Written by Kate Tietje and updated by Sarena-Rae Santos in December of 2023.
In 2010, I made apple pie filling in an entirely different way, and I couldn’t remember how for the life of me. I do remember I used honey instead of sucanat and that it wasn’t quite sweet enough. I had only made about 10 pints, but it took us two years to eat them all.
Then, in the spring of 2012, the kids suddenly decided apple crisp for breakfast was awesome, and we quickly went through the last pie filling. I decided that it was such a quick and healthy breakfast (really!) that I needed to make a lot of pie filling. So, I made them by the quart (the kids were much bigger and hungrier). I see many more apples in my future…
In the years since, this has become a classic favorite breakfast of the whole family. It’s perfect with a nourishing oat topping and some fresh whipped cream!
Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients:
- 8 quarts apple slices (10 – 15 lbs.)
- 2 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 cup sucanat
- 1/3 cup arrowroot powder
- 1 1/2 – 2 1/2 cups of filtered water
Directions:
Step 1: Peel, core, and slice all the apples, and fill an 8-quart stock pot with them. I am unsure how many apples this took, but I’m guessing 10 – 15 lbs.
Step 2: Add the spices, sucanat, arrowroot, and water. Start with 1 1/2 cups and add more if needed, 1/2 cup at a time. Some apples release more liquid than others. I used Jonathon, Macintosh, and some random heirloom apples, all fairly firm.
Step 3: Stir it all up and put it on the stove. Put a lid on the pot and turn it on medium.
Step 4: Allow this to simmer for a few minutes, then stir it. Check it often because it can burn easily. Always stir from the bottom so the softening apples come to the top and the raw apples get moved down.
Step 5: It will only take 20 – 30 minutes to be done. The apples should be partially softened, and the arrowroot and water should have formed a “sauce” around the apples.
Step 6: Fill clean jars with the hot pie filling.
Step 7: You may need to add a tiny bit of water, up to 1/4 cup per jar (this is additional to what is listed in the recipe). I filled it to about 1″ under the bottom rim of the jar. My jars were floating in the water before I did this! Plus, it creates just a little extra “sauce” around the apples and turns out amazingly well when it’s done. I tried adding more water to the filling the second time and added less water before processing the jars, but I still added a little. You may not need to if your apples released more water than mine. I’m not very patient.
Step 8: Twist the jars to get the bubbles out. Put lids on the jars and water bathe for about 20 minutes. Remove carefully with a jar lifter and set aside to cool.
That’s it! Now you have yummy apple pie filling that can be used to make pies, apple crisps, or whatever you like!
Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 8 quarts apple slices 10 - 15 lbs.
- 2 tsp. nutmeg
- 2 tbsp. cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. ground cloves
- 1/2 cup sucanat
- 1/3 cup arrowroot powder
- 1 1/2 - 2 1/2 cups of filtered water
Instructions
- Peel, core, and slice all the apples, and fill an 8-quart stock pot with them. I am unsure how many apples this took, but I'm guessing 10 - 15 lbs.
- Add the spices, sucanat, arrowroot, and water. Start with 1 1/2 cups and add more if needed, 1/2 cup at a time. Some apples release more liquid than others. I used Jonathon, Macintosh, and some random heirloom apples, all fairly firm.
- Stir it all up and put it on the stove. Put a lid on the pot and turn it on medium.
- Allow this to simmer for a few minutes, then stir it. Check it often because it can burn easily. Always stir from the bottom so the softening apples come to the top and the raw apples get moved down.
- It will only take 20 - 30 minutes to be done. The apples should be partially softened, and the arrowroot and water should have formed a "sauce" around the apples.
- Fill clean jars with the hot pie filling.
- You may need to add a tiny bit of water, up to 1/4 cup per jar (this is additional to what is listed in the recipe). I filled it to about 1" under the bottom rim of the jar. My jars were floating in the water before I did this! Plus, it creates just a little extra "sauce" around the apples and turns out amazingly well when it's done. I tried adding more water to the filling the second time and added less water before processing the jars, but I still added a little. You may not need to if your apples released more water than mine. I'm not very patient.
- Twist the jars to get the bubbles out. Put lids on the jars and water bathe for about 20 minutes. Remove carefully with a jar lifter and set aside to cool.
This is perfect timing! I just acquired 20 pounds of Granny Smith’s and was trying to decide what to do with them. Some will definitely go into this recipe. Thanks for sharing!
i know apple skins are a matter of personal taste in applesauce, but what about pie filling? can i be lazy and leave them on if my family isn’t skin-averse?
Can you freeze the filling instead of canning it? I’ve never canned and at 7 months pregnant I’m not ready to tackle that! Also, what about the skins? Do they need to come off?
Well, you’d need to cook it longer before freezing because the canning process finishes cooking it. I peel the apples because I prefer it that way, but you don’t *have* to.
Can I bake the apple pie filing in the soaked apple pie without canning it first? Of so, can I put the apples in raw??
You could probably put them in raw if you simply mixed all the filling ingredients together. It might need to bake slightly longer but it should work fine.
I’ve never canned before (most of what we eat in abundance is easily frozen, so we tend to go that route for preserving). However, my husband’s hunting this year, and we’ll need most of the room in our chest freezer for meat (we hope!), so I’m interested in trying to fill my shelves with cans instead of my freezer this fall. The directions for this recipe seem pretty simple, but is there something I’m missing as a canning newbie? I can really just put the filling in the jars, put lids on the jars, put the jars in hot water for 20 minutes, and be done? That sounds so easy; I just had to make sure! 🙂
How many jars and what size do you tend to use for this recipe? Thanks!
Yes, canning is pretty easy. 🙂 You can read my post all about the water bath method for more information: https://mam.stage.earthley.com/2011/9/14/canning-and-preserving-water-bath-method/.
This will make either 8 – 10 pints, or 4 – 5 quarts. We use the larger jars now because with four of us (me + kids) we will eat that much in a meal. I used to do pints when they were smaller and I only had 2.
Your recipes always make me drool and this one looks especially delicious and such good timing with it being prime apple season! Can’t wait to try it 🙂 🙂 🙂
Really wish you had a print button.
How many cans does this make?
About 4 – 5 (quarts).
So excited to try this. I was sad because I thought I had to give up my (sugary) home-canned pie filling since I’m learning more about real food. This will be a great replacement that I wouldn’t mind feeding to my daughter. There should be a book on real food canning! I don’t consider it safe to make “real food” substitutes for sugar and such in canning because the process is so finicky.
This recipe looks amazing!! I love that it doesn’t have a boat load of sugar in it! And it looks like it has lots of spice (YUM!!!). I just acquired about 3 bushels of apples and I wanted to try some pie filling this year instead of all sauce. How many quarts of filling per pie or crisp?
One quart should make a pie or an 8″ round dish of crisp, which will serve 4 – 6 (crisp) or 6 – 8 (pie).
Hi,
Is it possible to can this without arrowroot powder, so that it would be GAPS legal?
Thanks–
You can switch out the arrowroot powder for navy bean flour, which is GAPS legal. I actually did that in several batches this year and it works great.
Can you use clear gel instead of arrowroot?
I’ll be saving this recipe! Can you sub coconut sugar for the sucanat? I’m extremely sensitive to sugar and sugar subs. Just wondering if it work. Thanks for sharing.
Yes! I’ve done it with coconut sugar and even honey and it works.