There is perhaps no ingredient more representative of autumn than a crisp, sweet-tart apple. Ranging in flavor from tooth-achingly sweet to bright and acidic, they're an extraordinarily versatile ingredient to use in dishes both sweet and savory. From stuffed turkey and pork to salads to apple pie, we've rounded up our favorite apple recipes.
Apples are a great way to add sweetness and crunch to salads. Try tossing cold red apple wedges and cider vinaigrette with hot, lightly grilled escarole for a simple but unusual salad. Apple matchsticks are added to our kohlrabi and watercress salad with sumac-yogurt dressing and our Waldorf-style Brussels sprout salad with crispy guanciale.
We love pairing apples with pork. Apples combine with dried apricots, prunes, and bourbons to make a decadent stuffing for pork loin. In Poland you'll find bigos, a hearty stew of pork shoulder, bacon, kielbasa, sauerkraut, and apples.
Of course, one of the most classic things to do with apples is make pie. To take a traditional apple pie to the next level, we add caramel to the filling and top it with sea salt to bring out the sweetness. For a more elegant apple pie, try filling a sweet tart dough with homemade apple butter and almond cream. The result is a delicate, creamy, intensely spiced tart.
Find all these dishes and more in our collection of sweet and savory apple recipes.
Avocado and Apple "Tartare" with Fried Walnut Dumplings and Chive Cream
Tart apple and cold avocado balance hot, crisp walnut dumplings and creamy chive sauce in this refreshing vegan dish from chef Josita Hartanto of Berlin’s Lucky Leek. You can make the walnut dumplings a day ahead, but make sure to prepare the tartare within two hours of serving, so the apples and avocados don’t brown. Get the recipe for Avocado and Apple “Tartare” with Fried Walnut Dumplings and Chive Cream »
Apple Crumble with Hot Custard
We enjoyed this warm and comforting dessert while visiting a sheep farm in new Zealand. Get the recipe for Apple Crumble with Hot Custard »
Phillippine Fruit Salad
“When I introduce this dish to my friends for the first time, they are confused and a little hesitant to eat it. Once they try it, though, they fall in love.” – Leah Cohen of Pig & Khao. Get the recipe for Phillippine Fruit Salad »
Flaky Apple Tart
Crisp, paper-thin sheets of phyllo dough wrap and crown tender, brandied apples in this classic French tart.
Mulled Apple Cider Concentrate
Cider concentrate is great drizzled over pancakes, added to homemade vinaigrettes or used as a ham glaze. For a quick, warming drink, spoon three tablespoons into a large mug and fill with just-boiled water.
Polish Pork and Sauerkraut Stew (Bigos)
My mom, like many women in Poland, made bigos—a stew of pork shoulder, bacon, kielbasa, and sauerkraut—for every celebration. I came to the States when I was 20. During the day I cleaned people’s houses; at night, I went to school. I never had time to cook, much less make bigos. Though it’s easy to prepare, it takes hours for the flavors to develop. Nowadays I’m still too busy to make it, but Kazia, my sister, makes massive quantities, then freezes it. When people come to visit her, she heats it up and tells them, “Look, I made bigos just for you!” —Halina Pinas
Smoked Gouda and Apple Butter Sandwich
It’s autumn on a slice of bread: sourdough spread with rich apple butter, topped with slices of mild smoked gouda and a sprinkle of flaky sea salt. Get the recipe for Smoked Gouda and Apple Butter Sandwich »
Macerated Fruit Conserve (Rumtopf)
This sweet-tart conserve is a luscious accompaniment to ice cream. It also adds a fruity dimension when stirred into champagne.
Pork with Apples and Cider Cream Sauce (Székelyalmás)
Tender slices of pork loin in a sumptuous cream sauce get tartness from apple cider and apple wedges and a pleasant twinge of heat from red Holland chiles.
Apple Pandowdy
While we highly recommend trying one out for yourself in the historic confines of Boston’s Durgin-Park restaurant, where squares of buttery crust are pressed into a simmering apple filling part-way through cooking to soak up the spiced sauce, you can make our interpretation of this New England classic right at home.
Crispy Sprouts
At the Brooklyn, New York restaurant Emily, Brussels sprouts are fried whole until crispy and then tossed in an umami-rich dressing of fish sauce and lemon juice spiked with chile oil. A shower of salty Pecorino cheese, sweet-tart Granny Smith apple, nutty sesame seeds and fresh minced chives tops off the addictive appetizer.
Herbes de Provence Grilled Turkey
Massachusetts-based home cook Eric Silvers, a senior astrophysicist at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics, employs an innovative method for cooking his family’s Thanksgiving turkey each year: The bird is set atop a rack inside a disposable aluminum pan, which is nestled directly into the coals of a grill, and charred at a very high temperature. The result is a crisp-skinned, juicy, smoke-kissed turkey that’s finished in just a fraction of the time it would take to roast it.
Braised Red Cabbage
Adding a grated russet potato to this braise helps to temper the sour sweetness of the cabbage. Get the recipe for Braised Red Cabbage »
Bouchon Apple Butter
This apple butter contains nothing more than slow-roasted apples and a splash of cider.
Bouchon's Apple Pie
Classic apple pie gets an upgrade at Las Vegas’ Bouchon Bakery, where pastry chef Scott Wheatfill tops a flaky sweet crust with housemade apple butter and almond cream. The result is a delicate, refined tart with a creamy interior and a concentrated spicy flavor. Get the recipe for Bouchon’s Apple Pie »
Roast Pork with Sinner Stuffing
A generous pour of bourbon is the secret to this juicy pork loin’s sweet fruit stuffing. Get the recipe for Roast Pork with Sinner Stuffing »
Apple, Sage, and Sausage Stuffing
A combination of apples and sausage lends a nice sweet-savory balance to a simple stuffing enhanced with sage.
Shredded Apple, Beet, and Carrot Salad
This stunning red salad gets its color from raw shredded beets, which mix with crunchy carrots and sweet-tart apples to make a crisp accompaniment for pork chops.
Kohlrabi and Watercress Salad
For a twist on the classic Waldorf salad, try tossing sweet apples with crisp watercress and nutty kohlrabi in a sumac-infused yogurt dressing.
Sauéed Sea Scallops with Caramelized Apples and Chicken Livers
This elegant dish marries the light sweetness of scallops with the deep, rich flavors of earthy chicken liver and caramelized apples.
Caramel-Apple Pie
A cinnamon-spiced sauce of butter and melted caramel candies poured over apples makes a wonderfully sweet, gooey filling.
Holiday Applesauce
A mix of baking apples, such as Cortland and Macintosh, and eating apples like Honeycrisp and Golden Delicious, provides a texture of plump, soft apple chunks suspended in a rich, satiny sauce. Try a mix of varieties such as Fuji, Gala, Jonagold, Braeburn or whatever you find.
Apple-Rosemary Lattice Pie
A rosemary-laced cornmeal crust gives this lattice-topped apple pie a fragrant, savory kick.
Apple and Stilton Welsh Rarebit Bites
Piquant Stilton replaces the more traditional cheddar in this bite-sized twist on the classic British dish. Get the recipe for Apple and Stilton Welsh Rarebit Bites »
Apple Brandy and Cinnamon Syrup
Reducing this brandy-rich syrup over low heat helps keep it unclouded—drizzle it over pancakes or waffles for an autumnal breakfast treat.
Layered Herring Salad (Selyodka Pod Shuboy)
Salt-cured herring becomes a lavish centerpiece when layered with apples and a sour cream mayonnaise dressing in this beautiful composed salad.
Sant'Antonio Apple Tart (Torta di Sant'Antonio)
Cooks in the Alpine village of Oulx in Italy flavor this tart with red wine and cinnamon to honor the town’s patron saint, Sant’Antonio.
Waldorf-Style Brussels Sprout Salad with Guanciale
Raw Brussels sprouts put a unique spin on the classic Waldorf salad.
Crisp Apple-Roasted Turkey with Cider-Calvados Gravy
The turkey in this recipe, from Lynne Rossetto Kasper, is deeply infused with the aroma of apples. “I’m a great believer in repeating seasoning themes at different stages of cooking to build depth,” she says, “which is why I use several expressions of apple—the fruit itself, cider, and apple brandy—in this recipe.”
Keep Reading
