What do you do when you’ve got a lot of apples on your hands and they’re looking like they might not have that much longer to live? Make Slow Cooker Hot Buttered Apples! 👏👏👏
I bought a big bag of apples the other day for what I thought was a great deal, until I realized later that they were really really ripe. Like they already smell like apple cider instead of fresh apples, ripe. Oops. But I wasn’t about to let that bag of 12 apples go to waste, so I peeled and sliced them, tossed them into the slow cooker with a healthy dose of warm spices, a little sugar, cornstarch for thickening, and a few big pieces of butter. Already sounds good, doesn’t it?
After a few hours in the slow cooker the apples were tender, sweet but not too-sweet, and had my house smelling like an autumn dream! The mixture ends up very much like the filling for an apple pie and is very versatile in its uses.
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How to Serve Slow Cooker Hot Buttered Apples
You can treat it like a crustless pie and serve it à la mode like I did below (with a little granola sprinkled on top), spoon it over your pancakes, waffles, or oats, use it as a filling for a dessert “quesadilla”, or even serve it along side something like pork chops.
Make a Half Batch, If Needed
This is obviously a huge batch because I wanted to use that entire bag of apples, but you can easily halve this recipe if needed. While the Slow Cooker Hot Butter Apples do stay good in the fridge for 4-5 days I’m not sure that they will freeze well due to the cornstarch (although I haven’t had the opportunity to test this yet). To adjust the recipe down, simply change the number of servings in the recipe box below and it will auto-adjust the ingredient amounts for you.
Adjust the Sweetness
One more note about the type of apples used vs. the amount of sugar in the recipe. I used very ripe Fuji apples, which were fairly sweet with just a hint of tartness. If you use a very tart apple like Granny Smith, you’ll likely want to increase the sugar in the mix, but that’s going to depend on your personal preference.
Slow Cooker Hot Buttered Apples
Servings 6 1 cup eachIngredients
- 12 small apples* (about 2″ diameter) ($3.99)
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice ($0.05)
- 1/4 cup brown sugar ($0.04)
- 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon ($0.15)
- 1/2 tsp ground cloves ($0.05)
- 1 tsp vanilla ($0.28)
- 1/4 tsp salt ($0.02)
- 3 Tbsp cornstarch ($0.18)
- 4 Tbsp butter ($0.52)
- 1/2 cup water ($0.00)
Instructions
- Peel and slice the apples, then place them in a slow cooker (4 quart or larger). Add the lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, cloves, vanilla, salt, and cornstarch to the slow cooker, then stir to coat the apples in the spices.
- Divide the butter into pieces, then place the butter on top of the seasoned apples. Pour 1/2 cup water into the cooker down the side so that reaches the bottom without rinsing the spices from the apples.
- Place the lid on the slow cooker, set it to high heat, and cook for two hours. After two hours, stir the apples well, replace the lid, and cook for an additional one hour, then serve hot.
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Notes
Nutrition
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How to Make Slow Cooker Apples – Step by Step Photos
Peel and slice about 12 small apples (about 2-inch diameter) and place them in a slow cooker. For this amount of apples, you’ll probably want to use at least a 4 quart slow cooker.
Add 1 Tbsp lemon juice, 1/4 cup brown sugar, 1/2 Tbsp cinnamon, 1/2 tsp ground cloves, 1 tsp vanilla extract, 1/4 tsp salt, and 3 Tbsp cornstarch to the slow cooker, then stir to coat the apples in the spices. Cut the butter into a few large chunks and place them on top of the apples. Carefully pour 1/2 cup water down the side wall of the cooker so the water reaches the bottom without washing the spices off the apples.
Place the lid on the slow cooker, set it to “high” and cook for two hours. After two hours, stir the apples, replace the lid, and cook for one more hour.
Then EAT! The reason I like these apples is because they are sweet but not so incredibly sweet that they can’t be use to top something healthy like a bowl of oatmeal. They’re about as sweet as applesauce, but with a deep richness from the butter and vanilla. SO GOOD.
This was great. I took it to an evening function and everyone loved it. I have a few notes in case anyone had the same questions I did.
1. 6 quart slow cooker- I was able to fit 1 and 1/2 recipes in here.
2. Make ahead- because I had to take it to work and then to the dinner, I put the spices, cornstarch, lemon juice and apples in a ziplock bag and mushed them around. I cut up the butter but left it in the wrapper. Tucked them all in the crock and took it to work. When it was time to cook I dumped the apples in the pot. Most of the spices remained in the bag . I poured the water into the bags, swished it around and added to the pot. Then I put in the butter. It worked great this way.
I thought it was a tad strong of cloves, but that could be personal preference. I’ll just cut back a little next time.
Great recipe.
Thanks for sharing the tips Melissa!
About how many pounds of apples? I have some gigantic honeycrisp and I am not sure how many would equal 12 small fuji apples…
It say about 2-3 pounds.
This was great on top of waffles! I’m making it a second time, but I forgot what kind of apples I used initially. Do you think Macs would work? I happen to have a lot lying around.
P.S. You’re my favorite food blogger, I have saved so so many of your recipes!
Thanks Sarah! Waffle toppings sound great. Yes I think macintosh would be great!
One more question… any idea how long these will last? Curious if I make them midweek if they’ll last until weekend brunch, with reheating.
I have a relative with a dairy allergy and have been struggling to find a holiday themed dessert recipe that fits all her allergies, is there a non dairy fat I could sub instead of using butter?
I feel like butter’s unique mixture of cream and natural sugars really add a lot to the flavor here, so I’m not sure that a non-dairy fat would really be as good. If I had to pick one, I’d use coconut oil because it’s a saturated fat and will have a nice creaminess, but you’ll also get a slight coconut flavor and will again be missing the flavor of the sweet cream.
How about coconut oil or better yet coconut butter? (AKA Coconut Manna).It’s also kind of sweet like dairy butter.
We had this for dessert for Christmas dinner in 2018! Yummy!! (and we used a slow cooker liner to aid in clean-up!) We served it over very good quality vanilla bean ice cream. And the leftovers we eaten fast in lieu of supper that evening!! I repeated it again for Easter and I’m sure it will be our new favorite holiday dessert!
I do all the cooking though our visiting 2 adult kids can be brought in for some help but just made the drive. Also the in-laws are here and elderly. Since the whole meal is in my lap to plan and prepare this is just wonderful!! Thank you for sharing!
I have everything on hand except the lemon. Will it make a big difference if I don’t add the 1 Tbsp lemon juice?
I’m sure it will still be quite good. :)
Can these be reheated on the stove?
Yes, you can reheat them in a sauce pot over low, stirring often. Add a little water if they begin to get too dry. :)
what about adding cranberries for Thanksgiving???
Yum! I love that idea!
I am thinking about the same thing! What would the ratio be if we decide to add fresh cranberries? Do we need to reduce the number of apples used or can we just add a cup or two of berries and not change the rest?
This is just a guess, since I haven’t tried adding cranberries, but if I were to test it I’d first try just adding the cranberries in without making any other changes.
Delicious! I made it even easier by not peeling the apples. The skin softens and you would never even know they were not peeled. Terrific with ice cream. After crockpot shut off they stayed nicely warm for another 2 and 1/2 hours.
What a great idea! So much faster, and more nutritious too!
I’m looking for a copycat recipe of the cinnamon apples that Boston Market once had. Do you think this is it?
I’m sorry, I’ve never had those, so I ‘m not sure if they are similar. :)
So if I would make it 1day before needed, do you think it would be alright reheated in crock pot?Just wondering.
Yes, I think that could work. If it gets dry or too thick while reheating, you can stir in a little bit of water.
This is delicious! Served it over vanilla bean ice cream last night, had some on oatmeal today. Great way to use the big bag of seconds we got at the orchard.
Do you think this would freeze well? I have tons of apples as well and this sounds perfect to make. Thanks!
I haven’t had the chance to test freezing these to be certain, but sauces thickened with cornstarch do tend to separate upon freezing and thawing.
I read a post on another site that said to toss the apples and spices in a freezer bag and freeze them that way. Then just toss into the Crock-Pot whenever you want to make them.
Do you think this could be done without a slow cooker? It looks heavenly!
Yes, you could probably just simmer them in a pot over low heat until they soften. :)
I tried it and it was perfect and delicious. I’m wondering if I could do it again but this time adding a couple kinds of berries… Do you think that would work?
I bet raspberries would go great in there!