Name: Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 1020 min
Total time: 1050 min
Ingredients: 16 cups sliced apples; 2 ¾ cups light brown sugar; 2 ¾ tsp ground cinnamon; ¼ tsp ground cloves; 1 star anise pod (optional); 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice; ¼ tsp kosher salt

Slow Cooker Apple Butter

By Kaleb WyseLast modified on Sep 16, 2024

4.67 from 109 votes

This apple butter is made in a slow cooker and is pretty much a set-it-and-forget it spread. It’s creamy, sweet and the perfect flavor for fall!

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 17

Total Time 17 30

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Apple butter used to seem like a delicacy, reserved for special festivals and events. I grew up thinking apple butter must be extremely time-consuming to make or involve too much work since we never made it. I don’t know if you’ve ever seen it made (and let me know down below in the comments section if you have!), but at fall festivals they usually show a large cast-iron pot being stirred for hours as apples, sugar, and spices are cooked until they reach the perfect consistency. Honestly, this is how I thought you had to make this apple spread – I guess I was a little naive.

As I started researching how to make apple butter, the recipes that kept catching my eye all used slow cookers to steadily cook the butter for hours. This opened up a whole new world for me! Making a simple and quick apple butter with hardly any work that I can walk away from as it cooks – uhhh… what more could I ask for?!

Slow cooker apple butter spread on piece of homemade white bread sitting on a cutting board with extra bread loaf behind on a gray slate surface with extra apples in background

This almost sounds too good to be true, but it really does come together to create the perfect recipe for slow cooker apple butter. As the apples simmer for hours, your house will be filled with the aroma of cinnamon and sugar. And when it’s all done cooking, you’re left with a thick and delicious apple butter.

Slow cooker apple butter spread on piece of homemade bread with bite taken out on a wood cutting board on a gray slate surface — So creamy and delicious! It’s mouth-watering, right?!

For the perfect bread to complement this apple butter (shown in the above pictures), make sure to try my bread recipe!

Ideas for how to use this apple butter recipe:

This year, I froze all of the spread I made and am super excited to use it with:

Pork chops
Homemade breads – yeah, the combo of homemade butter and homemade bread will make you a self-sufficient guru!
As a mix-in for a fall-themed latte

Watch how to make this apple butter recipe

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Slow Cooker Apple Butter

By Kaleb

4.67 from 109 votes

This apple butter is made in a slow cooker and is pretty much a set-it-and-forget it spread. It’s creamy, sweet and the perfect flavor for fall!

Prep: 30

Cook: 17

Total: 17 30

Servings: pints

Jar of slow cooker apple butter with loaf of bread beside it and knife in front of a gray slate surface with extra apples in background

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Ingredients

Instructions

Wash, peel, and take out the seeds from the apples. Slice thinly. Measure out 16 cups of apples. Pour all apples into the slow cooker.
16 cups sliced apples
Add brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, anise pod, salt, and lemon juice. Stir to incorporate everything.
2 ¾ cups light brown sugar, 2 ¾ tsp ground cinnamon, ¼ tsp ground cloves, 1 star anise pod (optional), ¼ tsp kosher salt, 1 tbsp fresh lemon juice
Turn slow cooker on high for 4-5 hours. After the first hour, remove the star anise pod, if added. Every hour, stir the apples.
Once the mixture is bubbling and cooking well (after approximately 4-5 hours), turn the slow cooker to low and leave for 10-12 hours. I usually do this in the evening so it can sit on the low setting overnight.
After ten hours, start checking the slow cooker. Stir mixture using a strong wire whisk or hand potato masher to break up the apples.
Once the butter is the consistency desired, use a blender, food processor, or immersion blender to break down the rest of the apples to achieve an even consistency.
Let cool. Freeze or can the mixture.

Video

Notes

Remember that apples contain a large amount of water and will cook down considerably. They also vary a lot in how they cook. My apples had a lot of liquid in them so I needed to give them 2 extra hours on high (with the lid off) to make sure my apple butter turned out as thick as I wanted.