How Many Apples Does It Take To Make An Apple Pie?

Akin to the age-old question of how many people it takes to change a lightbulb or how many licks it takes to get to the center of Tootsie Pop, but a little more relevant to your fall baking: Have you ever wondered just how many apples you should buy to make your apple pie? Like anything else in the world of food, some of it is going to come down to preference. Whether you want a pie that's mostly crust with a smattering of apples or a tall, mountainous pile of sugary, cinnamon-soaked fruit is going to affect your choices here. 

In general, though, for a standard 9-inch apple pie, you'll need somewhere between six and eight medium apples. However, if you really love a full filling, you'll want as many as 10. A medium apple measures about 2¾ inches across and weighs around 140 grams. This means your dessert will likely need somewhere between 840 and 1,120 grams of fruit to result in the perfect All-American apple pie.

You may be aiming for six to eight apples to make the perfect pie, but stop before you check out of the store with a full bag of Granny Smiths. Pie experts actually recommend using a variety of apples to give the classic dessert a more interesting, complex flavor. This could include Granny Smith apples, but also Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Macintosh. You essentially want a variety of sweet and tart apples, so pick two to three fruits each of a few varieties.

The way you make your filling can also make it easier to figure out the perfect number of apples. Par-cooking your pie filling allows the apples to shed some water before being placed in your pie crust, meaning that it's much easier to see how full to fill your pie crust without the guesswork you'll otherwise have to endure. Plus, this can help prevent a soggy pie. While you're reducing your apples, Paul Hollywood suggests also blind baking your crust before filling it to ensure the crispiest pie crust possible.

If you're more of an apple crisp person, that dessert will take the same number of apples. The only difference between apple crisp and apple pie is in the topping.