
Your go-to basic apple pie recipe using fresh apples in a homemade crust with very little added sugar.
A basic apple pie recipe is simple and the end results are just plain tasty. It’s a recipe that everyone should have in their collection. This apple pie doesn’t use a lot of added sugar and you don’t have to cook the apples before adding them to the crust. It has about an inch or inch-and-a-half of sliced apples inside the crust, which I think is a nice amount. I think apple pies that are 3 or 4 inches high and stuffed with apples are gorgeous, but I like a more even crust-to-apple ratio myself. When you don’t have that many apples in the crust, you don’t have to precook the apples because there are a lot less in there to shrink and put out extra liquid.
Need a crust recipe to make your apple pie? I got you covered!
I wrote a huge post all about pie crust! This basic apple pie recipe is a staple in our house and I hope you love it. You can find this recipe plus SEVEN other pie recipes in one post if you are looking around for something that looks perfect for your Thanksgiving table.
There’s something magical about pulling a pie made from scratch out of the oven. It seems to take you back to a time when life was simpler and homemade pie was standard fare in American kitchens. Today, amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday life, taking time to make pie is almost therapeutic. It’s a slower process than opening a box of brownie mix, but there’s so much satisfaction in it. Butter, flour, and sugar are the building blocks of all things good, and making a homemade pie is a pretty great way to use them. Plan to take an afternoon to bake and you just might love how grounding the whole process is for you. And you’ll have a beautiful pie to enjoy after dinner or to share with friends, and that’s a pretty great reward, too.
Tips and Tricks for Making this Basic Apple Pie Recipe
- Try to find a firm apple to use in this recipe. I like a mix between sweet and sour apples. You can use Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Winesap, Golden Delicious, Honey Crisp, Gala, or Rome Beauty. I used a mix between Golden Delicious and some kind of tart firm apples from our trees for this pie, and it was great. It’s very forgiving, so experiment!
- If you want this pie to slice nicely (and not have some of the fruit ooze out onto the pie plate after you remove a slice), then let it cool to room temperature before serving. Hot apple pie is delicious but the apples will slice and stay inside your pie if you wait. It’s up to you. Sometimes I cut into hot pie and just scoop some of the apples out of the pie plate.
- This apple pie recipe is very easy to customize. You can add more sugar, replace the sugar with brown sugar, add a drizzle of caramel sauce to the filling, use apple pie spice, or up the amount of cinnamon and add a little nutmeg and allspice. Taste the filling before it goes into the crust and adjust it to your taste.
- Spoiler alert! Don’t want to make a Perfect Pie Crust at home? A packaged pie crust will work just fine. Just brush the top with one egg white mixed with 1 tablespoon of water and give it a little sprinkle of sugar (extra chubby or sparkling sugar is really fun if you have it!)
- A regular sized pie plate will work for this recipe, just place the pie on a cookie sheet while baking so that if the filling bubbles over a bit while baking it won’t drip to the bottom of the oven.
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Basic Apple Pie Recipe
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Prep Time: 15 mins
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Cook Time: 45 mins
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Total Time: 1 hour
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Yield: 8-10 servings
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Category: Dessert
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Method: Oven
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Cuisine: American
Description
My go-to apple pie recipe made with fresh apples! Homemade, flaky crust with juicy apple filling. Makes a delicious pie that goes perfectly with ice cream!
Ingredients
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1-2 teaspoons cinnamon
- Dash of salt
- About 5 cups thinly sliced apples (peeled and cored), 8-10 medium apples
- 2 tablespoons butter, cut into small pieces
- Double pie crust
- 1 egg white + 1 tablespoon water
- granulated or chubby sparkling sugar, optional
Instructions
- Mix first 5 ingredients together in a medium bowl.
- Roll out and place an uncooked pie crust in the bottom of a deep 9-inch pie plate.
- Place the apple mixture in the uncooked pie shell. Place small pieces of butter on top of apple mixture.
- Top with second pie crust, crimp the edges, and then cut a few slits in the top crust to allow steam to vent.
- Mix the egg white and 1 tablespoon of water together in a small bowl and then brush the top with water and sprinkle with sugar before baking.
- Bake at 450 for the first 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350 and continue cooking for an additional 30 to 40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
- If the edge of the crust starts to brown more quickly than the center, carefully cover the edge with foil for the last 15-20 minutes of baking to prevent over-browning.
- Let the pie cool for 10 minutes before serving. Can be made ahead of time and served at room temperature.
Notes
- Here’s a post about how to cut apples it you need it. If you peel them first and then cut them this way, it’s the fastest way to get your apples prepped. You’ll want to cut these apples about 1/4 inch thick.
- Try to find a firm apple to use in this recipe. I like a mix between a sweet and sour apple. You can use Granny Smith, Jonathan, Jonagold, Winesap, Golden Delicious, Honey Crisp, Gala, or Rome Beauty. I used Golden Delicious from our trees for this pie and it was great.
- In the world of pies, this one has a very low amount of added sugar. If you are using tart apples you might need to double the amount of sugar. Just taste and see.
Keywords: Thanksgiving recipe, Thanksgiving dessert recipe, apple dessert, apple pie recipe, easy pie crust recipe
If you love apple pie, you might also like these recipes:
- 4 Recipes for a Perfect Pie Crust (my guide on all things pie crust!)
- Homemade Chocolate Cream Pie
- The Best Pecan Pie Recipe
- Easy Chicken Pumpkin Pot Pie (spoiler alert – it uses pre-made puff pastry instead of a pie crust!)
- The Best Easy Apple Cake
Nothing says welcome home like a fresh pie on the counter, and this apple pie recipe is just the one to try! You are going to love how easy it is to customize and how quickly it comes together. Happy pie making, friends, from my kitchen to yours!
Hello! i really liked your post. Please share some more
★★★★★
at what point do you put in the first 5 ingredients?? you don’t mention it. how can I trust a recipe that leaves out important info?
It says in #3 of the directions to add the apple mixture to the pie crust… not sure where the confusion lies? It’s a great solid recipe that we make over and over again!
Hi Melissa,
I came to the comments section to see if the answer to this question was here. So it’s not entirely clear! Having made apple pie many times I assume there is a step missing that should say “add the sugar and spice mixture to the apple slices.”
It says to mix the first 5 ingredients together and that includes the spices and the apples!
YES oh my gosh, sorry! It sure does! I’m used to mixing the spices and sugar, THEN adding that to the apples. Anyway this pie was delicious and I’m making another one tonight!
Only three tablespoons of sugar? And it’ll be sweet enough? Plan to bake this weekend.
Yep! You might want to double it if you are using all sour apples but if you are using a pretty normal firm sweet apple, it’s perfect!
Hi Melissa,
This looks great and will hopefully be making tonight! I’m a first time pie maker and I wonder as a rule of thumb do you cook the bottom of your pie crusts first? like 10-15 mins?
Nope, no need to prebake this pie crust, it’ll cook through just perfectly all at once! I can’t wait to hear how it goes!
Just tested this out for my Thanksgiving dessert table. It’s so easy to understand & very delicious. Shared some with my neighbor, she’s loved it & passed your recipe along. Thanks 🥰
Thank you so much Jackie! It’s on my menu for Thanksgiving too! I’m so glad you liked it enough to share, that means a whole lot to me.
Hi!
What kind of foil would you reccomend using for step 7?
Thanks!
Any kind of food-grade foil you get near the other plastic baggies and parchment paper should work great.
I think the confusion comes from the fact that step 1 is almost completely overlaid with an internet ad. It only shows the 4 characters af a time, chopping the sentences to a jarbled mess .. You may need to check the rendering on various devices (mobile, tablets, etc.) Prior to publishing
Thank you for letting me know. I just got a new web design last week and we are still working on ad layout and placement, I’ll let my team know. I don’t want things to be hard to read for sure!
Also, do you know what browser you were using and what device? It’s a lot easy to find things that are wrong when I know those two things. THANK YOU!
Sorry I forgot to answer.. device is Samsung tablet, using vertical orientation. Good luck