This classic homemade apple pie recipe features a variety of apples combined with sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg for full flavor and texture, and baked in a flaky, all-butter pie crust.

A slice of homemade apple pie on a white plate.

You know you have a great dessert recipe when everyone requests you bring your homemade apple pie to a family gathering, work functions, or potluck meal. This is my go to recipe.

Tips for Making Apple Pie

When choosing apples for pies, you can mix and match varieties for both flavor and texture. I like using a mix of tart and sweet apples, such as Granny Smith and Cortland for texture, and Macintosh for flavor and a bit of soft juiciness.

Baking apples are often recommended as the best apples for apple pie. They are tart, slightly acidic, but hold their shape during baking. Baking apple varieties include Braeburn, Cortland, Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Jonathan, Northern Spy, Rome Beauty, Pink Lady, Winsap, and Gravenstein.

Using all baking apples for your filling results in a rather bland flavored and dry apple pie. So, I like to mix them with a sweet apple that breaks down when cooked to add a bit of moisture to the pie filling. Consider mixing in sweet apple varieties, such as Jonagolds, Macouns, Macintosh, Golden Delicious, or Red Delicious.

Look for apples that are firm with a fresh apple fragrance. The skins should be smooth and taut, have vivid color, and very few blemishes. Avoid apples with soft spots and bruises. Store apples in the refrigerator to keep them crisp. Here are other tips for making homemade apple pie:

Make Your Own Pie Crust

You can make a pie pastry from scratch or use one of the convenient ready-made pie crusts from the store. But I recommend that you give homemade pie crust a try. You can easily make it in a food processor by following this recipe for All-Butter Pie Pastry. You can make it a day ahead and store the dough in the fridge overnight.

Don’t Grease the Pie Plate

Don’t grease or flour your pie pans. The pie dough has enough butter to prevent sticking. Extra grease will change the texture of the crust.

Prevent Dark Edges

To prevent the edges of the pie crust from getting too dark, you can cover it with strips of aluminum foil or use a pie shield to slow the browning. Check the pie as it cooks, and cover the edges with foil or a pie shield if it is browning too much.

Let the Pie Cool After Baking

Allow the pie to cool for at least 30 minutes after baking. This gives the liquid inside a chance to gel and thicken so it won’t spill out when you cut into the pie. Place the pie on a cooling rack to let air circulate as it cools to prevent a soggy crust.

How to Make Apple Pie

This classic apple pie recipe uses a mix of sweet and tart apples tossed with the traditional sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg spices and baked in a flaky, golden, all-butter pie pastry. The result is an apple pie filled with texture and balanced flavor.

A complete and printable recipe is at the bottom of this article, but here are the steps for making apple pie:

Step 1: Gather the Ingredients and Kitchen Gear

Wash the apples well under running water and air dry on clean kitchen towels. Remove the pie pastry from the refrigerator and let it warm at room temperature before rolling.

You will need basic kitchen tools such as a large prep bowl, peeler, knife, spoon, rolling pin, pastry mat, pastry brush, 9-inch glass pie plate, and cooling rack.

Step 2: Combine the Pie Seasoning

Combine the sugars, flour, lemon zest, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl.

Lemon zest is optional but brightens the apple flavor a bit without tasting lemony. Add it if you have it: How to Zest Citrus Fruit. You can also add a squeeze of fresh lemon juice instead of zest.

Step 3: Prepare the Apple Filling

Peel, core, and cut the apples into 1/4-inch slices. Add the apple slices to the sugar bowl as you work. Toss to coat and let the mixture sit and begin to caramelize while you prepare the pie crust.

Step 4: Make and Bake the Pie

Flour the pastry mat or work surface, and roll out the bottom pie crust. Place the pastry into the pie dish without stretching.

Spoon the apple pie filling into the prepared pie plate. Make sure to get all that caramel liquid too. Arrange the apples evenly around the edges and heap slightly in the middle. Don’t press on the filling, or you may poke holes in the bottom pie crust that will leak and lead to a soggy crust.

Brush the edges with the beaten egg wash to help create a good seal once the two crusts are crimped together. Roll out the top pie crust, place it on top of the filling, and seal the edges.

To glaze, brush the pie with the beaten egg wash and sprinkle with sugar and cinnamon. Then cut slits to vent steam. Bake the pie in a preheated oven until golden, and you can see the filling bubbling through the vents of the pie crust.

Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before cutting. Serve warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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