Crabapple Recipe: Slow Cooker Apple Butter
User Reviews
4.9
Crabapple Recipe: Slow Cooker Apple Butter
Description
This recipe for Slow Cooker Apple Butter starts by quartering and coring crabapples, optionally peeling them. The fruit is combined with water, sugar, and lemon juice in a slow cooker. Cooked initially for about 2 hours until soft, the mixture is blended smooth. Prolonged cooking of 5-6 more hours thickens and darkens the apple butter to a golden brown, with cinnamon added near the end to impart warm spice.
The result is a thick, richly flavored apple butter with balanced tartness and sweetness, turning tart crabapples into a spreadable condiment. The slow cooker method suits unattended, low-and-slow cooking to develop deep flavor and color.
It can be stored refrigerated for up to a month or frozen up to six months. The apple butter is delicious on bread, served with cheese, or used in baking recipes needing a spiced apple flavor.
Notes address troubleshooting sweetness with apple juice substitution and avoiding gluey texture by ensuring adequate water. Sugar addition at the start is critical for proper browning.
Ingredients
- 5 pounds crabapples Weigh apples before coring
- 3 cups water
- 1 ½ cups white sugar or brown or turbinado sugar, plus more if desired
- 2 lemon juiced
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
Instructions
- Quarter and core the apples. (Peel if desired, but it's not necessary.)Alternatively: Skip coring, and use a food mill to remove the seeds before blending the apples (in step 3).Add the apples, water, sugar, and lemon juice to the basin of a slow cooker.
- Cook on high for about 2 hours, until the apples begin to break down. Use an immersion blender and blend the sauce.Alternatively: Ladle the apples into a regular blender or food processor, and then return it to the slow cooker.
- Continue to cook the sauce for another 5-6 hours on high, until the apple mixture is thickened and golden brown. (Total cook time will be 7-8 hours.)Add cinnamon. Taste, and add more sweetener if desired.
- Store in the refrigerator for up to a month or freeze for up to 6 months.
Notes
- Replace half the water with unsweetened apple juice or cider to enhance sweetness naturally without extra sugar.
- Use the full 3 cups of water to prevent an overly thick, gluey texture caused by excess pectin.
- Add sugar at the beginning to ensure proper browning; skipping sugar will result in less color development.
- Browning typically occurs in the last hours of cooking, between hours 6 and 8.
Nutrition Information
Show DetailsNutrition Facts
Serving: 112people
Amount Per Serving
Calories 21 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 21kcal | 1% |
| Carbohydrates | 5g | 2% |
| Potassium | 24mg | 1% |
| Sugar | 4g | 8% |
| Vitamin A | 10IU | 0% |
| Vitamin C | 2mg | 2% |
| Calcium | 2mg | 0% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.9
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