Appalachian Apple Butter Recipe

This Appalachian Apple Butter Recipe is one of our most treasured family recipes. It is sweet with deep apple flavor, and warmly spiced with cinnamon and cloves. Make it the old-fashioned way by stewing apples on the stovetop, or use our shortcut method which removes the work of peeling, chopping, and pureeing the apples.

My southern mama is the keeper of this homemade apple butter recipe, and she has made sure the tradition won’t stop with her. Over the years, she has taught most of the women in our family how to make it. A few years ago, everyone gathered in her kitchen to make batch after batch, turning more than 70 jars in one day. Pots simmered, jars covered the counters, and everyone had to wear a hair net. It was a real event, and at the end of it, everybody went home with plenty of apple butter.

What makes this apple butter different is its sweetness. Apple butter recipes can vary considerably, and this one is unapologetically on the sweeter side. It cooks a long time so the apple flavor intensifies, and the spices are just right. They don’t overpower the apples. Honestly, it’s good on just about anything, but especially good for making an authentic Appalachian apple stack cake. (More on that confection later this holiday season.)

Start with About 7 Pounds of Apples

First, use apples you enjoy eating. Honestly, I’m using whatever is on hand, even if it’s a mixture of sweet and tart. One thing Mom’s handwritten recipe doesn’t specify is exactly how many apples to use. Instead, she works by the amount of finished apple pulp. For one batch you’ll need 9 1/2 cups apple puree.

Her rule of thumb is about 3 lbs. of fresh apples will yield 4 cups of pulp. Using that measurement, you’ll want to begin with approximately 7 to 7 1/2 pounds of apples, or roughly 18-20 medium apples. The number will naturally vary depending on their size and how much you lose to peeling and coring, so buying by weight is recommended.

Make the Apple Pulp Ahead

Mom often prepares the apples the day before making the butter, and that’s a smart way to make the process much more manageable.

Peel, core, and chop the apples and place them in a large pot with about 2 cups of water. The water isn’t meant to make applesauce. Most of it will cook off, and it’s there to keep the fruit from scorching before it begins releasing its own juices. Cook the apples until very soft, then puree them until smooth with a food processor or immersion blender. Don’t keep blending until they’re watery. You’re looking for a thick, smooth apple puree.

The Applesauce Shortcut

In 2020, when nobody was going much of anywhere, let alone apple picking, Mom figured out a shortcut that turned out to be too useful not to keep.

You can skip peeling, coring, cooking, and pureeing all those fresh apples and start with two 46-ounce jars of no-sugar-added applesauce instead. Both jars provide all the apple pulp you need for one batch of her apple butter. Use whatever brand you like. Mom prefers Musselman’s, while I use Mott’s. The important thing is to check the ingredient list. Look for an unsweetened applesauce made with only 3 ingredients:

• apples
• water
• citric acid or ascorbic acid

This shortcut removes a considerable amount of prep work, but the finished apple butter still cooks down into the same thick, smooth, deeply apple-flavored spread we love. Don’t get me wrong – if good fall apples are plentiful and you have a bounty, then use them! But I love that my mom found a way to keep the apple butter tradition going even when circumstances changed.

What You’ll Need for the Apple Butter

Once you have the apple puree ready, either from fresh apples or the applesauce shortcut, the actual apple butter recipe is very simple. Just four ingredients go into the cooking pot:

• Apple puree: 9 1/2 cups. Use freshly cooked and pureed apples, or no-sugar-added, unflavored applesauce.
• Granulated sugar: Our family likes a sweeter apple butter, so this recipe uses 7 1/2 cups. It helps create the rich, old-fashioned flavor and thick, jammy texture we expect from this recipe.
• Ground cinnamon: Cinnamon gives the apple butter its warm spice without overpowering the fruit.
• Ground cloves: Just 1/2 teaspoon is plenty. Cloves are much stronger than cinnamon, so a small amount gives the apple butter depth while keeping the spice mellow.

One note about the sugar content: You can reduce the sugar content in this recipe, but the higher sugar level helps create a richer, darker, more jammy flavor and contributes some caramel-like notes during prolonged cooking. 

Cook It Low and Slow

Transfer the puree to an 8-quart, , then add the sugar, cinnamon, and cloves. A deep pot is important. As this stovetop apple butter thickens, it has a tendency to bubble and spit little blobs of very hot apple butter napalm. Stirring frequently and keeping the heat at medium-low helps keep both scorching and splattering under control.

Apple pulp becomes apple butter through slow evaporation. As the excess moisture cooks away, the apple flavor concentrates, the color deepens, and the mixture becomes thick and spreadable. Mom also gives good advice about cinnamon: if you’re using a stronger premium cinnamon, start with less than the recipe calls for and taste before adding more. Five teaspoons of supermarket cinnamon may taste quite different from five teaspoons of a particularly potent variety, such as Saigon cinnamon.

How to Tell When Apple Butter Is Done

This stovetop apple butter will need to cook for about 2 hours to reduce, and your best doneness gauge is your eyeballs. Meaning, forget using a strict timer and look at the apple butter. Place a saucer in the freezer for 5 minutes, then spoon 1 tablespoon onto the cold plate. Use a spoon to draw a line through it. If liquid separates around the edges, it needs more time. When properly cooked, the line should remain separated, thick and cohesive rather than releasing any water. Another visual cue is to scoop a spoonful and view it at eye level. It should be slightly mounded rather than immediately running flat. It will thicken a little more as it cools.

Fill the Jars

Once the apple butter is cooked to consistency and ready, ladle it into clean, hot canning jars. A canning funnel makes this job much easier and considerably less messy. Especially since hot apple butter is thick and sticky. If you can see any air bubbles in the jars, slide a plastic knife into the apple butter to release them.

Note: Metal knives can leave tiny scratches on glass jars that could cause them to crack during processing.

Leave 1/4″ headspace at the top of each jar, then remove the funnel and carefully wipe the rim with a clean, damp cloth. This little step is important. Any apple butter left on the rim can interfere with the lid making a proper seal. Center the lids on the jars and add the bands, tightening them just until fingertip-tight. There’s no need to twist them down firmly.

Process the Apple Butter in a Water-Bath Canner

Arrange the filled jars in a boiling-water canner, making sure the jars are covered with water. (If you’re looking to buy a water bath canner, I recommend , which comes with essential accessories.) Once the water returns to a full boil, process the jars for about 10 minutes. Or, with the recommended processing time for your elevation.

When processing is complete, turn off the heat and allow the jars to rest briefly in the canner before carefully lifting them out. Set the hot jars upright on a folded kitchen towel and leave them undisturbed as they cool. Before long, you may start hearing one of my favorite sounds: the little pop of the lids sealing. Once the jars are completely cool, check each seal before labeling and storing them.

Canning note: Because processing times can vary with elevation and tested recipes, consult the or your local for current home-canning guidance.

How to Serve Apple Butter

This Appalachian Apple Butter Recipe is very much the kind of sweet apple butter I associate with the Appalachian food traditions I grew up with in the heart of the East Tennessee Valley. But there are many other ways to enjoy it.

• Spread it generously over hot buttermilk biscuits, toast, or English muffins.
• Use it as the filling for an authentic Appalachian apple stack cake.
• Add it to a charcuterie board alongside cheeses, salami, crackers, and salty nuts.
• Spoon it over baked Brie for an easy appetizer with a sweet, cinnamon-spiced flavor.
• Serve it with pancakes and waffles in place of syrup or alongside butter.
• Use it to fill thumbprint cookies for an autumnal take on the classic jam-filled cookie.
• Stir it into a cocktail or mocktail for a warmly spiced seasonal drink.

A Family Food Tradition

would spread apple butter between two slices of white bread and toast the sandwich in butter in a skillet until the outside was crisp and golden and the apple butter inside was hot. Our family calls this snack (sometimes meal replacement) a Lou Vernie. According to family lore, a little country woman from Clinchmore, (a coal town, population 273) named Lou Vernie told her how to make it. Now my grandmother’s grandchildren and great-grandchildren, and even another generation beyond them, know exactly what someone means when they ask for a Lou Vernie.

I call this an Appalachian Apple Butter Recipe because that’s where this recipe belongs in my family’s story. Our roots run deep in Appalachia. My granddaddy was a coal miner, and this is the kind of food that was made, eaten, and passed down through our family for generations. Apple butter itself has a long history in Appalachian food culture, where preserving the apple harvest was part of everyday mountain life. Our particular version is simply our family’s version: jammy sweetness, gently spiced, and taught from one generation to the next.

This Appalachian Apple Butter Recipe is very simple, but it’s immeasurably valuable to us. This recipe was passed to me on paper, but it has also been passed down in a crowded kitchen, through our food traditions with funny names, and in jars to our neighbors, friends, handymen, unannounced proselytizers – just about anyone who shows themselves to be friendly. And now, we’re passing it to you.