Apple Butter Recipe

By
Joshua Bousel
a photo of Joshua Bousel, a Contributing Writer at Serious Eats
Joshua Bousel
Joshua Bousel is a Serious Eats old-timer, having started sharing his passion for grilling and barbecue recipes on the site back in 2008. He continues to develop grilling and barbecue recipes on his own site, The Meatwave, out of his home base of Durham, North Carolina.
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Updated April 30, 2025
Several slices of baguette topped with apple butter.

Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

Previous falls have found me on apple picking excursions where I seem to overzealously use my fruit picker, resulting in a bounty of apples that one couple alone can hardly consume. In these times of extreme harvests, I need to justify this apple excess. I'm always on the lookout for good ways to use pounds of apples: pies, crisps, applesauce, and most recently, apple butter.

Four pounds of mixed apples are cooked until softened, then puréed in a blender until very smooth. Then it's back to the pot where they slowly simmer for hours with sugar and spices until the mixture becomes a deep brown, very thick, and fits nicely into one mason jar.

Now I haven't gone apple picking yet this season but as I sat on the porch on one of the first crisp, clear fall days, eating this sweet and appropriately spiced spread on a crusty baguette, I felt the desire to get out to the orchard and haul back boxes of apples to fill my kitchen.

October 2011

Recipe Details

Apple Butter Recipe

Prep 5 mins
Cook 95 mins
Active 45 mins
Total 100 mins
Serves 24 servings
Makes 3 cups
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Ingredients

  • 4 pounds mixed good cooking apples (such as Fuji, Granny Smith, or Courtland), peeled, cored, and cut into large chunks

  • 1 cup apple cider

  • 2 cups white sugar

  • 2 tablespoons lemon juice

  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

  • 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

  • 1/8 teaspoon ground cloves

  • 1/8 teaspoon ground allspice

Directions

  1. Place apple and apple cider in a large heavy pot and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Cover and cook until apples are completely tender, about 20 to 30 minutes.

    Chunks of apple are simmered in a Dutch oven

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  2. Place half of the apples in the jar of a blender and purée until completely smooth. Pour into a medium bowl and repeat with remaining apples.

    The cooked apple is puréed in a blender.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  3. Pour puréed apples back into large pot and bring to a simmer over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar, lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and allspice. Continue to simmer, uncovered, until sauce turns a deep brown and thickens, about 1 to 2 hours, stirring regularly to prevent burning.

    The finished apple butter, ready to transfer from the Dutch oven.

    Serious Eats / Joshua Bousel

  4. Let apple butter cool to room temperature, then store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

Special Equipment

Blender

Nutrition Facts (per serving)
98 Calories
0g Fat
25g Carbs
0g Protein
×
Nutrition Facts
Servings: 24
Amount per serving
Calories 98
% Daily Value*
Total Fat 0g 0%
Saturated Fat 0g 0%
Cholesterol 0mg 0%
Sodium 1mg 0%
Total Carbohydrate 25g 9%
Dietary Fiber 1g 5%
Total Sugars 23g
Protein 0g
Vitamin C 7mg 33%
Calcium 6mg 0%
Iron 0mg 1%
Potassium 70mg 1%
*The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a food serving contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
(Nutrition information is calculated using an ingredient database and should be considered an estimate.)

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