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The Best Apple Pie Recipe can be on your table in just one hour. No one will guess this classic apple pie starts with a store-bought pie crust; the filling is just like your favorite bakery’s desserts!
Raise your hand if your brother is an apple aficionado who has an orchard and grafts his own apple species!
Just me, then?
My brother Matt, the aforementioned apple genius (no, not that kind of apple genius), always makes a homemade apple pie at Thanksgiving. He uses a variety of the best apples, a mix of tart and sweet, more species than the rest of us could name collectively, and that pie puts all other apple pies to shame.
Luckily, you can get the same fantastic results with just a few good baking apples and this easy recipe.
Table of Contents
Recipe ingredients
At a Glance: Here is a quick snapshot of what ingredients are in this recipe.
Please see the recipe card below for specific quantities.
Ingredient notes
- Sugar and brown sugar: Equal parts granulated sugar and brown sugar lend the perfect texture and flavor.
- Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg: This blend of powdered baking spices makes this apple pie taste just like fall (and infuses the entire home with intoxicating aromas).
- Tart apples: Granny Smith apples soften when baked but still stay quite firm and hold their shape. The tartness also balances the sugar in the pie filling. But if you have access to Northern Spy, Braeburn, Cortland, Jonathon, Jonagolds, or Honeycrisp, don’t hold back. Buy them and bake them up; a mix or a combo of any of the above works well. Personally, I like to choose a mixture of tart and sweet apples, and sometimes it’s fun to use both firm apples (the ones that hold their shape) and soft apples (the ones that cook down to mush like Golden Delicious, Gala, and Fuji apples). A variety of textures makes for a great pie.
- Pie crust: You will need two 9-inch pie crusts, for the bottom crust and top crust of the pie. You can make your own homemade pie crust, which is surprisingly easy, or opt for the store-bought route, with zero need for apologies. To make homemade pie dough in advance, make the dough, form it into a disk shape, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and foil, and freeze for up to 2 months. To use, thaw it overnight in the refrigerator, then roll it out. If you have the space, you can roll out your pastry dough, press it into the pie pan, and freeze it, tightly wrapped in plastic. You can bake frozen pie crust straight out of the freezer without thawing.
- Butter: A tablespoon of butter under the top pie crust is just enough to melt into the apple mixture and make it taste just like your favorite bakery’s apple pie.
Step-by-step instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix the white sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside. In a large bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Sprinkle in sugar mixture over apple filling and toss to evenly coat.
- On a lightly floured surface, roll out pie crust with a rolling pin. Lay one pie crust in bottom of 9-inch pie dish, trimming the pastry even with the edge of the pan.
- Spoon in the apple pie filling into the pie plate and place butter piece on top.
- Roll the remaining crust out. Set crust over the filling and trim as necessary to fit the top of the pie. Seal, flute the edges, and cut slits in the pastry.
- Beat egg white until foamy; brush egg wash over pastry.
- Sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges loosely with foil.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake until crust is golden brown and pie filling is bubbling, about 20 minutes more. Cool on wire rack.
Recipe tips and variations
- Yield: This apple pie recipe, makes 8 generous slices.
- Storage: Apple pie should be fine kept at room temperature for up to 2 days, lightly covered. Otherwise, store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- Freezer: Let the baked pie cool completely, then freeze (unwrapped) until frozen solid. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap or foil, label, date, and eat within 4 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then reheat in a 350-degree oven until warm.
- Catch the drips: Some apples are juicier than others, and fruit pies can leak sugary juices onto the floor of the oven as they bake. To avoid this, place a parchment- or aluminum foil-lined baking sheet under the pie as it bakes.
- Bake the most beautiful apples: To keep sliced apples fresh before baking, add the slices to a bowl of cold water with the juice of half a lemon. The acidity will prevent the apples from oxidizing and turning brown.
- Make it shine: Sprinkle some coarse-style sugar on the top instead of extra granulated sugar to really makes this apple pie shimmer.
- Cornstarch: Some people use cornstarch as a thickener for fruit pies instead of flour. It gives a glossy, shiny finish to pie filling. If you want to try it, use half as much (1 ½ tablespoons instead of 3 tablespoons); it’s twice as strong as all-purpose flour.
- Lattice crust: Read my tutorail on homemade pie dough to learn how to craft and execute the perfect lattice pie crust.
- Take it over the top: Crown each slice with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for Apple Pie a la Mode or add a dollop of Whipped Cream. A drizzle of caramel sauce is outstanding, too. Or for a savory-salty touch, melt on a slice of cheddar cheese (sounds crazy, but tastes crazy-good).
- Finish the bushel: Have extra apples on hand? Make a batch of Apple Coleslaw, a warm Apple Crisp, a Cinnamon Apple Cake, or some homemade Caramel Apples. See more apple recipe ideas in The Best Apple Recipes for Your Orchard Haul.
- Thinking of Thanksgiving: Are you making an Apple Pie for Thanksgiving? Discover 150+ Thanksgiving Recipes on Culinary Hill including my full Make Ahead Thanksgiving menu.
Frequently Asked Questions
Cooking the apples first helps release a lot of extra liquid so you don’t have to compensate for it with a thickener. But, this recipe was developed without that step. In this recipe, the apples go in raw.
To get a head start, though, you can peel and cut the apples a day in advance and keep them submerged in water and lemon juice in the refrigerator.
Blind-baking a pie crust means to cover raw pie dough with aluminum foil or parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Then you bake (or par-bake) the crust. This is a common technique for cold custard pies where the filling isn’t baked. In this recipe, pie crust goes in the oven unbaked after you add the filling (because the filling needs to bake, too).
Personally, I like to choose a mixture of tart and sweet apples, and sometimes it’s fun to use both firm apples (the ones that hold their shape, such as Granny Smith) and soft apples (the ones that cook down to mush, like Golden Delicious). A variety of textures makes for a great pie.
More pies to try
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Pumpkin Pie Recipe
Pie and Tart Recipes
Pecan Pie
Pie and Tart Recipes
Chocolate Walnut Pie
Thanksgiving Recipes
Make Ahead Pumpkin Pie
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The Best Apple Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar plus more for the top crust (see note 1)
- 1/2 cup brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon (see note 2)
- 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 6 to 7 cups tart apples peeled and thinly sliced (see note 3)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 9-inch pie crusts thawed (homemade or from 1 box store-bought, see note 4)
- 1 tablespoon butter (see note 5)
- 1 egg white
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees. In a small mixing bowl, mix the white sugar, brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, and nutmeg. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, toss apples with lemon juice. Sprinkle in sugar mixture and toss to evenly coat.
- Lay one pie crust in bottom of 9-inch pie pan, trimming the pastry even with the edge of the pan. Spoon in the apple mixture into the pie and place butter piece on top.
- Roll the remaining crust out. Set crust over the filling and trim as necessary to fit the top of the pie. Seal, flute the edges, and cut slits in the pastry.
- Beat egg white until foamy; brush over pastry. Sprinkle with sugar. Cover edges loosely with foil.
- Bake for 25 minutes. Remove foil and bake until crust is golden brown and pie filling is bubbling, about 20 minutes more. Cool on wire rack.
Recipe Video
Notes
- Sugar and brown sugar: Equal parts granulated sugar and brown sugar lend the perfect texture and flavor.
- Cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg: This blend of powdered baking spices makes this apple pie taste just like fall (and infuses the entire home with intoxicating aromas).
- Tart apples: Granny Smith apples soften when baked but still stay quite firm and hold their shape. The tartness also balances the sugar in the pie filling. But if you have access to Northern Spy, Braeburn, Cortland, Jonathon, Jonagolds, or Honeycrisp, don’t hold back. Buy them and bake them up; a mix or a combo of any of the above works well.
- Pie crust: You will need two 9-inch pie crusts, for the bottom and top of the pie. You can make your own homemade crust, which is surprisingly easy, or opt for the store-bought route, with zero need for apologies.
- Butter: A tablespoon of butter under the top pie crust is just enough to melt into the apple mixture and make it taste just like your favorite bakery’s apple pie.
- Yield: This apple pie recipe, makes 8 generous slices.
- Storage: Apple pie should be fine kept at room temperature for up to 2 days, lightly covered. Otherwise, store in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Nutrition
Meggan Hill is a classically-trained chef and professional writer. Her meticulously-tested recipes and detailed tutorials bring confidence and success to home cooks everywhere. Meggan has been featured on NPR, HuffPost, FoxNews, LA Times, and more.
I have followed baking instructions, been in ten minutes longer, still not done.
Hi Barbara, I’m sorry. If your pie is almost done browning, but still needs some time to bake, you can recover the edges with foil so they do not burn. Sometimes oven vary in temperature some, and may need a little more time to recover the heat if they are being opened and closed constantly. An oven thermometer is great to monitor the internal oven temperature. I hope your pie bakes soon and is delicious. – Meggan
Thank you! I wasn’t expecting too much because I’ve tried so many recipes and also for the fact that I only had Gala apples ( and a couple Honey Crisp) Most sites say not to use Gala apples in pie, so if it wasn’t good I was going to blame it on the apples lol – What a surprise this was! My husband said it was the best pie I’ve ever made! I’ll stick with this recipe from now on :)
You’re so welcome, Tammy! I can only imagine how nicely the filling tastes. Thank you and take care! – Meggan