Simple Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
This wholesome, honey-sweetened apple crisp is covered in an irresistible oat, almond meal and pecan topping. Everyone will love this dessert!
Updated by Kathryne Taylor on August 29, 2024
What’s better than apple pie and a whole lot easier to make? Apple crisp! This apple crisp recipe is gooey on the inside, and tender but crisp on top. It’s made with wholesome ingredients, like old-fashioned oats, almond meal, pecans, honey, and of course, lots of fresh apples.
On a cool fall day, there’s nothing better the smell of this apple crisp baking in the oven. This homemade dessert would also be the perfect ending to your Thanksgiving supper.
This is my favorite apple crisp recipe, and it just happens to be gluten free and healthier than the rest. This recipe is made with significantly less sugar than most apple crisps, but tastes just as good. In fact, I’d say it’s even better!
This crisp turned out great for me when I made it a few years ago, but I heard that it didn’t turn out as well for some of you. This stuff keeps me up at night.
I’ve retested and tweaked this recipe, and it’s now better than ever. I’m so pleased to hear that with these updates, this crisp has been turning out perfectly in your kitchens.
How to Make the Best Apple Crisp
Apples take a long time to release their moisture, so my original crisp recipe was a little dry. To remedy this, I switched from using 1-inch chunks of apple to thinly sliced, which take less time to get juicy and cook through. I also added some liquid to the filling to the get the ball rolling, and reduced the amount of starch.
To ensure that the topping doesn’t get too crisp, you’re going to bake the apples for 20 minutes and then add the topping. This is actually pretty convenient, because it means that your crisp can start baking while you are still mixing together the topping.
That’s it! You’ve just made an apple dessert that rivals apple pie in flavor and comfort-food factor, but it’s so much easier.
Watch How to Make Apple Crisp
Healthy Apple Crisp Ingredients
The recipe is flexible. You can easily make it dairy free, vegan or nut free. See the recipe notes for details.
- Granny Smith Apples: Fresh and thinly sliced. No need to peel your apples—the skin softens up so much in the oven, you’ll hardly notice it’s there. You could also use Honeycrisp apples, or a combination of Granny Smith and Honeycrisp.
- Old-Fashioned Oats: Oats form the base of the topping. Once baked, they are perfectly crisp-tender. Be sure to use certified gluten-free oats for gluten-free apple crisp.
- Almond Meal or Almond Flour: Almond meal (or flour) lends some irresistible richness and flavor. You can use regular flour in place of the almond meal, if you prefer (see nut-free recipe note).
- Pecans or Walnuts: Chopped pecans or walnuts are technically optional in the filling, but I never leave them out. I love those little bites of nutty goodness.
- Honey or Maple Syrup: We’ll use one of these natural sweeteners in the filling instead of plain sugar. As a bonus, they impart some additional flavor that tastes so nice.
- Coconut Sugar or Brown Sugar: We’ll use some sugar in the topping, since liquid sweeteners would interfere with the texture. I like to use coconut sugar since it’s less refined, but brown sugar works just as well.
- Butter: This topping calls for a reasonable amount of melted butter, and I promise, you won’t regret it.
- Greek Yogurt: We’ll use some Greek yogurt in place of some additional butter (though you can totally go all in on the butter if you’d like). I love that the yogurt imparts a subtle tang.
- Liquid (Water, Bourbon, Apple Cider, Etc.): A little bit of liquid helps the apples break down. Additional options include brandy or apple juice. I love to use equal parts water and bourbon so the bourbon flavor is subtle. I think it’s just right!
- Lemon Juice: A squeeze of lemon juice brightens up the flavor of the filling.
- Starch: You can use arrowroot starch or cornstarch. The starch helps the filling come together so it’s not watery.
- Cinnamon and Allspice: No apple crisp recipe would be complete without some warming spices.
The Best Apples for Apple Crisp
Granny Smith apples are the perfect apple for crisps. They retain their shape but become wonderfully tender in the oven, whereas other apple varieties turn to mush. Their tart flavor mellows and sweetens in the oven, but doesn’t turn overtly sweet. Some contrast is key!
Another great option, albeit more expensive, would be Honeycrisp apples. They possess similar qualities and have become widely available in recent years. You could even use a combination of the two!
More Apple Recipes to Enjoy
Craving more apple deliciousness? Check out these recipes:
- Applesauce
- Apple Steel-Cut Oatmeal
- Favorite Green Salad with Apples, Cranberries and Pepitas
- Gluten-Free Apple Tart
- Healthy Apple Muffins
- Homemade Bircher Muesli
Please let me know how this crisp turns out for you in the comments! I hope it’s your new favorite fall dessert.
Gluten-Free Apple Crisp
This wholesome, honey-sweetened apple crisp is covered in an irresistible oat, almond meal and pecan topping. This dessert is perfect for the holidays! This recipe yields about 8 modest servings.
Ingredients
Apple filling
- 2 ¼ pounds Granny Smith apples (about 5 large or 7 small), cored and sliced into ¼” thick wedges
- ⅓ cup honey or maple syrup
- ¼ cup water, or bourbon or brandy, or apple cider or apple juice (I like 2 tablespoons bourbon and 2 tablespoons water)
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons arrowroot starch or 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground allspice or nutmeg
Oat, almond meal and pecan topping
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats (use certified gluten-free oats for a gluten-free crisp)
- ½ cup firmly packed almond meal or almond flour
- ½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts (optional but recommended)
- ⅓ cup lightly packed coconut sugar or brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
- ¼ cup plain yogurt (Greek or regular)
Don’t forget vanilla ice cream, for serving!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the sliced apples in a 9” square baking dish. In a liquid measuring cup, whisk together the honey and water until combined. Add the lemon juice, starch, cinnamon and allspice, and whisk to combine. Pour the mixture over the apples and toss to combine. Bake for 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, in a medium mixing bowl, stir together the oats, almond meal, pecans, coconut sugar and salt. Mix in the melted butter and the yogurt. Stir until all of the flour is incorporated and the mixture is moistened throughout.
- Once the apples have baked for 20 minutes, give them a stir and redistribute them evenly in the baker. Dollop small spoonfuls of the oat mixture evenly over the filling (see photos, no need to pack it down). Return the baker to the oven and bake for 25 to 30 more minutes, until the filling is bubbling around the edges and the top is nice and golden.
- Let the crisp rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream, I insist. Leftovers keep well in the refrigerator, covered, for about 5 days.
Notes
Recipe adapted from my pear cranberry crisp.
Why buy organic? Apples are #4 on the Dirty Dozen list, meaning that conventionally grown apples are generally high in pesticide residues.
Make it nut free: To make this recipe nut free, omit the walnuts and use ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¾ cup oats instead of the almond meal and oats specified above. It will no longer be gluten free. If you want to keep it gluten free, I suspect that you could replace the almond meal with certified gluten-free oat flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour.
Make it vegan: In the topping, use non-dairy yogurt and coconut oil in place of the butter. In the filling, use maple syrup instead of honey.
Make it dairy free: Use non-dairy yogurt and coconut oil in place of the butter.
Nutrition
The information shown is an estimate provided by an online nutrition calculator. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice. See our full nutrition disclosure here.
Hi! Will quick oats work instead of rolled oats? It’s all I have!
Hi Virgina, It works best with rolled oats. I hope you can try it!
do you peel the apples? it doesn’t say…
No need to peel, Ella!
Kate, this is delicious! Made it for Christmas dessert and it was a great success. For breakfast today I stirred some of the left overs into my oatmeal, oh my! : ) So good!
Anyone have luck freezing this great dessert. Our guests cancelled. Would like to freeze this for next time!
Just pulled it from my oven, and couldn’t resist sneaking a taste. Wow, it’s delicious! Made mine using vegan butter, and half chia & half cornstarch (didn’t have the arrowroot starch).
Put mine under the broiler for 2 minutes to crisp up the topping. Looks like it will be great breakfast, snack or treat for the upcoming work week. Only negative is it’s a little too sweet, and the cornstarch has a funny taste, but both of these are easy adjustment for next time. Hopefully my kids will enjoy it as well!
Thank you for sharing, Kat! Next time, try it as written and let me know what you think.
I really loved how the Apples and the sauce turned out, but the topping didnt work out great for me. It wasn’t too crispy and turned more into hard lumps, I used ap flour so maybe that was the problem.
I made this last night, and it was just what I was hoping for! I did make some alterations, but to me, that is the litmus for a great recipe: it’s adaptable.
Changes I made to veganize the recipe and use what I have: Instead of almond flour [didn’t have any and I didn’t need it to be gluten-free] I used organic rye flour. Instead of the butter, I used half natural, runny peanut butter and half organic olive oil. For the Greek yogurt, I used a thick coconut yogurt. I also added more spices. for the half cup of nuts, I used a blend of seeds: hemp hearts, sesame seeds, chia seeds, pepitas, and sunflower seeds [because I always have a jar of that blend or similar in my pantry]. Other than choosing the maple syrup option, I kept it the same, and all the measurements were the same as listed.
I love how even the next day the topping remained crunchy, and it is such a nutrient-dense dish! Perfect. I will make this many times, I’m sure. It feels like a go-to healthy crisp that will work beautifully with a variety of fruit fillings! Way to go on this one! Not that your recipes ever steer me wrong. Thank you for yet another one!
I appreciate you sharing, McKinley! I’m so glad you enjoyed this recipe and many others.
Hi Kate! So very delish. Thank you for the recipe. Perfect balance. I love the bourbon/water mix, too.
Thank you for sharing, Adrienne!
Hello
What changes would you recommend when using frozen sliced apples?
Thank you
Hi Sheri, I would be sure they are thawed prior to assembling.
Wonderful dessert! Used some tired wrinkled apples of indefinite kind and still tasted great. Used Marsala instead of brandy. Hubby said we can make it more often, right? Thank you!
I love this recipe.I make it all the time.Quick easy& delicious.I use mixed berries sometimes & today I mixed some left over blueberries in with the apples.Any fruit in this recipe is awesome.Healthy too!
Thank you for sharing, Kelly! I’m glad you enjoyed them.
This recipe looks great! Can I make it earlier in the day, store it in the fridge, and then bake it in the oven in the evening?
Hi Seema, The topping may not crisp up as well. If you try it, let me know!
Really excellent!
I’m glad you enjoyed it, Cindy! Thank you for your review.
Love, love, love!!! I used whatever apples I had leftover in the fridge. Reluctant to use the alcohol, but did the 2 Tablespoons of brandy, and it tastes amazing! Thank for this (and all) recipe. Can’t wait to try the peach version :)
Delicious! I made this for dessert today and it was fabulous. I love how easy it was to make and how there isn’t so much sugar that it takes away from the natural sweetness of the apples. Would definitely make this again and would probably eat it for breakfast too.
Great to hear, Christeen! I appreciate your review.
SOOO good!! Yogurt in the topping is MWWWAAAHH!! Shared w my two best baker friends RIGHT after I tasted it.
I’m glad you loved it, Laura! Thank you for your review.
Caroline
Australia
Just made your lovely apple crisp,l added blackberry jam to the apples and cooked them together.
It was just so lovely,love the topping,it was a winner with my family,will be making this offten.
Again many thanks.
I’ve made this many times and love it. Right now I have blueberries. Could I substitute blueberries? If so what would be the process? Thanks!
Hi, Sure! Try my Blueberry Almond Crisp
First time I made it and it was delicious!I used our sons honey from his beehives and apple juice, brown sugar and almond flour. Thanks I will make it again!
Great to hear, Dora! I appreciate you taking the time to review.
I love all your recipes. I’m hoping to make this for a friends birthday but she’s allregic to gluten and nuts. Any substitutes for the almond meal? Could I use oat flour or gf flour? Would it be a 1:1 ratio?
Hi Marie, yes you can make it nut free. I have suggestions in the notes section below the recipe. I hope that helps!
WOW WOW WOW!!!! Amazing. Made some other subs… oat flour and chickpea flour with rolled oats for topping, honey instead of brown sugar, and ghee and olive oil for fats. All came together incredible!
I’m excited you loved it, Erika! I appreciate your review.
I made this recipe for Jewish New Year last night, when it is traditional to eat apples and honey for a sweet new year. I sweetened the apple mix with honey, used tea as the liquid as I didn’t have anything else, and added walnuts to the topping mix. It came out so well! I especially appreciated the almond flour in the topping instead of using a gluten fee baking mix, as all of those mixes have tapioca in them which I am sensitive to in addition to needing to avoid gluten. Thank you so much
Gorgeous! I had so many apples from neighbours, that I ended up making this recipe x3. It’s really nice. I used a little less than half bourbon and half water, but next time I would use even less bourbon. It’s just because I don’t like the alcohol taste in my desserts, only a personal preference. Thank you for this wonderful autumnal dessert.
Thank you for your review, Jean!
Ghee is butter!
This is the best apple crisp, just took it out of the oven and I have been
Eating small spoonfuls as it cools. I am also dairy free so used ghee
Instead of butter because that seems not to irritate and mixed lemon juice with full fat Soymilk in place of yogurt
This really was the best crisp! I only had regular yogurt but it was just fine. I subbed turbinado for the brown sugar. Followed it exactly otherwise, using sprouted oats, and it was perfect.
I’m glad you loved it, Amanda!
Made today with just-picked Pink Lady apples. I followed the recipe exactly using maple syrup rather than honey. The flavor was delicious but the apples were still firm after the first 20 minutes, then when I took the crisp out after another 25 minutes…still firm when I served. The company enjoyed it so I would definitely make it again – but bake another 10 or more minutes.
Trader Joe’s has an organic bourbon barrel Vermont maple syrup right now, so I used that with Jack Daniel’s Apple Whiskey and the results were spectacular! I didn’t have yogurt so subbed cream cheese. Thank you for this recipe, it is going into heavy rotation in my fall dessert line up!
Sounds like a great way to have this crisp! I appreciate your review, Mary.
Yum!!! And Yum again! I made if for a crowd so doubled the recipe. Since I had folks with gluten, dairy, and soy allergies in our group I really appreciated the list of substitutions you gave. Really helpful. I used a mixture of granny Smith apples and some pretty ripe pears. Used the maple syrup, cornstarch, brown sugar and apple cider instead of the water. I went heavy on the cinnamon and nutmeg and all in with the dairy free margarine so left out the yogurt. Loved the addition of walnuts in the topping. Everyone loved it! Best review of all was from my 7 and 9 year old grandson’s! Will definitely be making this again, especially for the holidays for the holidays!
Thank you for sharing, Cyndy! I’m glad you enjoyed it.
Do you think maple sugar would work as well as coconut sugar?
Can I make this in two parts (bake the apples – then finish during dinner for a warm crisp)?
If so will I need to consider anything like adding a bit more time finishing the baking?
Hi Linda, you do bake this in two parts. So I’m not sure the difference?
LOVE THIS RECIPE! I made it last Thanksgiving for a g/f dessert and will make it again this year. Thanks for the wonderful recipe!
You’re welcome, Beth! I appreciate your review.
Fantastic!
The apples are perfectly cooked and the topping has a nice crunchy texture. I omitted the yogurt since I didn’t have any. Each time I’ve made this, it has come out perfect. My favorite celiac friendly dessert
I’m glad you love it, Diane!
This is an exceptional gf apple crisp. One of the better apple crisp recipes I’ve ever had and our guests really enjoyed the topping, really nice texture and flavor.
Hi Kate,
Can I replace the arrowroot starch with almond flour?
Thanks!
Hi Judy, it won’t provide the same thickening result. Sorry!
Have made this recipe several times now, and love it! I use extra cinnamon and Honeycrisp apples In this most recent one as well as maple syrup- delicious! The topping with Greek yogurt in it is *chefs kiss* thanks Kate!
You’re welcome, Kathy! Thank you for your review.
I made this for friends last night and it was a hit. I made it nut-free and gluten-free with oat flour instead of almond flour and pumpkin seeds instead of pecans, and it worked great. Thanks for this healthier version of one of our favourite desserts!
Great to hear, Katie! Thank you for your comment. I’m glad it’s a favorite.
I made this dairy free with coconut oil and cashew plain yogurt. It was amazing!
I’m glad it turned out so well, MM!
Love that you put the days of storage in the refrigerator at the end of directions. I never see anyone doing that. I get anxiety over storage times. Always in a rush. I have always cooked my apple crisp according to the country club’s recipe where i worked 40 yrs ago so your recipe was delightful!
Great recipe! I’m keeping this one ♥️
Great to hear, Jackie!
My friend presented me with a healthy yield of Macintosh apples from the trees in her garden. Wee apples that I incorporated with Granny Smiths and made the crisp yesterday. We didn’t have the chance to try the crisp as we were terribly full following our dinner. Tonight was solely apple crisp for dinner with vanilla ice cream and we are beyond stuffed. The pecans are indeed a must! Such a perfect balance of everything and not overly sweet. Thank you Kate for yet another beautiful recipe!
You’re welcome, Sine!
This is now my go to crisp recipe. The two step aspect works far better than my previous versions. I use swerve brown sugar replacement instead of coconut sugar and I added a little date syrup to the maple syrup (which I reduced a tad). I just made the recipe with peaches and I added ginger. Delish!
Do you have an air fryer version of this?
I don’t, sorry! I hope you try this version.
The apple crisp was delicious!! Your recipes never dissapoint!
Thank you, Dean! I’m glad you loved it.
Can I use Gala apples?
That should work too! I hope you love it.
I doubled everything for a 9×13 pan. I was out of yogurt so I used sour cream. It was amazing. I went light on the brown sugar. I used almond flour and added a bit more cornstarch than listed. It’s delicious, not too sweet and hard to stop eating it!
Thank you for sharing, Kristine!
I am new to your website and all your beautiful recipes. Yesterday, I made your fabulous apple crisp. Everyone so enjoyed every morsel.
Two of the folks subscribe to your website, but never had the opportunity to make this fall dessert. They were surprised when I told them where the recipe came from. They had forwarded your ginger carrot soup recipe to me which was also delicious. Thank you for thinking of us with your healthy ingredients. Superb! Will look forward to trying more!
Welcome, Sandy! Great to hear. I can’t wait for you to try more recipes.
This was amazing as written, though I did have to make it dairy free as well. That said, my subs were coconut oil and vegan yogurt. Followed the 2 T bourbon & 2 T water. I ate two bowls!
This is my first time making this recipe. I think i will lessen the honey and sugar next time as I find it very sweet. But what i did was i added greek yogurt to balance it and plan to buy some blueberries to add as well. Overall it still is a great recipe!
Happy to hear you enjoyed it, Liza! Thank you for your review.
Sorry, this was not great.No crunch. I love your granola and I’m making it today.
I’ll toss it in the crisp and maybe toss first in a dry pan to heat it up.
I’m sorry to hear that. Did you add the yogurt and butter?
Yes I did everything as it was written. Could it be that I made the topping and it sat for the time the apples were baking I the oven. Could it be that L let it cool and refrigerated it. And reheated it at dinner time. Do you see my husband said he wanted it and I made it for lunch and then he didn’t want it so I then refrigerated it for after dinner.