Fried Apples Recipe For The Perfect Sweet Side (2024)

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This fried apples recipe is a total Cracker Barrel copycat. Coated in a deliciously sweet cinnamon-sugar sauce, these Southern fried apples make the perfect sweet side dish.

Growing up, Mama always let us choose the menu for a special meal on our birthdays. As you can imagine, these delectable fried apples were always on my list. This is how she made them and these are a striking twin to the Cracker Barrel fried apples. We also like to have them with our holiday meals, too. Fried apples are an excellent Thanksgiving side dish alongside family favorites like baked ham and sweet potato casserole.

Fortunately, this Southern fried apples recipe is a super easy fall recipe to make and a tasty way to prepare apples year-round (move aside, apple pie). All you need is some crisp fresh apple slices and then cook the delicious apple sauce. Featuring apple juice, sugar, cinnamon, allspice, and cornstarch, it’s the perfect combination of sweet and spice. Once you have one bite, I guarantee you’ll go back for seconds!

Enjoy your Southern skillet fried apples for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Serve them with French toast for breakfast, roast chicken for lunch, and whipped cream or a scoop of vanilla ice cream for dessert.

Recipe Ingredients

• Apples (Golden Delicious)
• Apple Juice
• Sugar
• Corn Starch
• Cinnamon
• Allspice

Place apples in a single layer in a large skillet.

Pour apple juice over the apple slices.

Cook apples over medium heat. You want these to just simmer until the apples are fork-tender. Keep an eye on these while you do the next steps. You’ll need to be nearby to turn them a few times in order to have them cook evenly.

While those are cooking, put corn starch, allspice, cinnamon, and sugar in a medium-sized bowl.

Stir that up with a wire whisk.

Once your apples are fork-tender, remove them from the pan using a slotted spoon so the juice remains in the pan.

Now, you really do want these fork-tender, not cooked to the point of surrender 😉.

Just set them aside in a bowl, big enough to stir a bit because we are about to pour a sauce over them.

That hot apple juice in your skillet is now going to be poured into your bowl of dry ingredients.

Whisk this together until smooth (until you get all of the lumps and such out).

Pour this mixture back in your skillet and cook over medium heat until bubbly and thickened.

Let me tell ya, one minute it will be runny and then two seconds later it will be THICK. So pay attention!

Pour this gooey goodness over your cooked apples.

Stir it up until you have this magnificent dish overflowing with cinnamon apples.

Enjoy!

Storage

• Store fried apple leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the microwave or on the stovetop over medium heat until warmed.
• Once cooled, you can also store leftovers in an airtight container in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the fridge before reheating as instructed above.

Recipe Notes

• If you’ve never used allspice in your apple dishes, you are missing out! What allspice does is make the cinnamon *pop* in your recipes. It simply amplifies the cinnamon flavor. I like to add a pinch of it (a generous pinch) whenever cinnamon is called for in addition to the cinnamon.
• Another option is to use cinnamon and nutmeg if you prefer, or apple pie spice.
• Cut your apples in wedges but leave the skin on for a more traditional side dish. Don’t worry, it will be nice and tender when they are done!
• Substitute the sugar for brown sugar (or use a combination of both) for a more caramelized flavor.

Recipe FAQs

What is the best apple variety to use for this Southern fried apples recipe?

While I used Golden Delicious, you can use any kind of tart apple variety, like Granny Smith apples, Jonathan, Braeburn, Honey Crisp, or Pink Lady apples.

You might like these other appetizing apple recipes:

Easy Homemade Candy Apples

Apple Crisp in the Crockpot

Caramel Apple Cheesecake

Apple Dapple Cake

Caramel Apple Dump Cake

Apple Dumplings

Each day when you wake up you have a choice: You can have a good day or you can have a bad one. So you might as well have a good one.

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