This easy Bourbon Apple Butter has a delicious kick of flavor! You’re going to want to spoon this over everything!
I mentioned a couple of weeks ago that we went a little overboard this Fall when our family went apple picking at a local orchard and farm. We came home with a half-bushel bag of a mixed variety of apples – that’s about twenty pounds of apples for just three of us to eat!
We’ve been happily crunching our way through some of the ‘eating apples,’ as well as baking our way through the other apples that are well-suited for baked desserts. But now that we’re down to the bottom of the bag – we made this incredible Bourbon Apple Butter. There are lots of apple butter recipes around – but this Bourbon Apple Butter is truly something special.
How do you make Bourbon Apple Butter?
You can make this recipe with just about any variety of sweet apple, or a mix of several varieties – and it doesn’t matter if it is an ‘eating’ apple or ‘baking’ apple.
Peeled and diced apples simmer together in a saucepan with freshly-squeezed lemon juice, Kentucky Bourbon, water, brown sugar, apple liquor (or apple juice), molasses, and a collection of spices including cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, and cloves. You can leave the bourbon and apple liquor out if you prefer, but both really do add a wonderful complexity and a deep rich flavor to this apple butter recipe. (And the alcohol cooks off as it cooks, if that concerns you.)
Once the apples are soft and tender and the cooking liquids have reduced, you’ll blend the mixture (an immersion blender like this works great) until smooth and creamy.
Cool your Bourbon Apple Butter – and spread it over your morning toast, over ice cream, as a condiment with pork tenderloin, on a burger – or just eat it with a spoon!
This Bourbon Apple Butter recipe uses about five pounds of apples, and it yields about four cups of apple butter. It also cans wonderfully – so keep some to eat, then can the rest to enjoy for months to come or to give as gifts.
You may like these other gift ideas:
- Slow Cooker Applesauce with Cranberries
- Christmas Jam {plus FREE Printable}
- Chocolate Almond Biscotti
- Coffee Nut Brittle
- Small Batch Fig Jam
Bourbon Apple Butter
This easy Bourbon Apple Butter has a delicious kick of flavor! You’re going to want to spoon this over everything!
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 40 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: 4 cups 1x
- Category: condiment
- Method: stovetop
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
5 pounds any sweet apple, peeled, cored and diced small (1/4-inch dice)
2 teaspoons lemon juice
1 cup good quality Kentucky Bourbon (we used Jim Beam)
1/4 cup water
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup apple liquor (this is our favorite brand) or apple juice
2 tablespoons molasses
2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon allspice
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Coat apples with lemon juice as you cut and place in a medium to large nonstick pot.
- Add bourbon and water and bring to a boil, cover and cook on a low boil for 10 minutes.
- Add brown sugar, apple liquor, molasses, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, cloves and salt.
- Cover, bring to a boil, lower to a simmer with cover off side letting a little steam escape.
- Cook for 30 minutes, stirring often towards the last five to ten minutes as the liquid evaporates.
- Puree in a blender or with an immersion blender until creamy.
- Can using the water bath method.
Could I also add caramels to it the same way I would when I make Caramel Apple Butter? So it would be a Bourbon Caramel Apple Butter – or would that make the consistency different?
It will definitely change the consistency…I’d probably try adding caramel sauce vs the candy caramels because the candy caramels are hard/firm at room temperature and a butter should be soft and spreadable.
I have made this yummy apple butter twice now my whole family loves it!!
Thanks Jolene!
Best apple butter ever. Try it you won’t be disappointed.
Thank you Vera!
This recipe is wonderful
I made it today
So glad you enjoyed the apple butter Theresia!
Needed more bourbon I fixed that the 2nd batch. I had maybe 100lbs of apples given to me.
Wow Joyce – that’s a lot of apples (and apple butter!). Enjoy!
I made this today in my Instant Pot. I used pomegranate liqueur and pomegranate molasses. I didn’t have any apple flavored alcohol. It is surprisingly delicious! I also used Swerve brown sugar. I will definitely make this again and look forward to trying the recipe as is.
Sounds like a great adaptation Bev!
Can’t wait to try this recipe! Do you think a sour apple liquor would work?
Hi Alyson – I have to admit, we’ve never tried a sour apple liquor in a recipe or a beverage! I suppose any liquor can be swapped in – you might want to start with less than a cup and then adjust to taste. Let us know how it works out!
I found Wild Turkey Honey Bourbon so I substituted brown sugar for local raw honey. This is an AMAZING recipe!! This will go really fast
Thank you!! Great swaps!
Does it matter if you use unsulphered molasses or blackstrap?
Hi Amber – Either will work in this recipe.
Great recipe! I didn’t have a couple ingredients so modified it to use caramel whiskey instead of bourbon and apple cider instead of liquor. I may even have played a little more with the spices. It turned out fantastic and made a great Christmas gift for the neighbors this year.
Thanks Becky!