Crockpot Peach Butter with Honey

This Crockpot Peach Butter with Honey recipe is a wonderful way to preserve a big batch of seasonal peaches. This particular peach butter recipe combines the sweetness of honey with the sweet/tart taste of peaches and some a hint of spice from the cinnamon, allspice, and nutmeg. It’s delicious!

I used the crockpot to make my peach butter so that I could do other gardening chores outside while this simmered indoors without my attention. I also used honey as the sweetener in this peach butter recipe so that I could avoid using sugar.

What is Peach Butter? When I was buying cans for this recipe, the cashier had no idea what peach butter was, so I thought I would quickly add this info. It’s kinda like applesauce. You can add it to plain yogurt for breakfast, smear it on toast or scones, put it on ice cream, or just eat it by the spoonful, which is how I usually eat it (I love it on scones, too).

Canning + Peaches = Kitchen Heaven

I absolutely LOVE canning things. I don’t do it more than a few times a year, but when I do, I am in my element and I often dance and sing around the kitchen with joy.

I am fortunate to live in South Carolina, where peaches in season are the most heavenly juiciest taste on earth. I loved peaches when I lived in Michigan and Wisconsin, but OH MY, I was in for a treat when I got to start enjoying seasonal peaches down south.

If you don’t live in southern U.S., I recommend adding “eat seasonal peaches in South Carolina and/or Georgia” to your bucket list. That means coming down in late July thru mid-August-ish. It’s worth it, trust me!

I thought I missed out on peak peach season here this year when I went on a long vacation, but I was delightfully surprised when my cousin knew of a source that still had ‘peach seconds’ available. Yay!

Crockpot Peach Butter with Honey Recipe: Ingredients

By the time I got these ‘peach seconds’ they were in desperate need to be used ASAP. So I didn’t have the time to slowly pour over pages and pages of recipes to figure out what to make, like I usually do when I bake/cook new things. That’s okay though, because I’ve been craving peach butter BIG TIME for the last few months.

I scanned internet-land for some peach butter recipes, and it immediately clear to me that:

1. I wanted to use honey instead of cups and cups of sugar (no thanks).
2. I wanted to use my crockpot instead of babysitting a pot on the stove.
3. I wanted to showcase the new spices I just bought from a farm while I was in Costa Rica. 

When I was in Costa Rica, I went to a spice farm and bought some super fresh and very aromatic cinnamon, allspice, and vanilla. I was excited to add those new spices to this delicious peach butter recipe and I also added some freshly grated nutmeg. 

I used my spice grinder to grind the spices together, which made them even more fresh and delightful. The spices are all optional, feel free to add all/none/some of the spices mentioned below. It’s up to your taste buds!

Make sure you check out the notes below the directions to learn more specifics of my crockpot peach butter with honey recipe!

Crockpot Peach Butter with Honey Recipe

Ingredients:

• 18-20 Peaches (see notes below for extra tips)
• 2 tbsp. Lemon Juice
• Cinnamon (optional)
• Allspice (optional)
• Nutmeg (optional)
• 1-2 tsp. Pure Vanilla Extract (homemade vanilla extract is best!)
• Honey, to taste

Directions:

1. Clean your peaches and cut into slices (discard the pit and any bad spots). I kept the skins on for extra fiber and/or other possible health benefits but mainly because I’m lazy.
2. Use a food processor to blend the peach slices. It depends on your preference for chunky vs. smooth, but you do NOT want to liquify the peaches, just make a puree, so a few pulses should be all you need to do.
3. Grind some spices (see notes below). Start with just a bit of spices and you can always add more later in the cooking process when you are taste testing.
4. Put your peach puree in a slow cooker (this is my favorite one) with the spices, vanilla extract, and lemon juice for 4-6 hours on the low setting. Leave the crockpot lid open a crack to release the steam.
5. Around the 5-6 hour mark, stir your peach butter well and taste some (carefully, it’s hot!).  Add honey. How much honey you add depends on the sweetness of your particular batch of peaches and your taste preferences. I ended up adding about 1/2 cup of honey. And a bit more cinnamon. 
6. Continue cooking on low until your peach butter is thickened to your liking. I ended up having it on low for a total of 8 hours. After the 5th hour and onward, I stirred it occasionally and I also wiped excess steam off of the top. I also tasted and adjusted the spices a bit from time to time (confession: this was also a lame excuse to eat peach butter).
7. Once it is thickened to your liking, pour into jars of your choice. Either eat it within a week, or use the traditional water-canning method.
8. I sterilized pint jars and water-canned the peach butter for 15 minutes. If you use half-pint jars, you can water-can for 10 minutes. I filled 4 pint jars.

Notes:

**My peaches were HUGE but they were also seconds, so there were lots of bad spots on them. I ended up using 20 peaches in this recipe, but you might end up needing more or less than that. I simply poured the puree of 4-5 peaches at a time in the crockpot and stoppped when it was the perfect amount that my crockpot could hold.

**Peach skins: I left mine on because I’m lazy and I like textured peach butter. If you are concerned you won’t like peach butter with the skins, simply peel the skins off before adding the peach slices to the food processor. 

**The lemon juice is necessary if you are water-canning (the acidity helps preserve it). It also keeps the color bright and orange instead of brown.

**I did not measure my spices. Seriously, everyone loves a different amount of spice to their food. Some people like extra cinnamon in their peach butter. Some perfer it to stay very peachy. Just start with a little bit of the spices and occassionally taste and adjust. You can always add more spices but you can’t take them out!

**Water canning is super easy. It helps to get a water canning kit, which comes with everything you need besides the jars.

**I canned my crockpot peach butter with honey recipe in pint jars because I mainly eat mine like applesauce. If you prefer to use yours more like peach preserves on toast or yogurt, you might want to use half-pint jars instead.

What is your favorite way to preserve seasonal peaches? Tell me about your favorite recipes in the comments below!

I hope you love my crockpot peach butter with honey recipe as much as I do! Enjoy!

More Preserving Food Recipes:

• 4 Ways to Preserve Green Beans
• Honey-Sweetened Strawberry Chia Seed Jam Recipe
• Homemade Herbs de Provence Salt Recipe
• Sleepytime Brandied Berries and Cherries Recipe
• Homemade Quick Pickled Jalapenos Recipe