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
It was the best apple pie I ever made! Just ate a huge piece, and hubby is levitating over his. I have one suggestion, if the apples are very juicy, you may need 4 Tbsp flour in the sauce instead of 3 so it thickens enough. I used Honeycrisp. And the pie crust, oh so heavenly and flaky – I used frozen diced sticks of butter and it made it just perfect. What a great recipe!
Thank you, Linda, for your good comments and feedback! We’re happy to hear that you enjoyed our Apple Pie Recipe!
This looks scrumptious 😋 just wondering if instead of a lattice pie you could do a streusel top.
Thanks so much! Happy day! 😊
Hi Tammy, I’m sure that would be fine. If you give that a try, we’d love to know how it goes!
Can you prep the filling and crust a day before you back or will the filling get funky?
Hi Lisa, I haven’t tried it that way. One of my readers said, “I assemble this pie and freeze it before baking. It bakes well from the frozen state.” I hope that helps!
I prepare my crust ingredients 2 days before then chill in fridge. The day before I peel & cut up the apples & put in fridge. Then day of, I let dough warm up a bit so it can roll, add stuff to the apples, then bake. This way you aren’t going crazy trying to do everything in one day.
Hello!
I am in the process of baking this pie right now. I have a lot of apples and want to make a filling to use at a later date. Can this filling be frozen?
Thank you!
I have not tried freezing the filling. One of my readers reported freezing the whole assembled pie and baking it before thawing.
I have tried this at least three times. The “sugar gravy” never works. Not one time. I’ve gone ahead and put it in the pie, but it doesn’t improve anything. Just a sticky, clumpy mess.
And for comparison, last spring I “decided” that I could make Zeppole for St. Joseph’s day, and despite never having done so, was able to make a choux pastry perfectly and a nice yellow cream filling. So….not sure what’s not working here, but I’ve given up.
HI Elsie, I’m glad you had good success the choux pastry. With the filling for this pie, overheating or heating for too long can cause the filling to become thick, but once it’s baked in the oven, it all melds together and will still work out. It’s still useable even if it overheats. I hope that helps.
I. Made this apple pie last nite. I can’t stop eating it….I’ve had many apple pies. This recipe takes the cake. Lol best tasting. One I will be making this one for a long time
That’s wonderful, Cathy! We love this apple pie. I’m happy you found a keeper!
This apple pie didn’t end up with that runny syrup that mine usually have AND it was delicious and beautiful. I used Granny Smith apples, 2 tsp of high quality cinnamon and it was very flavorful!
That’s wonderful, Susan! Thank you for sharing.
Wonderful recipe! One of the first apple pies I made but won’t be my last! Only complaint is i followed the video recipe and on there you said “ beat 1 egg and Tbsp Sugar together” not egg and water for the egg wash… I thought it was weird but still followed it. Big mistake bc my pie burned on the top :/ still tasted good though! Would advice you to fix the video recipe if able though!
Hi Yelena, that was a verbal typo, I always recommend using the video as a guide but following the written recipe since I can’t edit the video.
We loved this apple pie! Absolutely delicious! Wanted to share that because I am diabetic, I used Truvia Sweet Complete ( cup for cup sugar replacement) to make the yummy sauce. I worried at first after letting it cool, because it became like a thickened gelatin and did not pour, so I quickly thought what should i do?! I added it to my apples w cinnamon, and then put it in a 6 qt pan over low heat to see if that would bring it back to a liquid state, and kept stirring. It worked! Another tip I have it to use a variety of baking apples in the pie just like you would apple sauce- doing that makes the best sauce, so it is reasonable to think the same for apple pie! Delicious and a new family favorite! Just sharing because there may be another person trying to lower sugar. Thanks again for another great recipe! Love your videos!
Hi Carolyn, thank you so much for sharing that with us. A lot of our subscribers will definitely be able to use your tips!
very tasty filling and delicious flakey shell …thanks a lot for the wonderful recipe 🙂
Thank you for your good feedback!
I’m sorry but this was so bland that my daughter asked if I put sugar in it! I think no addition of any salt is a mistake. This recipe needs more sugar and some salt, perhaps just 1/4 to half a tsp. I cannot believe all the rave reviews. So bland it wasn’t worth the calories. My favorite vanilla ice cream didn’t even help.
Hi John, maybe it was the type of apples used? Out of about 1000 comments on this recipe, I don’t recall anyone saying it lacked sugar. You could add salt if you wanted to, but it wouldn’t affect the sweetness.
I made this pie and it was delicious! My only question is … there was a puddle of syrup that eventually absorbed into the pie (?) after a day or two. Why so much syrup? What did I probably do wrong? Thanks.
Hi Terry, I’m sorry to hear that. This is a very popular recipe on our site. I am always happy to help troubleshoot. I’ve never had to extract liquid from my pies before and the liquid that does form helps to bake the apples to the right tenderness and forms that desirable saucy consistency in the cooled pie. I wonder if maybe the pie dish was too small for the number of apples or too many apples were used? Check the link above for the type of pan we used. I hope that helps for next time.
Is one cup of sugar not a lot? The apples are pretty sweet.
I want to make it but I think its too much sugar.
Hi Toni, we found that to be the right amount. But if you are using sweeter apples, you could use less sugar or you could try using less sugar altogether.
Hi Natasha, I love your recipes and today I wanted to try cooking your apple pie with my grandma so I wanted to ask if I can also use regular butter instead of unsalted butter?
Yes, that will work! Just omit the salt or adjust the salt in the recipe if you will use salted.
This recipe even impressed my dad and he’s switching to this one
Good to hear that he enjoyed this recipe!
I made this pie exactly as written last Thanksgiving and it was a amazing! I plan to make it again this year except I already have honeycrisp apple on hand. My question is with honwycrisp apple do I need to change the amount of sugar? If so, what would be the measurement for the sugar? TIA!!!
That’s just awesome! Thank you for sharing your wonderful review, Kasha! Honey crisp will work here, if you experiment, let me know how you liked the recipe, but here’s what one of our readers wrote: “I made this recipe as is the first time except I used vegan butter and honey crisp apples and it was definitely the highlight of our Thanksgiving dinner. Yummmmy!!! Now, I have a gluten-free family member who’d also like to enjoy the pie. Is almond flour a suitable choice for this recipe? Please help.” I hope that helps!
Best apple pie I’ve ever made or tasted! I tweaked it by adding 1/8 tsp nutmeg and used only brown sugar. Lovely caramel flavor. Will definitely use this recipe from now on.
Yum! So glad you loved it.
Just made this pie and it smells and looks great. Don’t know if my hubby can wait until it cools off.
I bet it smells so good in your home, Barbara! thank you for your awesome review!
Hi Natasha, on your recipe list to make the egg wash you write down 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon of water. On the other hand, on the video, you suggest 1 egg plus 1 tablespoon of sugar of egg wash. Which one do I use?
Thank you!
Hi Carolina, the written recipe is accurate. That was a verbal typo.
Your pie dough recipe was very nice, thank you.
That being said, when you cook the flour in the filling mixture it does not allow for the juice from the apples to be absorbed into the flour resulting in a very runny pie.
I suggest mixing the apples with the flour, cinnamon, sugar a little butter and then putting into the pie shell. This allows for a firmer pie.