- Apple Crisp
- Apple Cake
- Apple Pie Filling
- Or any of these 20 Easy Apple Recipes!
Homemade Apple Butter
Ingredients
- 2 pounds apples, peeled, cored, and chopped into small pieces (about 5 medium)
- 1 cup water
- ½ cup cane sugar or brown sugar
- 3 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch ground cloves
- Pinch sea salt
Instructions
- Combine the apples and water in a medium saucepan. Place over medium-high heat and bring to a simmer. Reduce the heat to medium-low, cover, and simmer, stirring occasionally, for 20 minutes, or until the apples are soft.
- Allow to cool slightly, then blend with an immersion blender or transfer to an upright blender and blend until smooth.
- In the saucepan, combine the apple puree, sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and salt. Place over medium heat and stir until the sugar dissolves. Bring to a gentle boil, then reduce the heat to low and cook uncovered, stirring often to prevent sputtering, for 40 minutes to 1 hour, or until the apple butter has a thick, spreadable texture and rich brown color.
- Remove from the heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Transfer to an airtight container or jar and store in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks or in the freezer for up to 3 months.
I was so surprised! This is delicious. Can’t wait to try with a bagel and cream cheese. Thank you!
This apple butter recipe is simply awful and I wish I hadn’t wasted my time. Takes sour and not at all good. Not sure what it needs.
Hi Melody, I’m so sorry you were disappointed with the recipe! Just so I can help troubleshoot, did you make any changes?
Are there any alternative to sugar if you want to make this kid friendly ?
Hi Pri, you could use a little maple syrup or skip the sugar – the apple butter won’t be quite the same, but we don’t use any sugar in our regular applesauce recipe, and it’s still great!
This is a great recipe for stove top apple butter given a lot of recipes require a slow cooker! I will say, however, an hour is not nearly enough time to get the right thick, spreadable consistency of apple butter from the market. You will have to cook this down for a few hours on the stove at least- I recommend on low heat covered for an hour and then keep cooking on low with the lid slightly off (to let the steam escape). Keep an eye on it and after a few hours (I kept mine on low for about 5) it will cook down to an awesome consistency!
What kid of apples do you prefer to use for this recipe?
Hi Aidy, McIntosh or Gala are great!
I love cinnamon, but I am looking for a good substitute for cinnamon in recipes. This recipe offers a number of spices to try. Given that I will leave out the cinnamon, what spices would you recommend for this recipe? And, would you still use lemon and the same amount of lemon?
Hi Julia, I’d keep the lemon the same. Without the cinnamon, you could try 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2 teaspoon ground nutmeg, and 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves. I think that would be delicious!