This easy apple crisp recipe is hands-down the best I’ve ever tried. It tastes warm and cozy thanks to the baked cinnamon apples and brown sugar oatmeal crumble topping. Made with fresh apples and simple pantry ingredients – it’s the perfect fall treat. 
When it comes to apple desserts – you can’t beat apple crisp. The apples turn sweet and tender as they bake, and are coated in cinnamon sugar goodness. And then the brown sugar oatmeal crumble on top? DIVINE.
(So divine I’m even capitalizing my letters).
What I also so love about apple crisp is that it’s made with easy, simple ingredients that you likely already have around the house. You can throw everything together without any fancy skills, ingredients or equipment – and you end up with the most delicious, comforting, cinnamon filled dessert around.
When I was kid my Mom would often make fruit crumbles and crisps for dessert at Sunday dinner. We always made ours with oatmeal crumble on top, and a hefty dose of cinnamon (could you really have it any other way). And if I was lucky, I might even get the cold leftovers for breakfast the next morning. (The benefits of being the youngest child).
Ok – let’s talk recipe specifics. 
What’s the Difference Between an Apple Crisp and Apple Crumble?
Well – that depends on who you ask. A fruit crumble is a baked fruit dessert. The bottom layer is made of fruit (apples, blueberries, peaches, etc), and the top layer is an oatmeal streusel – typically made with butter, flour, sugars, cinnamon & oats. An apple crisp is the exact same thing. Some say that fruit crisps don’t have oats, but I’ve always called it an apple crisp and had oats in my streusel topping.
How to Make an Apple Crisp
If you’ve never made an apple crisp before – there’s absolutely nothing stopping you. To get started, make the topping:
- Whisk together the flour, sugars, cinnamon, salt & oats.
- Cut cold butter into small chunks, then add it into the bowl.
- Work the butter into the flour mixture by either cutting it in with a pastry cutter or fork, or crumbling it in using your fingers.
In the end, you should no longer have chunks of butter and it will be crumbly in texture. If you squeeze it in your palm it’ll stick together, but it definitely won’t resemble a dough per say. Here’s what mine looked like. 
Then it’s time to make the apple layer. What kind of apples are best for apple crisp?
Apple crisp really isn’t too fussy of a dessert. Choose an apple that’s slightly tart and firm because the apples will sweeten and soften as the crisp bakes, and a slightly tarter apple really compliments the brown sugar cinnamon flavor. I like to use Granny Smith apples – Honey Crisp or Empire work well too.
Peel the apples and slice into thin slices. Then we make a cinnamon sugar mixture by whisking together melted butter, water, a little flour, cinnamon & sugar. The mixture gets drizzled on top of the apples to coat them evenly. I find this step absolutely necessary because it helps the apples soften and sweeten as they bake without getting too soupy.
The apple mixture is spooned into the bottom of a greased 2-quart casserole dish (a 9×9 inch square pan, 8×8 inch square pan, or 11×7 inch casserole pan work perfectly). Then the crumble topping is crumbled on top. Your pan will definitely look quite full but as the apples bake and soften they take up less volume – so you don’t need to worry about the pan overflowing.
The cinnamon apples end up with this delicious cinnamon coating that has a slight caramel flavor, and the oatmeal crumble is buttery, crunchy and delicious.
Apple Crisp
Ingredients
Crumble
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup packed brown sugar
- ½ cup large flake oats
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter , cut into cubes
Apple Filling
- 6 large apples , I recommend Granny Smith
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter , melted
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons water
- ⅓ cup white sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Grease a 2-quart baking dish.
- In a medium bowl stir together the flour, brown sugar, oats, cinnamon & salt.
- Add in the butter and cut it in using a pastry cutter or rub the butter into the dry ingredients using your fingers. At the end it should be crumbly in texture, but no large chunks of butter should remain. Place in the fridge as you make the filling.
- Peel and slice the apples into thin slices about ⅛ - ¼ inch thick.
- Whisk together the melted butter, flour, water, sugar, cinnamon & nutmeg.
- Pour the mixture over the sliced apples and toss to coat.
- Spoon the apples into the greased pan, then crumble the oatmeal crumble overtop.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30-40 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and you can see the apples bubbling around the edges of the pan.
- Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before serving.
My autistic daughter had to make an Apple Crisp recipe for her Foods Class in school. She chose this one. It was simple enough for her to follow the directions and, with a little help from me, was able to make this for her assignment. She was so excited to show this off to family and her teacher! And the taste… YUM!! This recipe was not overly sweet which allowed for the taste of the apples to come thru. It was delicious! From my daughter and myself – thank you so much for sharing!
Hi Kathy,
Thank you so much for your sweet comment – it’s hearing back from readers like you and your daughter who really make me love blogging. I’m so glad the apple crisp was a success.
-Fiona
this looks very good. one question – can you be more specific about the large flake oats? I’ve never heard of large flake oats. Thanking you in advance.
Hi Caroline,
Large flake oats are also sometimes called Old-Fashioned Oats. They’re rolled oats and larger than quick oats. This would be an example: https://www.quakeroats.ca/products/large-flake-quaker%C2%AE-oats Or:
Can I add fresh cranberries to this without altering anything else? Thank you!
I haven’t tried it myself – so I’m not sure of the exact proportions. I would add more sugar since cranberries are tart. Probably 3/4 – 1 cup sugar instead of 1/3 cup. And I think I’d use maybe 3 apples (about 3-4 cups chopped) and 1 1/2 – 2 cups cranberries.
I just made this last night and it turned out delicious! I always worry about apple crisp being too sweet. I used a mix of Honey Crisp and Sweet Tart apples and added the juice of 1/2 lemon. Otherwise, I followed the recipe to the letter.
Thanks for sharing this recipe. It’ll be my “go-to” from now on!
I have never made a crisp before but was craving something like this tonight. I loved how simple this recipe was, and it turned out delicious and perfect. I did end up baking it about 10 minutes longer than recipe stated to get the top golden brown and apples bubbling up underneath, but that might have just been because I used a relatively small, deep baking dish. I didn’t modify anything else. Thank you for sharing. I will definitely make this again.
Can you make the day before then bake??
I’ve made many versions of Apple Crisp in my lifetime but this recipe is the closest to the old fashioned crisps of the 50’s and 60’s made by my grandmother. This will certainly be my go to recipe. Thank you for posting.
Thank you for this delicious recipe. Best apple crisp ever!
I made this apple crisp for my family and it was mash they loved it . Thank you for sharing the recipe it is hit in my books
Thank you so much for reporting back, Pauline. Happy fall!