This apple crisp recipe is a delicious fall dessert. It features juicy cinnamon apples and a brown sugar oat topping. Serve with vanilla ice cream!
Let’s make apple crisp! I love this classic fall dessert because it’s easy, delicious, and full of the flavors of the season. Cinnamon, apples, and brown sugar? Yes, please!
I’m sharing my favorite apple crisp recipe below. It features juicy, cinnamon-spiced apples with a buttery brown sugar and oat topping. It’s rich and comforting, especially with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. 🙂
I’ve shared apple crisp and crumble recipes in the past, but never one as simple or as classic as this. What sets it apart from my other recipes is that you don’t have to pre-cook the apples, which cuts down on dishes and hands-on prep. I also make a traditional oat streusel topping (no nuts here!) to keep the ingredient list short and sweet.
If you’re looking for an easy apple crisp recipe to try this fall, you can’t go wrong with this one. It tastes fantastic, and it makes your kitchen smell AMAZING as it bakes. I think you’ll love it.
Apple Crisp Recipe Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make this easy apple crisp recipe:
- Apples, of course! Make sure to use good baking apples here. See the callout below for my favorite varieties!
- Whole rolled oats – They add great texture to the crumble topping.
- All-purpose flour – You’ll add some to the filling to thicken the apple juices and use more in the topping.
- Brown sugar – Light and dark brown sugar both work here, but I prefer dark brown sugar’s deeper caramel-like flavor.
- Unsalted butter – It brings the streusel topping together and adds rich, buttery flavor.
- Lemon juice – Its tangy flavor balances the sweetness of the apple filling.
- Vanilla, cinnamon, and nutmeg – For warm depth of flavor.
- And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!
Find the complete recipe with measurements below.
What are the best apples for baking?
The best apples for baking are firm apples that hold their shape. I recommend these varieties:
- Fuji
- Gala
- Golden Delicious
- Granny Smith
- Honeycrisp
- Pink Lady
Choose just one type of apples, or use a mix! I’ve had great results making this recipe with just Honeycrisp apples. I also like a mix of tart Granny Smith apples and sweet Galas in this apple crisp.
How to Make Apple Crisp
You can find the complete apple crisp recipe with measurements at the bottom of this post, but for now, here’s a step-by-step overview of how it goes:
Start by prepping the apples. Peel them, core them, and chop them into roughly 3/4-inch pieces. Do your best to cut the all the pieces to a similar size so that they cook evenly.
Should you peel apples for apple crisp?
Yes! I’m all for not peeling fruits and veggies whenever possible, but in this case, peeling the apples really makes a difference.
Apple peels don’t soften much as they bake. I’m not a fan of their texture in the juicy apple filling.
Place the apples in a large bowl and add the flour, brown sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt.
Toss until the flour, sugar, and spices evenly coat the apples.
Then, spread the apples in a greased 8×8-inch baking dish.
Next, make the crumble topping. Stir together the remaining flour and sugar, the oats, cinnamon, and salt.
Add the cubed cold butter and toss to coat. Use a pastry cutter, two forks, or your hands to work it into the oat mixture until it becomes moist and crumbly.
Sprinkle the crisp topping over the apples in the baking dish.
Finally, bake the crisp. Cover the baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 375°F for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the apples are bubbling. Uncover and bake for another 15 minutes or so, until the topping is golden brown and lightly crisp.
Let cool for 10 minutes before digging in!
- Serving tip: This homemade apple crisp is delicious plain, but I especially love it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top. It’s great with whipped cream too!
How to Store Apple Crisp
If you’re lucky enough to have leftovers of this homemade apple crisp, allow them to cool completely.
Then, cover them and store them in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. They reheat nicely in the microwave or a 350°F oven.
Make-Ahead Instructions
This apple crisp recipe is one of my favorite desserts to make for fall entertaining.
When I’m hosting family and friends, I often prep the components ahead. Here’s how:
- Toss the chopped apples with the flour, sugar, spices, etc. Spread them in the baking dish, cover, and store in the fridge for up to 2 hours.
- Make the oat topping and store it separately in the fridge for up to 2 hours.
When you’re ready to serve, just assemble and bake!
More Apple Recipes to Try
If you love this classic apple crisp, try one of these delicious apple recipes next:
Easy Apple Crisp
Ingredients
For the apples
- 6 large apples, 2½ pounds, peeled, cored, and chopped into ¾-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Crumble Topping
- ¾ cup whole rolled oats
- ½ cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, 1 stick, cubed, plus more for the pan
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F and grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.
- Prepare the apples: In a large bowl, place the chopped apples, flour, brown sugar, lemon juice, vanilla extract, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Toss to coat the apples, then spread evenly in the prepared baking dish.
- Make the topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt. Use two forks, a pastry cutter, or your hands to work in the butter until the mixture is crumbly. Sprinkle evenly over the apples.
- Cover the baking dish and bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the apples are bubbling. Uncover and bake for 10 to 15 more minutes, or until the apples are tender and the topping is golden brown and lightly crisp.
- Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
This recipe is perfect for Fall. I would love to make. Unfortunately, I have an oat allergy and also stay away from grains. What could be a substitute for the oats? Thank you.
Easy to make. Great fall dessert.
Easy to make and delicious with vanilla ice cream. I added a bit of clove Ann’s allspice to the apples and added pecans to the topping.
Perfect dessert for a cool rainy day.
Cozy and delicious!
Hi! I love apple crisp and this particular recipe looks amazing. Would it be possible to use plant-based butter in order to make this fully vegan-friendly? Would I use the same proportions?
Hi Andrew, yep! Since vegan butter is usually salted, I’d just skip the salt in the topping.
This apple crisp is so good and pretty simple to make. My whole family loved it.
What a great fall classic dessert recipe. I like the blend of spices in this recipe for the oat topping. Served it with cocowhip for lower sugar instead of vanilla ice cream – still yummy!
Apple crisp is one of my favorite desserts! This recipe was so simple and delicious! Thank you!
Made the apple crisp last night. Used a combination of honey crisp, cosmic crisp & fuji apples & a splash of maple extract. Was a hit even this morning for breakfast. Leftovers-how was that even possible, right?
Very good! My family loved it!!
It seems to be too sweet. Nevertheless, it was gone within hours)) Made it twice. I wonder if it would be good with other fruits. Plums, maybe…
Made this on an 80 degree day in NYC! Wanted to feel like fall before tomorrow! My family loved it- went back immediately for seconds. Made as described!
This is an absolutely delicious rendition of an all time favorite dessert. My apples were a bit wet so I added a tad more flour, and it turned out perfect!
So glad you loved it, Cindy!
We all really enjoyed this apple crisp. A perfect fall dessert! Once the apples were peeled and cut up, it all came together fast. Of course we had it with some vanilla ice cream. Perfection! We did have some leftover which I just heated up in the microwave the next day for a special treat in the afternoon while working from home. So good! I will no doubt make this soon again.
I’m so glad you loved it, Annika!
I would like to see the nutrional value
This was a great apple crisp recipe! Even though I would say it was a little to sweet, it really had the fall flavors in it, which I loved! Another thing I really liked about this recipe is the amount of apples and topping. I find sometimes when I make a crisp there is normally to much topping. But this recipe had JUST the right amount!! I would highly recommend trying this recipe! I definitely want to make this again.!
I’m so glad you loved it, Sophia!
Loved this recipe! It was a little too sweet for me but the flavors were SOO good! I would definitely use granny smith apples…they work really well for any baked recipes with apples! It is the perfect fall treat and super easy to make! The topping was also just so good! It had the perfect amount of oats and just a perfect topping for a crisp! Honestly, I think for any crisp, I would make I would use the topping from this recipe because it’s just that good! This is definitely my favorite apple crisp recipe!
I’m so glad you loved it, Emma!
Just made this with galas and added a bit of cardamom! Soooo good (: .
So glad you enjoyed it, Saadia!
I made this with some apples gifted to me by my parents’ neighbors. They were softer than the suggested apple varieties but I think I prefer it that way- it was like eating warm, gooey apple sauce with a delicious topping! The crisp topping was so good that I may have sampled some prior to baking it. Enjoy!
I’m so glad you loved it, Gina!