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Why You’ll Love My Recipe
These amazing apples are bathed in spices and a caramel sauce. They can be made in a slow cooker, filling your home with delicious smells for hours, or more quickly in a pressure cooker.
These Fried Apples are based off of my favourite dish at Cracker Barrel! Soft, spicy, and soaked in sauce, these apples are amazing on their own or as part of a bigger dessert. Try sipping on a Washington Apple Drink or Appletini on the side.
Reader Review
Folks, when you cook, you need to use your use your taste buds… add ingredients by taste, especially spices and sugar. I very much enjoyed tasting apples along the way. I used spiced applesauce instead of apple juice and no fluids to ensure a thicker sauce; also mildly less cinnamon. The addition of pumpkin spice added brilliant taste complexity. This recipe came out MORE DELICIOUS than the Cracker Barrel version… this version is flavorfully spicy, has texture and emanates a spicy, irresistible scent that permeates the house. This is the BEST saucy apple recipe I’ve made.
Karlynn’s Recipe Notes
- Skill Level: This is a very easy recipe.
- Total Time: Making these apples will take you approximately 3.5 hours, but most of that time is in the slow cooker which means you won’t have to do much.
- Variations: Try modifying the spices to your own personal tastes. Reduce the amount of liquid or cook it down longer to get the thickness you want. Use your favourite apples or try a new variety. Cut your apples into thinner slices or use big chunks. Add in a drizzle of maple syrup or a splash of vanilla.
- Tools Needed: For this recipe, you’ll need a slow cooker, measuring cups, a spoon, a cutting board and a paring knife. You might find an apple corer comes in handy as well.
What You’ll Need For Ingredients
Apples: Surprise surprise, this recipe does in fact require apples. Granny Smith apples or another sour variety will work best to balance the rest of the flavours, but you can use whichever variety you like best. Whichever apples you use, leave the peel on for this recipe!
Spices: This recipe calls for both cinnamon and pumpkin spice, but you can play with exact amounts. If you don’t enjoy the particular combination of spices in pumpkin spice blends, make your own version. Cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, cloves, and allspice will all work but if you dislike one of them, just skip it and adjust the rest until you get the flavour profile you want.
Butter: This is a recipe where salted butter will work best, though you can use a pinch of salt if you only have unsalted butter. The butter will mix with the brown sugar and turn into a yummy caramel sauce for the apples.
How To Make Copycat Cracker Barrel Fried Apples
This is a brief overview of the recipe. The full list of instructions and step-by-step instructions are in the recipe card below.
- Set your slow cooker to high heat. Spray the interior with cooking spray and put your sliced apples in.
- In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, and spices. Sprinkle the mixture over the apples. Pour in the melted butter and apple juice. Stir until the apples are fully coated.
- Cook for 3-4 hours. Serve while still hot or warm.
Karlynn’s Tips and Tricks for Making Fried Apples
Alternate Methods: You can use a pressure cooker, or the pressure cooker setting on a different appliance, to make these apples. You’ll need to use the high pressure setting and adjust the exact time based on how thick or thin you cut the apples. If you’d like to get a bit more authentic, you can skip the slow cooker and fry these apples in a skillet instead. Melt your butter over medium or medium-high heat, add the apples, cook them until they soften up, and then stir in the spices and sugar.
Serving Suggestions: You can eat these on their own or with a dollop of whipped cream. But why not serve some with a stack of Cinnamon Waffles or Apple Pie Pancakes? Try ladling some over a bowl of your favourite vanilla ice cream, or mixing up some Oatmeal Streusel to sprinkle on top for some crunch.
Storage Instructions
These apples will be best served fresh and warm, but you can store leftovers in a sealed container in the fridge for a few days or in the freezer for several months. The texture will likely change when you defrost or reheat them.
More Delicious Apple Recipes
Craving more yummy apple desserts?
Try making a batch of Apple Butter to spread on warm bread.
Fill your house with seasonal scents by making some Cinnamon Spice Apple Bread or Spiced Apple Oatmeal Cookies.
Or try this Caramel Apple Pie.
There you go, everyone. An easy and yummy way to fill your house with the smell of autumn spices. Try this recipe and let me know what you think.
Happy Cooking!
Karlynn
Copycat Cracker Barrel Fried Apples ( Slow Cooker!)
Video
Equipment
Ingredients
- 12 cups of sliced apples, peel on ( sour apples like Granny Smith or home grown on the tree are best!)
- 3 tablespoons cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons corn starch
- ¾ cup of salted butter, melted
- ½ cup of apple juice
Instructions
Slow Cooker Instructions:
- Set your crock pot on the high setting. Spray it with cooking spray then place the apples in the crock pot.
- In a medium bowl, combine the cinnamon, pie spice, brown sugar and cornstarch until it’s all mixed in completely.
- Sprinkle over the top of the apples. Pour the melted butter and apple juice over top of the mixture. Stir until everything is coated.
- Cook on high for 3-4 hours (this depends on your slow cooker!) or until apples are tender and the sauce has thickened.
- Serve hot for the tastiest results!
Instant Pot Directions:
- In a medium bowl, combine the cinnamon, pie spice, brown sugar and cornstarch until it’s all mixed in completely.
- Sprinkle over the top of the apples. Pour the melted butter and apple juice over top of the mixture. Stir until everything is coated. Place in the instant pot.
- Choose to either slow cook or pressure cook.
- To slow cook , use the slow cook button and cook for 4-5 hours OR until soft.
- To pressure cook, use the high pressure option and cook for 3 minutes high pressure for thin apples, 5 minutes for medium apples and 8 minutes for very thick apples (if you use an apple slicer, these are the thick apples.) Manually quick release and either keep on
- “keep warm” or serve right away.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Courtenay says
Folks, when you cook, you need to use your use your taste buds… add ingredients by taste, especially spices and sugar. I very much enjoyed tasting apples along the way. I used spiced applesauce instead of apple juice and no fluids to ensure a thicker sauce; also mildly less cinnamon. The addition of pumpkin spice added brilliant taste complexity. This recipe came out MORE DELICIOUS than the Cracker Barrel version… this version is flavorfully spicy, has texture and emanates a spicy, irresistible scent that permeates the house. This is the BEST saucy apple recipe I’ve made.
Courtenay says
PS. I made it with thin apples from a spiral apple slicer; 3 minutes high pressure in the Instant Pot as suggested; PERFECT!!
Kelly Gilstrap says
I want to make these for a bridal brunch. Can I make them the night before and reheat them in the AM? Have you ever done that?
Marci says
Would be great except way too much cinnamon!
Wendy says
I made this in my crockpot and it had WAY TOO MUCH cinnamon. The sauce was also thinner than Cracker Barrel’s sauce. I inadvertently cooked mine for about 4 hours and the apples were nice and soft. My house smelled amazing while they were cooking.
Sylvia says
This recipe is not for every crockpot! Following the provided guidelines shown here, my apples were overcooked and over seasoned with cinnamon (is 3 tbsps. a misprint?) Best to use some moderation with the seasonings and cooking time.
Linda Szymoniak says
These are my favorite thing to eat at Cracker Barrel. Daughter #1 loves them and many of the dishes there. Daughter #2 isn’t a big fan of the restaurant, but definitely a huge fan of their fried apples. I was thinking of topping a Dutch baby with these. I may grab a jar from our Cracker Barrel but definitely want to make this recipe.
Debbie Burgess says
Idea is great, but use 1 stick butter, 1 c. brown sugar, & 1 cup water instead of what the recipe calls for. (no need to use apple juice) After time is up, stir cornstarch into 1/4 c. of cold water and stir into hot apple mixture. Use saute low feature to simmer, gently stirring occasionally, until mixture thickens. This will prevent the “Burn” shut down.
Haley says
How could I make it the night before thanksgiving
Lonnie Schleichardt says
Dose not work in instapot keeps burning the bottom
Karen says
Instant pot just keeps giving a “burn” error. The liquid ratio just isn’t right. Didn’t work, had to give up after 3 tries and cook on stovetop. Disappointing.
Roger says
How many apples equals 12 cups?
Lisa says
Made this today in my InstaPot and it never would pressurize. The apples had cooked some with my multiple attempts to pressurize, so I just put them in a microwave safe dish and finished cooking for 3 minutes.
After researching I think the problem with pressurizing was the limited amount of liquid. Next time I will probably try upping the apple juice to pressurize then vent and use sautée function to cook off any extra liquid.
Any other ideas?
They were really cook and a hit at my ladies Bible study!
Karlynn Johnston says
“technically” that should be enough but pressure cookers can give you a hard time. Add another 1/4 cup and see if that helps! I am so glad that they were a hit!
Cinde says
Hello, What is the Instant Pot version of this recipe? Thanks!
Karlynn Johnston says
At the bottom! They had disappeared, but fixed now!
Patrick says
What are the insta pot directions for this recipe?
Karlynn Johnston says
They are at the bottom! We had some trouble with the recipe plug-in but it’s fixed!
Meredith Busic says
I want to can these, I know you shouldn’t use cornstarch so I am goi to try clear jel instead. Do you know how much I should use?
Karlynn Johnston says
They are at the bottom! Fixed up!
Wendy Korte says
This looks and sounds so delicious. The title says crockpot or Instant Pot, but I don’t see any directions for the Instant Pot. Could you let me know that please?
Karlynn Johnston says
They are at the bottom! We had some trouble with the recipe plug-in but it’s fixed!
GrandMolly says
If I want to use this as a pie filling, would I leave out (or reduce) the butter?