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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Jen Cruz says
Omg soooooo good! I’m by no means a baker or chef and this was so easy and so so good. Thank you for this!
Denise says
The only problem I found with this recipe is that I should’ve doubled it because my family wiped it out so fast, I barely got any. Lol. SO GOOD!!
I used quick oats (because it was all I had) and it still turned out fabulous so no worries there.
Thank you for sharing this awesome recipe!
Sharon says
Absolutely wonderful. I used honeycrisp apples an all dark brown sugar. Saved rhis resipe.
Melanie Perraglia says
Made this twice now. Outstanding!
Ali G says
I’ve made this a few times now, and it is delicious!! Thank you:)
Carly says
Just had this Apple Crisp at a friend’s house… DELICIOUS!! Can’t wait to make it.
Kimberly Lovett says
Delish!!
Renee says
This is the first time I have tried your recipe. My husband cooked it on his trigger grill and everyone that we served it to said hands down this is the best apple crisp they had ever had. Thanks!
Steve DB says
would have been good to specify the approximate weight of the apples because all apples are different sized. In my case, the apples are picked from a neighbor’s tree and they do have some worms, so I am not really working with whole apples. Otherwise I like this recipe and am bringing it as my contribution to a family dinner.
Joanne says
I made this with granny Smith apples. I add a few chopped walnuts to the topping. I’ve made it for many family members. It is amazing! Everyone just loves it. Serve it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream
Rick says
Today I added raisins and some brandy. Very nice! A nice simple and very tasty recipe.
Thank You
T says
What’s a Fugi apple ?
The Chunky Chef says
If you’re genuinely asking because you’re not familiar with that variety of apple, then here’s a great resource https://www.specialtyproduce.com/produce/Fuji_Apples_914.php
If you’re trying to passively aggressively point out a typo, then you my friend, need a hobby 😉
Rosalie J. says
Hi.. my husband just made your apple crisp. It’s in the oven now.
He used our food processor for the topping! Will let you know how it came out! Rosie
Lori s says
Great recipe. My apples were really firm so I cut them in smaller pieces.
Felina Tuttle says
This recipe looks SO easy to make, even Simple : ) ! I have used the one by Tastes Better From Scratch, which is the way I LOVE to cook & bake, and it was aMAZing. Now, I want to use yours, because it looks SO easy to make. I’ll try to come back to tell you about it as soon as I do.
Happily,
Felina
Kristina says
Made this with fresh apples from the orchard (honey crisp) and fresh lemon juice. I also added a lot of cinnamon to the apples. The kids, whom had never tried apple crisp before, said it was the best things they had ever put in their mouth. Hahaha very delicious recipe! Thank you!
Holly says
This apple cobbler is wonderful and easy to make. I cubed the butter and mixed it in by hand instead of a press (since mine broke years ago).
Paul says
Absolutely everyone raves about this apple crisp! It is beyond delicious.
Dennis says
Great recipe, but only took 30 min. to bake. It was bubbling around the edges and getting rather brown all over the top at 30 min. mark.
I didn’t think it would all fit in the pan, but did with a little packing.
Danny says
This recipe calls for 6 apples. I chopped 4 and my 8×8 dish was already overflowing without even adding the topping. I ended up using 1.5x everything and making it in an 8×12 pan. Turned out decently enough. Can’t really go wrong with sugar, butter, cinnamon and apples!
Laurie says
Love this recipe. Easy. Reminds me of the recipe from home economics over 50 years ago. Lol Delicious.