Old Fashioned Apple Crisp With Brown Sugar Oat Topping

Learn how to make an easy, no-fail old-fashioned apple crisp recipe with tender cinnamon apples. This classic fall dessert uses cold butter and old-fashioned rolled oats for a perfectly crispy brown sugar oat topping every single time. Best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!

Nothing screams fall quite like a homemade apple pie. Sometimes I have a hard time choosing what to make because there are so many variations, like Dutch apple crumb pie or my favorite apple quickie. This old fashioned apple crisp is great when you need something easy; there’s no bottom crust, so you can just dump the filling into the bottom of your baking dish, add the crispy brown sugar topping, and bake.

The secret to making a perfectly crispy apple crisp topping is to use old fashioned rolled oats. That said, if you don’t like the oats, I have a super delicious apple crumble recipe without oats that you can make instead.

Ingredients & Substitutions Notes

• Apples – Granny Smith apples are generally preferred for an apple crisp because they stay firm and don’t turn to mush. They have a sharp, sour taste that cuts through the sweetness of the cinnamon/sugar for a more balanced flavor. If you can’t find Granny Smiths, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, Braeburn or Golden Delicious all make great alternatives.
• Butter – The trick to making a perfectly crispy topping is to use cold salted butter instead of melted butter. I’ll show you how to blend it in with a pastry blender in the steps below. The goal is small pockets of salted butter that melt into crispy nuggets all throughout the topping, rather than using melted butter to make a greasy paste.
• Sour Cream – A little bit of sour cream balances out the heavy sweetness of the sugar and apples, and it also elevates the cinnamon. Plain greek yogurt makes a good substitute if you don’t have any sour cream on hand.
• Lemon Juice – Lemon juice keeps your sliced apples from turning brown while you prep them.
• Rolled Oats – I recommend using old-fashioned rolled oats. They’re just the right thickness for a hearty crunch. Quick oats will also work, but they’ll be softer and less chewy.
• All-Purpose Flour – You’ll need all-purpose flour for the topping. You can make this recipe gluten-free by swapping it out with gluten-free all-purpose flour.
• Spices – You’ll need ground cinnamon for the filling and ground nutmeg for the topping.

How to Make an Old Fashioned Apple Crisp

Before getting started, pre-heat the oven to 375° F. Then you’ll need to wash, core, peel, and slice the apples into a large bowl.

Prep the Spiced Cinnamon Apple Filling

1. Start by stirring the melted butter, sour cream, and lemon juice into the sliced apples.
2. Mix in the sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn starch, and cinnamon, ’til everything is mixed well. Pour the apple mixture into an 8×8 or 7×9 baking dish and set aside.

Mix the Crispy Brown Sugar Oat Topping

1. In a separate large bowl, use a pastry blender to mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and sliced butter.
2. Crumble the topping over the apples in the baking dish.

How to Bake Your Old-Fashioned Apple Crisp

That’s it! Bake your old fashioned apple crisp at 375° F for about 1 hour, or ’til the top is a deep golden brown. Remove the crisp from the oven and allow to cool. Homemade apple crisp is best served while still slightly warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of homemade whipped cream.

Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s

More Apple Desserts

• Apple Bundt Cake With Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting
• Apple Cinnamon Buttermilk Pancakes
• Caramel Apple Donut Holes

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