Have you ever used your slow cooker to make apple butter? It’s so easy, and tastes so good! I’ve been making it for years, but since I updated my recipe I figured it was time to share it again. This time I’m also including cute free printable labels, to add to your jars when you give your homemade apple butter as a gift! Take a look at my updated recipe for Homemade Slow Cooker Apple Butter!
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links to Amazon and/or Etsy, which means that I may earn a small commission from some of the links in this post. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.
Apple butter is so yummy! If you’ve never had it, it’s actually a fruit preserve, not a butter. I like mine spread on toast or English muffins, but you can also use it in recipes. It adds a lot of great flavor to a variety of dishes!
You might wonder, if there’s no butter added, then what makes apple butter different from applesauce? The answer is the cook time and final texture. Applesauce is cooked just enough to make soft, mashable apples. Apple butter is cooked far past that point. In the end, the two are very similar but apple butter tends to be thicker and has a deeper flavor.
Homemade Slow Cooker Apple Butter with Free Labels
Makes 3-4 quarts
Ingredients
5 or 6 lbs of apples (any variety you like)
2 cups of white sugar
1 cup packed brown sugar
2-3 Tsp. cinnamon
1/2 Tsp. ground cloves
1/4 Tsp. salt
Quart size Mason jars and/or 8 oz Mason jars
Free printable apple butter Mason jar labels (download at the links below):
Directions
1. Core and slice your apples. You don’t have to peel them. However, if the idea of cooked peels bothers you, feel free to peel them first.
2. Fill your slow cooker with the apples.
3. Put all other ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
4. Pour the sugar mixture over the apples and stir so they all get covered.
5. Cover the apples and cook them on high for 1 hour. Then reduce the slow cooker to low and cook for another 8-10 hours. During that time, stir the apple butter occasionally and mash the apples with a potato masher until you get a smooth consistency. Also taste to make sure the apple butter is sweet enough (the sweetness varies based on how sweet your apples are). If it’s not sweet enough, add more sugar. When done, the apple butter should be dark brown and have a thick consistency.
6. You can fill hot sterilized Mason jars and use the water bath method to preserve a lot of apple butter, but I just make one jar to eat right now and freeze the excess. Remember to tap the jar on the counter to remove air bubbles.
7. Print out your jar labels, cut them out, and adhere them to the lids. I printed mine on cream colored card stock.
Then enjoy your apple butter and give any excess to friends and family! Or you might want to make my delicious apple butter coffee cake!
I was able to fill two quart Mason jars and two 8 oz Mason jars. You may want to fill quart jars when saving the apple butter for yourself, and 8 oz jars when packing it up for friends. This homemade slow cooker apple butter should keep for about 3 weeks in the refrigerator. But ours is always eaten so up so quickly, it barely ever makes it to one week!
Homemade Slow Cooker Apple Butter with Free Labels
- Yield: 3-4 quarts 1x
- Category: Preserve
Description
This homemade apple butter is so tasty, and very easy to make!
Ingredients
- 5 or 6 lbs of apples (any variety you like)
- 2 cups of white sugar
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 2–3 Tsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 Tsp. ground cloves
- 1/4 Tsp. salt
Instructions
- Core and slice your apples. You don’t have to peel them. However, if the idea of cooked peels bothers you, feel free to peel them first.
- Fill your slow cooker with the apples.
- Put all other ingredients in a bowl and stir to combine.
- Pour the sugar mixture over the apples and stir so they all get covered.
- Cover the apples and cook them on high for 1 hour. Then reduce the slow cooker to low and cook for another 8-10 hours. During that time, stir the apple butter occasionally and mash the apples with a potato masher until you get a smooth consistency. Also taste to make sure the apple butter is sweet enough (the sweetness varies based on how sweet your apples are). If it’s not sweet enough, add more sugar. When done, the apple butter should be dark brown and have a thick consistency.
- You can fill hot sterilized Mason jars and use the water bath method to preserve a lot of apple butter, but I just make one jar to eat right now and freeze the excess. Remember to tap the jar on the counter to remove air bubbles.
- Print out your jar labels, cut them out, and adhere them to the lids. I printed mine on cream colored card stock.
This post contains affiliate links to Amazon. Please see our Disclosure Page for more information.
You may also be interested in:
I love apple butter but its always been a long hot process. Thank you for sharing an easier way to make it.
I love those labels. Thanks for sharing on the #HomeMattersParty I hope you will join us again next week.