Ultimate Apple Crisp is a fall favorite full of sliced apples, cinnamon, brown sugar, butter, and crispy baked oats.
We have a passion for apple crisp in this house, and in our kitchen this week we’re cooking up Apple Crisp Crumb Cake, Apple Crisp Cookies, and my Legendary Apple Crisp Pie!
Ultimate Apple Crisp
Ultimate Apple Crisp is a MUST in our house when this time of the year rolls around. My favorite part is that it tastes a lot like apple pie, with less than half of the work!
Plus the topping. The topping is the best part of any dessert because it’s crispy, buttery, full of brown sugar and it has (in our house at least) a giant scoop of vanilla ice cream melting over it making it this mix of hot and cold and buttery. Did I mention the apple and caramel-y goodness in the apple mixture? This dessert is heaven.
The apples cook down with the brown sugar and spices to make something really close to apple pie filling. And the soft texture of the apples are perfectly matched with the crispy crunch of the oat crumble topping. My kids LOVE having this dessert with vanilla ice cream on the holidays.
You can assemble this apple crisp recipe ahead of time or even freeze it so it’s ready when you are. You can also throw nuts into the crisp streusel topping, like pecan or almonds, to add even MORE crunchy texture.
HOW DO YOU MAKE APPLE CRISP TOPPING?
Apple crisp topping uses all-purpose flour, butter, and sugar as the base. From there, you can add ingredients like oats, nuts, seeds, or pieces of dried fruit for sweetness and crunch. Each apple crisp recipe does it a little bit differently. You want to cover the entire dessert, so make enough for the length of the baking dish.
Make sure you’re using rolled oats for this topping and not quick oats or oatmeal. You need the firmness of the rolled oats to stand up to the baking, the others will disappear into the topping when baked.
I also consider ice cream a topping, even if it’s not technically part of the apple crisp recipe, because it really completes the dessert.
WHAT KIND OF APPLES DO YOU USE FOR APPLE CRISP?
Fuji, Cortland, Golden Delicious, Honey Crisp, Braeburn or Granny Smith apples all great choices for this because they are all sweet / tart apples, and hold up really well in this crisp recipe. These are also great for baking other recipes, like Apple Slab Pie With Spiced Glaze.
Choose your favorite apple and it’ll likely work, just please don’t use apple filling from a can or store bought caramel sauce.
HOW TO MAKE OLD FASHIONED APPLE CRISP IN THE SLOW COOKER
Add apples to slow cooker and stir together with orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
In a separate bowl mix together your all-purpose flour, sugar, and other topping ingredients, and add on top of apples.
Bake on high for a total time of 3-4 hours, or on low for 6-8 hours. In the last half hour, open top slightly. This will help the top crisp up of the dessert.
Serve warm with ice cream.
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CAN YOU MAKE APPLE CRISP IN ADVANCE?
Apple crisp is a great make ahead dessert because it can be assembled in a baking or casserole dish and stored in the refrigerator for 1-2 days before baking. You can also seal it tightly and freeze it, then defrost in the refrigerator for at least 24 hours before baking.
HOW DO YOU STORE APPLE CRISP?
Cooked apple crisp should be cooled and tightly sealed either in a container or with plastic wrap, and stored in the refrigerator. It will keep about 2-3 days. You can also wrap the apple crisp tightly and freeze it. When you’re ready, defrost in the refrigerator.
TIPS FOR HOMEMADE APPLE CRISP
- Make sure you’re using rolled oats. They are less processed then quick cooking or instant oats, so you’ll get a crispier crust this way.
- Don’t skip the brown sugar. It adds some of those deep molasses notes to the apple crisp that make it really flavorful instead of just sweet.
- If you don’t have a stand mixer, you can pulse the topping ingredients a few times in the food processor. Just make sure to not over-process, or the topping won’t turn out as crispy.
- Once you add your butter you want about pea-sized pieces.
- If you cut your apples ahead of time, add 1-2 tablespoons of lemon juice to keep them from browning.
- For the full dessert experience, top warm apple crisp with cold vanilla ice cream!
- If you want a fun topping that isn’t caramel sauce use apple cider that you cook down to a glaze. You’ll love it so much you’ll never use caramel sauce again.
Ultimate Apple Crisp
Ingredients
- 2 pounds Fuji or Granny Smith apples peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup orange juice
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 1/2 cups flour
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar , packed
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
- 1/2 pound cold unsalted butter , diced
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
In a large bowl add the apple slices, orange juice, 1/4 cup sugar, 1/4 cup brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg.
To make the crisp topping, mash together the flour, 3/4 cup sugar, 3/4 cup brown sugar, salt, oats and butter.
Add the apples to a 8x8 pan and add the crisp topping on top before baking for 30-40 minutes or until golden brown.
Recipe Notes
Note: click on times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer while cooking.
I had an issue where I added too much cinnamon but otherwise it tastes amazing. Any suggestions?
I am planning on making this for Thanksgiving. Does it turn out caramely? I had a quest for a apple crisp with lots of caramel ?thank you in advance!
This recipe is very crisp heavy which is our favorite but it’s still got a saucy filling. If you want more caramel sauce You could double the sauce mixture but it’s going to be a LOT. As in a lot of heavy flavors. If you like the crisp topping, this is absolutely hands down your dessert, it just hasn’t been tested with tons of sauce. Happy Thanksgiving!
I made this last year for Thanksgiving and everyone loved it. I’ve tried multiple Apple crisp recipes and this is by far the best. I do have a question for this year though, I need to make it gluten free and I was wondering if there is any specific flour substitute you would recommend? Or maybe they would all turn out pretty much the same? I don’t know anything about gluten free baking ?
Thank you so much for the glowing review!
I don’t do a lot of gluten free baking, but the recipes I’ve made I use the King Arthur Gluten Free Flour and it seems to be as good as gluten free baking can get!
Just tried this recipe out! I used 1/4 less butter only because I didnt have enough. came out perfect in a 9×13 glass pan. Even made the apple cider glaze and vanilla ice cream to go with it 🙂 thank you thank you!
This is my dads new favorite dessert. Now I’m making two other of your recipes for Thanksgiving. So delicious! Thanks for sharing. 🙂
Yay! I’m so happy to hear that, thank you so much for the review. This is one of my favorite recipes too!
Very good! Thanks for the recipe, perfect for a cold snowing winter day.
My other half truly appreciates you, I appreciate the ease of the recipe.
Thanks for the 5 stars, Eileen.
This has been my go-to recipe for YEARS! Easy to make vegan, too ? Thanks for sharing this with the world!
Yay!! Thanks for the stars, Maneta.
do you need nutmeg for this?
I used 1 teaspoon of nutmeg for this recipe. If you don’t have it, you can substitute with more cinnamon or ginger or clove. Pumpkin pie spice would even make a great substitution. Hope this helps!
I made it 4 days ago and just ate the last bit myself last night… Fantastic. Another winner. Made it as written. Gosh, thank you for this awesome recipe! lol
This was a great recipe and had great flavor! I’m fairly new to baking, so I’m thinking may have messed up the topping. I cubed the cold butter and mixed it in. When it was done baking the top layer looked kind of dry and powdery instead of what is pictured. Is there a tip or recommendation you can offer? Thanks in advance!
I’m so glad you enjoyed it. It sounds like maybe your butter was still in too big of pieces. Try mashing it more into smaller pieces that’ll melt easier. Hope this helps.
Would it work to replace the apples with peaches and if so, would the amounts still be the same? This looks amazing ! Thank you
Yes 🙂
Really Good recipe! I made this for fourth of July and got a lot of great feedback!
Thanks for coming back to let me know, Rachel. I appreciate the 5 star rating.
Instructions very short worded and unhelpful
Was there something specific you had a question on that I could help with?
love this!! my boyfriend, friends, family, everyone. so good
Simple and delicious! I swapped out orange juice for lemon juice and used gluten-free flour. It turned out really well. I will definitely use this recipe again!
Sounds like a great swap, so glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Do you pour the apples with the juice into the dish?
Yes 🙂
Some nice woman gave me a bag of apples this past weekend and I just made this Apple Crisp. It was absolutely delicious but I am not sure how you made this in an 8×8 pan. I did mine in 9×13 and it was perfect. I did bake it for about 50 minutes. So good!
Soooo good! Hubby said it was perfect! It has the best apple to topping ratio of any crisp ever! It totally fits in an 8×8 pan so I’m not sure what other people are talking about. Smoosh it in the pan if you have to, but don’t be afraid of the topping. It condenses a little during baking anyway. I cannot say enough about how amazing this recipe is!!!
I used a 9” x 13” glass pan.
Additional ingredients added:
Apple mixture:
Add 1 cup of frozen cranberries.
Instead of Orange juice, substitute 1/2 cup of Countreau or Grande Marnier
Crumble Topping:
Add 1/2 cup of chopped unsalted pecans
Absolutely incredibly awesome recipe. Love it!!! Bakes up like a dream. Be courageous, use all the crumble topping. You’ll be glad you did.