This easy apple crisp is made the old fashioned way like Grandma used to make, and is perfect with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce!
A true classic Fall dessert, this easy apple crisp recipe is reminiscent of generations past. Pop this apple crisp in the oven and wait for the delicious smell to waft through your house!
Do you have a classic Fall dessert that you just LOVE? I have several, but one of them is definitely this apple crisp recipe! Growing up, my Mom had two classic desserts that she made… one was her famous Carrot Cake, and the other was a mouthwatering apple crisp.
This isn’t her exact recipe, but it’s one that I’ve tweaked and been working on for a while, and I’ve finally gotten it just right! While I do love pumpkin, apple is actually my favorite Fall flavor. Mostly because of this crisp lol.
Some apple crisp recipes don’t use oats, which is totally fine if that’s your thing, but I LOVE the crispy oat topping, so I made sure to add a good amount of it.
What apples do I use for this easy apple crisp
Simply put, you can use any apples that you like! My personal favorite for this recipe is the golden delicious variety, but Granny Smith or Fuji are some other great varieties.
To peel, or not to peel
It’s 100% up to you! I’ve made this recipe both ways, and I like them both equally. Generally, when I make this easy apple crisp, I’m making it for my family, and my kids wouldn’t eat it with the skins on, so I peel them more often than not. I’m sure this goes without saying, but if you choose to leave the skins on, be sure to wash the apples thoroughly 🙂
That right there is my FAVORITE way to enjoy hot apple crisp… with a cold scoop of vanilla bean ice cream, and drizzled with my luscious browned butter salted caramel sauce! If you’ve never tried it that way… you totally need to!
Looking for other recipes that use that caramel sauce?
- Caramel Apple Pie Bars
- Bourbon Vanilla Ice Cream
- Vanilla Chai Cheesecake Bars
- Butterfinger Toffee Cookies
I invite you all to join me in making my favorite Fall dessert… this easy apple crisp. Once you have it in the oven, you’ll LOVE the smell that fills your house!
Shop the recipe
- 8″ baking dish – I love the clean white look, plus it bakes beautifully!
- Vegetable peeler – You probably already have one, but in case you don’t, this one is my personal favorite!
- Pastry Cutter – I love that this is sturdy and the blades don’t bend nearly as easily as some other brands!
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me @the_chunky_chef on Facebook and Instagram!
Ingredients
Spiced apples
- 6 golden delicious apples peeled and chopped (other varieties can be used, can also be sliced)
- 2 Tbsp granulated sugar
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice
Crisp topping
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 cup old fashioned oats quick oats can be used, but it may have a slightly different texture
- 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch of kosher salt
- 1/2 cup cold unsalted butter diced into small cubes
Instructions
Prepare
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees. Butter an 8×8 baking dish, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
Make spiced apples
- In a mixing bowl, add chopped apples, granulated sugar, 3/4 tsp of the cinnamon and lemon juice. Stir to combine, then transfer to prepared baking dish.
Make topping
- In a separate mixing bowl, add topping ingredients (brown sugar, oats, flour, 1 tsp cinnamon, salt, and diced cold butter).
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the oat mixture, using a slight downward twisting motion, until mixture resembled pea-sized crumbs. Alternatively, you can use two forks or even your hands to cut butter into the mixture.
Bake
- Spread topping over apples in baking dish, and gently pat to even it out. Bake 40-50 minutes, until golden brown and bubbly.
Serve
- Serve warm and enjoy! We love to top ours with some vanilla bean ice cream, or whipped cream.
Want to save this recipe for later? Click the heart in the bottom right corner to save to your own recipe box!
Chef Tips
- The amount of chopped apples would be about 6-7 cups.
- Note that all ovens bake differently, so yours may take a little less or a little more time to bake.
- I don’t have an issue with my crisp being watery (due to the water content in the apples), but if a little juice at the bottom is something you want to avoid, you can try adding a little all purpose flour to the apple mixture.
Make-Ahead Directions:
- Bake as directed. After the crisp cools, cover and refrigerate until the next day. When you’re ready to reheat, set it out at room temp for 20 minutes or so, then bake at 350°F for about 30 minutes, or until hot throughout.
- I haven’t tested assembling this ahead of time (although I’m pretty sure other readers have done this successfully – you’d have to check the other comments).
- I haven’t tested freezing this recipe, although many other readers have frozen it successfully.
Video
Nutrition Disclaimer
The Chunky Chef is not a dietician or nutritionist, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and other nutritional values are important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories can vary quite a bit depending on which brands were used.
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Mish says
I figured it out, needed 6 apples
Mish says
I cut up 4 apples and said no way this is going to work in a 9″ x 9″ with the topping, I’ll try it with 4 apples and add a touch of flour to coat.
lovechandigarh says
Thank you for sharing this recipe! Oh my goodness, delicious. Drizzled with my nieces homemade goat 🐐 milk caramel.
Mike C says
Very good recipe! Tasty and the crunch is phenomenal…easily doubled and adaptable with anything you want to add. Highly recommended!
Thanks!
Michele Lee says
This looks super yummy! I have been looking for an old-fashioned Apple Crisp recipe forever. Can’t wait to try this one out!
Susan Dubose says
This apple crisp is totally perfect. I am absolutely a apple lover and I love every single piece of it. Can’t wait till the weekend to make it with my boyfriend. This’ll be a big wow wow for sure.
Joan Succow says
I don’t have an oven!
How long In microwave?
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve never cooked this in the microwave, and I honestly don’t know if it would turn out well.
Andrea says
So, in my other review, I preemptively gave this a five-star rating before I actually made it. That was a mistake. Because it deserves a ten-star rating! I made this to bring to a dinner party tonight, for discerning foodie friends. When it came out of the oven, just looking at it, I wasn’t sure it was going to be good, or even edible. And (drats) I couldn’t taste it, since I was bringing it to a party. Well, boy oh boy, were my concerns unwarranted, because it was it fabulous! The texture, the flavor, the crunchy crust, WOW! I added pecans, which everyone seemed to like. It was a huge hit! And, I bet the leftovers are even better the next day. But alas, we shall never know, as there were none! Thanks for the amazing recipe, will be making this many, many, many times!
Karne Delatte says
I recently tried a recipe for apple crisp for the instant pot. My husband rated it 2 on a scale of 1 to 10. Then I found this recipe and he ratied it a 20 on the same scale of 1 to 10. Btw I made it last night and it is almost gone already!!
Andrea says
So excited to make this! Can I make it tomorrow for a dinner party the next day? Does it reheat well? (Giving it a preemptive five-star rating, because I know it will be great!!!)
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve not reheated it personally, but I know several other readers have done it and had good results 🙂
sunnyleone says
I loved this apple crisp!! It’s the best and easiest I found yet! My family loves it and it’s quick and easy. Thank you for sharing!
Alicia Bourgeois says
Great dish but after baking, some of the topping was still unbaked. I baked at the recommended temp for 50 minutes. Why is that?
Irene F says
First time making apple crisp. It was amazing delicious! My husband loved it. Thank you for the recipe . Will definitely make again.
Kim Cataldo says
Can I drizzle caramel sauce over apples before I top it with the crisp mixture.
The Chunky Chef says
Sure, that would be delicious 🙂
Earla says
I have been baking forty years and this recipe has great instructions and is absolutely delicious. Thanks
Vanessa says
Best apple crisp recipe ever! Found this recipe a month ago and have already made this recipe 3 times! The family loves it. Thank you !
Vanessa says
Definitely the best apple crisp I have ever made. Have already St smade this dessert
Elizabeth says
So good but next time I plan to omit the sugar in the apples. I think the sweetness in the crumble is more than enough. Has anyone made with less sugar?
Ami Manning says
This is the best crisp I have ever made. Lovely recipe. I added walnuts. Thanks!
George says
I am stuck in Costa Rica. Not a great selection of apples here.
I used 5 manga and 1/4 pineapple instead. That was great. Next time, we only had one manga, so I added 1/4 pineapple, 1/2 cantaloupe nd some dried cranberries ( put those on the bottom). And some chopped cashews on the topping.
No added sugar. A twisted idea but wow, it is good.
Norma says
I had some apple pie filling that was past the date recommended for freshness. I figured I needed to use it but I didn’t have pie crust so I decided to use it to mark the apple crisp. I though the pie filling would take the place of the 1st 3 ingredients. I decide to do the topping as it was. I put the filling on the bottom of glass pan. Instead of wheat flour I used the blender to grind up the oats to flour. Use the blender to mix the brown sugar, butter and a portion of the flour. Crumble mixture with remaining flour and oats put it over the apple pie filling. Stirred in to the filling and baked. It was really good but I should have reduced the sugar since the pie filling had sugar already in it……
really sweet so it did not need the caramel but the ice cream was great.
If I do this again I will reduce the sugar to 1/4 cup and maybe increase the oats by 1/4 cup. I really like the crisp part of apple crisp.
Natalie says
Bomb dot com! Thanks so much for this recipe! Made it today as a little Mother’s Day desert for myself. I did share some with the offsprings but kept most of it for myself! HaHa
Loti says
You didn’t say when to add flour and I didn’t use it .. not very good
The Chunky Chef says
I’m sorry you didn’t see where I said to add it in step 3… and yes, without the flour it won’t turn out the same.