This healthy homemade apple butter made in the crockpot with cinnamon and spices is naturally sweetened (no sugar added!). Enjoy spread on toast or share with friends — it makes the perfect gift!
Hey guys! I hope you all had a great weekend and Happy Labor Day to those in the US of A. This weekend I’ve spent a lot of time relaxing, taking long walks with Olive and cooking up some tasty eats.
One thing in particular, which I alluded to in my last post, was made with apples and made the house smell amazing. Some of you already guessed it, but for those of you still wondering, it was homemade apple butter!
Although I’m not one to spread regular butter on my toast, I tend to love anything with butter in name – apple, pumpkin, almond, sunflower seed, peanut… I don’t discriminate. Turns out that sugar is often added to all of these butters when commercially produced (check your labels)!
I’ve already made my own pumpkin butter before so I figured this year I would experiment with apple butter. Apples are surely sweet enough on their own so I decided to try my hand at a no sugar added apple butter and guess what? It turned out sweet!!
Lean on me.
Of course, I’ve already sampled the apple butter – several times actually, and it’s delicious, perfectly sweet, and naturally healthy. If you’re looking for a way to use up quite a few apples, a low sugar version of your favorite apple butter or a homemade gift idea, here’s your recipe. 😉
If you make this healthy homemade apple butter, please be sure to leave a comment and star rating below. Your feedback is super helpful for the EBF team and other readers who are thinking about making the recipe.
This healthy homemade apple butter made in the crockpot with cinnamon and spices is naturally sweetened (no sugar added!). Enjoy spread on toast or share with friends — it makes the perfect gift! Vegan.
Ingredients
10 medium sized apples (choose a sweet variety like Red Delicious or Gala)
2 cups of unsweetened apple juice or approximately 5 apples juiced
1/4 cup water
1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
1 Tablespoon cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
pinch of sea salt
Instructions
Place cored and sliced apples (not peeled) into a large crock-pot / slow cooker.
Juice apples and pour juice on top of sliced apples. Add water, apple cider vinegar and spices. Stir all ingredients together, cover pot and let it cook for 15 hours on low.
The liquid will reduce and the apples will be very soft, darker in color, and smell lovely. Turn the crock pot off and let the apples cool down a bit (about 30 minutes), then transfer the mixture into a blender (or use a hand/stick blender) and blend until completely smooth.
Let the apple butter cool and then transfer into storage containers. It should store well in the fridge for about 3 weeks, however I filled 8, 1/2 pint freezer-safe canning jars, put the lid on, let them cool and then placed all the jars (besides one) into the freezer. Now I have one jar to eat and some homemade Christmas gifts!
Just saying, red delicious apples would NOT work with this recipe. They are NOT for cooking. I have always needed to take the lid off for a while to make this work. Works best to use an immersion blender.
Take the lid off and cook it for a few hours on high. This should help evaporate the liquid. It can take a long time, sometimes. And don’t forget to blend it, that will help with the texture too! 🙂
Take the lid off and cook it for a few hours on high — this should help evaporate the liquid. It can take a long time sometimes. And don’t forget to blend it! 🙂
Not sure if you’re still cooking it, but sometimes it takes a quite a long time for it cook down. Also, taking the lid off and cooking it for a few hours on high should help evaporate the liquid. Let me know how it goes!
I also left out the cloves and used all spice. Mine turned out a little more liquidy than one would prefer so next time I may add an extra apple or two or reduce the liquid 1/4 cup. Otherwise it is excellent and works perfectly with a no-knead pumpkin bread!
Not liking cloves (or having any on hand) I substituted with all spice. Everything else remained the same. Absolutely delicious. These and home made Deoderant will be added into baskets for Xmas presents. Thank you for a no sugar added recipe.
My mom brought over a bunch of apples from her trip to the orchard this week and I can’t wait to make this! It sounds like the best recipe of all the ones I’ve looked up. I know it says to refrigerate it, but is that necessary? I really don’t need more than one jar of it for my husband and I, and I have some friends & family that recently moved away that I would LOVE to mail a jar to if possible. Do you think that is possible or would it go bad on its way there?
Thanks for a great recipe, I just finished making it and not only does it taste great but my house smells amazing. One question though, my butter seems more runny than it should. This is my first time making apple butter so I don’t know if it will thicken as it cools or if there’s something I’m doing wrong. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!
You probably didn’t do anything wrong Katrina. Some apples tend to be juicier than others so maybe yours released a lot of juice making it more runny. Hopefully it thickened up as it cooled. Let me know. 🙂
I have been having so much fun with this recipe!! It’s delicious and healthy. I’ve made it 4 times now, trying different apples each time. I put them up in little disposable tupperware-style plastic containers you get at the grocery store. This keeps the cost down. A recipe yields about 7 or 8 of the little 1 and 3/16 cup tubs put out by Glad, or Raley’s brand. They have been wonderful little hostess, thank-you, or “just because” gifts. Once I put a couple of chopped fresh mangoes in with the apples. It was good, but I really like 100% apples better, so that is what I’m sticking with now.
Hi! I really want to try this, but I’m afraid of leaving my slow cooker on over night (its REALLY old and tends to over heat!) If I wanted to do this on high, how long should I leave it in for? Also, does it need to refridgerated or kept out? I can’t wait to try this! Thanks so much 🙂
Made this last night and pureed it this afternoon, and it turned out great! I accidentally doubled the amount of cloves & nutmeg, so it had more of a punch, but still tasted delicious. Thanks! 🙂
I have never had homemade apple butter, only store bought but this recipe sounds so natural and delicious. Also a better alternative to jelly/jams which can be filled with sugar. Definitely going to have to try this with my mom when I go home next weekend. I have also never thought of mixing the apple butter into my oatmeal in the morning, such a great idea and probably taste fantastic. Loving the fact that it’s no sugar added, apples have plenty of natural sugar already. I was wondering if you have any other recipes for other fruit butters?
Hi! I wanted to tell you that I made your apple butter and it was so easy — and tasty! Loved not peeling the apples, it was sugar-free and just went into the slow cooker. What a win-win-win. I linked to your site (and this recipe) today from Foodlets. Hope you get a little traffic bump!
Thank you for the recipe. I just have one question. Most recipes tell you to peel the apples, but yours does not. Can you feel the texture of the peeling once you blend the apples? Or it it completely smooth?
thank you soo much for this recipe- i made several batches and canned it for Christmas presents! this was perfect for my diabetic family members!! it smelled amazing and canned effortlessly! my only regret was not making it sooner!!! thanks so much 🙂
Hi Erika, I’m pretty sure you could use this recipe for canning but I’m not 100% sure how long you would need to boil it. A source I found online said 10 minutes.
i just got done canning my double batches- i always water bath my apples for 20 minutes to be on the safe side but i’ve seen recommendations anywhere between ten to twenty minutes!!
Hi! I just discovered your lovely blog and I truly enjoyed reading it this afternoon. This recipe reminds me of something a friend of mine did. But the apple butter she did was far too sweet for my taste. I might try my hand in this and see how it turns out.
so i have gushed about this apple butter in my overnight oats quite a bit on twitter. i would like to let you know of three people i gave jars to, all have completely finished theirs within a week! they all love it as well – just thought you should know! thanks for all your awesome recipes!
I came upon your recipe while searching for a quick and easy recipe for apple butter. See, I try to plan my menus each week and one of the recipes I planned to use called for apple butter. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the extra to buy it last minute, but I did have all the right stuff to make it with (lucky for me). So Tuesday night I found your blog and this delicious recipe. A big plus is that my husband is diabetic so the “no sugar added” part is a big plus for us. I put everything in the crock pot Tuesday night then went to bed. Sadly, I woke up sick with a bad sore throat and cough so I didn’t get to make the other recipe…but it sure was nice waking up to the lovely smell of fresh apple butter cooking away! I forced myself to finish the apple butter and boy am I ever so grateful. It was delicious warm and even better when it cooled. I couldn’t eat anything else…. Thanks for a great recipe!
Without a doubt…I am making this tonight; O MY GOSH…amazing; love it, Britt…thanks for this fabulous recipe…I’m so cited to try it! Have a great day. xo Aims
Just wanted to let you know that I put up on my FB that I am making apple butter and I have had so many comments. Not to mention, a friend asked me to send her the recipe so I sent her the website link and I told another friend that when it was done (if I made it right lol) I will send her a jar and it made her whole day 🙂 So I think overall this recipe was a big hit and it isnt even finished yet lol
I can’t believe how something this simple and amazing can avoid me for all these years. Imagine the possibilities of this apple butter, all the things you can put it on, in and with. Thank you for opening up the floodgates of creativity in my brain by introducing me to this. Great stuff! And perfect for the fall!
I made this last night and it is amazing! I’m excited to use it with my oatmeal tomorrow! The lovely smell helped with the awful skunk smell that permeated our walls after our dog got sprayed…
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’ve been trying to find good apple recipes for all of the apples I plan on picking this fall! I will definitely be making this…a great excuse to whip out the ole crockpot!
Oh damn! I had been doing well without a crockpot for awhile and now I am seeing that I need to go buy one this weekend along with a big bag of apples. This just sounds YUMMY!! I am thinking this, spread on one of my homemade sweet potato/cranberry/almond muffins would be HEAVENLY for breakfast (or dessert!)
Yummm apple butter! There is a farmer’s market around me that makes no sugar added apple butter. I have really been enjoying it in my oatmeal but I bet making my own would be better. Can’t wait to try the recipe!
And bonus that I get to use the crock pot… I feel like I am never quite sure what to use that for…
I am so excited! Apple butter was one of the spreads that I grew up with, and I’ve wanted to make my own variety at home. However, all the recipes I’ve seen are chock-full of added sugar, which seems so silly to my fruit-loving self! Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I can’t wait to give it a try!
This looks fantastic!!!!! I love Apple Butter, but homemade apple butter blows all of the store bought ones out of the water. I never think these things need added sugar. You are right, entirely sweet enough on their own.
That is handy, I was talking today about other uses for apples. Nice to have something else in my repertoire other than apple crumble! What are the nutritional stats like? x
subscribe
Leave a Comment
Super easy and tasty
★★★★★
Just saying, red delicious apples would NOT work with this recipe. They are NOT for cooking.
I have always needed to take the lid off for a while to make this work. Works best to use an immersion blender.
Hey Tomi, I normally use a mix of Red Delicious and Gala apples and they work perfectly. You can really use any type of apples for this butter.
What consistency should the Apple butter be? Mine has been in the crock for about 20 hours and is still not very thick…
Take the lid off and cook it for a few hours on high. This should help evaporate the liquid. It can take a long time, sometimes. And don’t forget to blend it, that will help with the texture too! 🙂
How many calories per serving? It’s not in the nutrition information.
Has anyone tried adding anything to this? I want to make a crock pot blueberry apple butter.
What do i do if its very runny? The apples are very mushy.
Take the lid off and cook it for a few hours on high — this should help evaporate the liquid. It can take a long time sometimes. And don’t forget to blend it! 🙂
I am making this now and the smell is wonderful but it does not seem to be cooking down. It is very liquidy?? Any suggestions?
Not sure if you’re still cooking it, but sometimes it takes a quite a long time for it cook down. Also, taking the lid off and cooking it for a few hours on high should help evaporate the liquid. Let me know how it goes!
Thanks so much…. i actually did just that and it turned out great! Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe!
Yay! I’m so glad it turned out well. Enjoy!
Have you ever hot bathed this recipe and not put it in the freezer?
I’ve canned this recipe in a hot bath canner! I actually did 48 mini jars last Christmas and everyone raved about it :).
Thanks so much for commenting Katrina. I’m sure Marie and Jennifer will be happy to hear this!
No I haven’t.
I was going to ask the same thing! I want to can this for gifts.
T – is for table spoon
t – tea spoon?
I also left out the cloves and used all spice. Mine turned out a little more liquidy than one would prefer so next time I may add an extra apple or two or reduce the liquid 1/4 cup. Otherwise it is excellent and works perfectly with a no-knead pumpkin bread!
Love this recipe! You are a genius! Great taste! Thanks for sharing! 🙂
So glad you enjoyed it!!
Not liking cloves (or having any on hand) I substituted with all spice. Everything else remained the same. Absolutely delicious. These and home made
Deoderant will be added into baskets for Xmas presents. Thank you for a no sugar added recipe.
Can you can these to preserve them without having to freeze?
My mom brought over a bunch of apples from her trip to the orchard this week and I can’t wait to make this! It sounds like the best recipe of all the ones I’ve looked up. I know it says to refrigerate it, but is that necessary? I really don’t need more than one jar of it for my husband and I, and I have some friends & family that recently moved away that I would LOVE to mail a jar to if possible. Do you think that is possible or would it go bad on its way there?
You could try shipping it but I’ve only ever stored it in the fridge or freezer.
Just put mine in the crockpot! It smells so good:) I’m curious if the skin on the apples will make it have a lumpy consistency..
This may sound silly… but do you have any idea how much of the apple butter would be equal to one apple?
Thanks,
Angela
Sorry, I don’t.
Thanks for a great recipe, I just finished making it and not only does it taste great but my house smells amazing. One question though, my butter seems more runny than it should. This is my first time making apple butter so I don’t know if it will thicken as it cools or if there’s something I’m doing wrong. Any insight would be appreciated, thanks!
You probably didn’t do anything wrong Katrina. Some apples tend to be juicier than others so maybe yours released a lot of juice making it more runny. Hopefully it thickened up as it cooled. Let me know. 🙂
I have been having so much fun with this recipe!! It’s delicious and healthy. I’ve made it 4 times now, trying different apples each time. I put them up in little disposable tupperware-style plastic containers you get at the grocery store. This keeps the cost down. A recipe yields about 7 or 8 of the little 1 and 3/16 cup tubs put out by Glad, or Raley’s brand. They have been wonderful little hostess, thank-you, or “just because” gifts. Once I put a couple of chopped fresh mangoes in with the apples. It was good, but I really like 100% apples better, so that is what I’m sticking with now.
Hi! I really want to try this, but I’m afraid of leaving my slow cooker on over night (its REALLY old and tends to over heat!) If I wanted to do this on high, how long should I leave it in for? Also, does it need to refridgerated or kept out? I can’t wait to try this!
Thanks so much 🙂
I’ve never made it on high, but I’d say 6-7 hours. You’ll just have to test it out and see if it’s done by then and if not, let it go for longer.
And yes, it does need to be refrigerated.
This really is good. I have made it several times and even added blueberries to it! Have not had ONE person say they did not like it! 🙂
YAY! So glad that you like it Enid!
Made this last night and pureed it this afternoon, and it turned out great! I accidentally doubled the amount of cloves & nutmeg, so it had more of a punch, but still tasted delicious. Thanks! 🙂
So glad you liked the apple butter Angela!
I have never had homemade apple butter, only store bought but this recipe sounds so natural and delicious. Also a better alternative to jelly/jams which can be filled with sugar. Definitely going to have to try this with my mom when I go home next weekend. I have also never thought of mixing the apple butter into my oatmeal in the morning, such a great idea and probably taste fantastic. Loving the fact that it’s no sugar added, apples have plenty of natural sugar already. I was wondering if you have any other recipes for other fruit butters?
Hi! I wanted to tell you that I made your apple butter and it was so easy — and tasty! Loved not peeling the apples, it was sugar-free and just went into the slow cooker. What a win-win-win. I linked to your site (and this recipe) today from Foodlets. Hope you get a little traffic bump!
Best, Charity
Thank you for the recipe. I just have one question. Most recipes tell you to peel the apples, but yours does not. Can you feel the texture of the peeling once you blend the apples? Or it it completely smooth?
I couldn’t feel the texture of the peeling once the apples were blended. 🙂
thank you soo much for this recipe- i made several batches and canned it for Christmas presents! this was perfect for my diabetic family members!! it smelled amazing and canned effortlessly! my only regret was not making it sooner!!! thanks so much 🙂
Ohhh … these butters look delish. You have inspired me to give them a try : )
Lexie | Lexie’s Kitchen
Could I use this recipe for canning? How long would I have to boil it for?
Hi Erika, I’m pretty sure you could use this recipe for canning but I’m not 100% sure how long you would need to boil it. A source I found online said 10 minutes.
i just got done canning my double batches- i always water bath my apples for 20 minutes to be on the safe side but i’ve seen recommendations anywhere between ten to twenty minutes!!
I am interested in making this yummy looking recipe! Can you tell me how many jars in makes?
I filled 8, 1/2 pint canning jars.
Yum! 🙂 Apple butter sounds wonderful!
I discovered your blog recently and I love it! I tried this recipe and everyone keeps raving about it. Thank you for the great idea!
Yay! I’m so glad you enjoyed the recipe Amy.
are freezer safe ball jars DIFFERENT than regular ball jars? do i need to look specifically for ones that say “freezer safe”??
Yes mam. They will say freezer safe on the box. I got mine at Wal-Mart.
Hi! I just discovered your lovely blog and I truly enjoyed reading it this afternoon. This recipe reminds me of something a friend of mine did. But the apple butter she did was far too sweet for my taste. I might try my hand in this and see how it turns out.
Hi Aline, thank you for visiting! Let me know if you try the apple butter recipe. 🙂
I made your apple butter recipe, it was PERFECT!
Thanks for making a healthy recipe, and it’s better then any apple butter i’ve ever tasted.
I’m so glad you liked the apple butter Rebekah!!
Hi there!
I included your apple butter recipe on my blog, http://www.sourgrapeblog.com. Hope that’s alright!
Thanks so much for linking to this recipe Mila!
so i have gushed about this apple butter in my overnight oats quite a bit on twitter. i would like to let you know of three people i gave jars to, all have completely finished theirs within a week! they all love it as well – just thought you should know! thanks for all your awesome recipes!
meg
I came upon your recipe while searching for a quick and easy recipe for apple butter. See, I try to plan my menus each week and one of the recipes I planned to use called for apple butter. Unfortunately, I didn’t have the extra to buy it last minute, but I did have all the right stuff to make it with (lucky for me). So Tuesday night I found your blog and this delicious recipe. A big plus is that my husband is diabetic so the “no sugar added” part is a big plus for us. I put everything in the crock pot Tuesday night then went to bed. Sadly, I woke up sick with a bad sore throat and cough so I didn’t get to make the other recipe…but it sure was nice waking up to the lovely smell of fresh apple butter cooking away! I forced myself to finish the apple butter and boy am I ever so grateful. It was delicious warm and even better when it cooled. I couldn’t eat anything else…. Thanks for a great recipe!
I’m so glad you enjoyed the apple butter recipe!
I made this over the weekend and it was great! Thanks!!!
So glad you liked it Heather!
Without a doubt…I am making this tonight; O MY GOSH…amazing; love it, Britt…thanks for this fabulous recipe…I’m so cited to try it!
Have a great day.
xo
Aims
Just wanted to let you know that I put up on my FB that I am making apple butter and I have had so many comments. Not to mention, a friend asked me to send her the recipe so I sent her the website link and I told another friend that when it was done (if I made it right lol) I will send her a jar and it made her whole day 🙂 So I think overall this recipe was a big hit and it isnt even finished yet lol
I’ve never had apple butter. I’m going to bookmark this and try it though – it looks delicious. Thanks for the recipe!
I can’t believe how something this simple and amazing can avoid me for all these years. Imagine the possibilities of this apple butter, all the things you can put it on, in and with. Thank you for opening up the floodgates of creativity in my brain by introducing me to this. Great stuff! And perfect for the fall!
I made this last night and it is amazing! I’m excited to use it with my oatmeal tomorrow! The lovely smell helped with the awful skunk smell that permeated our walls after our dog got sprayed…
Apple butter is so good! I love the fact that its super sweet and barely any calories! Its a great substitution for maple syrup or even butter!
Thanks so much for this recipe! I’ve been trying to find good apple recipes for all of the apples I plan on picking this fall! I will definitely be making this…a great excuse to whip out the ole crockpot!
Oh damn! I had been doing well without a crockpot for awhile and now I am seeing that I need to go buy one this weekend along with a big bag of apples. This just sounds YUMMY!! I am thinking this, spread on one of my homemade sweet potato/cranberry/almond muffins would be HEAVENLY for breakfast (or dessert!)
As soon as I come home with an abundance of apples, I am making this!
love it! I always want to use a fruit spread in my oats or on toast but they are loaded with sugar, I just bookmarked this post – thanks!
Hey Brittany,
How do you juice the apples? Do you need special equipment?
Kristina
Yummm apple butter! There is a farmer’s market around me that makes no sugar added apple butter. I have really been enjoying it in my oatmeal but I bet making my own would be better. Can’t wait to try the recipe!
And bonus that I get to use the crock pot… I feel like I am never quite sure what to use that for…
Just an awesome Apple Butter Recipe! yay.:) I agree, let the natural sweetness work its magic!
I never tried apple butter!
I think I’ll definitely make this, it looks great!
Brittany this looks fabulous! I love apple butter! It would taste so wonderful mixed into oatmeal 🙂
Apple butter is amazing. And Im sure your house smells just as wonderful!
oh yeah..i’m good. haha..sounds amazing! i’ve always wanted to try it…i think i’m going to make if for christmas gifts!! 🙂
I am so excited! Apple butter was one of the spreads that I grew up with, and I’ve wanted to make my own variety at home. However, all the recipes I’ve seen are chock-full of added sugar, which seems so silly to my fruit-loving self! Thank you so much for sharing this with me. I can’t wait to give it a try!
Love the nutritional facts…where do you get them?
I put the recipe on http://www.livestrong.com‘s Daily Plate and it gives you the nutritional facts!
107% of your daily carbs!?
Yeah, that’s definitely incorrect… sorry about that.
This looks fantastic!!!!! I love Apple Butter, but homemade apple butter blows all of the store bought ones out of the water. I never think these things need added sugar. You are right, entirely sweet enough on their own.
I love apple butter so much, but never thought to make some myself. Thanks for the recipe!
That is handy, I was talking today about other uses for apples. Nice to have something else in my repertoire other than apple crumble! What are the nutritional stats like? x
For 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) it has approx. 16 calories, 0 fat, 4 carbs, 4 sugar, 0 protein
Great recipe! I will have to try it with pears because they are falling off of our trees!
I’ve never thought to make homemade apple butter. It looks great- kind of like caramel!
Ahhh I wish I had this for the quinoa parfait! It looks delicious and I love apple butter.