Bake a simple and easy gluten-free apple crisp with a crispy, cinnamon, brown sugar, oatmeal topping. Best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!
Is there really anything better than warm apple crisp filled with hints of cinnamon, nutmeg, and brown sugar? It's fall cooking at its finest.
I've always been a fan of apple crumb pie, but now I do believe this gluten-free apple dessert will become another addition to our fall baking traditions.
But don't let the gluten-free part trip you up. You can make this a gluten-free crisp or a gluten-filled crisp, and it will be delicious either way.
Making apple oatmeal crisp is really as easy as prepping the apples and crumbling on a sweet topping. While it takes a little bit to bake, it's actually really quick and simple to throw together.
I even like to sometimes make baked cinnamon apples without the topping.
Not quite in the mood for apple crisp? Try peach crisp instead.
WHERE CAN I FIND THE ACTUAL RECIPE CARD?
If you’d rather skip all of my baking tips, important baking info for this recipe, and similar recipe ideas – and get straight to the gluten-free apple crisp recipe – just scroll down to the bottom, where you’ll find a printable recipe card with a longer how to video.
APPLE CRISP VS APPLE CRUMBLE?
I grew up eating fruit cobblers. Cobbler in my mom's kitchen meant a fruit filling with a bottom crust and crumbled pie crust on top.
If you're like me and not sure the difference between a crisp and a crumble…
Apple crumble is made with either a biscuit dough or a regular pie dough crumbled on top of the apple filling. And sometimes it'll have a bottom crust too.
The topping for a fruit crisp, however, is made with oats, in this case, gluten-free oats. And I use Cup4Cup Gluten-Free Flour, which replaces regular all-purpose flour.
INGREDIENTS YOU'LL NEED:
APPLE PIE FILLING:
- Granny Smith apples
- Salted butter
- Sour cream
- Lemon juice
- Pure cane sugar – Or you can use granulated sugar.
- Light brown sugar
- Salt
- Corn starch
- Ground cinnamon
APPLE CRISP TOPPING:
Always remember to double check ingredient labels to make sure all of your ingredients are truly gluten-free. And remember, all of the ingredient amounts you’ll need are in the printable recipe card below.
KITCHEN TOOLS AND EQUIPMENT YOU'LL NEED:
Paring Knife and Cutting Board
8″x8″ Pan or 7″ to 9″ Baking Dish
Ramekins – for serving.
BEST APPLES FOR APPLE CRISP
While you can make an easy apple crisp with apple pie filling, I really recommend fresh apples.
I also recommend finding apples that are in season because you'll get a lot better flavor. And if you buy seconds at a local orchard, produce stand, or farmer's market, you'll get them cheaper too.
Personally, I love making pies, cobblers, and crisps with Jonathan apples, Jonagold apples, or Granny Smith apples. Jonagolds are a cross between Jonathans and Golden Delicious, and they are so sweet, tart, and crisp.
For this recipe, I used Granny Smith. I use a very handy apple peeler/corer to make the job of prepping the apples quicker and easier.
More of the best apples for apple crisp include:
- Jonathan
- Jonagold
- Granny Smith
- Golden Delicious
- Pink Lady
- Honeycrisp
- Braeburn
- and Northern Spy – According to Bob’s Red Mill, this is a rare apple and hard to find; but if you love your apple pie, it’s definitely one you may want to hunt down.
HOW TO MAKE GLUTEN-FREE APPLE CRISP
Making a fresh apple crisp involves a couple different sets of steps. You have to both prep the apples and the crumble topping.
To prep your apple filling…
- Wash, core, peel, and slice apples into a large bowl.
- Add butter, sour cream, and lemon juice to the apples.
- Then mix in the sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
- Finally, stir in the corn starch and cinnamon 'til everything is mixed well.
Then you'll just take that apple mixture and pour it into a smaller 8″x8″ pan or 7″ to 9″ baking dish and set it to the side.
To get your apple crisp topping ready…
- In a separate mixing bowl, mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
- Cut the butter into the oat mixture using a pastry blender.
- You can stop mixing when the mixture has turned into quite the crumbly mixture.
- Crumble the topping over the peaches in the baking dish.
Then just bake according to the instructions in the recipe card below. You'll bake it for about an hour, or until the topping is golden brown.
I love serving apple oatmeal crisp with vanilla ice cream. Oh.my.word. It is so good!
I can't wait for you to try this recipe.
MORE FALL RECIPES FOR YOU TO TRY:
- Slow cooker baked apples
- CrockPot Apple Cobbler with Cake Mix
- Pumpkin Cinnamon Muffins
- Pumpkin No Bake Dessert
- Southern Sweet Potato Pie Recipe
DOES APPLE CRISP NEED TO BE REFRIGERATED?
If I were making this ahead of time, I would likely refrigerate and then possibly reheat before serving. I would refrigerate it, mainly because of the sour cream in the recipe.
Just cover it with a sheet of wax paper and let it rest in the fridge.
CAN APPLE CRISP BE FROZEN?
Yes, it can. Just be sure to store it in an airtight container so it doesn't get freezer burn.
And allow plenty of time to thaw in the fridge before re-heating.
ALTERNATIVE INGREDIENTS AND SUBSTITUTIONS
There are a few things you can do to switch this recipe up.
- Add pecans, walnuts or almonds, adding the chopped nuts into the topping.
- If you'd rather not make it a gluten-free fruit crisp, switch out the gluten-free flour for regular all-purpose flour instead. And use regular rolled oats instead of gluten-free oats.
- When your crisp has somewhat cooled, pipe or zigzag a bit of powdered sugar icing on top.
MORE APPLE RECIPES
Another one of our favorite fall treats is this caramel cream cheese apple dip. It's so yummy, and my kids just love it!
I love a good dump and go recipe, and caramel apple dump cake with pecans is just that. It's so easy to make!
And it just wouldn't be fall without my favorite pressure cooker apple butter, made in the Instant Pot.
GET THE PRINTABLE RECIPE
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Old-Fashioned Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
Ingredients
Apple Filling:
- 8 Granny Smith apples
- 1 tablespoon salted butter melted
- 2 tablespoons sour cream
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup pure cane sugar*
- 1/4 cup light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon corn starch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Apple Crisp Topping:
- 3/4 cup gluten-free oats*
- 1/2 cup gluten-free flour*
- 3/4 cup light brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1/2 cup salted butter thinly sliced
Instructions
- Pre-heat the oven to 375° F.
- Wash, core, peel, and slice the apples into a large bowl.
- Add butter, sour cream, and lemon juice to the apples.
- Then mix in the sugar, brown sugar, and salt.
- Stir in the corn starch and cinnamon 'til everything is mixed well.
- Pour the apple mixture into an 8"x8" pan or a 7" to 9" baking dish and set aside.
- Mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg in a separate mixing bowl.
- Using a pastry blender, cut the butter into the oat mixture until you have a very crumbly mixture.
- Crumble the topping over the apples in the baking dish.
- Bake at 375°F for about an hour, or until the top is a deep golden brown.
- Remove the crisp from the oven and allow it to cool.
- Serve while slightly warm or cooled with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Corn starch gluten free?
Cheryl, it is normally, but not always, gluten free. Sometimes it can be cross-contaminated with wheat, but it’s rare.
Can I refrigerate this before baking
Maria, that would be fine, so long as it’s covered with aluminum foil or plastic wrap. I would not keep it in the refrigerator for more than 24 hours.
I followed the gluten free recipe and my Grandkids absolutely loved it! My grandson Jake, age 9, couldn’t stop shoveling it into his mouth. When told by his Mother to slow down, he replied that the dessert was so good he couldn’t help himself!!
Terry, I’m so glad that your family enjoyed the recipe. Thank you for giving it a try!
I made this last year and it was a huge hit! This year I am going to a house with a dairy allergy… I have a great butter replacement, but what can I use in place of sour cream if there is not a dairy free option at Whole Foods? Maybe dairy free creamer and some more lemon juice?
Marilyn, do they make a dairy free yogurt? That might work.
Can we use Coconut flour or Almond Flour?
Dolores, no, that will change the texture of the crisp.
Mother of god, I made this tonight and it was delicious. I used half GF flour and half almond flour. It turned out perfectly. Thank you for introducing me to this old fashioned gem!
Brandi, I’m so glad you enjoyed it. Thank you!
This turned out amazing! My MIL has a gluten intolerance, so I made it for her. I wasn’t sure about my oats (they are not certified GF) so I just added a little extra GF flour and omitted the oats. It was still so delicious! The whole family love it! Thank you!
Steph, I’m so glad y’all enjoyed it. Thank you! It’s one of my favorite gluten-free desserts.
Can I use apple pie filling instead of fresh apples.
Cathy, yes, you can. You likely won’t need the extra apple filling ingredients that I put with the apples, like the sugars, corn starch, etc. But yes, just use the pie filling and add the topping.
It was really delicious.
Do you have any good dessert or snack recipe which is gluten-free, dairy-free and sugar-free.
Richard, I do have a few gluten-free recipes here, but probably not sugar free. You may be able to sub an appropriate dairy or sugar substitute for certain ingredients, though.