Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
How to Make the Best Apple Crisp – This classic fall dessert recipe is easy to make with oats, brown sugar, and sweet fresh apples! It comes together quickly and bakes golden in less than an hour. Serve the crisp warm topped with a scoop of ice cream for an autumn treat that’s sure to delight!
Why We Love This Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
It’s fall, and you know what that means… It is time for all things apple! This season, use your favorite orchard apples to make a simple and irresistible dessert recipe everyone loves – a warm, gooey, and perfectly spiced Apple Crisp.
Fruit crisps are such a fantastic dessert, any time of year. (And bonus, they’re WAY easier to make than a traditional fruit pie!) They feature a rustic fruit flavor and sugar base with crispy oats on top, and are surprisingly great to customize depending on the seasonal produce and dietary needs. However you change the ingredients, the treat takes under an hour to bake and can be prepped well ahead of time (or even frozen).
Feel free to use any type of apples you like in the easy recipe, but you almost certainly want to serve the warm and cozy dessert with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Ingredients You Need
For the Crisp Topping –
- Old-fashioned oats – or quick-cooking oats
- All-purpose flour – or whole wheat flour
- Light brown sugar – packed
- Butter – unsalted, cut into cubes
- Salt – a bit to balance the sweet ingredients
For the Apple Filling –
- Firm apples – see notes below
- Light brown sugar – firmly packed
- All-purpose flour – or whole wheat flour
- Apple pie spice – usually a combination of cinnamon, cardamom, and ginger
- Salt – just a pinch
Best Apples for Baking –
If you have lots of apple varieties available to you, the most important thing to remember when making desserts with apples is to pick a variety that holds its shape when baked. Some apples turn entirely to mush if they are fully cooked. Others will hold their shape a little bit better.
Select firm tart apples such as Braeburn, Fuji, Honeycrisp, Cortland, Johnna Gold, and Matsu for baked apple desserts.
How to Make Apple Crisp with Oats
First, make the oat topping. Combine the topping ingredients in a medium mixing bowl. Use a pastry blending tool or your hands to mix the butter into the dry ingredients until the butter is in small pea-sized pieces and the mixture looks like dried oatmeal. Set aside.
Pro Tip: If working in stages throughout the day, cover and chill the crumpled topping until ready to use.
Next, make the apple filling. Quickly peel and slice the apples into ½-inch wedges. Place the apples in the baking dish and sprinkle the brown sugar, flour, apple pie spice, and salt over the top. Toss to coat and spread the apples out and an even layer.
Pro Tip: Some recipes call for adding lemon juice to the apples so they don’t brown. However, lemon juice will break the apples down more as they bake, and this can sometimes cause the apples to turn to mush. If you work fast, you will not need lemon juice.
Sprinkle the oat crisp topping over the apples in an even layer.
You want the topping to cover the apples completely, but do not press the mixture down too much onto the filling!
Get the Complete (Printable) Easy Apple Crisp Recipe + Video Below. Enjoy!
Place the apple crisp in the center of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden-brown and the edges are bubbly.
Pro Tip: To keep any of the filling from spilling over into the bottom of the oven, I suggest placing a rimmed and/or lined baking sheet on the rack directly below the crisp.
Recipe Variations
- Fruit – Use this easy apple crisp recipe as the base for making all kinds of fruit crisps! Swap apples with other hearty fruits like strawberries, blueberries, peaches, or pitted cherries.
- Gluten-free – Make sure the oats are GF, and use your preferred gluten-free replacement for standard all-purpose flour.
- Dairy-free – Use vegan plant-based butter that is easy to cube and crumble. And you definitely want to add a scoop of our dairy-free vanilla ice cream on top of the baked crisp, too!
- Make ahead – Assemble the crisp in a disposable aluminum pan, but do not bake. Instead, wrap the pan in plastic wrap and aluminum foil, and either refrigerate overnight or freeze for several months. Then you can give them away as yummy gifts, or have one ready to pop in the oven at your leisure.
- Sauce it – Add caramel sauce, vanilla sauce, or cinnamon sauce over the crumbly topping!
Serving Suggestions
Let the crisp cool slightly in the pan before serving. Spoon into bowls, and top the warm apple crisp with BIG scoops of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream!
I usually enjoy my crisp as an evening dessert with milk, or as an afternoon treat with coffee. When you’ve got a fruit crisp this good, any time is the right time to take a sweet snack break!
Frequently Asked Questions
Both baked desserts have a streusel-ish topping that combines flour, spices, and butter. But this apple crisp recipe is also made with oats for an even more crunchy texture and a nice earthy, oat-y, fall taste.
Leftover fruit crisp is delicious the next day! Let the dish cool completely before wrapping in plastic wrap or transferring the dessert to an airtight container. Store in the fridge for up to 3-4 days.
Apple crisp freezes very well, after or before baking! I recommend assembling in a disposable aluminum pan that can be baked in the oven right from the freezer, without thawing.
Let the crisp come to room temperature, if baked. Then wrap the entire pan (baked or not) in a plastic wrap layer, followed by aluminum foil. Freeze the fruit crisp for up to 3 months. You can either thaw it in the fridge overnight or bake it straight from freezing and add 15-20 minutes to the total bake time noted in the recipe card below.
Looking for More Fall Dessert Recipes? Be Sure to Also Try:
- Slow Cooker Cinnamon Apples
- Sweet Potato Pound Cake
- Caramel Apple Dump Cake
- Mini Apple Pies
- Apple Brown Betty
Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
Video
Ingredients
For the Crisp Topping –
- 1 ½ cups old fashioned oats or quick oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar packed
- 1 cup unsalted butter cut into cubes (2 sticks)
- ½ teaspoon salt
For the Apple Filling –
- 14 cups firm apples for 8-10 large apples (peel and slice into ½ inch wedges)
- ¾ cup light brown sugar packed
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons apple pie spice or ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- Vanilla ice cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Set out a 9 x 13-inch baking dish, or a 3 quart baking dish in any shape.
- For the Crisp Topping: Set out a medium mixing bowl. Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cubes of butter, and salt. Use a pastry blending tool, or your hands, to mix the butter into the dry ingredients, until the butter is in small pea-sized pieces and the mixture looks like dried oatmeal. Set aside. (If working in stages throughout the day, cover and chill the crumpled topping until ready to use.)
- For the Apple Filling: Quickly peel and slice the apples into ½-inch wedges. Try to work fast so the apples don't brown. Place the apples in the baking dish and sprinkle the brown sugar, flour, apple pie spice, and salt over the top. Toss to coat and spread the apples out and an even layer. *Some recipes call for lemon juice to be added to the apples so they don't brown. However, lemon juice will break the apples down more as they bake, and this can sometimes cause the apples to turn to mush. If you work fast, you will not need lemon juice.
- Sprinkle the crisp topping over the apples in an even layer. Place the apple crisp in the center of the oven and bake for 40-45 minutes, until the top is golden-brown and the edges are bubbly.
- Cool the apple crisp for 5-10 minutes, then serve warm with vanilla ice cream!
This apple crisp recipe looks absolutely delightful and incredibly easy to follow! I love how straightforward the instructions are perfect for someone who wants to whip up a delicious dessert without spending hours in the kitchen. The ingredient list is simple and likely something I already have on hand, which is a huge plus.