For a time when I was young, we lived in a house with a cluster of antique apple trees at the very back of our property. Thanks to this easy abundance, apples were one of the very first things I learned to preserve. In those days, my job was to help gather the windfall apples that seemed mostly whole until they filled a paper grocery bag. My mom did the rest, but I always stood by and watched.
Later on, I’d help peel and core the apples (I absorbed a lot while watching). Both my sister and I would offer opinions about how much spice to add to the pot on the stove and when the sauce was all done, we’d sit down with cereal bowls full of warm, spicy applesauce. When the rest of the batch was entirely cool, I’d hold open plastic zip top bags while my mom spooned in the sauce for the freezer.
Later on, we added apple butter to our fall repertory, but never felt the need to venture beyond those two basics with our apples. Pie filling was most decidedly not on the agenda, mostly because pies happened just twice a year (Thanksgiving and Christmas) and so there was no need to be prepared for a spontaneous pie.
It’s only in the last couple of years that I’ve added pie filling to my personal canning routine and I’ve found it’s a nice preserve to have on the shelf. This time of year, a batch of apple pie filling is an easy way to put up several pounds of apples and it has a surprising number of uses beyond a basic pie.
It tastes good stirred into oatmeal. If you have one of these old stovetop pie makers, you can make yourself a toasted hand pie with two slices of bread and a little smear of butter (it’s an especially fun project with kids). And, if you live in a household with an avowed fruit pie hater, you can make yourself a teeny tiny free form crostata with leftover quiche crust and a pint of filling. Not that I’d know anything about that.
When making pie filling, there are just a few things to remember. The first is that you need to use Clear Jel
Third thing is that when you put the rings on your jars of pie filling, you tighten them just a little bit more firmly than you do for most other preserves. Often, you’ll hear me raving about how you don’t want to overtighten those rings but in this case, a little extra twist helps keep your product in the jars.
Finally, make sure to follow the instructions in the recipe and leave the jars in the canner for a full ten minutes after the processing time is up. Turn the heat off, slide the pot to a cooler burner, remove the lid and let the jars sit. This slower cooling processing will help prevent that dreaded loss of product. Really, the hardest part about making pie filling is keeping it in the jars once they’ve been processed.
Oh, and one more thing. Notice those air bubbles in the jars? Pie filling is thick and really likes to trap air pockets. Bubble your jars as well as you can, but don’t kill yourself over it.
For those of you who make pie filling, do you have any unconventional uses?
Spiced Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 10 cups peeled and sliced apples
- 2 1/4 cup apple cider
- 2 cups water
- 6 tablespoons bottled lemon juice
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup Clear Jel
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- 3/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/2 teaspoon ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon cloves
Instructions
- Prepare a boiling water bath canner and six pint jars. Put new lids in a small saucepan and bring to a gentle simmer.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and blanch the apple slices for 1 minute. Remove them from the pot and place them in a bowl of cold water with a splash of lemon juice in it.
- In another pot, combine the apple cider, water, and lemon juice. Set over high heat. While it heats, whisk together the sugar, Clear Jel, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, and cloves.
- Stream the sugar mixture into the water and juice, whisking well to incorporate without lumps. Bring a boil and cook, stirring constantly until it begins to thicken.
- Once the canning medium has thickened, fold in the apples and remove it from the heat. Fill the jars, leaving a generous inch of headspace. Wipe rims, apply lids and rings, and process in a boiling water bath canner for 25 minutes.
- When time is up, turn the heat off, remove the lid, and slide the pot to a cooler burner. Let the jars sit in the water for an additional ten minutes. This will help minimize the pie filling from siphoning out of the jars.
- Once that time is up, remove the jars from the canner and set them on a folded kitchen towel to cool.
Notes
Adjust processing time is for sea level. If you live at a higher elevation, please adjust accordingly.
I processed as told in this recipe, but the lids did not depress. How shelf safe are these apples if the lid did not depress after processing in hot water?
If the jar lids are still raised, the jars are not sealed and they are not shelf stable. Your choices are to either reprocess or refrigerate. Apple pie filling expands a lot during the canning process, so it could be that some leaked out and compromised your seals.
In Step 2, the blanching, can a product such as mrswages Citric Acid be used instead of lemon juice to stop the discoloring of the apple slices?
Yes.
A friend shared first a jar of the filling then this recipe. OMG!!! This recipe is amazing. I’ve made it 7 times now (I’m not eating it all- don’t worry, I have been giving quite a bit away to friends and family). So far any apple varietal or combination has been lovely. I like that the Blanche step is quite mild, so the end result can have soft or crisp apple segments. My apple peeler and corer allows me to alter the apple segment size and I find a mix of 1/4, 1/3 and 1/2 slices makes for an entertaining mouth feel.
I am so happy to hear that you like it!
I made this awesome recipe last year with my June Apple harvest (Golden Dorsett and Anna) and on Fourth of July I finally cracked some open and made an amazing apple crisp! Now it’s time to process this year’s apple harvest and I’m so happy to have this in my repertoire. Thank you!
I’m so happy you like it!
Can the sugar be reduced to 1/2 cup or less? My family doesn’t like too much sweetness and the zester apples we got at the orchard are sweet enough on their own.
You can reduce the sugar, but the apples won’t hold their color or texture as long as they would if you used the full amount of sugar.
I made this recipe for the first time last year and it’s on my agenda for today. I never knew it would be this easy to make the pie filling. It was super convenient to open a jar, pour it into a refrigerator pie crust, top it with another and have a pie ready in no time. I did learn that my pie pans work best with a quart and a pint of filling to get them full enough.
I’m so happy to hear that you’ve enjoyed having homemade pie filling in your pantry!
Can you play with the spice amounts? I can’t think how they would affect the product acidity in an appreciable way, but I’m definitely not an expert.
Yes, it’s perfectly safe to tweak the spice volumes a little.
I accidentally used 2 1/4 cup of apple cider vinegar instead of apple cider. Besides tasting strange, do you think it is safe to eat after I canned it?
It’s perfectly safe, just super acidic!
Made this yesterday, your tips on headspace and resting in the pot were spot on. Very little siphoning and filling is to the top of the jars. Can’t wait to use it for Thanksgiving pie next week. Thank you!
I’m so glad to hear that it worked out well!
This is my third year using this recipe, I love it!
I skip the clear jel – I used it the first time, after sourcing it from a local bakery. It was okay – but not my favourite. Now I just skip the thickener all together, and add it when I bake a pie. Easy :).
You asked how else this gets used? I make a few small jars to stir into oatmeal on cold mornings.
Love your recipes and books!
I’m so glad you like this recipe! Thank you so much for letting me know!
I just made this recipe and as I was putting the filling into the jars it tasted very acidic in a way that tasted like the clear jel itself. Did i maybe not let the filling thicken enough so that the clear jel was all cooked? Will it cook some in the waterbath and resolve? I’m worried about it tasting that bad when it comes out of the water bath
Can you substitute Pears for apples? I have Asian Pears and Keiffer.
You could use the Kieffer pears, but not the Asian pears (they’re too low in acid).
So just for clarification, if you don’t have Clear jell, you follow the direction exactly as written and add corn starch or flour later when you make your pies? So you don’t add liquid or powder pectin to it when you prepare it for canning.
Yes. You add no thickener. It becomes canning the fruit in syrup, essentially.
I just made apple pie filling last night and as I was cleaning up, I noticed I had accidentally bought and used Instant Clear Gel instead of regular! ACK! Is it still safe to eat? I processed my quarts for 25 minutes. All jars sealed. Would dumping it into freezer bags and freezing it be safer? I absolutely LOVE canning and was so bummed last night when I realized my error. Any advice would be appreciated by me and my family who is longing for pie! 🙂 Thank you!
The biggest issue is that it might not hold its texture. You may need to rethicken it before using.
Can I use brown sugar in place of some of the white sugar?
I’ve never tried it before, so I really can’t speak to that change. It’s not an unsafe alteration, though.
I just made this with no clear gel. So when I go to make the pie how exactly will I do it? Do I mix the juice in the jar with cornstarch?
Add 4-6 tablespoons of cornstarch to the pie filling and warm until thick. Then pour it into a pie crust and bake.
Can I sub in a couple of pears for some of the apples?
Thanks!
Hello,
I hope you can answer my question: Can I process the filling in quart jars instead of pints?
Thank you,
Joy
You certainly can! According to the National Center for Home Food Preservation, the processing time is the same for both pints and quarts. https://nchfp.uga.edu/how/can_02/can_pie/apple_filling.html
First recipe with the 60 pounds of apples that I bought this year from a local organic farm. Also first time trying this recipe. I thought that blanching the apples was a little odd. We are at 6500 feet altitude so processing time is 40 mins. I was sure the apples would be tender enough after that amount of time, but since it was my first time trying the recipe, I followed the recipe. I used some leftover Speculaas Spice for seasoning. I was expecting the canning liquid to boil like jam but it was more like a pot of volcanic lava due to the thickness of the sauce using Clear Jel. The tips about headroom, tightening rings, and the 10 min wait before removing jars from the canner were very helpful. No product seeped out of the jars and every jar sealed. CNt wait to try it.
Can this recipe be made with crabapples?
No. The only thing crab apples are good for is jelly or butter.
Can I substitute 100% apple juice for the cider?
Thanks!
yes
Hello!
I would like to know what type of apples work best for this recipe. I know that a macintosh wouldn’t be the best. What have you used and it worked well? Thank you!
Apples that hold their texture like Granny Smiths are a good choice.
Can’t find Clear Jel around here. Can I use cornstarch instead?
No. It is not canning safe.
So…baking instructions for pie? Like normal? 400 for 10 mins then 350 for 30?
Yes.
When you leave the jars in the hot water aftter the time is up,,,to keep it from siphoning out ….what exactly does that mean? I’ve never heard of that….
Siphoning is the loss the of liquid that occurs when the pressure inside the jars changes rapidly.
Can you please tell me the shelf life of this? I’d like to give as a gift.
Like nearly all other homemade preserves, this one keeps for at least a year.
Hello,
I am not sure what is meant by, “This will help minimize the pie filling from siphoning out of the jars.” How would that happen when the the lids and seals are on the jars? Sorry for being a dunce here, but I can’t figure this out.
When you take jars out of the canning pot, the seal hasn’t actually been formed yet. And so, there is still space for liquid to seep out of the jars, even with the lids and rings in place.
Is using sure gel the same as clear gel
Nope. They are very different products.
I just bought several 6 cup canning jars from a thrift shop, I am going to fill all of them with your apple pie filling and sell them at a flea market in October. I’ll paint the lids with chalkboard paint and label them with chalk. How fun! Thanks for the amazing idea!
~Kitty
Kitty, as far as I know, there’s no such thing as a 6 cup canning jar. It’s not recommended that you can this pie filling in anything larger than a 4 cup, quart jar.
I have an electric pressure cooker that is also a canner and was wondering how to can the pie filling in it?
I have no idea.
My wife has been making pie in a jar for some time now. Sometimes she makes the pies, freezes them, and them bakes them when needed. Sometimes the filling does not set and is really runny. Do you have any idea why this happens. Any help would be greatly appreciated. By the way, she has no idea I’m sending you this email.Thanks Ben
Ben, there’s so much variation in the water content of fruit that it’s hard to nail the right thickness every time. I’d suggest increasing the amount of flour or cornstarch she’s using to improve the set.
Hi there! So I have kind of a general question about canning apples. Do I really have to peel the skins off of the apples before canning them? I really like the peels and am trying to save myself some work! 🙂 ) thank you so much for such an informative website!!
The peels are going to give you a really unpleasant texture in the finished product if you leave them one the fruit.
I missed this one last year – and am so glad I found it this year. I have found a source for clear gel in Canada!! I used honey crisp apples and they have held up nicely from start to finish.
We have it on our oatmeal, we eat it straight from the jar and this week we have been looking at Apple Pull Apart bread or apple fritter bread and thinking…
We also eat this with cottage cheese.
Do you think cranberries could be safely canned with the apple pie filling? If not, I’ll just add them when I open the jars 🙂 Thanks!!
Can I use tapioca as a thinks thickener? I use it when using fresh apples
Nope, no tapioca is not recommended.
I knew you’d have a recipe with less sugar than the one I’ve used in the past. Thank you! I have a ton of apples and was wondering if you think the apple peeler/corer/slicer would make the apple slices too thin. I think in the past I’ve cut them by hand so they have a thicker slice but it would be so nice to be able to get through them faster. What do you think?
I like to do them by hand for bigger chunks.
Hi there! I just ordered my clear jel and I’m planning on making this next week. What are the best varieties of apple to use in filling? I’m guessing granny smith, just like a regular pie? Or a variety?
Make sure to use something with a sturdy texture. Soft apples will dissolve.
Hi, I am going to leave out the clear jell. Will the. Canning medium still thicken in step #4?
It will not thicken without the Clear Jel.
Just made this with apples from a local orchard- delicious!!!! Thanks so much for the recipe..
I tried this the first time without thickener, but the apples seemed to lose all structural integrity. I was using fresh, crisp apples, so the result was a little mystifying. The second batch with the same apples a few days later had thickener (was waiting on Amazon for it…) and I skipped the blanching step. These definitely retained their apple shape in comparison.
Out of curiosity — why include the step where you blanch them?
Because according to the National Center for Home Preservation, that’s how you’re supposed to do it. And because it worked, I didn’t question the necessity of that step.
Ah, thanks! I’m relatively new to canning, so wanted to make sure I wasn’t skipping steps that I shouldn’t be skipping.
Maybe getting them into colder water more quickly or blanching smaller batches at a time will help the apples hold their shape. Do you immediately drain off the cold water or do the apples sit in the cold water until you’re ready to fold them in to the sauce?
PS: Thanks for the recipe — and others on the site. All of these delicious jams and pie fillings are making learning a real hardship… 😀
Hi Beth,
It can depend on the type of apple your using, some are softer/mushy when cooked whilst others retain a little texture.
Have you ever used maple syrup to sweeten this apple pie filling instead of sugar? I would prefer to use maple syrup, but am not sure if it makes a difference when canning.
Unfortunately, maple syrup can alter the acidity of the finished product and render it unsafe. You could use maple sugar, which doesn’t impact the finished acidity in the same way.
Thank you for responding to my maple syrup recipe! I have one more question, could I leave out the clear jel and thicken the apples as needed once I open the jar?
Yes! Leaving out the thickener is totally fine.
Hi Marisa, I’m wondering how much ClearJel or cornstarch should I use for a quart of filling to make a “slurry” after opening since I didn’t have ClearJel at the time of canning?
I typically use 1 to 1 1/2 tablespoons for every quart of pie filling.
I made these today without the Clear Jel. I let the liquid-spice-sugar mixture reduce some, but it definitely wasn’t syrupy. I still left the generous inch of headspace. Now looking at my jars, I see some apple slices not covered by liquid. Will this compromise their safety and/or deliciousness down the road? Should I redo them with a more reduced liquid?
I,too, have the problem of my apples not being completely covered by the syrup and was wondering if it will affect the quality of the pie filling?
I have the same problem… now what? Make some apple pies quickly, I guess! Unless someone has a better idea?
Anyone have any thoughts on this yet? (Marisa?)
(Happy Thanksgiving to all in the US!)
As long as the seals are good, the apples will still be fine. The ones that aren’t covered by syrup may discolor a little, but they won’t be unsafe to eat.
Thanks Marisa!!
Can I double the recipe to make 6 quarts and still can safely? I’ve seen some recipes that say don’t go beyond doubling or tripling.
Thank you! Apple picking is on the list for this weekend.
Yes. You can double this preserve because it doesn’t need to reduce in the same way that jam does. Just make sure you’re using a big pan to accommodate the volume of filling!
Thanks for the reminder on the size! I think I’ll start with 10 cups of apples and see how that goes into my pan. Or how tired I am of peeling and slicing apples. 🙂
I know this is an older post but I just went apple picking and have a ton of apples to can! But my question is how do you keep them from turning brown between peeling, slicing and cooking? Mine see to turn so fast it seems inevitable. I’ve tried a little lemon niice and water, but yours look absolutely perfect!
I really didn’t do anything beyond working quickly.
My sister & I substituted the apples for peaches and oh boy! were we satisfied! We licked every spoon clean… And made sure to scrape out what was left in our dutch oven. Instead of apple cider, we used the peach infused water from boiling after blanching our peeled and chopped peaches. It is heaven!! Our’s did not, however, expand. After processing and removing, our filling levels remained the same. I almost wished we would have added an extra half inch. Adding a vanilla bean would be really good as well. Thank you for such great inspiration! I’m a huge new fan of yours & will be doing a batch of your pickled cherries tomorrow! Thank you, thank you!
Yummy looking recipe. Can this be made with Splenda instead of sugar? I’m diabetic.
We don’t have clear jel in Australia. Thanks for the tip about not thickening it before it goes in the jar, I had not seen that tip yet. I’m new to this craft and have bought you book, you have a great blog. Thanks
Can you use regular apple juice? And do you have an idea about how much slurry to add after canning? I want to give them as Christmas gifts this year. Thank you.
Oh my geeze Marisa, I just cracked open a jar of these I made a month or so ago. So good right out of the jar! I Can’t wait to get these into apple tarts for T-day this week. Thanks again for the recipe! 🙂
You’re welcome! So glad you like it!