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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Sandra Mills says
OMG! SO GOOD! It was hard not going back for seconds but because of the butter, I decided not to. I wad only making it for myself so I just used 3 apples and tried to half everything, but I wish I had added 4 apples because I had more of the topping to the proportion of apples. The apples were really good, too! I did however use lime juice because I didn’t have lemons and I added a little more lime juice than the recipe suggested. Didn’t need any ice-cream on top!
Emily Stimpson says
This easy apple crisp recipe is reminiscent of generations past.
Melissa Shaffer says
I would like to make these in individual ramekins. Any advice? Thank you!
The Chunky Chef says
Great idea! I’ve not tested it myself, but I think the cook time and temperature would stay pretty much the same, as you need the apples to get soft.
Claudia Towns says
Made this today with Granny Smith apples and omg this dessert is to die for!!!! This was absolutely delicious and I want to eat the entire thing! Both my daughter and husband loved it! Definitely a recipe to keep and use frequently yearlong!!!
Kathy says
Made tonight for hubby’s Birthday. We loved it. It was fabulous. Will be making again. Thank you for recipe.
sapna choudhary says
This is a nice blog for me.I am making recipe with peaches and I put a pancake mix on the bottom with a nail in it we’ll see how it tastes when it’s done. thank you.
sapna choudhary says
The best Apple Crisp ever. Made it exactly as the recipe.
I would like to make it for a larger group, in a 9 x 11 pan.
Can you tell me the increased measurements for that?
Thank you
The Chunky Chef says
So glad you enjoyed it! For a 9×11 pan, I would 1.5x the recipe, so if you hover over the 6 where it says 6 servings, a toggle bar will show up. Toggle to the right until the servings number says 9, and that should be 1.5x and all the ingredient amounts will be automatically calculated for you 🙂
Sandra says
Add about 1 cup shredded cheddarto the topping before putting on top then bake. Our school did this to use up cheese we got in commodities. My aunt was head cook for 281/2 years. They had to use everything or they would lose the commodoties. We had the cheesiest Mac and cheese ever!
Jason says
Why would you add shredded cheese to the top of an apple crisp?
That doesnt sound appetizing at all…
Susan says
Cheese on apple pie is a pretty common combo in some parts of the US and
the UK. Putting it on a crisp is a logical extension of that. You should give it a try sometime.
Margaret Ready says
My grandfather used to say, “apple pie without the cheese, is like a kiss without the squeeze.“
Annita says
Can I use less oats? If I use less oats, can I substitute it for the same amount of all purpose flour? I use a scale to measure my ingredients.
The Chunky Chef says
I’m sure you could, I just can’t say for certain that it would work out well. I’ve only made these recipes as written.
Becca says
This recipe is yummy! We have pear trees, so I used pears instead of apples. It turn out great and the whole family loved it! Thank you!☺️
Leigh S. says
I had some stuff around the house I needed to use up. I looked up Apple Crisp and found your recipe. I substituted 4 large golden apples, used a (whole) broken graham cracker pie crust in the place of flour. I also added butter to the apples, because, why not? I baked them in a 10″ cast iron skillet and it turned out way better than the usual apple crisp. Thanks Chunky Chef!
Leigh says
PS I also added walnuts, too.
Carol says
This was my first time making an apple crisp, I had apples getting old and found this online and it looked easy enough!! I’m trying to learn more baking recipes so I thought well the apples are getting old anyway let’s try it! ITS SOOOO GOOD OMG 🤩 it’s incredibly easy to make although it took me awhile to get the bitter mixed in well, it was my first time. Thank youuuu for this recipe and laying it out so simply! It’s 𝑑𝑒𝑙𝑖𝑐𝑖𝑜𝑢𝑠.
Carol (again🤣) says
Butter* lol
Lisa ouimet says
The amount of crumble is perfect for this recipe if you enjoy a good amount of it to go with your apples, which i do! 😀 delicious from the first bite to the last. Thank you sooo much for sharing your delicious recipe! This will now part of my recipe collection and will be used whenever i have a hankering for apple crisp! Thanks again!
Camila Chamorro says
I like a lot of topping – should I double the recipe or do you think this is enough?
The Chunky Chef says
I developed this recipe to include a bit more topping than the average apple crisp, since it’s my favorite part 🙂
Barbara says
I only had two golden devious apples left that were getting a little old. I divided your recipe by 3 and made this in a small baking dish. Just enough for two and it was delish!
doris says
How many cups of apples do you need? I am using some small apples from a neighbor’s tree.
The Chunky Chef says
Approximately 6 1/2 – 7 1/2 cups 🙂
Jen says
I’ll be making this tomorrow, but I have an influx of apples from a generous neighbor. Would I be able to freeze this?
The Chunky Chef says
I haven’t frozen this recipe myself, but I know several other readers have done so successfully. I would assemble the crisp, then cover and freeze. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bake as directed.
callandys says
Love this recipe. I’ve made several times.
Thank you.
Donna Maggie M says
Very easy to make. Reminded me of the apple crisp of my childhood. I used Granny Smith apples because I like the juxtaposition of the tart app kn e against the sweet crisp. I happened to have some sliced almonds on hand and put a crushed handful into the crisp topping before baking. The only change that I would make is to cut back slightly on the sugar. It was a bit to sweet for me. Definitely will be making this again.
Tila says
Very good recipe. I have used it twice. Once with peaches and blueberries and once with apples. So good. When I made the apple one, I didn’t realize I was out of sugar. So I just substitute brown sugar in with the apples. Did I mention it was good? Kind of gave it a caramel taste. So if you didn’t plan ahead like me, go ahead and substitute. In case anyone was wondering, this is a VERY GOOD recipe.