My all-time favorite Apple Pie Recipe! Imagine saucy apples bubbling through that flaky pie crust – irresistibly good! This pie always gets glowing reviews from everyone who takes a bite. This is the pie everyone has to make for Thanksgiving!
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Helpful Reader Review
“I have made a lot of different apple pies for my family over the years. This is by far the best apple pie ever! My family requests it all the time.“ – Elaine ★★★★★
Apple Pie Video Tutorial
Watch my video and see how easy this apple pie is—from the simple crust to that homemade apple pie filling. You’ll crave it until you make it!
Apple Pie Recipe
This easy Apple Pie is a treasured recipe with thousands of glowing reviews. It’s simple to make but looks just like a professional baker spent hours in the kitchen to make it, and it tastes that way too. It’s buttery, flaky, gooey, and just perfect.
You’ll love the homemade flaky pastry pie crust – we use this same crust for Blueberry Pie and Cherry Pie. It’s also perfect for savory pies like Chicken Pot Pie. It’s a keeper!
The method for this homemade apple pie filling is surprising, but it will win you over. It’s well worth the extra 5 minutes, and you’ll never want canned apple pie filling again.
Ingredients for Apple Pie
You may be surprised to hear you only need pantry staples and some fresh apples to make this apple pie recipe.
- Pie crust – you’ll need two disks of homemade pie crust. We love this apple pie crust just as much as the filling. Since it’s an all-butter homemade pie crust (no shortening), it’s flaky and tender. The bottom is never soggy but forms a crispness at the edges. You can use store-bought, but homemade is best.
- Apples – We use Granny Smith in this pie recipe for the best flavor and texture. Avoid overripe or mushy apples. See my notes on apple substitutions below.
- Butter & Flour – creates a thick and saucy filling
- Cinnamon – adds a warm, spiced flavor to the apples. You could also add a pinch of nutmeg.
- Sugar – add sugar to taste, depending on the types of apples used (see apple options below).
- Egg Wash – combining egg and water gives the crust a golden brown, shiny finish.
The Best Apples for Apple Pie
Granny Smith apples are tart and crisp and the gold standard for baking, but any sweet/tart and crisp apples or even a mix of apples will do, but use less sugar when substituting sweeter apples such as Golden Delicious, Jonagold, Honeycrisp, Fuji, Braeburn, or Pink Lady.
How to Make Apple Pie
- Prepare the pie crust recipe and chill in the refrigerator. When ready to assemble your pie, preheat the oven to 425˚F with a rack in the center of the oven.
- Make the Filling – Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat, add flour and whisk constantly for 1 minute. Whisk in water and sugar. Simmer for 3 minutes, then remove from heat. Do not overcook.
- Prepare apples – peel, core, and slice apples into about 1/4″ thick slices. Sprinkle with cinnamon and toss to combine, then stir in the filling to coat the apples.
The Best Tool for Apple Recipes
My family loves apple recipes, from Baked Apples to Apple Turnovers. If you love apple desserts, this apple slicer will save you so much prep time! It peels, slices, and cores all in one swoop. You’ll have all of your apples prepped in less than 5 minutes. Imagine saucy apples bubbling through that flaky lattice crust – irresistibly good!
- Roll the Crust – into a 12-inch diameter pie dough and transfer to a 9-inch, deep pie pan. Add the apple filling, mounding in the center (avoid getting apple filling on the edges of the pie crust, which will make it difficult to seal).
- Lattice Top – Roll the second disk into an 11-inch diameter circle and cut into 10 strips with a pizza cutter. Arrange half of the strips over the pie and weave in the second layer of strips (see how to make a lattice crust). Crimp the edges to seal and brush the crust with egg wash.
- Bake at 425˚F for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350˚F and continue baking for another 45 minutes until you see thick juices bubbling through the lattice crust for at least 5 minutes.
How to Keep Pie From Browning Too Fast
If you find the edges of your pie are browning too quickly, you can use a pie shield or simply cut a 3″ circle out of the center of a square sheet of foil and loosely place it with the dull side down over the top of your pie.
Tips for the Best Apple Pie
- Don’t overheat the filling – Avoid overheating the sauce or cooking for too long, which can cause it to separate or get too thick. If this happens, don’t stress, you can still toss the apples together with the sauce, and it will come together in the oven.
- Chill the crust – make sure to chill the pie crust according to the instructions, or the butter will melt out of the crust, and it will go flat.
- Let it cool – allow the pie to cool and set for at least an hour before slicing, for the juices to thicken up and set, otherwise it will slide apart when sliced.
Everything about this apple pie is good, from the flaky, buttery, homemade crust to the unbeatable apple pie filling. Try this served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Let me know if it graces your holiday table.
P.S. Did you know you can make an apple pie ahead (see the make-ahead tips in the notes below). With all the bustle of the holidays, it’s nice to know you can check this pie off your list early.
The BEST Apple Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 recipe for double pie crust
- 2 1/4 lbs Granny Smith Apples, peeled, cored 6-7 apples (7 cups thinly sliced)
- 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 8 Tbsp unsalted butter
- 3 Tbsp all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup water
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 egg , + 1 Tbsp water, for egg wash
Instructions
- Make the pie crust recipe and chill per instructions while preparing the filling. Preheat oven to 425˚F.
- Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in 3 Tbsp flour then simmer for 1 minute, whisking constantly. Whisk in 1/4 cup water and 1 cup sugar and bring to a boil. Reduce heat and continue simmering for 3 minutes, whisking frequently then remove from heat.
- Peel, core, and thinly slice 7 cups of apples and place them in a large bowl. Sprinkle the top with 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon and toss to combine. Pour the sauce over the apples and stir to coat the apple slices.
- Sprinkle your work surface with flour and roll out the bottom pie crust to a 12" diameter circle. Wrap it around your rolling pin to transfer it to the 9" pie plate. Add apple mixture, mounding slightly in the center and being careful not to get the filling on the edges which would make it difficult to seal.
- Roll the second crust into an 11" round and cut into 10 even-thickness strips using a pizza cutter. Arrange strips in a woven lattice pattern over the top (see video tutorial). Beat together 1 egg and 1 Tbsp water and brush the top with egg mixture.
- Bake at 425˚F in the center of the oven for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 350˚F and continue baking for another 45 minutes or until the apples are soft and the filling is bubbling through the vents for at least 5 minutes.* Rest at room temp 1 hour before serving.
Notes
- Store at Room Temp: Cool completely to room temperature before covering and storing. The pie keeps well covered on the counter for up to 2 days.
- To Refrigerate: Cover and refrigerate for up to 4 days.
- Freezing Pie: store in a freezer-friendly airtight container for up to 3 months. Here’s a tutorial on how to freeze and bake a frozen pie.
- To Reheat: thaw baked pie in the fridge or on the counter and then reheat in a 350°F oven until warmed through.
Nutrition Per Serving
Filed Under
More Fall Baking Recipes
Fall always puts me in the mood for baking. All of these recipes are on our regular rotation. These recipes are easy to make and are so good that they are our go-to Thanksgiving recipes!
- Pumpkin Cake
- Cinnamon Rolls
- Baklava
- Pumpkin Cheesecake
- Banana Bread
- Pumpkin Bread with honey butter
- Dutch Apple Pie
- Apple Crisp
- Pumpkin Roll
This was my first attempt at making a homemade pie. In the past I’d use store bought crust and filling. I will never go back to making a pie with store bought goods. The crust was perfectly golden and flaky, which I mixed using my kitchen aid since I don’t have a food processor. Never done lattice before, but was pretty easy once I figured out how to do it. I used granny smith apples that were sliced pretty thin by my kitchen aid slicer. This cut down on prep time. Everything came together wonderfully! This was the best pie I’ve had in a long time. Definitely will make again. Thank you for sharing your recipes. Love trying them out! My husband asked me to make him a peach pie. I’m hoping you have a recipe I can follow for that.
I’m so glad you decided to make the crust using my recipe, Cherie! I always so homemade is best, and I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed this recipe!
While I was letting the sauce cool, I did the apples(which took longer than I expected). Once I went to put the sauce on, it was hard. Is that what happens if you wait too long or did I do something else wrong?
Other than messing up, I enjoyed this a lot! It was fun to make and easy to follow!
Hi Katie, that could be the culprit but, I’m puzzled by why it would be “hardened” though – maybe overcooking or changes in ingredient quantities?
Best apple pie we’ve made and eaten! The pastry is crispy and buttery and the Apple filling is amazing! No more canned pie apples! We had a little leftover the next day and it was also yummy cold! Thank you Natasha for the recipe. It’s definitely a keeper!
That’s so great! It sounds like you have a new favorite, Michelle!
My daughter is allergic to eggs. Would I be able to make this without the egg wash? Or would that be weird?
Hi Stephanie, the egg wash can be substituted. I found a great article that may be helpful for egg wash substitutes.
No matter how many times I mess up both the filling and crust, they still turn out amazing! Multiple friends and family have told me it’s the best pie they have ever eaten. Truly a great recipe!
Thanks for your good feedback!
Crust and pie – Perfect. Thank you!
Thank you, too! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Hi Natasha, Thanks for the delicious recipe. I added 1/2 cup of dried cranberries, and therefore substituted 1/4 cup apple juice, 5 tbsp butter, 1/3 cup of sugar, dash of salt, dash of lemon and it was fabulous. ( I used some of the butter to grease the glass pie plate for easy serving and cleanup).
You’re welcome and sounds good! Thank you for sharing that with us.
Hi Natasha! I love this apple pie filling! Have you used this filling with other fruit? I’m wondering particularly about peaches… 🙂 Thanks for all of your wonderful recipes and videos!!!
Hi MaryAnn, I haven’t tried other fruits of berries yet to advise, but I imagine that will work. You can also check out my other pie recipes here.
Would it be possible to use the same recipe for mini apple pies?
Hi Sonali! I bet that could work! Here’s what one of our readers wrote: ” I made mini apple pies with this recipe, it turned out so amazing! My whole family loved it. The process also doesn’t take too much time, and it’s not difficult. It’s a must-try recipe!!!” I hope this is helpful!
Hey there,
I don’t usually leave comments, but I found the whole video very cute, presenter, taste testers and all! 🙂 I do plan to make the apple pie today. Gauging by all the rave reviews, I’m sure it’ll be great. Thanks for your fun video! I might watch another one just to smile 🙂
Aww, that’s the best! Thank you so much for sharing that lovely feedback with me, Dina. I’m all smiles
I made this for the first time today, for Fathers Day and it was off the charts delicious!
Yay, that is fantastic! Great to hear that, MaryAnn and thank you for sharing!
But is the dish deep dish style?
Amy, yes, the link takes you to the actual pie plate so you can see all the dimensions. It is 2.6” high on the outside deep dish.
thank you!
I’ve seen lot of recipes and they are similar. Then I saw a recipe in a book of the British bake show guy and his recipe includes butter crush, apple, sugar, crumble cheese and that’s it. The taste is definitely different from American apple pie. Apple and cheese go very well together.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me.
did you use a deep dish pie pan for this, the dutch one, cherry pie and blueberry pie?
Hi Amy, we have it linked to the recipe, but you can also find it here. We used this 9″ pie dish HERE.
This recipe was great! The only issue I encountered was that the apples were fairly undercooked and a bit crunchy when it was done baking. I’ve seen others recipes that pre-cook the apples in the filling. I’m wondering if I could do the same here? While the filling is simmering, could I add the apples to make them a bit softer? I know the apples shouldn’t be too soft to maintain their shape, but I definitely like them a bit softer! Thanks!
Hi Jo, that could also be due to slicing the apples too thick or maybe it was the type of apple used? I hope that is helpful for troubleshooting. Usually, with the lengthy baking time, the apples should soften up.
Hi Natasha, Thanks for this great recipe. I tried this yesterday and my apple pie turned out delicious. However, I couldn’t make the sauce as it curdled the minute I added water as per the instructions. Any suggestions on why this happened and how to avoid this? I ended up adding flour butter and sugar to apple slices directly for filling. It still turned out great though 🙂
Hi Anu, I haven’t had the sauce curdle before, Are you making sure to follow each step in the recipe in order without any substitutions? I recommend watching the video and reading all the recipe tips.
Hi Natasha ! Love the recipe! have made it three times now, love it each time. The only problem i face is with the Pie crust…mine become too flaky and its difficult to roll. How do i rectify that.Thanks
Hi Mukta, I would make sure all of your ingredients were accurately measured but also, let it sit at room temperature about 30 minutes before rolling or it will be difficult to roll out if it is refrigerated for long periods.
This pie is delicious and I appreciate how easy it was to follow the recipe/video! Very accessible for beginners! I used all the filling and I thought it was perfect! I ended up needing to refrigerate it overnight because it was done baking at midnight (oops). It was not runny at all, so could be that people need to wait longer or refrigerate it.
I also didn’t have a food processor large enough so I used my stand mixer with a paddle attachment and it worked fine- in case anyone else is in the same position.
Thank you so much for sharing that with me. I’m so glad you enjoyed it!
This pie is the best ever!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Lisa!