What are the Best Apples for Apple Pie?

In the world of baking, there are some things that are just proven fact and some that are personal preference. Choosing which apples are best in your apple pie is a little of both.

For my apple pies, I use a combination of Granny Smith apples and Honeycrisps. If I can't find Honeycrisps, I'll actually use all Granny Smith apples because they're on the tarter side and have nice snap which doesn't completely disappear while baking (there's nothing worse than a mushy apple pie). But not everyone would agree.

Last week, Melissa Clark posted a video on The New York Times detailing her favorite apples for pie. First she describes apples you can find in the supermarket: Granny Smiths are crisp and tart, Golden Delicious are crisp and very sweet and Macintosh are soft and mushy but "in a good way." Then she moves on to farmers market varieties like Jonagolds. In conclusion, Clark says to just mix them up. Buy as many different kinds and varieties as you can, slice them all up, and you'll have the best of all worlds.

What's your apple philosophy when it comes to pie?

(Image: Megan Gordon)

Comments (18)

my mamma will only use granny smiths. and she's got the best apple pie on the block.

I just called my mom about this yesterday. She's in the Pac-NW with access to amazing apples, but her faves for pie are Rome and Jonagolds. And her apple pie is my most favorite in the whole wide world.

I love using Braeburns. They are a cross of granny smith and something else (can't remember). They are a great mixture of sweet and tart.

It's funny, I've had more pro pie bakers recently tell me to NEVER use granny smith (even though that's what everyone always assumes to use) because while tart and crisp, they have almost zero flavor compared to other varieties. I was also told avoid Gala apples (another common kind for baking)

I prefer honeycrisp in pie. When I was in Michigan and could fresh pick apples, Jonagolds were great too. But, I prefer my filling almost mushy, so I go out of my way to get rid of any crispness to the apples.

I usually use a mix of whatever I have on hand from apple picking, typically cortlandt, macintosh, rome, and/or northern spy, since those are the the varieties that are common here in New England.

My go to mix is half Golden Delicious and half Granny Smith, but I just baked one last week with some random farmers market apples given to me by a friend, still came out great.

I make it a point to slice my apples pretty thick, so I never have the mushy problem.

My grandmother swears by only using spy apples for her pies. If they're gone for the season, she simply denies all relatives' requests for apple pies.

I used a mix of golden delicious and gala apples last week since I had some on hand. I had honey crisp apples too, but I like eating them as is too much to use them for pie. Pie turned out great.

I love Honeycrisp and Pink Ladies too.
I grew up with Jonathan apples and those were the only ones my grandmother would use but they are hard to find in my area. I miss them terribly :(

I always use Golden Delicious, but one day when I have access to farmer's market apples, I'll start experimenting with other varieties.

I agree with jj - Braeburns are my favorite, for both eating and baking.

I hate apple pie made with granny smiths. I used to work at a pastry shop where they used those and the pie was nice, but tasted acidic and one-note to me. I use any apple I have on hand to make pie or crisp, but in our house that almost always means heirloom apples. I adore Opalescent apples (they are giant, with firm flesh but not too juicy and tons of flavor) but also like Rome and Ida Red for baking. Northern Spy and Empire have good flavor, but are not as sweet. Jonagold apples (cross between Jonathan and Golden Delicious) are also excellent for eating and baking as they are very sweet and need little sugar added to them.

Granny Smith, or anything similar. I don't like applesauce pies, and I don't like anything too sweet. Get to know what is local and you can always mix apples.

Gravensteins all the way! For the short window we have 'em, at least.

I entered an apple pie contest this fall, and the top three winners used all or a combination of Northern Spy apples, which I guess are a very old (and sometimes hard to find) variety. I will definitely seek them out next time I make a pie.

The last time I made apple pie, I just asked the guy at the farmer's market apple stall what his preferred apple was and came away with a mixture that turned out really well. His strategy was to use a combination of varieties that would hold their texture more and give the pie a little more oomph inside, and ones that would cook down to soft sweet nothings, and I wound up with (I think?) a couple of Northern Spies, some Galas, and an Arkansas Black for texture. The pie came out great, so while I still don't consider myself an expert on pie apples, the "ask an expert" strategy seems to work perfectly for me (since I prefer pear pie, anyway).

The apple man at the Mission Community Market swears by a combination of sweet and tart and different textures, saying that his combo apple pie always wins ribbons at the county and state fairs.

I'm inclined to agree after having made many hundreds of apple pies in professional kitchens.