Name: Prize Winning Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Prep time: 25 min
Cook time: 22 h
Total time: 22 h 25 min
Yield: 5
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 12 pounds Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and sliced; 1/2 cup apple cider vinegar; 3 cups white sugar; 1 cup brown sugar; 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon; 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves; 1 teaspoon ground allspice

Prize Winning Apple Butter -Easy Slow Cooker Recipe. Goes great with sweet or savory dishes. You choose! Nice for gifts too!

Prize Winning Slow Cooker Apple Butter is a delicious recipe and has been generously shared by one of our Lovefoodies supporters, Cathy Kopp.

Cathy is always cooking delicious Homemade dishes and just loves to cook. Cathy has lots of different canning recipes, such as Pickled Pepper Rings, and Homemade Canned Chili.

Here, Cathy's prize-winning slow cooker Apple Butter is incredibly easy and is certainly popular with her boys!

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It's easy to do, let your slow cooker do all the work and at the end, you have delicious Apple butter. Cathy entered her Apple Butter into the Wayne County Fair and won first prize, so many congratulations! It sure is a winner recipe!

For those who have never tried apple butter, you must! How would you eat it? Well, some people use it as a spread, like you would jam, on bread or toast. You can use it to make cakes, such as our applesauce brownie cake. (It uses apple butter instead of fat in the recipe!), and you can also use it to have alongside some delicious roast pork and crackling as a side sauce too!

Prize Winning Apple Butter -Easy Crock Pot Recipe. Goes great with sweet or savory dishes. You choose!

Making slow cooker apple butter is a great way of preserving apples, using the canning method. Apple Butter is popular around Fall time when there's an abundance of delicious sweet and juicy apples, so make a batch and give away as gifts at Christmas time! It's hard to find a good apple butter in the grocery stores, especially one which has no added preservatives or artificial additives, so homemade is the way to go for a great tasting and nutritious apple butter.

So let's get straight to the recipe and see how we make this prize winning slow cooker apple butter recipe! Please enjoy!

Recipe by Cathy Kopp

Table of Contents 📋 hide

8) Prize Winning Slow Cooker Apple Butter

9) Delicious Recipes Using Apples

Prep Time

25 minutes

Cook Time

22 hours

Yield

5.5 pints

Ingredients

12 pounds Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup apple cider vinegar
3 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Instructions

1. Place apples and vinegar in a large slow cooker, and place lid on top.

Prize Winning Apple Butter - in slow cooker — in 22 hours this will be Apple Butter

2. Set on High, and cook for 8 hours, then turn to Low, and continue cooking 10 hours more.

Prize Winning Apple Butter - after 8 hours — After 8 hours on high. Now it goes to low for 10 hours.

Prize Winning Apple Butter - after 10 hours — This is after 8 hours on high and 10 hours on low. Now it's time to add the sugar and spice.

3. After 18 hours, stir in white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, and cook 4 hours more.

Prize Winning Apple Butter - after 22 hours — Now to let it cool a bit, blend it, and then put into jars

My Notes:
This is easy, easy, easy! The most difficult part is peeling the apples and then getting them all to fit in the crockpot.
I made it according to the directions above. In the future, I will reduce the amount of white sugar and the amount of cinnamon.
In my case I canned the apple butter. See below for instructions how to do that if you are not sure.

Canning Guide

1. Fill the hot boiled jars with the hot apple butter. Leave a space of about ¼ inch (0.5 cm) of top of jar. Wipe jar rim removing any food residue. Centre hot sealing disc on clean jar rim. Screw band down. Place jars back in the canner (boiling pot). Ensure that all jars are covered by at least one inch (2.5 cm) of water. Cover canner and bring water to full rolling boil before starting to count processing time. At altitudes up to 1000 ft (305 m), process – boil filled jars – 10 minutes.

2. When processing time is complete, turn stove off, remove canner lid, wait 5 minutes, then remove jars without tilting and place them upright on a protected work surface. Cool upright, undisturbed 24 hours; DO NOT RETIGHTEN screw bands.

3. After cooling check jar seals. Sealed discs curve downward and do not move when pressed. Remove screw bands; wipe and dry bands and jars. Store screw bands separately or replace loosely on jars, as desired. Label and store jars in a cool, dark place. For best quality, use home canned foods within one year.

Note : I boil by jars before and after. Also altitude is important.
This is the altitude chart for guidance, Click HERE to see it.

The ingredients proportions are from Bernardin. The jars come with a little recipe book sometimes and fruit proportion has been taken from there as well as some of the boiling instructions.

NOTE: Please be aware that recipes shared by readers of this page are not endorsed, checked or tested by Lovefoodies. Always follow USDA home canning recommendations.

We'd love to hear from you and what you thought of our post. Did you make any changes or add some other goodies? Let us know in the comments below. Thanks for reading and happy cooking!

Why not try our popular Apple sauce and Walnut Brownie Cake (simply swap the apple sauce for Cathy's apple butter! )

Apple Sauce and Walnut Brownie Cake. A lovely easy recipe using no eggs or fat. It tastes amazing but without all the calories! | Lovefoodies.com

Recipe Card

Prize Winning Slow Cooker Apple Butter

Yield: 5 ½ pints

Prep Time: 25 minutes

Cook Time: 22 hours

Total Time: 22 hours 25 minutes

Prize Winning Apple Butter -Easy Slow Cooker Recipe. Goes great with sweet or savory dishes. You choose! Nice for gifts too!

Ingredients

12 pounds Golden Delicious apples - peeled, cored and sliced
½ cup apple cider vinegar
3 cups white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
1 teaspoon ground allspice

Instructions

Place apples and vinegar into a large slow cooker, and place lid on top.
Set on High, and cook for 8 hours, then turn to Low, and continue cooking 10 hours more.
After 18 hours, stir in white sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, and allspice, and cook 4 hours more.

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As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 30 Serving Size: 5 ½ pints
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 206Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 6mgCarbohydrates: 51gFiber: 5gSugar: 44gProtein: 1g

Delicious Recipes Using Apples

Here's a lovely selection of recipes using apples.

Share your thoughts

145 thoughts shared

Jessica
says:
August 26th, 2016 at 9:34 pm

If you half the recipe would it be less cooking time?

Reply
1. Lovefoodies
  says:
  August 26th, 2016 at 9:36 pm
  
  Hi Jessica, cook time is the same :)
  
  Reply
connie
says:
August 15th, 2016 at 10:40 pm

Taste great and was super easy but I only got five pint jars out of it.

Reply
1. Cathy Kopp
  says:
  August 16th, 2016 at 1:17 pm
  
  You probably reduced yours even more than I do. I’ll bet the consistency of is awesome. Enjoy!
  
  Reply
Amber Campbell
says:
March 18th, 2016 at 8:16 pm

If we wanted to cook this on the stove instead of a a crockpot, what would the cooking times and temperatures be like

Reply
1. Lovefoodies
  says:
  March 18th, 2016 at 8:28 pm
  
  Hi Amber, I really have no idea. I say this because this recipe is for slow cooking, and the flavors all come about during the ultra low and long cooking process. I guess you could try on the stove top, but I would imagine it would be 6 – 8 hours on low, and you would need to keep the temperature as low as possible and stir occasionally to make sure the heat from under the pan doesn’t scorch the apples directly above. But I’m afraid I can’t honestly recommend it, only because we haven’t had any feedback from anyone trying it on the stove top.
  Sorry if that doesn’t help, but I’d rather give you good information which we know works for sure!
  
  Reply
  1. Amber Campbell
    says:
    March 19th, 2016 at 5:10 am
    
    Thank you, i was just curious because I don’t have much counter space to have the crockpot going that long lol. I had to set it up on top of the dryer lol.
  2. Donna Hepper McGee
    says:
    August 24th, 2017 at 7:51 pm
    
    The ball book has a recipe for the stove top you could maybe get the cook times from there…and still use this recipe…because I did the one out of the ball book and had to alter the spices….I like mine like hers’ so just look for the cook times…
Amber Campbell
says:
March 18th, 2016 at 8:00 pm

I just finished this recipe today, tastes amazing. I reduced tell white sugar to 2 cups, but i used a different type of apple. I didn’t get quite 11 pint jars, i got 7.5 but the taste is phenomenal.

Reply
1. Lovefoodies
  says:
  March 18th, 2016 at 8:16 pm
  
  Hi Amber! Thanks so much for your feedback and so happy you enjoyed the recipe! Hopefully you can see why it won a prize!!! Thanks for taking the time to write in and let us know!
  
  Reply
Brittany
says:
November 23rd, 2015 at 2:46 am

If I half the recipe should I adjust the cooking time as well?

Reply
1. Lovefoodies
  says:
  November 23rd, 2015 at 2:22 pm
  
  Hi Brittany, the cook time will stay the same no matter what quantity you use. Hope that helps and have a lovely week ahead!
  
  Reply
Cathy Kopp
says:
October 19th, 2015 at 2:13 pm

Hi Angel,

My crockpot is a 6 quart and that recipe was made with four 3 pound bags of apples from the grocery store. You need to peel, core, and slice them really thin. Actually, I mounded them and when I put the lid on, it didn’t sit quite properly, but they cooked down soon enough for the lid to make the proper seal.

Reply
Angel Kirk
says:
October 19th, 2015 at 6:22 am

What size crockpot is being used? I have what I thought was a large one but I can barely get 6lbs of apples in it.

Reply
1. Lovefoodies
  says:
  October 19th, 2015 at 7:53 am
  
  Hi Angel, yes, you do have to cram the apples in to start with. You can use a 6 – 8 Quart slow cooker for these. Obviously an 8 quart will give you more space, but the most common size for a large slow cooker is 6 Quart. You will probably notice from the photos the apples did fill the slow cooker! Hope that helps.
  
  Reply
  1. Angel Kirk
    says:
    October 19th, 2015 at 12:31 pm
    
    I mist have the 6 qt. I divided the recipe in have bc I couldn’t see 6 more lbs going in. Lol. But just to be clear, 12 lbs is after they’re cored and all correct, not whole weight. I know it’s weird but I saw a recipe that was like that once. Thank you so much for your time and help.
Cathy Kopp
says:
October 15th, 2015 at 5:30 pm

Different crockpots have different settings and heat ranges. Try adding lemon juice, apple juice, apple cider vinegar, or even just some water right from the start. Maybe even just use the low setting for the whole cook time.

Have you tried using the Reynolds crockpot liners? I can’t guarantee it won’t burn, but it will help with any clean up.

Reply
Cathy Kopp
says:
October 15th, 2015 at 4:51 pm

So very sorry that happened to you, Liz. I can’t imagine what went wrong. I made the recipe again this week and it turned out just fine. Can you walk me through the steps you used?

Reply
1. Liz
  says:
  October 15th, 2015 at 5:00 pm
  
  I followed the ditections exactly. Maybe my crockpot is too hot. I was hesitant to cook on high for 8 hours, but it turned out ok. Then I turned to low before bed and set my alarm for the 10 hour mark. I stirred it a couple times during the 8 hours and a couple times during the ten hours. I only slept for 5 hours so it burned during that time. I want to try it again, but I will start early in the morning so I can keep an eye on it. But at least my house smells good! Lol
  
  Reply
Liz
says:
October 15th, 2015 at 4:34 pm

Not so happy with this recipe. I shouldn’t have trusted the long ooking time. Got up at 5:30 am after 10 hours on low and it was burnt tomy crockpot. :( make sure to start this one in the early morning so you can keep an eye on it.

Reply
shannon
says:
September 17th, 2013 at 10:26 pm

Do you know how to reduce it to make just 1 jar?

Reply
1. lovefoodies
  says:
  September 17th, 2013 at 10:53 pm
  
  Hi Shannon, I would have a guess that if this recipe makes roughly 11 pints (that’s 11 jars), you would need to divide the ingredients by 11 to get what you need to make 1 jar. Or easier, would be to halve the recipe, make 5 jars and give some for gifts :) Hope this helps.
  
  Reply
Nicole
says:
September 17th, 2013 at 2:07 pm

Love this recipe but how do you water seal the jars? Thank you

Reply
1. lovefoodies
  says:
  September 17th, 2013 at 2:42 pm
  
  Hi Nicole, let me give you a link to a recipe for Jam, there, from STEP 2 onwards, it tells you step by step what to do, (obviously replace the jam with apple butter!) the principle is the same for both recipes. I hope this helps. https://lovefoodies.com/how-to-make-jam.html#.UjhNy8bI2So
  
  Reply
Donna N.
says:
September 1st, 2013 at 6:30 am

How much would you reduce the amount of sugar and cinnamon to and why? To sweet or bitter? Thanks,,, love your blog, ,,!

Reply
1. lovefoodies
  says:
  September 1st, 2013 at 8:40 am
  
  Hi Donna,
  It’s all down to personal taste. If you don’t like things too sweet or strong tasting of cinnamon then you can reduce the amount, for example knock 1/3 off the sugar. You can always have a taste half way through and see if it is to your taste and add more then if needed. Hope this helps. Thanks!
  
  Reply
lovefoodies
says:
August 29th, 2013 at 8:25 am

Hi Denise, yes, I would advise sealing them if you are not planning on using them within a couple of weeks.

Reply
Denise Thornton
says:
August 29th, 2013 at 1:30 am

After making this many jars do you water seal them?

Reply