Easy Apple Jelly Recipe That Works Every Time

Making apple jelly sounds fancy, but it's honestly one of the easiest things you can do in the kitchen. This apple jelly recipe has been around forever because it just works. 

The whole process takes a few hours, but most of that time you're just waiting around while the apples do their thing. You toss some fruit in a pot, let it bubble away, strain it through a towel, then boil it with sugar until it turns into jelly. That's it.

People get intimidated because they think jelly-making requires some special skill or expensive equipment. The truth is, if you can make tea, you can handle this. 

What You Need to Know

Why This Works When Others Don't

Most apple jelly recipe instructions online make it way more complicated than it needs to be. They tell you to use specific apple varieties or buy expensive pectin powder. This version skips all that nonsense.

Apples already have everything needed to make jelly. The pectin is hiding in the peels and cores, which is why you don't throw those parts away. The acid comes from the fruit itself, plus maybe a squeeze of lemon. Sugar helps everything gel up and keeps it from going bad.

Let the apples cook until they're mushy. Let the juice strain slowly without squeezing it. Boil it hot enough and long enough for the jelly to set. Simple stuff, but you gotta do it right.

Getting Your Stuff Together

You need four things:

• About 3 pounds of apples (any kind works fine)

• Regular sugar

• Water

• One lemon

That's the whole shopping list. Don't stress about apple types - even those bruised ones on sale make perfectly good jelly. Tart apples work a little better, but sweet ones are fine too. Just avoid anything that's going soft or has brown spots all over it.

The lemon adds some acid, which helps the jelly set up properly. You only need a tablespoon or so. Bottled lemon juice works if that's what you have.

How to Do It

Wash your apples, but leave the peels on. Cut them into chunks - cores, seeds, everything goes in the pot. Seems weird, but those parts have the most pectin. Cover with water so the fruit's just barely floating.

Bring everything to a boil, then turn it down so it's gently bubbling. Let it cook for about 20 minutes until the apples fall apart when you poke them. Your kitchen will smell incredible.

Now comes the boring part. You need to strain out all the juice without getting any pulp in there. Set up a big strainer with a clean dish towel inside it. Pour the cooked apples in and just let it drip. This takes hours, but don't rush it. Don't squeeze the towel or press on the fruit - that makes the juice cloudy.

When you come back later, you should have roughly 4 cups of clear apple juice. If you got more, great. If you have less, add a splash of water.

Making the Apple  Jelly

Put your apple juice in a pot and crank the heat up high. When it's boiling hard, dump in 3 cups of sugar and that squeeze of lemon. Keep stirring until the sugar dissolves completely.

Now here's where it gets interesting. Keep that mixture at a rolling boil - not just simmering, but really bubbling hard. After about 10 minutes, start checking if it's done.

The old-school test is dropping some on a cold plate. If it wrinkles when you push it with your finger, you're good to go. Some people use a thermometer and wait for 220 degrees, but the plate test works just fine.

Getting It in Jars

Have your jars hot and ready. Run them through the dishwasher or just fill them with boiling water before you start. Ladle the hot jelly into the jars, leaving about a quarter inch at the top.

Wipe the jar rims clean with a damp cloth - any jelly stuck there prevents proper sealing. Put the lids on and screw the rings down finger-tight. Process in boiling water for 10 minutes.

The best part happens next. As the jars cool down, you'll hear little "pop" sounds as the lids seal. Sometimes it happens right away, sometimes it takes an hour. When you hear that pop, you know you did it right.

When Things Go Sideways

Sometimes jelly doesn't set up like it should. No big deal, you just made apple syrup instead. Use it on pancakes or ice cream. Or dump it back in the pot with some store-bought pectin and try again.

If your jelly looks cloudy instead of clear, you probably rushed the straining step. It tastes exactly the same, just doesn't look as pretty. Nobody's going to complain about ugly jelly on their toast.

Hard crystals in the jelly usually mean the sugar didn't dissolve all the way before you started boiling. Next time, stir longer at the beginning.

What to Do With All This Jelly

Obviously toast and biscuits are the classics. But this stuff works great in other ways too. Stir it into plain yogurt, use it to glaze ham or pork chops, or mix it into salad dressing for something different.

Apple jelly makes excellent gifts during the holidays. People act like you performed magic when you hand them a jar of something homemade, even though it really wasn't that hard.

If you're into making other stuff from scratch, there are tons of other apple recipes you can try with your apple haul. Some people get really into apple jam recipe variations or even try making apple strudel recipes from scratch, but jelly's probably the easiest place to start.

When to Make It

The best time for this apple jelly recipe is obviously fall, when apples are everywhere and cheap. But grocery store apples work fine year-round if you get a craving for homemade jelly in February.

Early-season apples tend to have more natural pectin, so your jelly sets up more easily. But honestly, this recipe works with whatever apples you can get your hands on.

Storage and Shelf Life

Properly canned jelly keeps for at least a year in a cool, dark place. Once you open a jar, stick it in the fridge and use it within a few weeks. The flavor actually gets better after sitting for a month or two as everything melds together.

If any jars don't seal properly within 24 hours, just put them straight in the fridge and eat those first. They'll keep for several weeks that way.

Want Jelly That Actually Tastes Like Something?

Look, you can make decent jelly with supermarket apples, but if you want something that actually tastes amazing, you need to start with fruit that was grown right. There's a huge difference between apples that were shipped across the country weeks ago and ones that came off the tree recently.

That's where we come in. Champlain Orchards grows apples the way they're supposed to be grown , with actual care and attention to flavor instead of just how they look on a shelf. Our fruit has the right balance of sweetness and acidity that makes jelly-making almost foolproof.