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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Tammy says
Delicious! Definitely will make again.
Judy says
Made apple crisp and it was delicious! Used golden delicious apples.
Scott says
Just used a bunch of golden delicious apples from a tree my late grandpa planted. The crisp turned out amazing and would have been one of his favorites especially with the vanilla ice cream..!
Mila Spencer says
Super easy to make and very delicious!
Lynn says
Yummy, easy and perfect! I will make again!!! I used a variety of apples, and followed to a “t”. Vanilla ice cream on top of warm apple crisp…life is good. Thank you!!!!
Emma says
I had some Granny Smith apples that were about to go bad and an apple crisp granola mix that was about to expire. With the substitutions it turned out so well! I had it with some vanilla greek yogurt and it tasted amazing!
T Tudor says
Could quick oats be used for this?
The Chunky Chef says
The texture might change slightly, but yes, you can use quick oats if that’s what you have available.
Julie says
T Tudor YES! It was all my mom had on hand, quick cook oatmeal is interchangeable in this recipe with rolled oats.
Leslie Tucker says
My Family loved this recipe – I used Swerve sugar because we are on a low sugar diet.
We will be making this again!
The Chunky Chef says
So happy to hear not only that you loved it, but that it worked well with a sugar alternative!
M esler says
I used gluten free flour and dairy free butter and it worked perfectly<33
Debbie says
Served the apple crisp for dessert to my husband and our next door neighbors. It was a high hit. I was the only one who thought it was a little too sweet. I will definitely make again and try decreasing the brown sugar. This a keeper!
Mary Johnson says
I followed the recipe to the letter. It doesn’t look like apple crisp. It looks like the topping is way to dry. And nothing is jelling together.
The Chunky Chef says
Did you cut the butter into the topping as shown in the recipe video that’s in the post? It’ll look dry and crumbly until it’s baked.
Fay says
Absolutely delicious. One of the best I have had.
Sylvia says
Love it. Very easy to make and my family said it was delicious.
Meghan says
This turned out amazingly, the crisp on top was perfect! I will make this again for sure, it was a major hit with the family, I won’t be searching for any other recipes after this. Thank you!
D. Paetkau says
Delicious. The apples are not overly sweet, so you can use a variety of apples.
Julia says
Flavor is flawless – it was so delicious! Next time I’m going to add more butter to the top because the top was still slightly dry/raw even after 60min in the oven. I live at high altitude so that may also be a factor. Simply delicious and easy otherwise!
Lisa says
I followed this recipe as written. It is absolutely amazing! I used 3 Macintosh and 3 jazz apples. I liked the flavor of the Macintosh better but they turned to mush. The jazz held their shape but too sweet for me. I am definitely going to keep this recipe and make it often!!
Marina says
I been looking for a recipe to make with the apples growing from my yard and this was perfect! I used a mix of two different apples, one being tart and the other tasting a little like a pear, I thought the recipe called for just the right amount of sugar and cinnamon on the apples. Topping came out crisp to perfection and apples were perfectly soft not too mushy at all. I followed the recipe as is and will again. Thank you chunky chef!
Ashley says
Mine came out super watery, like apple soup..and I followed the recipe to a T.
The Chunky Chef says
Unfortunately, all apples (even those of the same variety) will have different amounts of moisture inside, which comes out during the baking process. For the next time you can certainly stir a little flour into the apple mixture if you’d like 🙂
Julie says
The first time I made this I too had a lot of liquid. I drained it off and will be mixing with salted caramel to drizzle on top of ice cream. Consider it a gift of liquid loveliness of apple cinnamon.
Toya Green says
Hi! My family of six absolutely loves this recipe! I’ve used it numerous times and everyone is always looking for seconds. I was afraid to double the recipe as I wasn’t sure how it would turn out. However, I did it today and it was great!! I didn’t quite double the brown sugar, I used about 3 1/2 cups…I also only had salted butter, so I didn’t add the kosher salt. It was so good. Thanks for the recipe!