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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Connie says
Wow, excellent & topping spot on.
Suzanne says
I made this exactly as outlined in the recipe with the only alterations being that I used 4 Granny Smith and 2 Honeycrisp apples as that is what I had on hand. This will be added to my recipe box. Really yummy!!
Andy says
What are the recommended storage instructions?
The Chunky Chef says
Keep it covered in the refrigerator and reheat as desired.
Sandra says
Loved the apple crisp
Naja says
Hello..So l love reading all the reviews.:).thinking I’ll try to experiment/ryeflakes& quick oats & oats you describe in yours..Got lots of apples..Hope it’ll turn out Winter sweet..Thank you 🤶🏼🕯️
Elaie says
I’ve made this a few times now and it’s phenomenal. It’s a hit for everyone I make it for too.
Anne says
I’ve made this numerous times now. Thank you for this super simple recipe
Andrea says
Instead of cooking one large crumble, I divided it into three smaller ones and froze two for later use. How would you adjust the cooking time and/or temperature if cooking from frozen? Or should I thaw and cook as instructed here?
The Chunky Chef says
I would thaw and bake, rather than trying to bake it from frozen.
Ruth says
Great recipe Thank you
lori kadas says
Best ever. My go to when apples r cheap.
Easy and kids love it.
SR says
Reduced the sugar by 1/4 and used Fuji apples from our tree and it was great! So easy and filled the house with a wonderful smell!
Mark Kolinski says
Using a pastry blender to cut in the butter is pretty useless because of the oats, which clog up the implement. Using just a fork works much better. Also had to bake for an hour to get it really bubbly. But the final result was delicious.
Shellie says
I had to use a fork, because I didn’t have any of the other stuff. So now I don’t feel deprived! I think maybe I didn’t cook mine long enough too. It went for 50 minutes but it didn’t seem as done as it should be. But I’m always burning things so I took it out.
Diane says
Simple ingredients easy to make and it was delicious
JanetML says
Made this apple crisp for Thanksgiving and it was a huge hit! I love the generous amount of topping. I will definitely do this one again.
Shellie says
This apple crisp is absolutely the best ever. I make it every fall. So easy very flexible. Never a complaint. Thank you for being a part of our Thanksgiving
Angela says
Ma’am I made this per your recipe and it didn’t turn out right… I believe in step 2 it should be Brown sugar and step 3 it should be the granulated sugar. I just thought you might want to revise this!
The Chunky Chef says
Hi Angela, the steps are in the proper order 🙂 Sorry you didn’t have a good result with this recipe though.
Dawn T says
Loved what I made, which is not according to the recipe. I’m diabetic, my good friend is also and my daughter trying to lose weight so I used Swerve sweetener instead of sugar. It had a sweetness that wasn’t too sweet. I used my favorite apple- Granny Smith and it took up a 9×13 pan. Since it went in a bigger pan, I doubled the topping- big mistake. My friend, my mom and I had it for our Thanksgiving dessert and all three of us liked it.. My daughter was very sick so she hasn’t tried it yet. She will today when I take meal leftovers to her. Recipe was very easy to follow!
Lauren says
That topping might be the best I’ve had – truly crunchy and awesome. I used cinnamon with the apples, and 1/2 cinnamon, 1/2 pie spice on the topping (instead of all cinnamon) and it was mmmmmm so good.
Also, I did all the prep the day before and popped it in the oven to cook during Thanksgiving dinner (taking advantage of the already heated oven). Smelling dessert helped me to remember to save room, haha!
Grace says
It was really good! I love this recipe ^_^
Jenny says
Thank you for posting this super easy and SUPER delicious recipe! I ended up with more apple than topping, so I doubled the sugar-oat topping blend and it was great! What a hit!