Use This Underrated Spice Blend For More Flavorful Homemade Apple Pie

While undoubtedly sweet, apple pie has a little spice too. It's usually associated with notes of cinnamon, but you'll also find the inclusion of nutmeg, allspice, and cloves in recipes. So, it's not really any surprise that another spice blend in your kitchen cabinet could give your apple pie a massive boost — Chinese five spice. And while this is one of the more unexpected uses for Chinese five spice, the flavors actually fit really well. 

Chinese five spice is typically reserved for meat and savory dishes like beef and broccoli, but the blend actually contains many flavors that would fit right into a homemade apple lie. It usually contains apple pie's signature spice — cinnamon — as well as star anise, fennel, cloves, and Sichuan peppercorns. This, when combined with the fruit and sugar, will create a warm and sweet flavor profile that also has a hint of heat. 

The trick is to use it sparingly, however; just one or one and a half teaspoons to your apple pie filling should be enough to enhance the flavor without taking over the whole thing. More tart tasting apples such as Granny Smith or Pink Lady will hold up their flavor against the blend's bold taste, giving the final dessert a little more interest without changing what makes an apple pie so great in the first place.

While Chinese five spice mostly works because it's a natural extension of flavors already present in traditional baking spices, it also plays nicely with other baking staples. Some vanilla extract would complement the sweet and aromatic notes of the Chinese five spice, while lemon juice would add the acidity you need to keep the filling from tasting too heavy and flat. 

It's an easy addition as well — you won't need to tweak much else of your favorite apple pie recipe if incorporating Chinese five spice. The blend can slip in instead of cinnamon or other individual spices, and there is no need to increase the sugar or liquid in the filling to accommodate it — the apples will still cook as expected. These more thoughtful spice layering choices are actually one of the reasons apple pie from a bakery usually tastes better, as they can give the dessert a deeper flavor without much effort on your part. This one is an easy upgrade that keeps the focus on apples, but makes the whole pie warmer, spicer, and, dare we say, much better.