Easy Homemade Vegan Apple Crisp Recipe
Gooey, soft caramelized spiced apples and a crisp oat crumble make up this ridiculously easy dump-and-bake style vegan apple crisp recipe. It’s basically like an old-fashioned, classic apple crisp- without the dairy, yet you’d NEVER know. You’re just 45 minutes away from the best classic fall comfort dessert, served warm with a scoop of (vegan) vanilla ice cream to finish!
This is a family favorite easy vegan Thanksgiving dessert recipe when you’re looking for something simpler than pie, but just as satisfying. And if you just LOVE those gooey, caramelized “apple pie” style apples, then you just need to try my vegan apple pie cinnamon rolls, which literally feel like a combination of apple pie in cinnamon roll form!
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If I were to choose one apple recipe to make this fall, it would be this: classic apple crisp, made VEGAN!
Here’s why you need to make this recipe:
- As delicious as pie, but way easier. We’re simply tossing all the ingredients together, quickly assembling in one casserole dish and baking. The result? A filling with caramelized gooey sliced apples, coated in a sweet cinnamon, and topped with a sweet and crisp oat crumble topping that just makes you swoon. But if you ARE a pie lover as well, then you won’t be disappointed by this classic vegan apple pie with caramelized apples!
- Unbelievably vegan and dairy free. I had some of my non-vegan family members even test this apple crisp recipe, and they were speechless. Like literally could not believe there was no real butter in here, and yet the apple filling was perfectly gooey and rich?! And that crumble was *crisp*!!
- No need to pre-cook the apples! Unlike apple pie, which sometimes requires you to pre-cook the apples to remove any moisture that would create a soggy pie crust bottom, this apple crisp thrives with extra moisture from the apples! That’s how we get our super gooey texture! And for another super easy apple dessert that requires ZERO pre-cooked apples, you’ll love my moist vegan apple fritter cake with cinnamon crumble.
- Simple ingredients. We’re talking apples, sugar, light brown sugar, oats, and flour. And some spices and vegan butter- that’s it!
- You can serve it immediately: No need to cool! Just scoop some vegan ice cream on top and devour!
Key Ingredients:
- Apples: Particularly the sweet variety (think Gala or Honeycrisp…Fuji works great too!). Many people say not to use Gala apples for apple pie, but I think it’s delicious in an apple crisp.
- Light brown sugar: In my testing, using light brown sugar will give us a deeper flavor than just granulated sugar (thanks to the extra molasses coating the light brown sugar!).
- Cornstarch: You can also use arrowroots starch if you cannot have corn. This will help bind our ingredients.
- All-purpose flour: For our crisp, we’re combining flour with oats. If you’re gluten-free (and can tolerate oats), I recommend using gluten-free all-purpose flour (like King Arthur Measure-for-Measure gluten-free flour). I’ve used this one in particular in testing, and it worked really well!
- Rolled oats: PLEASE make sure these are rolled oats and NOT quick oats nor steel-cut oats. Neither option will work!
- Ground cinnamon: I personally love just classic cinnamon here (instead of Ceylon cinnamon- but up to you!).
- Vegan butter: The one ingredient that could skew non-vegan if needed, but it REALLY works well as a vegan apple crisp. I make a homemade vegan butter (recipe coming soon!), but for store bought varieties, you can use Earth Balance or even just plain refined coconut oil. Just make sure it’s refined, as you don’t want the coconut flavor coming through!
How to make the best vegan apple crisp recipe:
- Toss together the apples. In a large mixing bowl or directly into the casserole dish you plan to bake in, you’ll add lemon and cinnamon, and toss until evenly coated. Then pour the sliced apples into your casserole dish.
- Make the oat crisp in a separate bowl.
- Assemble the apple crisp and bake! Then top the apple layer with the cinnamon oat crumble. Place into the oven, covered with some tin foil for the start, to bake.
- Serve & enjoy! Once baked, serve warm with vegan ice cream and enjoy!
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Once it’s done, remove it from the oven with an oven mitt and let it cool for a few minutes before topping with some vegan vanilla ice cream and diving in!
Frequently Asked Questions:
Do I need to remove the apple peels for an apple crisp?
In my experimenting, the best apple crisp comes from removing the apple peels. I know, it adds an extra 5 minutes of work. But when I tested it without removing the peels, it didn’t feel as consistently gooey and caramelized.
Like my vegan apple crumble cheesecake with gooey cinnamon apples, the apples become SO gooey because the peel is removed.
Some people don’t mind the texture with the peels, but personally, I want a really consistently gooey and caramelized apple filling- almost like an apple pie. So remove the peels!
What are the best apples for an apple crisp?
The old standard used to be Granny Smith, but I’ll be honest- I’ve NEVER liked an apple pie nor an apple crisp with Granny Smith apples. I strictly use sweeter varieties, like Gala, Fuji, Cosmic Apples, etc. They caramelize so much more easily and are just more pleasant to enjoy!
Should an apple crisp bake covered or uncovered?
Covering the apple crisp for the first 30 minutes of baking. Then we uncover it for the remainder of the baking to let the oat crumble crisp up!
Let me explain: we’re trapping warm air into the filling at first to melt the granulated sugar and really caramelize the apple sugars. The moisture has nowhere to evaporate because it’s trapped, so it helps keep the filling soft, gooey, and caramelized.
After the caramelization process, we can uncover the apple crisp so that the oat crumble on top can continue cooking and crisp up just enough while still keeping the apples below soft, tender and gooey.
🌟MADE THIS RECIPE & LOVED IT?🌟I’d love it if you’d like a comment and a rating ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ below! This helps others to find the recipes! As always, I absolutely love to see your beautiful creations on Instagram and Pinterest, so be sure to tag me there as well!
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Easy Homemade Vegan Apple Crisp Recipe
- Prep Time: 5
- Cook Time: 50
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 10 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Vegan
Description
Gooey, soft caramelized spiced apples and a crisp “buttery” oat crumble make up this ridiculously easy dump-and-bake style vegan apple crisp recipe. It’s basically like an old-fashioned, classic apple crisp- without the dairy, yet you’d NEVER know. You’re just 45 minutes away from the best classic fall comfort dessert, served warm with a scoop of (vegan) vanilla ice cream to finish!
Ingredients
Apple Filling:
- 5 large Gala, Fuji, Golden or Cosmic apples, skin removed and sliced into 1″ chunks
- 1/2 cup (105 g) light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Oat Crumble:
- 1 cup (100 g) rolled oats
- ½ cup (62 g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (110 g) light brown sugar
- 1 tbsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp sea salt
- ½ cup (113 g) salted vegan butter, cold and cubed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- Please read through all instructions before beginning.
- Prep: Preheat the oven to 350F and grease a medium sized casserole dish or cast iron skillet with oil. Set aside. Make sure the apples are peeled and chopped. Measure out all remaining ingredients.
- Make the apple crisp filling: In the casserole dish, combine all apple filling ingredients. Toss to evenly coat the apples in the remaining ingredients. Once coated evenly, set aside to make the crumble.
- Make the oat crumble: In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, light brown sugar, cinnamon, and sea salt. Add in the cubed and cold vegan butter, and much like rubbing butter into pie dough, use clean hands to rub the butter into the flour mixture until it resembles a sandy mixture. Add in the vanilla extract and mix to evenly coat the crumbles. It will seem dry but as long as you rubbed the butter thoroughly to coat all of the dry ingredients, it will bake into a crisp.
- Assemble the apple crisp: Sprinkle the crumble topping on top of all of the apples.
- Bake: Cover with tin foil and place into the oven to bake for 30 minutes, then remove the tin foil and bake the apple crisp for another 15-20 minutes. Remove from oven using an oven mix and let cool for 10 minutes. You can carefully place a piece of tinfoil back over to maintain moisture.
- Serve and enjoy! Serve with your favorite ice cream! Store any leftovers in an air tight container for up to 5 days in the fridge.
Notes
Gluten-free: This recipe work with King Arthur Measure-for-Measure Gluten-Free Baking Flour.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 cup
- Calories: 278
- Sugar: 30.5 g
- Sodium: 123.6 mg
- Fat: 9.4 g
- Saturated Fat: 5.9 g
- Carbohydrates: 46.6 g
- Fiber: 3.4 g
- Protein: 2.3 g
- Cholesterol: 24.4 mg
This is the best apple crisp I have ever had!!! Thank you for sharing!
Do you think this could be made in a crockpot? I would like to make it a work function but have no way to heat up and it’s definitely better warm.
The vegan apple crisp recipe is super easy and delicious. I actually used the apples from my apple tree, which are semisweet, but still worked out great. I did NOT add any sugar to compensate for the apples, so just a little bit tart, but still very good. Thanks for sharing your recipes!
This is a super delicious and easy recipe. Love it!
Tasty! The only thing missing was a bit of salt in the crumble topping, which I added after baking. (I used granny Smith apples, omitted the maple syrup, and added a couple tablespoons of monkfruit sweetener).
Hi Amy! Wonderful! So glad you were able to make it perfect for YOU! Thanks so much for sharing. 🙂
My apples did not carmelize. The taste was good, but the apples were slightly undercooked and you had promised carmelized :{
I followed the recipe and baked at 375 for 30 minutes, then uncovered for 20, then I turned off the heat but forgot to take them out for another 15-20 minutes.
Hi Dr Debra! Were you able to skin the apples first? This is essential to getting the apples to caramelize!
Can it be made without the maple syrup?
Yes definitely! You can swap in coconut sugar, maple sugar, or even light brown sugar.