Name: Canning Apple Pie Filling
Prep time: 50 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 75 min
Ingredients: 21 pounds apples; 12 cups water; 2 cups sugar; 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice

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An easy step-by-step tutorial for beginners on Canning Apple Pie Filling. This simple guide teaches you how to preserve a low-sugar apple pie filling recipe without Clear Jel in a water bath canner.

three jars from canning apple pie filling on a wooden board

I’ve reached the tail end of canning for this season, and I’m so excited that it’s almost over. For reals yo. Just a few batches of this canned apple pie filling, and I’m done!

Just like canning peaches or canning tomatoes screams “summer”, canning apples heralds the starts of fall.

Can You Can Apple Pie Filling?

Yes, and there are many different ways to do so!

The recipe I am sharing today is for a lightly sweetened filling that hasn’t been thickened.

I prefer to keep the apples as close to their fresh state as possible. Doing so gives you more options for how to use them at a later time.

For people who prefer a pre-thickened pie filling, you can use Clear Jel to create a traditional filling. Follow these steps for a safe and tested recipe.

What apples are best for pie filling?

Due to the nature of how the apples will be cooked during the canning process, you want to use a firm apple that will hold its shape. Fuji, Cortland, Jonagold, or Winesap are all solid choices.

If you have leftover apples (yay!), try your hand at canning applesauce, freezing apples, learn about dehydrating apples, or make a quick batch of apple compote or cinnamon apples.

Here’s How to Make It {Step by Step}:

*I’ll walk you through the process with photos and tips below. And a printable and detailed recipe card is available at the bottom of the post.

Canning Prep

Prepare your water bath canner by filling it with water. You just need to have enough water to cover the jars by 1 inch once the water is boiling.

Set the canner on the stove. Turn the burner to high. Once it reaches a boil, reduce it to a simmer. You want to keep the water hot so that everything is ready when the apples are.

Wash and gently heat your jars. You’ll want to keep them warm to avoid having them crack when placed in the canner. You can fill them with hot water, or place them on a tray in the oven at 170˚F.

Wash your lids and set aside in a clean place. You no longer need to simmer lids in water to keep them sterile. Woot!

Apple Prep

Fill a bowl with cold water and 1/4 cup of lemon juice (or 2 tsp of citric acid). Set up your workstation with a peeler, cutting board, sharp knife, and a bowl for the peels and cores.

Clean your apples, and peel, core, and slice the apples thinly. If using a hand-cranked peeler, put the apple on the spikes and lock the peeler into place. Turn the crank slowly, and the peeler will begin to remove the skin.

Place the peeled apple on a cutting board and cut it in half down the middle. You’ll now have perfect apple slices.

four photos showing how to use a hand peeler to make dried apples

Using a normal vegetable peeler? Cut the top and base off of the apple and remove the peel. Core the apple and make thin uniform slices.

Place the slices in the water/lemon juice mixture.

Once you have a bunch of slices soaking, combine water and (optional) sugar in a large saucepan and bring it to a low boil.

Cook the apple slices in batches in the hot syrup, and boil for 2 minutes, stirring constantly.

Fit a funnel on the hot and sterile canning jars and transfer the cooked apples into the jars. Pro tip: I found that tongs worked the best for this.

two steps in the process of canning apple pie filling

At this point, return your water in the canner back to a rolling boil.

Slowly ladle in some of the hot water or syrup, allowing for 1 inch of headspace. Remove any bubbles from the jar (I use a plastic chopstick).

a note from sarah

nerdy Canning Tip

Headspace is the distance between the top of the food and the top of the jar.

Use a wet clean rag and wipe the rim of the jars to make sure it is free of any food.

Place a clean lid on the jar and tighten the ring to fingertip tight (tight enough that it won’t come off, but not so tight that a normal person couldn’t budge it).

the 3 step process of putting lids on jars for canning apple pie filling

Once the water in the canner is boiling again, gently place your jars in one at a time using tongs (I prefer canning tongs, but you can technically use any rubber-tipped tongs).

Once your jars (typically 6-7 quart jars can fit in the canner) are completely covered with the boiling water, put the lid on and boil for 25 minutes for pints and quarts. See below for processing times at different altitudes.

Processing Time for Apple Pie Filling

Processing Time for Apple Pie Filling
Process Times at Altitudes of:
Style of Pack	Jar Size	0-1,000 ft	1,001-3,000 ft	3,001-6,000 ft	Aove 6,000 ft
Hot	Pints & Quarts	25 min	30 min	35 min	40 min
*Source: National Center For Home Food Preservation

Once the jars have been processed for the appropriate amount of time, remove the canner from the burner, carefully take off the lid off the canner, and allow the jars to sit in the canner for 5 minutes. Pro tip: I tend to just slide it into the middle of my stove, as it weighs a ton.

Carefully remove the jars using canning tongs, and place them on a thick towel in a place where they can be undisturbed for 12 hours. The lids should start to pop within 20-30 minutes of being removed from the water.

After a few hours, to check for sealing, gently press down in the middle of the lid. If the lid has no give, it’s sealed. If you can press the lid in and it pops a bit, your jars are not sealed. You can reprocess them or store them in the fridge or freezer (only freeze jars that are wide-mouth).

Storage

Once the jars have sealed, remove the rings. Label and store sealed jars in a cool (best results are 50-70˚F) dark place for up to 12-18 months.

If you have the space available, do not stack the jars on top of each other more than two jars high.

Help! Why are my jars leaking juice?

If you find that juice has leaked out after they have sealed, you have experienced a common canning issue called siphoning. It happens to the best of us!

Siphoning is typically caused by not allowing the jars to rest in the canner after they have finished processing. In the directions, you’ll see that I recommend you remove the canner from the burner, remove the lid, and let it sit for 5 minutes.

This is important as it allows the jars time to rest before being allowed to cool on the counter. Doing this process will significantly cut down on siphoning.

IF YOU HAVE SIPHONING IN YOUR JARS, FOLLOW THESE STEPS:

Check – are the lids still sealed?
Look – have you lost less than half of the amount of liquid in the jar?
Examine – do the apple slices look fresh with bright colors?

If the answer to the above three steps is “yes!”, then they are safe to eat. If you lost quite a bit of syrup, the uncovered fruit will turn color more quickly. Plan to eat those jars first.

What if my jars don’t seal?

If you’ve correctly processed your fruit, and the lids still didn’t seal, you can reprocess them.

Double-check to make sure there are no:

Chips in the rim of the jar
Dried syrup or bits of apple on the rim (anything between the rim and the lid may prevent a seal.

Best practices would involve using brand-new lids for reprocessing. Set aside the old lids to use for dry storage (related: Pantry Essentials for the Home Cook).

If the jars don’t seal on the second attempt, you likely have a bad batch of lids, or your canning process has a step missing. Email me and we’ll try to troubleshoot what is going on.

For unsealed jars, you can place them in the fridge. Eat the fruit within three weeks.

How to Use Home-Canned Apple Pie Filling

The possibilities are endless! You can make apple pie (obvs), use it for apple crumble, as a topping for instant pot yogurt, as the starring ingredient in puff pastry apple turnovers, apple pie egg rolls, or apple pie pancakes. Add it to fresh oatmeal or sprinkle some granola over the top for a sweet and crunchy breakfast.

Two quarts of the homemade canned pie filling will fill a 9-inch pie. To use: drain the apples, toss with your preferred pie seasonings (I use 1/2 cup brown sugar (related: how to make brown sugar), 1 tablespoon of organic cornstarch, 2 teaspoons of cinnamon, and a pinch of nutmeg) and bake as normal.

PRO TIPS/RECIPE NOTES

You’ll need about 21 pounds of apples for canning 7 quarts.
This canned pie filling can be frozen in wide-mouth canning jars. Leave 1.5 inches of headspace in the jars to allow for expansion during freezing. Allow to fully cool in the jar before freezing.
If you don’t have enough jars to fill the canner, consider Canning Water in a few jars to stock your emergency drinking water supplies.

two jars of homemade canned apple pie filling standing on top of each other

5 from 10 ratings

Canning Apple Pie Filling

By: Sarah Cook

Servings: quarts

Prep: 50

Cook: 25

Total: 1 15

An easy step-by-step tutorial for beginners on canning apple pie filling. This simple guide teaches you how to preserve a low-sugar apple pie filling recipe without Clear Jel in a water bath canner.

Equipment

Ingredients

▢ 21 pounds apples
▢ 12 cups water
▢ 2 cups sugar
▢ 1/4 cup bottled lemon juice

US Customary – Metric