Here Are the Best Apples for Baking - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What apples are the best for baking? ›

For the best pies, crisps, and other baked treats, apples need to be firm enough to hold their own during the cooking process. We call these apples “baking apples” and to namedrop, they include Braeburn, Cortland, Honey Gold, Jonathan, Fuji, Gala, Granny Smith, Haralson, and Newtown Pippin.

Honeycrisp. One of the sweetest apples around, this Midwestern favorite is good for anything—including baking. It boasts a distinctive juicy crispness and is firm enough that it won't cook down much. It complements just about any other apple variety to make a stellar pie.

Apples: Granny Smith, Gala apples, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, or any tart apple work great for baking.

Gala: If you want extra sweetness without the soft texture, choose Gala apples for your pie. As with Golden Delicious apples, bakers sometimes reduce the sugar in their recipes due to this variety's extra-sweet flavor.

Honeycrisp: You might be able to tell by its name, but Honeycrisp apples are where it's at when it comes to loads of juiciness and honey-like sweetness! One unique feature of this sweet apple is its cells fracture perfectly when you take a bite out of it, resulting in the perfect crunch.

Pink Lady Apples

Pink Ladies are great for both pie and crisp because they have a super flavorful juice that concentrates beautifully during the cooking process.

The Winesap fruit is small to medium with a deep, cherry red skin and a crisp, yellow flesh. It has moderate disease resistance including to mildew and blooms a few days later than other late varieties. It is all-purpose, being used for fresh eating, cider, apple butter, and pies.

While there is an extremely wide variety of apples, all with varying flavors, the sweetest-tasting apple is fuji, followed by gala, honeycrisp, and Red Delicious apples.

What kind of apples does mcdonalds use for their pies? ›

So you can put away your Granny Smiths and Red Delicious if you think you can just whip up McDonald's signature dessert at home. Instead, Mickey D's makes their pies with six different types of apples — Jonagold, Fuji, Golden Delicious, Gala, Rome, and Ida Red, all of which are homegrown in the U.S.

But the one surefire way to make certain your pie's crust will be golden brown, crisp, and delicious — just as appealing as its filling — is to prebake it. That's right: bake the bottom crust first, before adding the filling.

The best apples for apple pie that are widely available include Braeburn, Golden Delicious, Granny Smith and Honeycrisp apples. Others to look for at your local market that will be excellent in apple pie are Cortland, Crispin, Ida Reds, Jonagold, McIntosh, Northern Spy, Pink Lady, Rome and Winesap.

Cortland. Cortland apples are similar to McIntosh in shape (round and squat) and taste (creamy and tart). But because they're not quite as soft as McIntoshes, you can bake or cook with them or eat them raw.

Red Delicious and Gala are two apples that won't withstand cooking temperatures and should not be used for apple pie. Many new apple varieties, including Honeycrisp, have a flesh that fractures when you bite it. This is so appealing for snacking on an apple, but not the best feature for a good apple pie apple.

Fuji. Due to their low acidity, these ultra-sweet, crispy and juicy apples are a go-to choice for snacking and baking, as well as homemade baby food or apple butters.

Storage quality also varies by cultivar. The best apples to store long-term have thick skin and tend to be crisp and tart. Apple varieties such as Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, McIntosh, Winesap, Honeycrisp, Northern Spy, and Rome are known to store very well given the proper conditions.

Green apples, like Granny Smith apples, have a much denser texture. That makes them better able to withstand high heat. So green apples are preferred when apples are used for baking.

What apples are best for baking or canning? ›

The best varieties for canning apples are crisp, not mealy, types. Some of the best apples for canning include Fuji, Braeburn, Jonagold, Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Pink Lady, Jazz, Honeycrisp, and Cortland.

1. Granny Smith. The Granny Smith apple is my go-to apple for any baked or cooked recipe. The tart apple helps to keep the end product from being overly sweet, and it keeps its shape beautifully when baked.