Apple Crumble
Apple Crumble is a 9×13 pan dessert full of sweetened apples and a thick crumble layer with brown sugar and oatmeal. Serve it with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream and whipped cream,…you will be in heaven. I promise you’ll believe it’s the best apple crumble recipe out there with tender apples and sweet fruit filling.
APPLE CRUMBLE RECIPE
My husband John is always on the search for the perfect apple crumble. It’s his favorite dessert.
He orders it at every restaurant and is always disappointed…not enough crumble on top, too dry, apples too mushy…you get the drift.
This version, however, he loved. I have always thought it’s bold to label a dish as “the best” or “perfect” because you set some really high expectations but I have no qualms about calling this the perfect apple dessert.
What I love about crumbles versus pies is that there’s no pie crust involved. I’m terrible at pie crusts.
INGREDIENTS
- Apples – you can use any fresh apples but here are my top apples for this recipe: Gala, Fiji, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp, Golden Delicious, or Granny Smith. Tart apples, like Granny Smith, complement the sweetness of the crumble. You don’t have to wait until apple season. They work in this dish all year.
- Old Fashioned Oats – quick oats will work as well but I like the texture of old fashioned.
- Brown Sugar
- White Sugar
- Cinnamon – can anything be better than warm cinnamon apples?
- Flour – a bit of flour makes it a crunchy topping.
- Lemon Juice – adds a bright flavor and helps make the sauce for the apples.
- Butter – usually crumble recipes use cold butter cut in with a pastry cutter, but this version uses melted butter.
- Nutmeg – there aren’t secret ingredients in this but if there were one, this would be it. It adds that special note to the juicy apples.
- Nuts
- Baking Powder/ Baking Soda
Just peel, core, and slice the apples. Not too thick, not too thick. I like to cut them in 1/4 inch slices. Sprinkle on some cinnamon sugar…
Add your crumbly topping.
If you aren’t good at pie crusts, try this easy Apple Crumble recipe for Thanksgiving instead of apple pie. Trust me…you won’t miss your pie a bit. Those other delicious desserts won’t be any competition.
HOW TO MAKE APPLE CRUMBLE
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Place the sliced apples in a 9×13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, nutmeg, and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples.
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For the Topping: In a large bowl, combine the oats, 1 cup flour, brown sugar, pecans, baking powder, baking soda and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
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Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes or until apples are cooked and crumble is golden brown.
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Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Serve warm with ice cream!
THE BEST APPLES FOR APPLE CRUMBLE
The kind of apples matter for your apple filling. Granny Smith apples are slightly tart and firm which make them great for baking apple desserts. You can’t miss these…they’re green apples.
OTHER APPLE RECIPES:
- Apple Muffins
- Caramel Apple Cheesecake Bars
- Apple Pie Caramel Apple
- Apple Crisp Pizza
- Salted Caramel Apple Cups
- Apple Crisp Cheese Danish
- Appledoodle Cookies
- Caramel Apple Cheesecake
Apple Crumble
Apple Crumble is a 9x13 pan dessert full of sweetened apples and a thick crumble layer with brown sugar and oatmeal. Serve it with some ice cream and you will be in heaven. I promise you'll believe it's the perfect crumble recipe.
Ingredients
Apples:
- 10 cups apples, peeled, cored and sliced (I use about 6 Granny Smith apples)
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice
Topping:
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts, (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Place the sliced apples in a 9x13 inch pan. Mix the white sugar, 1 tablespoon flour, nutmeg, and ground cinnamon together, and sprinkle over apples. Pour lemon juice on top.
- For the Topping: Combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, nuts (if using) and melted butter together. Crumble evenly over the apple mixture.
- Bake at 350 degrees for about 35-40 minutes or until apples are cooked and crumble is golden brown.
- Serve warm with vanilla ice cream.
Could this be made a day ahead of time and refrigerated until ready and still taste the same? Thanks!
Yes. The top can get a little soft if refrigerated more than a day or two.
also nuts optional don’t ever use too many people with nut allergies. again easy great dessert!!!!!!!!!!
excellent recipe. no need for the flower or baking soda.
You are right…this is THE BEST APPLE CRISP RECIPE EVER!!
Stop you search!
The apple/cinnamon/ sugar ratio is perfect. The amount of crumble on top is perfect. The crumble actually stays crunchy for several days after being made. We all love it! It is the only Apple crisp is will ever make again!! Thank you!
Thank yoU!
I was wondering if the nuts could be replaced by more oats? Thanks!
Sure!
May Perfect Apple Crisp be halved and baked in 8×8? If so for how long?
Yes, you can half it. You might be able to shave 10 minutes off. Just check to see if the apples are tender.
Great apple crisp
Thank you Matt!
This apple crisp is the best !!! It tastes like the apple crisp of 50 yrs. ago!! Been searching for a great apple crisp recipe!!! Ive made it 4-5 times and it turns out perfect everytime. Getting ready to try it with rhubarb & apples.
Thank you sooooo much for sharing ! Its a favorite around here
Made this tonight with fresh honey crisp apples, gluten free flour and 3 minute steel cut oats and walnuts!!! Best one I have ever made!!! I thought the topping might be too much…but it’s delicious!!! We served with whipped cream to cut down on the heavier ice cream. Perfection!
Yes, it’s definitely topping heavy.
I’ve been looking for a good apple crisp recipe. I LOVED this. It truly was “perfect” at my house!
Awesome to hear!
This truly is the best apple crisp recipe ever! I’ve tried crisps a lot and they are either too soggy, the ratio isn’t right, you name it. But I’ve made this twice now and it’s perfect every time and soooo easy! The topping stays crisp and has amazing flavor! Tart apples are the best in this recipe. Thank you!
thank you erin! I love it!
Absolutely perfect!! Made this on Monday & it was gone by Wednesday!! Thank you so much for this recipe
Oh my! I love hearing that.
The recipe makes a lot of topping, so don’t be surprised. Mine was kind of chewy but in a good way, mmmmm.
The recipe filled my pan to the very top, but as with my app,e pies it cooked down, a lot. The finished crisp is fairly thin.
I wanted to mix the sugar and spices with my apples, but I did not. Sprinkling it on top worked great and was cleaner that way. The crisp was very sweet and could have used less sugar but that depends on your apples alrhough mine were on the tart side.
All in all it was a fine recipe and easy to do. It was a hit.
Thank you!
Tastes great!! My crumble thought was more powdery than chunky. What did I do wrong! I did follow the recipe exactly.
Hmmm. That definitely doesn’t sound right? Too much flour?
More butter. If the crumble when mixed still appears “dusty” and doesnt cling to itself when pressed. Melt down more butter, maybe 1/4 cup at a time, drizzle it over yout crumble mixture, and REALLY MIX IT THOROUGHLY. Check for its ability to clump again. If it clumps when pressed, but crumbles when disturbed, thats the correct butter to dry ingredients ratio. Youre not looking for dough, more like damp sand. Clumpy, but brittle. Once that goes in the oven itll bring out the butter and it will travel through the dry mass making it crisp, but crumbly. No more dusty apple crisp.
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Thank You for this Jen! You did well naming it perfect. I’ve had nothing but compliments and have been asked what’s the secret more than one. This will be my pick for thanksgiving and will be a staple at my table!
Thank yoU!!
I want to try “The Perfect Apple Crisp” this Thanksgiving, but I would like to know the Nutritional content. Could you send it to my email?
Thank you.
[email protected]
Loved this recipe! We just picked fresh Johnagold apples and it was perfect. Probably the best crisp, I ever made and very simple. Melted butter is much easier to work with than a pastry blender. Thank you!
So true!
I didn’t add any sugar to the apples, and I added 1/2 cup brown sugar to the flour mixture – perfect!!! I live in Poland and the American amount of sugar would kill us:)
Ha. Glad you adjusted it to your tastes.
Has anyone doubled the crust ingredients and put half on the bottom?
I made this for Thanksgiving last week. It was a hit! We loved it and will be on the menu from now on. It really is The Perfect Apple Crisp!
Thank you! I need to update the photos but it’s one of my favorites.
Thank you!!
Hi Christy: Fall is my favorite time of the year. I do a lot of baking and I cannot wait to try your recipe, I have a feeling it will be wonderful. I am having company this weekend so you know it will our dessert with vanilla ice cream.
Thank you
Marilyn
You are so sweet. It’s one of my favorites. Perfect with ice cream.
I wanted to know the calorie count for the Apple Crisp
Girl I don’t know if you want to know…but I will add it at the bottom.
Hi Christy,
i just knew about ur website and love it! I’m from the other part of the world but as they say now a days nothing seems to be far from us!
Im a mother of 3 god bless them and i didn’t know a clue about cooking until i got married,, I’m into healthy life style and trying to explore new ingredients and recipes and to be honest its fun!
have u ever tried Oriental cuisine? i think u might love it especially with all the colorful dishes filled with different spices and flavors 🙂
can’t wait to try one of ur recipes though! <3
Yours sincerely ,
Amal
Amal,
Welcome! I love exploring new foods too so I hope we have the same taste.
We made this for a Thanksgiving dessert this year (2015). It was amazing. We made it just like you have written here except we have some gluten intolerant people in the family. Instead of using flour, we used the quisinart to make powder out of oats. It worked very well! We haved added this recipe into our Thanksgiving tradition.
We had gluten intolerant people too at our dinner. I should have done oat flour! Great idea.
I made this tonight, and my hubby and I loved it! Thanks! 🙂
You’re welcome!
This recipe is EASY and DELICIOUS!! I made this for dessert at my mom’s thanksgiving dinner. I shook the apples in a ziplock bag to have them nicely coated in the spice mixture. I added a cup of pecans which added a nice roasted flavour to the crisp. Needless to say it was a hit and there was none left!
Fantastic recipe! I added 1 tsp of vanilla extract to our crumble, but I put vanilla in anything I can get away with! Very tasty!
I’ve made this crisp with apples and with pears and both are fabulous. Tonight I wanted a topping for an apple pie so I made 1/4 of the amount of topping in this recipe and it made a perfect dutch apple pie.
Such a great recipe! I halved the topping so it would be a little less sweet, but it is so yummy either way. Love the nuts in the crumble! It’s so hard for me to find “the one” with recipes, but this is the only apple crisp recipe I am going to need. Thanks so much for giving me another keeper recipe 🙂
Thank you LC!