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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KK says
Excellent! Great combination of sweet, crunchy and buttery. Thank you for posting this and I look forward to trying some of your other recopies!
Anna Baldacchino says
I have used this recipe three time already. So easy to cook and turns our so delicious. The second time I added a peeled and chopped peach to the apples and it was so good. Now today I also added some blueberries to the filling and my goodness it tastes heavenly. Thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us.
Debi Mansour says
Hi Amanda.
Made it in microwave by melting butter and sprinkling a bit of water on topping. “Baked” on high for 25 min. Delicious! Served with vanilla ice cream. When it’s too hot to turn on the oven, this worked great.
Gail says
My family love love love this recipe.
lexi says
made this with my mother today! super easy & turned out great, everyone at home loved it!!
Vicki says
Wondering if I can freeze it before baking to be ahead of the game when I need a fast dessert?
Amanda says
I’ve only tested this recipe as written. So without testing and retesting it myself, I can’t say for certain if that would work. I believe a few other readers have done something similar with good results. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Darlene Koss says
Going to try this recipe. Was wondering what you recommend for a Carmel sauce that you referred to?
Amanda says
https://www.thechunkychef.com/browned-butter-salted-caramel-sauce/ Hope you love it 🙂
Kelly Eckelberg says
Absolutely love this recipe. Family loved it and also our guests we had over for dinner. Thank you so much!!!
Julia says
Our favourite dessert, especially in the fall. The topping works really well for blueberry rhubarb filling too. Delicious. Thanks for sharing this great recipe!
Amy H says
Hi Amanda, Approximately how many cups of chopped apples do you use for this recipe? I am using apples from my tree and their sizes aren’t as uniform as store-bought apples (plus I have to cut off the occasional worm hole :-)) Thanks!
Amanda says
Hi Amy 🙂 I would estimate between 6-7 cups. I’m jealous of your apple tree!
James Decker says
could not print out the receipe for apple crisp!!!
Amanda says
What browser are you using? I’ve tried on both safari and chrome on desktop, as well as both of those on mobile, and the print button works just fine on my end.
Ginny says
Hi Amanda,
I would like to make the recipe in an 9-13 pan. Can you give me the revised quantities?
Thanks,
Ginny
Amanda says
It will depend on the size of your apples, but a general estimate is to double all the ingredients.
Capt Andy says
I add a couple tbsp corn starch to the apples. This acts as a gravy thickener for all the juices released from the cooking apples, and makes a syrupy consistency of the juice.
Lisa says
Next time I’m doing peach blueberry cobbler
Jenny says
I’m making this for the second time this week! So delicious and easy to put together. Love this recipe!
Stevia says
Can this be frozen prior to putting the topping on for finishing and baking later?
Amanda says
I’ve only tested this recipe as written. So without testing and retesting it myself, I can’t say for certain if that would work. If you try it, I’d love to know how it turns out!
Debbie says
So good!! I am not an apple lover, but have always loved apple crisp. My husband said, ‘I’d forgotten how much I like apple crisp!’ I used 9 gala apples since my pan was 11×13 and used the same qty of topping ingredients, but did not pack the brown sugar. Thank you for this delicious recipe.
Barb says
About how many servings do you get out of the 8×8 dish, thanks!
Amanda says
Hi Barb, that will depend entirely up to you, and how hungry the people you’re serving are. I estimated about 6-8 servings, but I’m not going to dictate how many servings people divide the dish up into. 🙂
Emily says
This recipe is delicious! So easy to make and a fun process. It turned out great fresh out of the oven!!! This will definitely be a crowd pleaser. Thank you for sharing such goodness.
Christine says
Great apple crisp recipe,