The best apple pie filling is buttery, has tart juicy apples, cinnamon, vanilla, and all the fall spices to make it delicious!
It's SUPER easy to make homemade cooked apple pie filling. I have an awesome Homemade Cherry Pie Filling recipe but wanted to have an apple version that I make again and again. Apple pie with Cream Cheese Pie Crust is HEAVENLY, or you can use flaky all butter pie crust or your favorite crust recipe.
This apple pie filling uses fresh apples but is cooked before going into the pie. It helps to avoid soggy pie crust, pie filling that's too runny, and there are no gaps between the crust and the filling. It's easy to make ahead and freeze for a later day too!
A lot of apple pie recipes can go wrong with mushy apples, not enough apple flavor, runny filling, not enough filling, the list goes on. This recipe is on the tart side like my homemade fresh peach pie filling , letting the apple flavor shine with enough cinnamon to enhance it but not overpower it!
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What To Expect
- Taste: On the tart side, buttery with apple and cinnamon being the dominant flavors. Two different kinds of apples are used (Granny Smith and Honeycrisp to get a good balance of flavor.
- Ease: This is a super easy apple pie recipe. The part that takes the longest is peeling and chopping the apples, and waiting for the filling to cool before using it in pie, but that part is not difficult. It's just hard to wait!
- Time: It takes about 15-20 minutes to prep the apples (with no peeler) and about 20 minutes to cook the filling.
🛒 Key Ingredients
- Apples - You'll need to buy at least 4 pounds. A mix of Granny Smith and Honeycrisp are used in this recipe for texture and flavor. These are both tart apples that don't turn to mush when cooked, making them perfect for pie! I like the flavor of McIntosh apples more than Granny Smith, but I love the texture and how tart Granny Smith apples are.
- Brown Sugar - It helps to give a lovely buttery almost caramel flavor to the pie filling.
- Butter - used to help cook the apples and give them more flavor!
- Spices - I used a traditional apple pie spice mix of cinnamon, ginger, allspice, and a little nutmeg.
- Cornstarch - used as the thickener, it's a nice gluten friendly option that doesn't change the pie filling colors like flour would or have a strange texture like tapioca can sometimes cause.
- Vanilla - my beloved not so secret ingredient. It makes EVERYTHING sweet taste better and definitely enhances the beautiful apple flavors.
- Lemon - optional, but delicious! It makes the filling on the tart side, which we LOVE.
See the recipe card below for full information on ingredients and quantities.
✏️ Substitutions & Variations
- Cornstarch - can be swapped out with twice the amount of flour or Clear Jel, a modified food starch used for safe bottling and canning pie filling.
- Brown Sugar - can be substituted with the same amount of white sugar or coconut sugar.
- The combined spices can be switched with store bough apple pie spice mix.
🧑🍳 Instructions
- Step 1. Peel, core, and slice apples into THIN slices, about ¼ inch ( ½ cm) thick. You can do this a couple of ways: with a knife and vegetable peeler (above left image), or with an apple corer/peeler/slicer (above right image) which are AWESOME and only $20 ish. I have a mixer attachment that's easy to use that I use that I also love!
- Step 2. Add the sliced apples, butter, brown sugar, and all spices and vanilla to a large pot and stir together. Over medium heat, cook apples for 20 minutes covered until soft with a little bite to them, and stir them occasionally.
- Step 3. Combine lemon juice, water, and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk together.
- Step 4. Pour the cornstarch mixture into apple pie filling and stir over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until the filling is thickened. Adding the cornstarch after the apples have cooked help them to cook a little more evenly.
- Step 5. Cool completely to room temperature (or refrigerate) before using in a raw pie shell, or you can freeze the filling to use another time! Directions in the frequently asked questions secion below.
📌 Top Tips & Hacks
- Let the pie filling cool completely to room temperature before filling a pie shell. Otherwise it will melt the butter in your dough and your crust won't be flaky when baked!
- Heat a baking sheet in the oven while preheating to place your pie dish on when you bake the pie. If it's already hot, it helps to bake the pie more evenly and prevent a soggy bottom!
- Put it on Cinnamon Roll Overnight Oats or Vanilla Overnight Oats. SO GOOD.
❓Frequently Asked Questions
Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady all hold up well in pies, they are more tart in flavor and they don't turn mushy when baked.
I use a combination of Granny Smith for the tartness and texture and Honeycrisp because they taste so apple-y and are tart with a nice texture as well.
Cooking the apples ahead of time helps to reduce the chance of runny filling and a gap at the top of the pie between the filling and the crust. Baking with uncooked apples can be a risky business since apples can have an unpredictable amount of moisture.
The most reliable tend to be clear jel, a modified food starch that is safe for canning, or cornstarch. Flour or uncooked tapioca starch can also be used, but flour can dampen flavor and tapioca can cause texture issues if not cooked properly.
Refrigerate: up to 4 days.
Freeze: up to 3 months.
Yes!
Combine all pie filling ingredients in crock pot and cook on high for 2-3 hours, stirring occasionally.
Yes, but NOT as is written. Instead of cornstarch, you will need to use Clear Jel, a modified food starch that helps to distribute heat more evenly than cornstarch and will help prevent bacteria from growing after the pie filling is bottled.
Then bottle using a water bath, making sure to cover the bottles completely with water (1-2 inches above), and process for 30 minutes or more for elevation adjustments.
🥧 More Delicious Pie Recipes
Did You Try This Recipe? ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ Make sure to leave a star rating and a comment below the recipe card. I love hearing from you, and it is so helpful to other readers! Better yet, share it with family and friends. Thank you!!
📝 Printable Recipe
Homemade Apple Pie Filling
Equipment
Ingredients
- 4 lb apples (12 medium) mix of Granny Smith and Honeycrisp, = 3 lb (1360 g) peeled and chopped
- 2 Tablespoons salted butter 23 g
- 1¼ cups brown sugar 280 g
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ginger
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice 30 mL
- ½ cup water 118 mL
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch 24 g
Instructions
- Peel, core, and slice apples into THIN slices, about ¼ inch (about ½ cm) thick. You can do this with a apple peeler/slicer, or with a peeler and knife.
- Add the sliced apples, butter, brown sugar, and all spices and vanilla to a large pot.
- Over medium heat, cook apples for 20 minutes until soft with a little bite to them.
- Combine lemon juice, water, and cornstarch in a small bowl and whisk together. If you want a sweeter filling, use water in place of the lemon juice to equal almost ⅔ cup.
- Pour into apple pie filling and stir over medium heat for 1-2 minutes until the filling is thickened.
- Cool completely to room temperature (or refrigerate) before using in a raw pie shell.
Sara says
The butter really does make a difference and it's delicious.You can leave out the lemon if you want, but it really helps bring out the tart apple flavor in the filling.
Teresa barbao says
Going to try apple pie filling thank you