If you are a fan of easy and cozy fall desserts, this vegan apple crisp recipe is a must-have. Sweet, tender apples beneath a golden brown and crisp oat topping.
Table of Contents
When apple season arrives, we are always looking for ways to bake with them.
We love them in our vegan apple cake and our french inspired vegan apple tart. But for a really easy apple dessert, we love this tasty vegan apple crisp!
It's the perfect combination of sweet and tart, soft and crunchy, which is finished off with some chopped nuts and a dash of warming cinnamon.
Ingredient tips
Here's what you'll need to make this dairy-free apple crisp:
Flour: We use all-purpose flour or plain flour.
Vegan butter: Use a firm block or stick style of vegan butter for the best flavor. We like Flora Plant or Naturli.
Sugar: We use light brown sugar in the crisp mixture for its warm caramel flavor. In the filling, just a couple of spoonfuls of regular vegan sugar or granulated sugar give a bit extra sweetness to the apples.
Oats: Choose rolled or old-fashioned oats, jumbo oats, or quick oats. Don't use steel-cut oats for this recipe.
Nuts: We love the extra richness and crunch that chopped nuts bring to the topping. We mostly use walnuts or almonds. You can also use pecans, hazelnuts, or pistachios. Pumpkin and sunflower seeds can be used as a nut-free alternative.
Apples: You want to use a type of apple suitable for baking that won't go completely mushy when cooked. Granny Smith apples are a great choice, but you can also use other crisp varieties such as Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Fuji.
You can even use a combination of half tart apples and half sweet apples. If just using sweeter apples, you may wish to reduce the sugar in the filling, depending on your preference.
Lemon Juice: A squeeze of lemon helps to reduce browning of the apples, and brightens up their flavor.
Cinnamon: Because apples + cinnamon are the perfect pair.
Step by step pictures
Here's a visual guide to making this easy vegan apple crisp. You'll find the full, adjustable and printable recipe at the bottom of the post.
Step 1 - Core and chop apples. We dice the apples for a more chunky and bitesize texture. If you want a softer texture you can slice the apple thinly.
Step 2 - Combine chopped apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon.
Step 3 - Combine flour, sugar, butter, oats, and nuts to make the crisp topping.
Step 4 - Spread apples in a baking dish and distribute the crisp mixture on top of the apple layer.
Step 5 - Bake at 350℉ / 180℃ for 40-50 minutes, until golden and bubbly.
Variations and substitutions
To make vegan and gluten-free apple crisp: Use oat flour or a measure-to-measure gluten-free flour blend instead of all purpose flour and gluten-free certified oats if needed.
Change up the spices: You can add a pinch of nutmeg, cardamon, or dried ginger in addition to the cinnamon.
Bonus ingredients: A handful of dried cranberries or raisins is also delicious!
Make different fruit crisps: The crispy oat topping can be used with other fruits, such as pear or blackberry. When adding berries to a crisp we'd recommend increasing the lemon juice to 1 tablespoon and mixing it with 1 level tablespoon of cornstarch (cornflour UK) to form a slurry. Add it to the fruit filling to help thicken the extra juices.
FAQs
Nowadays, the terms crisp and crumble are often used interchangeably. However, a traditional apple crumble topping is made of just flour, sugar, and butter. A crisp, however, traditionally includes oats in the topping.
You don't have to peel the apples for this recipe, but you can if you are not a fan of the apple skin. We usually don't peel our apples as we like the convenience and the peel which adds more texture to the filling.
We used a rectangular Le Creuset baking dish 11 x 7 inches (about 28 x 18 cm). You can also use a 9 x 9 inch (23cm) square baking pan.
If you double the recipe to serve more people, you can use a deep 13 x 9 inch (33 x 23 cm) casserole dish.
Serving and storage
This crisp is delicious served warm with some vegan vanilla ice cream.
We also like leftovers cold for breakfast the next day!
You can store the apple crisp in the fridge for up to 3 days. Cover it loosely.
Reheat it in the oven until warm to refresh the crispy topping.
More vegan apple recipes
Been apple picking and looking for more ways to cook with apples? Try out these other yummy apple recipes!
Vegan Apple Cake - This has a delicious walnut streusel topping.
Vegan Apple Tart - A perfect fall dessert with simple ingredients.
And our Apple Curry - A fun and unusual way to enjoy apples!
📖 Recipe
Vegan Apple Crisp
Ingredients
- 6 medium apples about 600g / 5 cups chopped
- 2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¾ cup (95 g) flour all purpose or plain
- ¾ cup (60 g) oats rolled or old-fashioned
- ½ cup (60 g) walnuts or almonds chopped
- ½ cup (110 g) vegan butter diced
- ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
Instructions
- Peel apples if preferred, then core and chop them. We dice the apples for a more chunky and bite-sized texture. If you want a softer texture you can slice the apple thinly.6 medium apples
- In a bowl, stir together the chopped apples, granulated sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon.2 tbsp (25 g) granulated sugar, 1 tsp lemon juice, 1 tsp cinnamon
- In a large mixing bowl, add the flour, oats, nuts, vegan butter and brown sugar. Using a pastry cutter, a fork, or your hands, combine until you have a rough mixture with no loose flour. It's ok to have some small chunks of butter in the crisp mixture.¾ cup (95 g) flour, ¾ cup (60 g) oats, ½ cup (60 g) walnuts or almonds, ½ cup (110 g) vegan butter, ½ cup (100 g) light brown sugar
- In a 7 x 11 inch (18 x 28 cm) or 9 inch (23cm) square baking dish, spread out the apples and then sprinkle the crisp mixture on top.
- Bake at 350℉ / 180℃ for 40-50 minutes, until the top is crisp and golden and the apple mixture is bubbling.
- Serve warm and enjoy, with or without a scoop of vegan ice cream.
Notes
Nutrition
This information is calculated per serving and is an estimate only.
Emilia La pegna says
Delicious recipes well done guys 👍🏻
Sophie and Paul says
Thanks so much Emilia 🙂