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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Brenda says
Best tasting dessert I’ve ever had!!
Em says
Outstanding…thank you for sharing.
Randy Kurtz says
This is State Fair worthy
Mem says
Delicious! Thank you!
No-licky says
Used my frozen apples and couldn’t have worked out any better. Next day was even better as the syrupy juice thickened up. We had whipped cream, but I’m sure some vanilla ice cream would be even better. Enjoy!
Nancy says
Fabulous & easy to make
My family LOVES when I make this dish. They all love the oats even my kid who doesn’t like oats!! YUMM!
Thank you Amanda!❤
Chante Colton says
Would using the salted butter make that big of a difference versus the unsalted?
Amanda says
Nope, just omit the pinch of kosher salt from the recipe 🙂
Nicole says
Best tasting apple crisp I’ve had in a long time. I used margarine instead of butter due to lactose intolerance, the topping was still crispy. So good! Thanks for posting!
Kate says
Can you share the nutrition facts for this recipe (ie carbs, sugar, etc)?
Amanda says
As this isn’t a health-focused website, and I’m not a nutritionist, I don’t provide full nutritional information for recipes as there is a potential for error and I wouldn’t want to potentially and/or unknowingly pass along incorrect information. If full nutrition information is important to you, I recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer, or that you seek a nutritionist/dietitian for exact nutritional information.
DA, NYC says
Hi,
Recipe looks great and I can’t wait to try it! Just one question, this seems like way to much to fit in an 8 inch square pan. Should we be using 6 very small apples?
Amanda says
It’s all going to depend on the size of your apples, so if it’s too full, you can definitely switch to a 9×13″ pan 🙂
Vince says
Hi, I used a 9×13 and it fit perfectly. Very true about size of apples, my were medium to large size. I also think it cooks more evenly when spread out a bit in a 9×13.
Samandra says
I tried this recipe last night and loved it! I thought the same thing when I made this! I put the apples in the 8 by 8 and there was only like 1/2 inch from the rim, even after I packed the apples down as much as possible. I made the topping and spread it over carefully to the corners… there was almost an inch mound in the middle, but I just put a little foil on the rack below just incase it boiled over. It didn’t and turned out lovely. Next time I will be par cooking my apples for 3-5 min like I do in my apple pie recipe.
Jane says
Thank you, Amanda for posting this great recipe for apple crisp. So straight forward and it turned out beautifuly.
I’m looking forward to checking out your other recipes Take care!
Jane, from Ontario
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Julia says
DELICIOUS!! It was demolished within minutes of cutting into it. The top had the perfect amount of crunch.
Kim says
Great recipe. I made it following the instructions the first time. Second time I used pumpkin spice mix and only half cup of brown sugar. Still tasted great though!
Terry M says
Delicious and simple!
Thanks
Sarah says
Ive made this a couple of times. We have a snow day here today and was very good! This always gets all eaten up!
Kathleen Flowers says
Looks really good. Love anything with apples in it.
Janet Montgomery says
It is so good in it took no effort you can make it even if you have a couple hours for a dinner thing it’s really nice and I’m only 11 years old
Marilyn says
Wonderful for breakfast with vanilla yogurt or cottage cheese.
Candice says
Great recipe! Thanks! I needed to use up a bunch of mixed apples and pears from my weekly CSA box and this was perfect! I doubled your recipe and used a few pears in there too. No peeling skins off so this recipe came together in no time. Only other thing I added was freshly grated nutmeg. House smelled great and it tasted amazing. Thank you!