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This sweet vanilla honey peach butter recipe is the perfect way to use up all those summer peaches. Don’t worry if you have never canned before. It’s super simple and you’ll be rewarded with the most delicious peach butter!
Are you looking for the most delicious way to preserve the taste of summer peaches?
Well, look no further. I have you covered with this super delicious vanilla honey peach butter.
No need to waste your hard-earned cash on store-bought fruit butter. It’s so simple to make your own!
All you need are some delicious fresh peaches, granulated sugar, honey, and vanilla beans. Or, if you can’t get your hands on fresh vanilla beans you can easily substitute some vanilla bean paste.
If you know me you know I have vanilla bean paste on hand at all times. It’s seriously my favorite!
You’ll also need some canning equipment but don’t worry if this is your first time canning. I’ll walk you through all the steps! It’s not as complicated as it might sound. Trust me!
What is Fruit Butter?
If you have never heard of fruit butter you’re not alone.
Simply put, fruit butter is just cooked down fruit that is then pureed and cooked down even further until smooth and spreadable. It’s not jammy in consistency and uses no pectin to thicken the mixture.
Instead, fruit butter is super spreadable and smooth.
It’s not the most popular way to preserve fresh fruits but I think it’s undervalued. It’s one of my favorite peach canning recipes!
The most common fruit butter is apple but you can do it with just about any fresh fruit you can find. I have made two different versions with plums but this vanilla honey peach butter version is such a taste of summer!
Check out my plum versions – vanilla bean plum butter or spiced plum butter.
What Do I Need to Water Bath Can?
I know canning seems complicated and maybe a little intimidating but I swear it’s simple.
There are some things you’ll need before you start.
- Canning kit – this kit will typically include all the small little things you’ll need to hot water bath can. Although I use all of the things in this kit the most used pieces in this kit are the jar grabber, magnetic lid lifter, and funnel.
- Canning stockpot – you need a big pot to boil water and then boil the jars. This post needs to be deep enough to fully submerge the jars.
- Canning jars – you can reuse canning jars and rings (the part that gets screwed around the jar) but you will always need to use new lids. This set of canning jars comes with a jar, ring, and lid. If you have some mason jars sitting around at home you can always just buy a box of lids with a new seal.
The biggest part of canning is keeping things sterile and clean. So make sure to have your area all set up before you start. Clean, set up your stations, get your water boiling, have your jars cleaned, etc. well before you start the process.
Peach Recipes For Canning
There are many canning recipes for peaches, and making peach butter is an easy process that only takes one pot and a food processor or blender.
You do not even need to peel your peaches to make this butter. Simply add your sliced peaches to a large pot with a little bit of water and let simmer until the fruit is soft and starts falling apart.
Puree the peaches until the mixture is smooth. I really like to use my Vitamix for this process as it creates a super smooth puree.
Add the puree back to the pot, add in the sugar, honey, and vanilla beans and simmer for about an hour or until the butter is thick and spreadable. The finished product almost reminds me of slightly thick applesauce. The peach butter should be spreadable but not runny.
Now it’s time to start the peach butter canning process.
In your canning pot, fill with water and bring to a boil. This may take some time as canning pots tend to be very large.
Wash the lids and rings in warm soapy water, rinse and set aside until ready to use.
When the water in the large canning pot is boiling add it to the canning jars. Be very careful and make sure to use your jar grabber tongs to lower them into the water. The reason you’re doing this step is to help sterilize the jars.
I like to keep my jars in the water for at least 10 minutes. When you’re ready to start the canning process you’ll do the following:
- Using your jar grabber tongs, get a jar out of the water, dump out the water, and set it onto a dishtowel.
- Ladle hot peach butter into the clean jar making sure to leave 1/4 inch headspace from the top of the jar. I like to use my wide-mouth funnel for this step.
- Carefully wipe the edges of the jar if any of the peach butter got on the outside of the jar.
- Use your magnetic lid lifter to grab a lid and ring. Carefully place the lid onto the jar and screw on the ring.
- Continue these steps until all the jars have been filled.
- Using your jar grabber tongs add the jars to the large pot. The water may stop boiling when you add the jars.
- Keep an eye on the water and as soon as it starts to boil, set a timer for 5 minutes.
- Process for 5 minutes, remove the jars from the boiling water and set them on wire racks to cool. (If you live at a higher elevation you may need to add more processing time. Please check the USDA website for advice.)
- After 24 hours check the jars to make sure they have sealed. You’ll know the jars are sealed because the lid will no longer pop at the top.
- If a jar does not seal (which can happen) you can easily place it in the refrigerator and use it up within a month.
- The sealed jars should be used within a year.
Have more canning questions? I absolutely LOVE the website Food in Jars. She gives some great canning advice!
What if I Don’t Want to Hot Water Bath Can?
I get that canning is not something everyone wants to do. That’s ok. It’s a lot of equipment and time.
But, you’re in luck because you can still make this tasty fruit butter.
You’ll make it with the same recipe, but simply store all the finished peach in the refrigerator and use it within a month.
I have done this before and typically find that making a half batch of this recipe is a better option.
How Do I Store Vanilla Honey Peach Butter?
If you have hot water processed your jars, you’ll want to make sure you store them in a cool dark place for up to a year.
NEVER ever ever ever eat anything canned that has lost its seal during storage. That means if you open the jar and you don’t hear a pop just assume the jar could have gotten tainted and throw it away.
If you just made a small batch of peach butter without the intent to can you can keep it stored in an air-tight container in the refrigerator for up to a month.
How Do I Use Vanilla Honey Peach Butter?
While I’m happy to simply eat this delicious fruit butter with a spoon, that is not the only way this can be enjoyed.
- Slather it on toast, biscuits, scones, bagels, or English muffins.
- Spoon it over vanilla bean ice cream.
- Swirl it into Greek yogurt.
- Use it as a dip for donuts or breakfast pastries.
See? There are so many tasty ways to use this sweet vanilla honey peach butter!
Do you love this vanilla honey peach butter? Try some of my other preserve recipes!
- Craving homemade strawberry jam? Try my Vanilla Bean Strawberry Jam.
- Love making fruit butter? Try my Vanilla Bean Plum Butter.
- Want sweet and tart? Try my Pickled Cherries.
- Need a flavor-packed red sauce recipe? Try my Roasted Garlic Tomato Sauce.
Vanilla Honey Peach Butter
Ingredients
- 9 cups sliced peaches, seeded but not peeled
- 1/4 cup water
- 2-1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 2 vanilla beans, scrape the seed out
Instructions
- In a larger pot combine peaches and the water.
- Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Cover and simmer for 10 – 15 minutes or until peaches are tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- Use a blender or food processor to puree the peach mixture, in batches, until smooth.
- Return peach puree to the same pot.
- Add sugar, honey, vanilla bean seeds, and an empty vanilla pod. Bring to boil, stirring until sugar dissolves.
- Reduce heat and simmer uncovered for about 60 minutes or until the mixture is thick and mounds on a spoon, stirring often.
- Take out vanilla pods.
- Ladle hot peach butter into hot, sterilized half-pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace.
- Wipe jar rims, and adjust lids.
- Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes. Make sure to start timing when water returns to boiling.
- Remove jars from the canner, and cool on wire racks.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Vanilla Honey Peach Butter
Ingredients
- 18 ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and cut
- 1/4 cup water
- 2-1/4 cup sugar
- 3/4 cup honey
- 2 vanilla beans, scrape the seed out
Instructions
- In and 8 - 10 quart heavy pot (I used my Le Creuset) combine peaches and the water. Bring to a boil and reduce heat. Simmer cover, for 10 - 15 minutes or until peaches are tender. Remove from heat and cool slightly.
- Use a blender or food processor to puree peach mixture, in batches, until smooth. Return peach puree to same pot. Add sugar, honey and vanilla bean seeds and empty vanilla pod. Bring to boiling, stirring until sugar dissolve - reduce heat. Simmer, uncovered, for about 10 minutes or until mixture is thick and mounds on a spoon, stirring often.
- Take out vanilla pods and ladle hot peach butter into hot, sterilized half pint canning jars, leaving a 1/4 inch headspace. Wipe jar rims, adjust lids.
- Process filled jars in a boiling water canner for 5 minutes (start timing when water returns to boiling). Remove jars from canner, cool on wire racks. (Makes 4 - 6 8oz. jelly jars of peach butter)
- **When I made this recipe I got 6 half pints of fruit butter. However, there have been some people who have told me they have gotten a lot more out of this recipe - approximately 12-14 half pints. I'm assuming this has to do with the size of the peaches. Just assume if you have large peaches you will get a lot more fruit butter...not that that's a bad thing 🙂
made the peach butter yesterday and it turned out amazing!! love it. I did sub statue a little brown sugar. I have my own peach trees and will make this every year!! thinking about trying maple and cinnamon in place of the vanilla, any other suggestions? I have lots more peaches to play with
Can you use just honey instead of honey and sugar? If so, how much honey would the recipe call for? We are trying to eliminate refined sugar from our diet and this recipe looks so yummy that I’m hoping it can be made with more honey and no sugar. Thanks!
Hi Tracy, If you’re going to can this you cannot change the recipe by taking out all the sugar. You have to be careful when canning because everything is a perfect ratio so it will stay fresh and can safely. If you wanted to make a small batch just for your fridge (meaning you can skip the canning stage and just keep it in the fridge for a month or so) you could try honey only and see how it would taste. I still think the sugar would be necessary but that would depend on how sweet you like things 🙂
Thanks! Finally made this today, and it came out great! 18 fairly medium size peaches gave me 8 – 8oz jars
love this recipe – I have made about 4 batches now. I have added either a very very small smidgen of all spice, or pumpkin pie spice OR both to the last 3 batches. WOW!! (thanks for sharing with us)
Hi Marjorie! Thank you for coming back and letting me know you loved the recipe! I LOVE the idea of adding pumpkin pie spice!
Do you think this would work in a crockpot? I have made regular (plain and boring!) peach butter in the Crockpot…wondering if this recipe would work!
Hi Cheyenne! I think it would work but I cannot confirm this since I have not done it before. BUT I don’t see a reason why it wouldn’t work 🙂 You would still want to process it in the hot water canning bath if you plan on canning it though.
i don’t do much canning so this could be a silly question. Do you need to use any pectrin or sure-gel?
Hi Kim! Not a silly question at all! In a lot of jam/jelly recipes it’s common to use pectin but not in this recipe. It thickens up nicely on it’s own. Plus, since it’s a fruit butter it’s more a thick slathering consistency than jelly consistency.
We just made this over the weekend and it is wonderful. My question is how should this be stored? Of course we opened a jar and refrigerated it after opening but how do we store the other jars?
Hi Sarah! If you hot water canned (fully processing) the peach butter you store the canned peach butter on a shelf. It can safely be stored room temperature. No need to refrigerate or freeze. If you just made the peach butter but skipped the hot water canning portion simply store in the fridge for a few months until used up. If you store it on the shelf make sure to add a date to the label so you know when you made it 🙂
This looks delicious. I’m so excited to make this this weekend. I’ve got oodles of peaches just crying out for me. Question – have you ever made the butter one day and canned it the next day? I have a young toddler so sometimes I have to do these kinds of projects in smaller batches. I was thinking I could get the peaches peeled and the butter made in one nap time but I don’t know about getting the canning done too. I thought I’d make the butter one day and then fill and process the jars the next. Would that work?
Hi Kasey! I replied via private email but just incase you didn’t get (and if others have the same question) I’m going to post the same response here.
I chatted with my friend about your question since I have always done this in one day. Here is her response:
I actually do that all the time! As long as you get the peach butter hot (up to a low boil temp) before you fill the jars, it should be fine. The steps I wouldn’t split up is the peeling and cooking – if the peaches are peeled too early, they will brown.
Hope this helps and hope you enjoy the peach butter!
Hi –
I just came across your recipe. It sounds delicious! Can’t wait to try it. Can you tell me the shelf life of the peach butter once it is canned. Thank you.
Hi Melissa! If processed correctly (and the seals stay sealed) you should be able to safely keep your peach butter on the shelf for up to 2 years. Although it probably won’t last that long because it’s so delicious you will be eating it all the time…haha 🙂
Just a note. Tried this in the crockpot yesterday. Ended up finishing on the stove after 12 hours. I had very juicy peaches. Maybe if you vented the crockpot?
Hi Kim! Thank you for letting me know! I get a lot of questions about doing this in the slow cooker and I agree that venting might help a lot. It’s hard when making fruit butters since the cook time depends so much on the juiciness of the peaches. I hope you loved the butter! 🙂