How to Make Southern Fried Apples With Brown Sugar

I LOVE fried apples.

They are different than baked apples. People will try to say they are the same, THEY ARE NOT!

My granny has made fried apples for years, and so has my mother. I have followed in suite and made fried apples to go with dinner many a time. They are one of those beautifully simple recipes that feels like you are having dessert in the middle of your meal instead of afterwards! The brown sugar and cinnamon combine with the fried apples for a deep, not-to-sweet flavor.

Making southern fried apples is easy, and since we have apples on our tree ready for the picking, I thought the time was right to share!

1. Apples. Now, I'm making for a crowd tonight. So I am using waaaay more apples than you will probably want, unless you're baking for the apple-crazy family, too! Don't worry; most of this recipe is to taste, so you can downscale or upscale as much as you like! A good skillet full of apples for four to five people would be about six medium apples.
2. Brown sugar
3. Butter
4. Cinnamon
5. A skillet
6. A large spoon (or a flipper) for turning the apples while cooking
7. A knife for cutting and peeling the apples

*You can use a potato peeler for peeling the apples if you prefer.

Apple type doesn't really matter, except I prefer a tart apple when frying apples in the skillet. I am using Granny Smiths.

Wash the apples well. I am using apples from our own tree, so I don't have to worry about pesticides because we don't use them, but if your apples came from a store or a major orchard that is not pesticide free, scrub the apples good.

Once all the apples are washed, cut open the apples and core them. Then peel the apples, taking out any bad spots. As I said, we don't use pesticides, so some of my apples have a lot of bad spots, but the rest of the apple is fine once those have been taken out.

Put the scraps in your compost bucket. If you don't have a compost bucket, I highly recommend making one. Even if you don't think that you will use compost someday, there is no point in throwing away organic items into a plastic bag and taking them to the landfill. Your plants/yard can use those nutrients in those scraps. For example: roses love coffee grounds.

I slice my apples directly into the skillet.

With a paring knife (I am using the same one I used to cut the apples), slice the apples thinly into the skillet. You don't want them to be big fat chunks. The thinner they are the faster they will cook.

Once all the apples have been cut into the skillet, get out the butter. For my skillet I am using about three tablespoons of butter, for a smaller skillet use less, about a tablespoon and a half. The butter is to keep the apples from sticking, and it will also impart flavor to them.

Turn on the skillet on medium or medium low and begin frying. Make sure to flip the apples, working the butter to the bottom of the skillet.

*I don't know why, but I put my butter in after I put my apples in the skillet. It would be best (and make more sense) to put the butter in first, then apples.

Once the butter melts, the apples will start to fry. Continue to stir and flip them occasionally.

That is basically what you keep doing for a while. Stirring and flipping. The apples are cooking down, so the volume in your skillet will become less. Keep stirring and flipping.

Until finally.....

When the apples have started to take on a brown/golden tint and you can smell their sweetness, check to see how soft they are. They should have softened a lot from their original crispness, and the butter they were frying in will be almost gone.

Now get out the brown sugar and cinnamon. These are totally to taste, but for a small skillet I would advise about a tablespoon and a half of brown sugar. Stir that in, then sprinkle cinnamon lightly over the apples and stir until combined.

Once that is done, the apples should be a brown color and soft. Some of them may have even turned to mush. That is totally fine.

Turn the skillet off, the apples are finished!

So I can't be certain that this is an "original" southern thing, but I do know that it is definitely something we enjoy in the south. It tends to disappear at family meals or gatherings. I have included the recipe in a document you can print off if you like.

I hope you enjoy your apples. You could put them with ice cream or whipping cream, but I like them as a side dish during a meal. They pair perfectly with pretty much anything, and make a great Thanksgiving or Christmas table addition.