Upside Down Apple Pie
This upside down apple pie is incredible! Layers of tart apples are enveloped in a caramel pecan smothered pie crust and finished off with a sweet glaze. Wow!
Rethink classic apple pie with this unique and delicious upside down version.
Not only is the pie loaded with sweet-tart apples, but the delicious caramel pecan layer makes it absolutely exceptional!
How to Make an Upside Down Pie
I know. It’s kind of a weird idea. A pie turned upside down?
But it works, in part, because of that caramel pecan layer. Let’s go through the steps together:
- Line a deep pie pate with parchment paper or heavy duty foil and grease with cooking spray (don’t forget! trust me, I have forgotten the greasing step and it does not end well).
- Spread a mixture of butter, brown sugar and pecans in the bottom of the parchment or foil.
- Roll out the first pie crust and fit it snugly over the top of the caramel layer.
- Fill the pie with the apple mixture (Granny smith apples work best in this pie!).
- Top with pie crust, cut a few slits, flute the edges and bake!
Quick Note on Pie Edges
For any double crust pie, I trim the top and bottom crust to about 1/4- or 1/2-inch and fold the bottom crust over the top crust.
As the crust folds up and over, press to seal the two crusts together and then flute the edges!
Important Baking Notes
Baking Tip #1: Place the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet to bake!
That caramel layer, which we love and support with all our hearts, may have a tendency to bubble up while baking and you don’t want it ending up on the floor of the oven.
Baking Tip #2: if the edges or top of the pie are over browning, cover with foil or pie shields to continue baking. The apples should be tender before removing the pie from the oven.
The Beauty of This Pie
Don’t worry about how this pie looks when it comes out of the oven.
In fact, this is a great pie for beginners, because it doesn’t matter if the edges aren’t perfect or if the crust is a little cracked or if the caramel gets all oozy doozy.
Once the pie has rested out of the oven for a few minutes, it gets turned upside down and that top crust is never to be seen again! (But you WILL notice how delightfully non-soggy the bottom of the pie is once it is flipped since the top crust bakes up crispier than a normal bottom crust.)
Look at that glorious caramel pecan layer. Oh my. 😍
To Glaze or Not to Glaze
Once the pie has cooled a bit, the simple glaze (literally two ingredients) is drizzled over the top.
You don’t necessarily have to glaze the pie, but the little boost of sweetness is glorious with the tart apples and buttery pie crust.
As noted in the recipe, you can use milk OR orange juice for the glaze. Milk lends a creamier note to the glaze whereas the orange juice gives a bright fresh pop to the glaze.
Upside Down Apple Pie Tips
Here are a few additional tips and notes for this incredible pie:
- Like most fruit pies, this upside down apple pie slices more cleanly if it’s allowed to cool a bit.
- It can be made ahead of time and refrigerated. I suggest gently reheating (individual slices or the whole pie) for the best possible tasting experience.
- The pecans add a delightful toasty crunch, but they can be left out if desired (just spread the butter and brown sugar in the bottom of the pie plate).
- A regular 9-inch pie plate will be too small for this amount of apples. Make sure to use a deep pie plate or reduce the amount of apples in the recipe.
I love everything about this pie!
It’s so unique! And while sometimes recipes try so hard to be different that they end up just being weird, this pie succeeds in all the best ways.
It has all the flavors of amazing apple pie with extra bonus points for that caramel pecan layer and the extra delight of throwing caution to the wind and flipping a pie completely upside down.
It’s a liberating and beautiful experience.
I hope you love this one!
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Upside Down Apple Pie
Ingredients
- 2 unbaked pie crusts (see note)
Caramel Pecan Layer:
- ¼ cup (57 g) butter, melted (I use salted)
- ½ cup (106 g) lightly packed light or dark brown sugar
- ¼ to ½ cup (20-60 g) chopped pecans
Apple Filling:
- 8 cups (790 g) peeled and thinly sliced tart apples, like Granny Smith (see note)
- 1 cup (212 g) granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup (47 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons melted butter
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- Pinch salt
Glaze:
- ½ cup (57 g) powdered sugar
- 1 tablespoon milk or orange juice (see note)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 9- or 9.5-inch deep pie plate with parchment paper or heavy duty foil. Grease with cooking spray (important!).
- In a small bowl, stir together the 1/4 cup melted butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Spread evenly across the bottom of the lined pie plate. Sprinkle pecans across the top.
- Roll out one pie crust and place it on top of the caramel nut mixture, pressing snug against the bottom and sides.
- In a large bowl, combine the apples, sugar, flour, 2 tablespoons melted butter, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Toss until evenly and well combined.
- Fill the pie crust with the apple mixture.
- Roll out the second pie crust and place it over the apples. Trim both crusts to about 1/4- to 1/2-inch all the way around. Fold up the bottom crust over the top crust and press to seal. Flute the edges.
- Cut four slits on top of the pie.
- Place the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet. Bake for 50-60 minutes until the apples are tender and crust is lightly golden (cover edges of the pie near the end of baking time to prevent over browning, if needed).
- Cool the pie for 10-15 minutes before carefully inverting onto a serving platter or into another pie plate. Remove the parchment or foil.
- Whisk together the glaze ingredients and drizzle over the pie. Serve warm or at room temperature.
Notes
Recommended Products
Recipe Source: slightly adapted from this recipe
My 13 year old daughter helped me make this. It was her first pie and we took our time. It was delicious! Next time I will wait 15 minutes instead of 10 because I flipped it rather quickly after throwing caution to the wind, thinking it would all fall apart, and it ended up splatting down on the plate in a hot unattractive mound. But every other thing about it was perfect. I used a mix of Jazz, Pink Lady and Granny apples because I wanted less sugar inside, so I looked for more sweet tart apples. I decreased the sugar to 2/3 cup inside. We followed your instructions for the flaky pie crust and froze the butter and shortening ahead of time and tried to keep things chill. The crust came out very flaky and perfect, though the amount barely came together in my deep dish pie pan. No extra dough, and rolled it thin! We glazed it since we had friends over for dinner and I used 1/2 milk and 1/2 lemon juice. Thanks for another great recipe!
Forgot to leave 5 stars! will definitely make again.
Yum! I just used premade pie crusts from the store and my family ate it before I got the glaze on it but everyone loved it! It was fun to turn upside down!
Delicious!!! It is very sweet so tart apples are a must!
I served this for the first time at a group gathering last night. It was so good we cleaned the plate! It’s close enough to a traditional apple pie that you don’t miss the classic version. It’s just a fun twist. The icing makes it too! I was surprised how much I loved that part. My 5 year old son made it with me, so it isn’t too complicated. thank you Mel for another wonderful recipe!
**for those looking to make this, I did get some leaking but putting the foil lined pan underneath and also making sure I sprayed the parchment paper fully anywhere the pie crust would touch (not just on the bottom) ensured that there was no extra mess and that when I flipped the pan it came out beautifully.
I used apples from our trees so I cut the sugar down to 1/3 cup. So good! Your recipes never disappoint us. Happy 15 years! I don’t comment often but god gave you a talent to share. His love shines through you and your recipes.
Just an FYI to others…Leaking pie mixture leaked into bottom of oven… It was a smoking messy situation! I very carefully folded over the edge of pie crust and crimped and that part of the filling didn’t leak. However…It seems that the pecan, brown-sugar butter mixture on top of parchment paper at bottom of pie seeped up and over the side of pie plate and used the parchment paper as a slide and caused a steady drip over the side of the pan I put under the pie. Had to remove pie from oven to clean the mess. Made a lot of extra work:(
Mel, or anyone, do I need to refrigerate this tonight if I’m not serving it until tomorrow? Or is it fine left out at room temperature?
Thanks! And Happy Thanksgiving!
Sorry for the delay in responding! The pie is fine at room temperature or refrigerated!
I made this last night to take to a neighborhood pie party. I used my largest pie dish and it had a wide fluted edge. I baked it 5 minutes longer than called for but it baked in an oven with an additional pie and a sheet of pie crust cookies. We did have leakage on the baking sheet from the pie. The top crust looked baked. When it was ready to turn out, the edges of the pie stuck to the pie pan because of the leakage and made it hard to remove. They ripped off in some places. The bottom crust of the pie did not cook on one side. I took it anyway to the party and everyone loved it! The look did not ruin the delicious taste of the pie. If I make it again, I would bake it by itself without anything else in the oven. Also I would use a pie pan with a narrow edge instead of a wide fluted edge. I couldn’t tell from Mel’s pictures on the post the type of pan she used. The parchment paper was covering it. Thank you Mel for encouraging us to go outside the box and try new things.
Thanks for the review, Andrea! I’ll add a picture to the post in the next few days with the pie plate I used for reference.
Could this frozen unbaked, then baked when needed?
I haven’t tried that, but most pies freeze very well unbaked so it’s worth a try!
Not sure what I did wrong, but this was a disaster for me – literally a soggy mess. I baked it the full 60 minutes. The apples were tender and the top crust nicely browned. When I flipped it however, the bottom was gross and soggy. 🙁
Hey Sara, sorry this happened! The bottom will appear a bit wet when it is flipped but the caramel will thicken as it cools. Any chance that’s what it needed or was it more wet than hot caramel?
Be still my apple heart, Mel! I am not usually a pie person but this recipe has me rethinking things. Thank you for sharing such a fabulous fall recipe that my family will enjoy for years to come!
You are so welcome, Monique! Always love hearing from you!
Good grief this pie is fantastic! Unbelieveably delicious! Changes made: added zest of one lemon and 1/4tsp ginger (per another blogger, but I would dial back the lemon next time), used 2/3 Granny Smith and 1/3 honeycrisp (these get mushy when cooked, which I like with the firmness of grannies). Also, oops, one made a single crust recipe of Mel’s flaky pie crust. Had to roll it fairly large/sorta thin and fold the extra over the pie’s top like a galette. Worked marvelously.
Yay, Jennifer! So happy you loved this and thanks for including and detailing your variations and changes!
If you’re baking the night before for Thanksgiving, should you flip the pie the night before or leave it in the tin and flip after reheating on Thanksgiving? Just trying to figure out logistics.
You gotta flip after 10-15 min, while still very warm, or else the caramel will glue the pie into the pie plate.
Hey Liz, Jennifer is right – flip within the first 10 or so minutes after it comes out of the oven even if you are making it the day before.
Can’t wait to try this! We have quarts we’ve canned if homemade apple pie filling. Do you think if I used two quarts that would substitute for the filling portion of the recipe? Maybe I’d just have to eyeball it?? What do you think?
Hmmm, I’d say you might have to eyeball it since the apple pie filling is already cooked – it’s hard to know how much of it you’ll use. Good luck if you try it!
Booyah I can’t wait to make this!!
We have someone with a nut allergy. Have you tried it without nuts?
You can definitely leave out the nuts!
I’ve been making this pie for over 25 years. It is an amazing pie. Looks like it came from a bakery, delicious.
This looks amazing, and I can’t wait to try it. BTW, this line made my day: “That caramel layer, which we love and support with all our hearts…” 😀 Awesome post, on so many levels!
Haha, a line I firmly stand behind! 🙂
can you do a crumb topping then add the rest and I would omit the nuts
You could definitely play around with those elements! If you did a crumb topping, you wouldn’t want to flip it upside down.
Mel,
Thank you so sharing this recipe? Have you tried making this recipe Gluten Free and or Vegan? If any of your veiwers have had great sucess I would so appreciate any tips and comments on how to make this GF and Vegan.
Thank you again for always sharing the best recipes with all of us.
I have not, I’m sorry! I think you could definitely use a gluten free/vegan pie crust and perhaps sub the butter in the pie with a vegan butter substitute (and use almond milk or orange juice in the glaze). Good luck if you try it!
I can’t wait to try this! Sounds wonderful. Thanks for sharing!
I have made this recipe for years – it is a knockout. Always outperforms and yet is really easy to make.