The presence of pesticide residues in apple fruit raises serious health concerns. In multi-residue pesticide analysis, the quick, easy, cheap, effective, rugged, and safe (QuEChERS) extraction method has gradually replaced less efficient traditional extraction methods. This study developed a modified QuEChERS method coupled with ultra-high-pressure liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry (UHPLC-MS/MS) to simultaneously detect the residue of multiple pesticides in apple fruit. The method exhibited high linearity (R2 ≥ 0.99), and excellent recoveries (74.4–118.1 %) for 31 pesticides with relative standard deviations below 20 %. The limit of detection and limit of quantification were 0.1–4.0 μg/kg and 2.0–10.0 μg/kg, respectively. By using the established method, 20 pesticides were detected in 152 'Fuji' apple samples collected from the orchards of 17 cities in two major apple production regions of China, with an overall detection rate of 58.6 %. The residue levels were below the maximum levels set by GB 2763–2019. Moreover, both the chronic dietary intake risk (%ADI) and the acute dietary intake risk (%ARfD) for all the detected pesticides were lower than 100 %, indicating that the dietary intake risks are acceptable and would not pose potential health risks. Display omitted •31 pesticides were simultaneously determined in apples by QuEChERS-UHPLC-MS/MS.•The method has satisfying sensitivity and recovery for all studied pesticides.•58.6% of the apple samples were detected with one or several pesticide residues.•The levels of pesticide residues pose no health risk to consumers.