Canning apple pie filling at home means you’re just minutes away from having a pie in the oven. The apples are already peeled, chopped, seasoned and thickened. That allows you to just pour the pre-made apple pie filling into your favorite crust and bake. Next time you need something quick for a potluck, you can still bring a homemade apple pie.
It’s a beautiful fall day in Vermont and I spent the day at a pick your own orchard with my kids gathering the apples for canning apple pie filling. We normally have plenty of homegrown apples, but our trees took the year off this year which offered the perfect excuse to take in the scenery at one of Vermont’s loveliest fall attractions.
As we’re checking out, I glance over to see that I’m not the only one that had the same idea. The orchard was selling their own canned apple pie filling.
I know canning apple pie filling takes a lot of work, but $13 a jar seemed like quite a bit for one pie. Thinking on it though, a grocery store or farmer’s market apple pie costs about $20 to buy. In the end, canning my own did save quite a bit of money, assuming my labor is free. Each quart jar took about 3 pounds of apples (at $1 per pound) plus a tiny bit of sugar and spices, and I got paid for my labor canning in the savings. Good thing I love canning, so I get paid to do what I love!
While many people bemoan canning as “a lot of work” really it just prepares food to make homecooked meals simpler later on. Instead of peeling apples for a pie that needed to be in the oven an hour ago, you’ve already done the work and canned up all that effort for home-cooked delicious when you need it.
Personally, I think it’s easier to peel a bushel of apples all at once when I have the time than to try clearing counter space on a busy weeknight. I get in a groove that way, and it’s just one mess to clean up. Still, it only took me about 20 to 30 minutes to peel, core and slice the 12 cups of apples I needed for this canner batch of apple pie filling.
Blanching Apples for Pie Filling
After peeling and chopping, the next step is blanching the apples. It seems a bit strange to pre-cook apples that are going to be canned and then baked into a pie, but bear with me here. It’s a quick one minute blanch that mostly serves to pre-heat the apples and drive off the air within the fruit.
When you raw pack for canning, the fruit always floats because it contains a surprising amount of air in its tissues. Toss the sliced apples into boiling water and you’ll see just what I mean. The water will stop boiling when the cool apples go in, but the apples themselves will bubble.
All that air would have been taking up space in your canning jars, but now you’ll have extra apple flavor instead.
Air bubbling out of apples during blanching for home-canned apple pie filling.
Once the apple slices are blanched, they’ll have lost a substantial portion of their total volume. Starting with 12 cups of sliced apples blanched in two batches of 6 cups each, I would guess that I ended up with roughly 9 cups of blanched apple slices. They were only about 2/3 the way up the sides of a bowl they’d previously filled, though they retained their shape and color beautifully.
After they’re removed from the boiling water, the apple slices need to stay warm. I placed them into a thick-sided bowl and covered it with a kitchen plate while making the rest of the filling.
Apple slices after blanching. They need to stay warm at this point while the apple pie filling gel is made on the stove.
Making Apple Pie Filling for Canning
The apple slices can’t go into the canning jars alone, but canning them in water or syrup would needlessly draw out their flavor. They’re canned in a pre-thickened gel made with sugar, spices and clear jel. While you can use flour to thicken regular pie filling, it won’t do for canned pie filling. Clear gel is a special type of cornstarch that flows while it’s hot, but sets up nicely once it’s cooled.
Clear gel can be heated and cooled multiple times, meaning that it can be put up in canning jars and then baked into a beautiful homemade apple pie later. There are two types of clear gel, so be sure you get the cooking type clear gel for canning apple pie filling.
The filling liquid consists of clear jel, sugar, spices, apple juice, lemon juice, and water. All of those ingredients (except the lemon juice) are added into a pot and simmered until it begins to thicken. Then the lemon juice is added, and the mixture is returned to a boil for 1 more minute. After that, the hot blanched apples are mixed back into the pie filling liquid.
Working quickly, pack the apple pie filling into canning jars (pints or quarts) leaving 1 inch of headspace. It’s important to remove air bubbles at this step before applying two-part canning lids.
Be sure to leave a full one inch of headspace when canning apple pie filling to prevent jar overflow in the canner.
Once the jars are filled and lids attached, the apple pie filling is canned in a water bath canner for 25 minutes. At that point, turn off the stove and allow the jars to sit for an additional 5 minutes. This extra 5 minutes is really important!
I know, it seems silly, but if the jars are still boiling hot when they’re removed, the apple pie filling is at a high risk of siphoning.
Leaking Apple Pie Filling Jars (Siphoning)
What is siphoning? It’s a loss of liquid in canning, and in this case, it’s a loss of hot gelled pie filling liquid. The rapid temperature change when the hot jars hit the air can cause hot pie filling to erupt out of the top and it makes a huge hot sticky mess. The jars will likely still seal, and if they do they’re still fine to store at room temperature.
Just wait for them to cool completely, check the seals and clean off any sticky pie filling on the outside.
I’ve never had anything else siphon on me during canning, except apple pie filling. Even other canned pie fillings, like my homemade peach pie filling, never have issues. Look up articles about siphoning during canning and they almost always mention apple pie filling. It’s notorious for this problem.
To prevent siphoning, really work to remove the air bubbles within the jar, and make sure you leave an ample 1-inch headspace. Then, once the canning time is up, allow the jars to sit for at least 5 minutes (maybe 10 to be safe) before removing them from the water bath canner.
A jar of home canned apple pie filling that siphoned or leaked upon removal from the canner. The jar still sealed, so it’s safe to clean if off and store it at room temperature. It’s messy, but it didn’t ruin this jar.
If you’re extra careful, siphoning doesn’t have to be a problem when canning apple pie filling. Once your jars are cooled to room temperature and you’ve checked seals, they’re ready for storage at room temperature. It takes roughly one quart plus one pint of canned apple pie filling to fill a standard-sized apple pie, or two full quarts for a heaping or deep-dish pie.
For small batches, you can put up pint jars as well, and they work wonderfully for apple turnovers or as a pancake topping. I like to use it as part of my apple pie shortbread bars.
A note on choosing apples for pie filling…the apple needs to be a firm apple that doesn’t break down during cooking. Any apple that’s “good for applesauce” is not as good as a pie apple. My favorite apple for pies is Honeycrisp, and that’s what I’m using here. They have plenty of acid, which balances the sweetness and they hold together really well during cooking.
For more ideas, check out this list of the best apples for apple pie.
This recipe for home-canned apple pie filling comes from The Ball Complete Book of Home Preserving, which is my go-to resource for safe canning recipes. I reduced the cinnamon from 1 1/2 teaspoons per batch to 1/2 a teaspoon because I like a less cinnamon heavy pie, but feel free to use the full amount if you’re a big fan of cinnamon.
If you have a serious bumper crop of apples, I wrote another article that covers more than 30 ways to preserve apples, both historical and modern. This apple pie filling canning recipe is just one tasty option, but there are more ways to put up apples!
Canning Apple Pie Filling
This simple recipe for home canned apple pie filling lets you put up everything you need to fill a pie in a hurry. Apple pie filling is also great on pancakes, over cheesecake or in cookie bars.
Ingredients
- 12 cups apple slices, peeled, cored and splashed with lemon juice to prevent browning
- 2 3/4 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup ClearJel , Cook Type
- 1/2 to 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, ground
- 1/2 tsp nutmeg, ground
- 1 1/4 cups water
- 2 1/2 cups apple juice
- 1/2 cups lemon juice, plus more for treating raw apple slices
Instructions
- Prepare a water bath canner, canning jars and lids.
- Peel, core and slice apples. Splash lemon juice on the slices as you go to prevent browning (you'll still need a full 1/2 cup of lemon juice to add to the filling at the end, even though some is used here).
- In two batches of 6 cups each, blanch apple slices in a small amount (roughly 1 quart) of boiling water for 1 minute. Strain apple slices and keep them covered and warm while you prepare the filling.
- Mix all remaining ingredients EXCEPT LEMON JUICE in a large saucepan. Bring to a boil and then add the lemon juice. Return to a boil and cook for 1 minute.
- Add in the hot blanched apple slices and stir to incorporate them.
- Fill canning jars (quarts or pints), leaving 1 full inch of headspace. Be careful to remove air bubbles and adjust headspace before capping with 2 part canning lids.
- Adjust lids to finger tight and process in a water bath canner for 25 minutes. Turn off the canner and allow the jars to sit for 5 to 10 minutes before removing them.
- Allow the jars to cool to room temperature before checking seals. Store any unsealed jars in the refrigerator and use within 2 weeks. Sealed jars will keep in the pantry for up to 18 months (possibly longer).
Notes
Recipe yields 7 pints (or 3 quarts and one pint).
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
Apple Canning Recipes
Looking for more tasty canning recipes? There are so many ways to jar up apples this fall…
Kisty
How long does this last on the shelf?
Ashley Adamant
In theory, ball canning lids are now guaranteed for 18 months. I’ve had it on the shelf for a full year and didn’t notice a difference in quality, so I’d guess it’d keep for quite a long time.
Trish Lefner Stone
Hi there, Is there enough lemon juice in this recipe to be sure to prevent botulism? Will it get the ph high enough? Thanks!
Ashley Adamant
This canning recipe is a tested recipe approved by the national center for food preservation. I have not personally tested it for safety, but this is the recipe that they put out as having the right acid levels and process time.
Jackie
Is lemon necessary? I dont have lemon on hand and live out of town. Will it just make my apples change colors?
Ashley Adamant
Pre-treating the apple slices to prevent browning is not necessary, that’s just cosmetic. However, the 1/2 cup of lemon juice in the recipe is required and cannot be skipped. That helps acidify the mix to make it safe for canning, and from experience, I can say that it also helps to activate the clear jel. That stuff really jels quick as soon as the lemon goes in.
Jane
Thank you for this!! I just canned 5 Litres (Quarts) of crabapple pie filling and each jar had leakage while cooling. This was my first attempt at canning pie filling, so the sight of leakage caused a lot of worry and second guessing myself. Absolutely no warnings about siphoning in the recipe used or instructions about leaving the jars to sit in the water bath for time before removing. Your post and photos have given me plenty of reassurance…..most grateful to you!!! I now look forward to canning another batch and perfecting the process.
Ashley Adamant
Wonderful, so glad I could help!
Tamara Sells
Can this recipe be doubled?
Ashley Adamant
I honestly wouldn’t suggest it. While I do double a lot of recipes in my canning kitchen, this one was tricky to get everything into the jars before things got too thick to work with. The clear gel sets up pretty quick, and it’s really hard to de-bubble the last few jars. If you double it, I imagine you’d either end up burning it on the stove try to keep it warm while you worked or have an impossible time with bubbles on the last few jars. That’s just a guess.
If you do end up trying it for whatever reason, I’d love to hear how it goes for you, but personally I’d just do a second batch while the first batch is in the canner.
pauline
Does this also work for pears? Can’t wait to try this out. Your recipe looks very thorough.
Ashley Adamant
I imagine it would work for pears, since they’re very similar to apples and can be canned as slices without issue. Don’t use asian pears, the canning instructions on those are different. More info on that here: https://practicalselfreliance.com/canning-asian-pears/
Mary G
I found this recipe a couple of years ago and have been using it ever since in fact made 13 quarts today never had a siphoning problem thank goodness great recipe
Bananafay
Would it make much of a difference if I used a mixture of brown sugar and white sugar?
Ashley Adamant
As far as I know, you can use brown sugar in place of the white sugar (or some portion of it) in this recipe and it’s still an approved recipe. Similarly, maple or honey should work too. I haven’t tried those, but they theoretically shouldn’t have any effect on whether or not it’s a safe canning recipe, and they should only impact flavor (as I said though, this is just as far as I know).
Becky
My son hates sliced apples… Autism is a funny thing sometimes. My last 2 batches went untouched by him, which made him sad because he helped pick the apples…. So… If I use a good pie apple, do you think dicing them would make them disintegrate?
Ashley Adamant
They really hold together surprisingly well and the Honeycrisp apples I used came out quite firm, even after canning AND baking into a pie. If you use a good apple that’s not a pie apple and has a firm texture, dicing would work perfectly well. Good luck!
Heather Durange
I was wondering if I could use xanthan gum as a replacement for the Clear Jel… Would that work?
Ashley Adamant
Honestly, I have no idea if it’d work. It’s not something that’s been tested for canning safety, so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re canning. I do use arrowroot to make apple pie fillings (when not canning) and I’d imagine that’d work well, but like I said for xantham gum, it’s not tested for canning safety.
Tina Machia
I found a recipe for canning apple pie filling, but not sure about it. You don’t cook the apples, it says to prepare them and fill canning jars with the raw apples and push them down as much as you can, then pour the syrup on top of them, and process. I’ve done this but my pie filling has about an inch of liquid at the bottom of the jars. Are they still good, and what causes the liquid at the bottom?
The next time I make apple pie filling I’m using your recipe, sounds so much better than the one I just used.
Thank you
Ashley Adamant
So the recipe you describe is canning apple slices in syrup rather than an apple pie filling (even though the author may call it apple pie filling). It’d still need thickening when it goes into the pie, and often they provide instructions that have you strain the liquid into a pan when you open them and thicken it with cornstarch. Then pour the apple slices in, toss to coat in the thickened sugar/apple syrup and then put that into the pie. It’s less ready to use canned good, and not so great for spooning on top of pancakes and such. I like the ready to use type, which is why I do it the way I do.
Tiff
I’ve seen many recipes that call for water instead of apple juice Would this switch up the taste if we substituted the apple juice for the water?
Ashley Adamant
I use a bit of each, and I’ve found that using all apple juice resulted in a pretty intense taste. Using all water, was as you might expect, watery.
Dianne
I’ve trued adding the clear gel to cold liquid and hot, but am experiencing clumping on both. I don’t notice in the final stage after adding the apples but am I doing something wrong.
Dianne
Figured out my problem. Wrong clear gel used. Will have to wait for mail order to get the correct one this time.. Apples will hopefully last the two weeks it is going to take. Love the recipe.
Teri Himes
New to canning. Used this recipe but I think I did something wrong. I followed the measurement on everything but ended up with 3 at. And 8 1/2 pints. I put the 1/2 in the frige and it was not thick. They look pretty. But just worried that having more means it won’t be quite right.
Ashley Adamant
Apples are tricky, and depending on the variety some shrink during blanching more than others, and measuring sliced apples is tricky too since there’s air in the measuring cup. Having slightly more (or slightly less) than the yield I mention is totally fine. Enjoy!
Carol Ann
Fantastic step by step guidance, advice and recipe! My biggest hurdle was getting the clear jel powder delivered in time before the apples went bad. Cannot wait to explore the rest of your site. Thank you again for taking the time to share.
Sharon. E. Newsome
As long as it’s sealed, it is good. The syrup is heavier than the apples. I use a recipe similar to what you’re describing.
Ella
If I wanted one jar of filling per 10″ pie, what sized jar would I need?
Ashley Adamant
For a 10” pie, I’d actually suggest two one-quart jars of filling. It can’t be canned in jars bigger than quart, so you’re not going to make it with just one jar. For a 9” pie, I use a quart and a pint.
Patricia Krutke
Recipe please for pie with canned apple filling. Temp and time.
Kathy Faulk
Awesome instructions! My apple tree isn’t old enough to bear fruit yet, do you have to do anything special to store bought apples prior to the recipe, considering everything that’s done to them for preservation?
Ashley Adamant
Other than washing them to remove any wax/pesticide, they should be the same as homegrown. Even that may not be entirely necessary if you’re peeling the apples, but it never hurts to wash them anyway. So to answer your question simply, there’s nothing different between storebought and homegrown for this recipe.