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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Addy says
This came out perfect! The topping was the right amount of crunchy. Will definitely make again!
GrammyPammy says
I added chopped walnuts to the topping. Subbed pumpkin pie spice for the cinnamon. Oh myyyy! Thank you for this fabulous recipe!
Veloyce Doyle says
Making this recipe tomorrow with apples from our old apple tree. I have made many pies, hand pies and cobblers but never the crisp.
Love the way you tweaked it with the mixtures and additional spice amounts. Thanks Amanda….will be searching for more of your recipes!!
From a Retired Great-Grandma.
Bernadette Flanagan says
Can you freeze this?
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve not frozen this recipe myself, but I know many other readers have done so successfully.
Donna A Pollock says
Oh my goodness, this is a great recipe. I made it but triples the apples using 3 varities of them I also made extra topping, for the top, we love the crunchy crispy topping. It was so good, and everyone love it. I will keep this in my file for to to great recipes. Thank you and God Bless you. Keep up the great work….
Luli says
Easy! Followed step by step and it came out fantastic. Thank you! Will definitely add it to my repertoire.
Peggy Pitts says
Made this for my daughter’s family today. Delicious. Thanks for the recipe 😊
Kimberly says
My husband’s new favorite dessert!
Dee says
Yummmmm!!
Took about an hour for center apples to bake completely but definitely will be making again & again!
Thank you!
K Romine says
Turned out great.
Even tweaked it to cook in the air fryer
Deanne says
Hi Amanda;
Thank you for this recipe! I used green granny apples to offset the sweetness with tart apples. I mixed the sugar, cinnamon, and lemon juice first and added the apple pieces as I sliced them mixing periodically to keep the apples from browning. I melted the butter in the microwave and added it to the topping ingredients directly into my Breville mix master to create the topping.
Beckie says
Substituted monkfruit sweetener for the sugar, and cut down the brown sugar to 1/4 cup and everybody LOVED it. Used Lodi apples in place of the Golden Delicious.
Tonya says
Can you sub. Quick oats for old fashioned?
The Chunky Chef says
The texture might change slightly, but yes, you can use quick oats if that’s what you have available.
Dianne says
Made this and it was absolutely delicious, will make it again, sooooo good. Didn’t change anything, definitely a keeper
Patti says
Very easy to make and delicious!
ScottB says
Easy to make, Great everytime, easy to swap out flour to make gluten free. I recommend oat flour because it binds topping together better than most gluten free flours.
Laura Stewart says
This is the best recipe I’ve ever tried and made. I had sliced apples in the freezer so only took a few minutes to put together.
It was amazing!!
Diane says
Best apple crisp!!
Jackie LeClair says
So yummy and easy! Thanks!
Marissa says
BEST apple crisp recipe, definitely adding this to my recipe book, thank you!
Sharon Milner says
Can you freeze apple crisp?
The Chunky Chef says
I’ve not frozen this recipe myself, but I know many other readers have done so successfully.
amanda says
yea you can freeze. what i did was once i harvested my apples i cut them all up and mixed up the filling and froze the filling then just take out a bag put in pan and ad the topping when you go to bake
Amber says
I LOVE apple crisp and keep using this recipe it’s easy and so delicious!