Apple Crumble

This apple crumble recipe is easier than pie, but it's just as delicious. An oat-y, nutty topping covers a thick layer of warmly spiced fall apples.

Apple crumble

Fall might technically begin on September 22, but in our house, it never really arrives until I make this apple crumble recipe. Of all the apple desserts out there, it’s the one I come back to every year. An oat-y, nutty crumble topping covers a thick layer of warmly spiced fall apples. It’s eons easier than pie, and for my money, it’s just as good.

So if you have a surplus of apples from a trip to an orchard, a farmers market, or the store, I hope you try this apple crumble recipe! It takes just over 30 minutes to make, it calls for basic ingredients that you likely have on hand already, and it tastes amazing. The crumbly topping offers a delicious crisp contrast to the tender, juicy apples, and warm flavor from spices like cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger fills every bite. Finished with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream, it’s the perfect fall dessert.

Flour, walnuts, oats, cinnamon, brown sugar, and salt in bowls

Apple Crumble Recipe Ingredients

This apple crumble recipe has the all sweet, decadent flavor you want in a fall dessert, but it’s actually fairly healthy. For starters, I go light on the sugar, letting the flavorful apples supply much of the sweetness on their own. And instead of relying on butter and flour to create the crumble topping, I use this combination of wholesome ingredients:

  • All-purpose flour and almond flour – The almond flour adds extra richness to the topping, while the all-purpose flour keeps it light and crisp.
  • Whole rolled oats – Because to me, nothing says fall like oats, nuts, and apples.
  • Walnuts – For crunch! I also love their rich, nutty flavor after they toast in the oven.
  • Brown sugar – For sweetness.
  • Cinnamon – It gives the topping a warm, spiced flavor.
  • Melted coconut oil – It adds richness and moisture to the topping, and it makes this recipe totally vegan and dairy-free!
  • And sea salt – To make all the flavors pop!

Find the complete recipe with measurements below.

Apple crumble recipe ingredients

So you know what’s in the crumble topping…let’s talk about the apple filling! Here’s what you’ll need to make it:

  • Apples! Make sure you peel them before you start to cook. Though I’m usually all for leaving fruits and veggies un-peeled, I find that this apple crumble recipe has the best texture when it’s made with peeled apples.
  • Cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger – They fill the tender apples with warm, spiced flavor.
  • Apple cider vinegar – For pop! It offsets the sweetness of the apples and topping, giving this apple crumble a delicious balance of sweet and tart flavors.
  • And sea salt – Don’t skip it! It highlights the rich, nutty, sweet, and spiced flavors in this recipe.

Again, see below for the complete recipe.

Spiced apples in a baking dish

How to Make Apple Crumble

Ready to bake? Here’s what you need to do:

First, cook the apples. In this recipe, I cook the apples on the stove before they bake. That way, they become completely tender in the time it takes for the topping to turn golden brown in the oven. Add the diced, peeled apples, vinegar, and 2 tablespoons water to a medium saucepan over low heat, and cook, covered, for about 15 minutes, or until the apples are tender. Stir them fairly often – you don’t want them to burn! Then, mix in the spices, and turn off the heat.

Hand spooning crumble topping over apples in a baking dish

Meanwhile, make the topping. In a food processor, pulse together the flours, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, walnuts, coconut oil, and salt. If needed, add up to a teaspoon of water to help the mixture start to crumble and form clumps.

Finally, assemble and bake! Scoop the apple filling into a greased 8×8 baking dish, and sprinkle it with the crumble. Bake at 400° for 18-22 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and crisp. Enjoy!

Apple crumble recipe in a baking dish

Best Apple Crumble Recipe Tips

  • Choose good baking apples. Different apple varieties are good for different things – snacking, salads, turning into sauce. For this recipe, you’ll need excellent baking apples. They should have a firm texture and hold their shape when cooked. Some of my favorite types of apples for baking include Honeycrisp, Gala, Pink Lady, and Granny Smith apples. Choose just one, or use a mix!
  • If the topping’s not coming together, add a little water at a time until it does. The crumble topping here is, well, crumbly, but it should still clump together when pinched. If it’s too powdery after you pulse it together, add water, 1/2 teaspoon at a time, until it’s slightly moist and small clumps begin to form. Careful, though. Don’t add too much water, or the crumble will quickly form a wet, sticky paste.
  • Don’t forget the vanilla ice cream. You could easily enjoy a bowl (or two) of this easy apple crumble on its own, but it’s even better with vanilla ice cream on top! I love the way the rich ice cream contrasts with the sweet, nutty crumble and juicy fruit. If ice cream’s not your thing, you can still pair this apple crumble recipe with a creamy topping. Regular whipped cream or coconut whipped cream would both be fantastic.

Bowl of easy apple crumble with vanilla ice cream

More Favorite Fall Desserts

If you love this easy apple crumble recipe, try one of these delicious fall desserts next:

For even more fun baking recipes, check out this post!

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Apple Crumble

rate this recipe:
4.97 from 60 votes
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cook Time: 33 minutes
Serves 6
This apple crumble recipe is easier than pie, and it's just as delicious. Made with an oat-y, nutty crumble topping and tender spiced apples, it's the ultimate fall dessert!

Ingredients

Spiced apple filling

  • 5 apples, peeled and cut into 1-inch pieces
  • 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
  • 2 tablespoons water
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • Pinch of sea salt

Topping

  • ½ cup almond flour
  • cup all-purpose flour
  • cup whole rolled oats
  • cup crushed walnuts
  • cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
  • cup melted coconut oil
  • ½ teaspoon cinnamon
  • Heaping ¼ teaspoon sea salt
  • 1 teaspoon water, if needed

Instructions

  • Preheat the oven to 400°F and grease an 8x8-inch baking dish.
  • Make the filling: Combine the apples, apple cider vinegar, and water in a saucepan and simmer over very low heat, covered, stirring occasionally (making sure the apples don’t burn on the bottom of the pan) for 15 minutes. Uncover, stir, and add the cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and salt and stir again. The apples should be tender, and the juices should be thick.
  • Make the topping: In a food processor, place the flours, oats, walnuts, sugar, coconut oil, cinnamon, and salt and pulse until crumbly. Add the water if needed.
  • Scoop the apple filling into the baking dish and sprinkle with the topping. Bake for 18 to 22 minutes or until lightly crisp on top.

75 comments

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Rate this recipe (after making it)




  1. Angie
    07.25.2021

    5 stars
    My mom loves apple crunch so I made this for her. She absolutely loved it! I will do this again. I also served with a side of cream cheese vanilla and monk fruit topping. Delicious!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      07.26.2021

      I’m so glad you both loved it!

  2. Liz
    06.17.2021

    Could I sub apples for blueberries? Any idea how many cups?

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      06.17.2021

      I think blueberries would be great – I’d go with maybe 4 cups and I would skip step 2 and just add them raw into the baking dish.

      • Liz
        06.19.2021

        Would you use the same filling ingredients? E.g. apple cider vinegar, ginger etc. ?

        • Jeanine Donofrio
          06.19.2021

          Hi Liz, I would do lemon juice and a little vanilla with the blueberries instead of the fall spices. I would keep the topping the same. I hope that helps!

  3. Katherine
    02.25.2021

    5 stars
    AMAZING!
    I put Haagen Dazs Vanilla ice cream on top.
    Super easy to make.
    I accidentally put the spices in before cooking in the sauce pan but it ended up working out fine, I just made sure it didnt stick and it became the perfect consistency!

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      02.26.2021

      I’m so glad you loved it!

  4. Lucas
    02.05.2021

    5 stars
    Great tasty recipe and I only put half of the sugar and it was just perfect.

  5. Debbie
    12.16.2020

    Hi! Is it possible to make this a day in advance of serving?

  6. 5 stars
    Oh such an interesting recipe! Yesterday I made an apple pie with salty caramel, next time I’ll try your recipe. I love the details. A big bravo Jeanine and Jack.

  7. Candice Janco
    11.30.2020

    Delicious with vegan ice cream

  8. Rebecca
    11.29.2020

    I’ve made this a couple times now, including for the cooking club. It turned out great both times! I especially love the flavor the apple cider vinegar adds!

  9. Brenda
    11.29.2020

    Great recipe. It didn’t last long as it was delicious.

  10. Bridget C
    11.29.2020

    5 stars
    Delicious; easy and not too sweet; just the pefect kind of dessert. Delicious topped with a dollop of oat milk sea salt caramel ice cream!

  11. Ali R
    11.29.2020

    5 stars
    Loved this apple crumble! I made it for Thanksgiving and I’m so glad I did, my family loved it. I had a hard time getting the topping to crumble but once it had enough water I was able to use my hands to crumble it.

  12. Lalla Pudewell
    11.28.2020

    5 stars
    I made this for your cooking club. My husband and I both loved it.! I wasn’t sure about the apple cider vinegar, but it turned it great and was fun to try a new ingredient.
    Thank you, Jeanine !

  13. Maureen Kurtz
    11.25.2020

    5 stars
    I made this my usual way, not fully following the recipe. I had some old, semi-mushy apples on hand (as well as some fresher crisp ones) and no coconut oil, so I used butter. No walnuts, so I used sliced almonds. No almond flour, so Iused pecan flour. Despite my tweaks, this was still amazing! The recipe is so basically good that it’s very forgiving if you use somewhat inferior apples and substitute ingredients. It was so good I plan to serve it tomorrow for Thanksgiving. I’m going to assemble it today and bake it tomorrow. I hope that works!

  14. Emily Moore
    11.25.2020

    5 stars
    We have been experimenting with pies this month and added apple crumble into the mix. Cooking the apples a little before adding the topping seemed to carmelize the topping in a delicious way.

  15. Emily Moore
    11.25.2020

    5 stars
    We have been experimenting with pies this month and added apple crumble into the mix. It was so easy to make and so delicious!

  16. Joy allen
    11.25.2020

    I made this for thanksgiving. do I need to refrigerate until tomorrow?

    Thanks.
    Joy

    • Jeanine Donofrio
      11.25.2020

      yep! Reheat it in the oven when you’re ready to serve.

  17. Stevie
    11.24.2020

    5 stars
    Great fall dessert! Hearty but not too sweet!

  18. Carrie
    11.24.2020

    5 stars
    This recipe is SOOO GOOD! I used butter and made it gluten free by using certified GF oats and flour. We used Honeycrisps from our CSA and it had the most incredible flavor. I may never make a pie again!

  19. Stephanie
    11.18.2020

    5 stars
    We really enjoyed your crumble recipe on this first cold evening of fall. It was easy to put together and delicious. No time for cooling though…our son wanted it right out of the oven!

  20. Michelle
    11.17.2020

    This was so yummy! Perfect amount of sweet with warming spices. Divine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

A food blog with fresh, zesty recipes.
Photograph of Jeanine Donofrio and Jack Mathews in their kitchen

Hello, we're Jeanine and Jack.

We love to eat, travel, cook, and eat some more! We create & photograph vegetarian recipes from our home in Chicago, while our shiba pups eat the kale stems that fall on the kitchen floor.