Canning Homemade Apple Pie Filling Recipe

Apple pie desserts without all the peeling and slicing every time? Yes, please. This home-canned apple pie filling is packed with tart, tender apples and all the warm, cozy spices. It’s the perfect homemade base for all your apple pie sweet treats with half the effort!

We love this apple pie filling recipe. I’ve canned it almost every year for 20 years. It’s the recipe my family has canned for as long as I can remember. Our favorite way to use it is in an apple crisp!

Use it to make our Easy Blueberry Apple Crisp Recipe!

Why You’ll Love Having This Apple Pie Filling on Your Shelf

Time Saver – Canning apple pie filling takes a little time up front, but saves you tons later. Just pop open a jar anytime of the year and you’re halfway to dessert!

Versatile – Of course, it’s perfect in a classic homemade apple pie, but you can also use it in crisps, homemade Pop-Tarts, a galette, stirred into oatmeal, on top of ice cream, or spooned over waffles and pancakes.

Better Quality – You get to choose apples at their peak for optimal freshness. Pick your favorite variety from the grocery store or your local farmer.

A quick note on the method I use to can our apple pie filling:

This recipe is the way my family has always canned apple pie filling, and it’s how I’ll continue to do it until I’m old and can no longer can. 🙂 The biggest difference between my method and the NCHFP’s version is that I don’t blanch my apples first. Blanching helps release air from the fruit, which can reduce floating and improve texture, but I’ve never had trouble with either of those things. This isn’t a safety issue, so I stick with the way my family’s always done it. 

What You’ll Need to Can Apple Pie Filling

You will need the following ingredients:

• Apples: You want firm and crisp varities. Some of my favorites are Granny Smith, Honey Crisp, and Golden delicious.
• Granulated White Sugar
• Clear Jel: This is a thickener that is approved for canning. My origional family recipe called for corn startch.
• Cold water
• Ground cinnamon
• Ground nutmeg
• Bottled lemon juice

Equipment needed:

• Canning jars, canning lids, and screw bands. I like using wide-mouth quart jars for apple pie filling. Pints work great too if you are a smaller family and don’t need a full quart of apple pie filling.
• A knife or an all-in-one apple peeling tool.
• Jar lifter, funnel, and ladle
• Water bath canner or large stockpot with lid and rack

How to Can Apple Pie Filling

Prepare your space:

• Gather all the ingredients and equipment that you need before you get started.
• Prepare you waterbath canner.
• Wash jars and rings.
• Read the instructions for your canning lids; some require them to be in hot water for a few minutes to soften their seal.
• If you’re processing your jars for 10 minutes or more, there’s no need to pre-sterilize them; that time in the water bath does the job. Most elevations already require at least 10 minutes processing time for jam, but if you’re at sea level, where the standard time is 5 minutes, you can either sterilize your jars beforehand or simply bump the processing time up to 10 minutes. 
• Warm your jars. You want to temper your jars so they don’t break when you ladle the piping hot jam into the jar. Hot contents should always go into hot jars. You do this by warming them. I do this by either:
  • Keeping jars warm in the water bath canner, or
  • Keeping them in a clean kitchen sink full of hot water.

Prepare the filling:

Peel, core, and slice apples and put them in an extra-large bowl of cold water with some lemon juice to keep them from browning. Set aside.

Combine sugar, Clear Jel, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt in a large pot. Then add the cold water. It must be cold, not hot, so it will properly dissolve and prevent lumps in your pie filling. Whisk together well and turn the heat on to medium-high heat.

Once it thickens and starts to bubble, stir in the lemon juice and boil for 1 minute while continually whisking. Once the minute is up, turn off the heat.

Fill your jars:

Start by filling your jar 1/3 of the way with the mixture. It measures about 1 1/2 cups. If you’re using wide-mouth jars, you’ll see the line right about the 8 is where it should be.

Next, grab a handful of sliced apples from the cold water, letting as much of the water drain off as you can. Add them to the jar and squish them down into the jar. I like to use the handle of a wooden spoon or spatula to avoid getting hot sauce on me. 

Then grab another handful of apples and add them to the jar, squishing them in there, leaving a 1-inch headspace.

Wipe the rims of the jars down with a damp cloth or paper towel and add your lids and rings, tightening finger-tight. Place the jar in the waterbath canner and repeat the process for the remaining 6 jars.

Once all jars are in the canner, cover with the lid and bring to a boil. Once it’s boiling, start your timer and process according to your elevation, see below. Both pints and quarts will process for the same amount of time.

0 -1,000 ft elevation: 25 minutes
1,001 – 3,000 ft elevation: 30 minutes
3,001 – 6,000 ft elevation: 35 minutes
Above 6,000 ft elevation: 40 minutes

Once time is up, turn off the heat and let the jars sit for 5-10 minutes. Remove jars and set on a towel to cool unbothered for 10-12 hours.

If you’re looking for another pie filling to can check out our Canning Blueberry Pie Filling | Tutorial !