Apples are in season and that means it’s apple canning time. Along with canning applesauce and apple jelly, I like to can apple pie filling. It’s so wonderful to open those jars mid winter for a very quick dessert.
I use apple pie filling mostly for making an apple crisp. I can throw a dessert together in the matter of minutes! Of course you can also make a pie with apple pie filling! You will need two quart jars for a regular size apple pie.
This recipe yields approximately 7-8 quart jars.
If you prefer not to can, I also have an apple pie filling freezer recipe!
Apple Pie Filling Canning Recipe
Author: Renae
Ingredients
- 6 Pounds Apples (about 24 medium apples)
- 4½ cups Sugar
- 1 cup Cornstarch
- 2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon Nutmeg
- 2 teaspoon Salt
- 10 cups Water
- 3T Lemon Juice
Instructions
- Peel, core and slice apples. Keep apple slices in lemon water (or use Fruit Fresh) until the filling syrup is almost ready.
- In a large pan mix sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Add water and mix well. Bring mixture to a boil. Stir until mixture is thick and bubbly. Remove from heat and add lemon juice.
- While syrup is cooking, pack apple slices into hot quart jars. Once the syrup has thickened, pour syrup over apples in the quart jars. Leave ½" inch of head space. Use a knife or spatula to remove air bubbles.
- Put lids on and process in a water bath canner for 20 minutes.
Tips
- If you are just getting started with water bath canning check out the Ball Blue Book for Canning and Preserving. A great website to use for a canning resource is Pick Your Own.
- Make sure you follow instructions exactly when canning. It is important to use exact measurements.
This recipe is perfect for making apple crisp at the spur of the moment!
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Renae is a married working mom of two handsome boys. She works as a registered dental hygienist by day and blogs here at How to Have it All by night. She enjoys cooking from scratch, working in her vegetable garden and functional training.
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Every recipe I’ve seen says to ‘stir until mixture is thick and bubbly’. How long is that? I stirred for 35 minutes until I felt the syrup was changing from thin to thick. Was this too long?
Also the recipe a friend gave me follows yours to a t, except that her recipe stated 2 teaspoons of lemon juice not 3 tablespoons as all the other recipes I’ve seen have. I think that these jars will stay in the fridge and be used within the week.
Hello!
I did not need to stir mine for 35 minutes to reach thickness. I used medium-high heat and stirred at a rapid boil for maybe 15 minutes.
If your jars sealed you should be good to go!
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thank you Renae. I already opened 3 of the jars and made a cobbler. I put huckleberries in with the apples, so each quart does not have enough filling to make one pie. The other 3 jars went in to the fridge because I am a bit nervous about the lemon juice. This was more work than I intended, but next time I’ll just can apples and see how it goes. (I left 1 inch headspace but I think the huckleberries expanded and each jar overflowed. I spooned some filling out of each and then resealed with no problem). Next time I’ll try boiling the syrup for only 15 minutes and see how it turns out.
I have a ton of pie cherries. How well do you think this recipe would work to tweek the spices alittle and use cherries and not apples?
Hi Kathi,
I have not tried this recipe using cherries! I know that you cherries can be canned. I found this recipe for cherry pie filling that might work for you! http://www.pickyourown.org/cherrypiefilling.htm
Renae
I did use your recipe with my cherries, only I omitted the nutmeg and added 3/4 of a T almond extract and decreased the salt by about 1/4 t.. I also added about a Tablespoon of red food coloring. The jars were so pretty and the filling was great. Thanks for your apple pie filling recipe I made 50 jars last year with my apples and 14 jars of the cherry pie filling. I will also check out the recipe you provided. Thanks so much for the reply.
Kathi