Easy Apple Crisp with Oats Recipe
Sorry for being MIA folks! We recently moved and underwent a huge kitchen renovation so we were out of commission for a while. However, we are back to our regularly scheduled program with the best apple crisp recipe 🙂
Winter is quickly approaching but that does not mean Fall is quite over yet. One of our favourite fall dishes to make is Apple Crisp. In my personal opinion, this is the best apple crisp recipe and it is a much simpler (and better) alternative to a traditional apple pie recipe with way less carbs. Best of all, you can easily adapt this to be a vegan recipe by using vegan substitute ingredients!
What we love about this dish is the tenderness and slight tartness of the baked apples which is complemented by the sweet and crispy texture of the crisp filling. Just check out that texture 🙂
Best Apples for Apple Crisp
While you can technically use any types of apples to make apple crisp, some apples tend to yield better results than others. If you enjoy a bit of variety, feel free to use a combination of sweet and tart apples! Here are our recommendations for the best apples to use for the best apple crisp recipe:
- Granny Smith – This is the OG apple used in baking. The reason they are so popular amongst bakers is that they are crisp and tart – making it easier to balance the flavour of desserts which are often on the sweeter side.
- Fuji – This is my personal favourite apple. It’s sweet and crunchy and holds its shape great when baked. If you have a sweet tooth, you’ll likely enjoy this type of apple in your apple crisp.
- Honey Crisp – If you like things a bit sweet, Honey Crisp is another great choice.
How to Make the Best Apple Crisp Recipe
To make this apple crisp recipe, you will need the following ingredients:
- Apples of your choice
- All purpose flour
- Brown and White Sugar
- Ground Cinnamon
- Nutmeg
- Old Fashioned Rolled Oats (also known as Large Flake Oats)
- Baking Powder
- Baking Soda
- Unsalted Butter
You will also need the following tools/equipment:
- Wire whisk
- Pastry cutter/fork
- 9 x 13 baking dish
1. Assemble the Apple Filling
First, preheat your oven to 350 F. Then, whisk together white sugar, brown sugar, all purpose flour, ground cinnamon, and nutmeg in a large bowl. Add in your chopped apples and toss to evenly coat them in this sugar mixture. Lastly, add in a tablespoon of water to help everything homogenize and give it one final toss/mix. Add this apple mixture to your 9 x 13 baking dish, filling it as much as you can without it overflowing.
2. Prepare the Oat Crisp Topping
In a separate large bowl, combine the rolled oats, all purpose flour, packed brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and cold diced butter. Using a pastry cutter (or a fork if you don’t have one), cut the cold butter into the flour mixture until the mixture looks lumpy yet homogenized. You want to basically create a crisp mixture with lots of tiny bits of butter so that when it bakes, the butter melts evenly to ensure a nicely brown crisp topping. It should look something like the photo below.
3. Assemble and bake for 45 mins!
Finally, add your oat crisp topping to your apples in your baking dish, ensuring that you don’t add too thick of a layer (you may have excess crisp topping). Add just enough so that you still see a bit of the apples poking through underneath. If you add too much, the topping won’t crisp up properly.
After 45 minutes, your Apple Crisp is done! Allow to cool for 10 minutes and then serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
You can serve them in individual portions too!
Instead of serving this in a traditional baking tray where you need to scoop the apple crisp onto individual plates for serving, how about baking them in little ramekins so that they’re ready to serve as is? Not only do they look super adorable, but it keeps the structural integrity of the dish in place as you don’t need to scoop it out of the tray. Just scoop on a dollop of fresh vanilla ice cream and it’s ready to serve!
How to Store Apple Crisp
Apple crisp stores beautifully in the fridge. Simply cover the baking dish in some aluminum foil and it can store in the fridge for up to 3-5 days. When you’re ready to have it again, simply pop it back in the oven and reheat at 375 F for approximately 10 minutes or until it is warm in the middle.
Other variations of this recipe
The great thing about this recipe is that it is very adaptable and you can do this with just about any other fruit as the filling. This recipe is also very similar our other cobbler and crumble recipes, check them out below!
Did you enjoy this recipe? If so, leave us a comment below or tag us on @cookingwithteamj on instagram with your creation!
Easy Apple Crisp with Oats Recipe
Ingredients
Filling
- 5 apples of your choice (or enough to fill your baking dish), peeled, core removed and cut into small pieces (e.g. granny smith, fuji, etc)
- 1 tbsp all purpose flour
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
- 1 tbsp water
Oat Crisp Topping**
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats/large flake oats
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
Save to BigOven Instructions
- 1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
- 2. In a large mixing bowl, add flour, brown sugar, white sugar, ground cinnamon and nutmeg and whisk to combine. Then, add in your chopped apples and toss to coat. Finally, add in about 1 tbsp of water and continue to toss to coat. Add apples to a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
- 3. In a separate large mixing bowl, prepare the crisp topping. Combine all purpose flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, cold butter and nutmeg into a bowl. Using a pastry cutter (or a fork), cut the cold butter into the dry mixture until it reaches a peameal consistency. The mixture should look lumpy but somewhat homogenous (refer to image in blog post above).
- 4. Spread the crisp topping evenly on top of the apples in the baking pan, making sure to not add too much crisp topping. You should still be able to see a bit of the apple pieces poking through. If the crisp topping is too thick, this may prevent the topping from browning and crisping up evenly.
- 5. Bake for approximately 45 minutes or until a fork can be easily inserted into the apples. Remove from oven and allow to cool for 5-10 minutes before serving. Serve with a fresh scoop of vanilla ice cream!
