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I always make Easy Apple Crisp when I don’t feel like making a full pie. The apples are perfectly cooked and spiced with a crunchy sweet oat topping. Making an apple crumble without the crust feeds a crowd and is so much easier than rolling out pastry.
Why you’ll LOVE this recipe
If pressed to choose my favorite pie, I would choose apple, but not just any recipe: I’d choose MY apple pie recipe. I’ve been making that recipe for over 20 years and it’s always a huge hit with family and friends. My easy apple crisp recipe with oats has fully cooked apples and a sweet and crunchy crumble topping without a pie crust.
The reason my recipe stands out is because I ensure that the apples are fully cooked through. There is nothing worse than biting into an apple pie and having chewy or crunchy apples that spring back at you.
I’ve been making this recipe for YEARS and am always getting asked for the recipe – so here it is! Sometimes you just want to make apple pie without the crust, and that’s when you make an Old Fashioned Apple Crisp. This is the best apple crisp recipe! It feeds a crowd and is easy to transport because it’s made in a 9×13-inch baking dish.
Ingredients in Apple Crumble
- Apple Cider: This helps create a sauce for the apples.
- Butter: You’ll need cold unsalted butter to make the crumble.
- Flour: To make the body of the crumble topping.
- Sugar: We’ll use granulated sugar for the apples and brown sugar for the crumble.
- Cinnamon: A must in any apple recipe.
- Apples: I love a tart Granny Smith apple or Honeycrisp apple for this recipe, but you can use your favorite apples.
How to make Apple Crisp Topping
- Boil the cider to reduce it – this will become a sauce for the crumble.
- Add peeled, diced, and chopped apples to a pan with butter, sugar, and cinnamon. Cook until the apples start to soften.
- While apples are cooking, add brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, and oats to a medium sized bowl Stir to combine. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until thick and crumbly.
- Once apples are done, add the reduced cider and apples to prepared pan. Sprinkle with crumble topping.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until crumble is lightly browned around the edges.
Expert Tips
- You can use any kind of apples you want.
- Feel free to add chopped pecans or any nuts.
- Easily add fresh blueberries – the combination of apple and blueberry are so good.
- Top this recipe with some caramel sauce or a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
FAQs
Yes, you should store apple crisp in the refrigerator. It will last about 3 days, but it shouldn’t because everyone will gobble it up.
You can freeze it, but I don’t recommend it. Thaw in the fridge.
Easy Apple Crisp Recipe
Ingredients
For the apples:
- 3 pounds apples (Granny Smith or Honey Crisp)
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1 cup (237ml) apple cider
- 2 tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter
- ¼ cup (50g) sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
For the crumb:
- ⅔ cup (134g) packed brown sugar
- 1 cup (124g) all-purpose flour
- 1 cup (84g) quick cooking oats
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 tablespoons (113g) unsalted butter, melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 9×13-inch pan with nonstick cooking spray.
- Peel, core, and slice apples. I like to cut them into thin slices, but you can cut them however you want. Sprinkle with about 1 teaspoon of lemon juice to prevent too much browning.
- Place apple cider in a 12-inch skillet over medium-high heat. Bring to a boil and cook until it reduces by half, approximately 5-8 minutes. Remove cider from pan.
- Place butter in the pan over medium heat and melt. Add apples, sugar, and cinnamon. Stir to coat apples. Cook, stirring occasionally, until apples just begin to soften (about 10-15 minutes depending on the size and thickness of your apples). You don't want them fully cooked, just partially (a little firmer than when you do a fork test to a potao).
- While apples are cooking, add brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, flour, and oats to a medium sized bowl Stir to combine. Add melted butter and stir with a fork until thick and crumbly.
- Once apples are done, add the reduced cider and apples to prepared pan. Sprinkle with crumble topping.
- Bake for about 20-25 minutes, or until crumble is lightly browned around the edges.
- May be made a day in advance. Refrigerate overnight. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream.
Recipe Notes
- If you have an oven-safe skillet that’s at least 12-inches around, you can use that for baking instead of transferring the mixture to a 9×13-inch pan.
Super easy recipe. I wasn’t sure how it would taste without brown sugar in the crumb on top, but it was still very flavorful. It’s perfectly balanced and definitely was even better with vanilla ice cream on top. This will be my go to apple pie recipe now. Much easier..haha
So glad you liked it!
I made this yesterday for dessert. I had some Apples (Pink Lady and Honey Crisp) that were in desperate need of being consumed in the next few days. So, I used them instead of Granny Smith’s and didn’t peel them (I didn’t want them to turn to mush)…Bonus! The dish turned out delicious! Oh, soo easy and got raves from the fam (yet, another Bonus!). I did bake mine for about 50-55 minutes in order to get the crust more golden.
Thanks for a great recipe! I’m sure I will use it over and over with different fruits and whatever I have on hand. And, will definitely try it with Granny Smiths!
I love any dessert with apple in it. I noticed you used all granny smith apples. Do you think this recipe would be good if I used half granny smith and half red delicious?
Love it!! Apple crisp one my favorites, ( like omitting the oats & still get the crunch)!!
Love the idea of par boiling the apples. My friend makes a pretty mean apple pie and she uses a variety of apples in one pie. I must admit it makes a complex flavour.
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