Gluten Free Apple Crisp
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This Gluten Free Apple Crisp is a delicious fresh fruit compote topped with a healthy mixture of oats, nuts, and spices. Served warm, it’s naturally sweet and vegan-friendly. Perfect for a healthy dessert for the whole family!
Apples are one of my favorite things about fall. And I love making apple crisps during the holidays — between the warm apple compote and the delicious smells that fill my kitchen when it’s baking – I can’t get enough of it!
This gluten free apple crisp is seriously the best. It’s gooey and sweet on the inside, and the crust is tender and crumbly. It’s made with healthier ingredients and has only 5 grams of added sugar per serving, which makes it a dessert you can feel great about eating.
You can serve this crisp with homemade whipped cream, ice cream or without anything on top – honestly it tastes amazing all on its own. As an added bonus: it’s already gluten free and vegan if you need to accommodate multiple dietary restrictions!
Tools and Equipment You’ll Need
Recipe Ingredients and Notes
- Apples: I used a combination of Gala and Fuji apples, but you can use whichever apples are your favorite! Try chopping them in different sizes to get a variety of textures in your crisp.
- Spices: I used cinnamon and nutmeg, but any warm fall spices would taste great.
- Nuts: To add some more texture to the crisp topping, I used a combination of chopped pecans and walnuts.
- Oats: Gluten Free Oats are the key to making this dish gluten-free!
Step by Step Instructions
Step 1: Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray. In a medium bowl, toss the apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, salt, and cornstarch. Add one tablespoon of the sugar to the apples. Toss to coat.
Step 2: Pour 1.25 cups of old fashioned oats into a blender and blend until finely ground.
Step 3: Add the blended flour to a large bowl and mix with remaining oats, brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, nuts, and melted coconut oil.
Step 4: Add the apples to the baking dish.
Step 5: Top with the oat mixture.
Step 6: Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
What Makes this Gluten Free Apple Crisp Healthy?
A typical serving of apple crisp will run you anywhere from 250-350 calories, and upwards of 28g sugar! My version has only about 200 calories and 5 grams added sugar for a huge portion. Here are some of the healthy swaps I made to lighten up this recipe but keep all of the decadence of the traditional version!
- Whole Grains: This recipe uses rolled oats for the crumble topping – which are high in fiber, are low-glycemic, and gluten-free.
- Less Sugar: Fruit is already naturally very sweet! So there is no need to add tons of sugar to the filling of this apple crisp — the fruit takes care of the sweetness all on its own.
- Healthy Fats: Walnuts and pecans in the crumble topping are both rich in antioxidants and healthy omega 3 fats.
- Vitamins and Nutrients: Apples are high in fiber, antioxidants, Vitamin C, and Potassium.
Will Kids Enjoy This Apple Crisp?
I haven’t met a kid (yet) who doesn’t like dessert. If your kids are especially finicky about fruit, I’d recommend chopping up the apples in a super fine dice so your kids can’t really tell that they are whole fruits when they’re eating this treat. You can also serve it with a spoonful of ice cream or whipped cream for a bit more decadence!
Recipe FAQs
I do recommend peeling the apples first, because the apple skins don’t break down and bake completely, so it changes the texture of the crisp. Just use a vegetable peeler to peel your apples before chopping them into cubes.
Absolutely. To Freeze: Follow all of the steps until you bake it (Steps 1-5 above), then cover and freeze for up to 2 months.
To Reheat: Thaw overnight in the fridge and bake according to the directions above.
Apples are on the Dirty Dozen List, which means that non-organic / conventionally grown apples are high in pesticide residue. Whenever possible use organic apples!
Recipe Variations and Serving Suggestions
- Serving Suggestions: Homemade whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, candied nuts sprinkled on top, fresh fruit on the side, powdered sugar sprinkled on top, or ground cinnamon sprinkled on top are some of our favorite ways to serve this gluten free apple crisp.
- Apple Variations: Try a combination of apples including — Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady. Feel free to substitute in a totally different fruit like pear or peaches for a twist on the traditional apple crisp!
- Spices Variations: Try your favorite fall spices — nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, all spice, cloves, cardamom, and ginger
- Nuts: Try almonds or hazelnuts along with (or instead of) the pecans and walnuts. Or make it nut free and omit the nuts altogether.
Top Tips For Making this Gluten Free Apple Crisp
- Use Gluten Free Oats to make this gluten-free.
- Make sure to coat your baking dish with cooking spray.
- Be sure to serve this crisp warm! Top it with homemade whipped cream or ice cream for more decadence.
- This apple crisp will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Make sure the coconut oil is melted before you combine it with the topping – this will ensure it mixes well.
Check Out These Other Fruity Sweet Treats!
- Apple Cinnamon French Toast
- Baked Apples With Spiced Sprouted Quinoa
- Banana Chocolate Chunk Frozen Yogurt
- Chocolate Mousse With Raspberries
- Super Easy Healthy Baked Fruit Dessert by Kim’s Cravings
- Strawberry Oatmeal Bars by Well Plated
If you have tried this Gluten Free Apple Crisp, or any other recipe on my blog, then please rate it and let me know how it turned out in the comments below! You can also FOLLOW ME on FACEBOOK, TWITTER, INSTAGRAM and PINTEREST to see more delicious, healthy, family friendly food!
Gluten Free Apple Crisp
Ingredients
For the filling:
- 2 pounds Organic Fuji or Gala apples peeled and cut into 1/4 inch cubes (about 6 medium sized apples)
- 1 tbsp Brown sugar unpacked
- 1 tsp Ground cinnamon
- ½ tsp Ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tbsp Cornstarch
- 1 tbsp Lemon juice About the juice from 1 lemon
- 1 dash Salt
For the topping:
- 1/3 cup Brown sugar unpacked
- 2.25 cup Gluten Free Rolled Oats
- 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
- 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
- 1 tbsp Chopped pecans
- 1 tbsp Chopped walnuts
- 1/3 cup Melted Coconut Oil
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick cooking spray.
- In a medium bowl, toss the apples with cinnamon, nutmeg, lemon, salt, and cornstarch. Add one tablespoon of the sugar to the apples. Toss to coat.
- Pour 1 ¼ cups of old fashioned oats into a blender and blend until finely ground. Add the blended flour to a large bowl and mix with remaining oats, brown sugar, baking powder, vanilla extract, nuts, and melted coconut oil.
- Add the apples to the baking dish and top with the oat mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.
Notes
- Serving Suggestions: Homemade whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, chocolate sauce, candied nuts sprinkled on top, fresh fruit on the side, powdered sugar sprinkled on top, or ground cinnamon sprinkled on top are some of our favorite ways to serve this gluten free apple crisp.
- Apple Variations: Try a combination of apples including — Gala, Fuji, Granny Smith, Red Delicious, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, or Pink Lady. Feel free to substitute in a totally different fruit like pear or peaches for a twist on the traditional apple crisp!
- Spices Variations: Try your favorite fall spices — nutmeg, cinnamon, pumpkin pie spice, all spice, cloves, cardamom, and ginger
- Nuts: Try almonds or hazelnuts along with (or instead of) the pecans and walnuts. Or make it nut free and omit the nuts altogether.
- Use Gluten Free Oats to make this gluten-free.
- Make sure to coat your baking dish with cooking spray.
- Be sure to serve this crisp warm! Top it with homemade whipped cream or ice cream for more decadence.
- This apple crisp will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
- Make sure the coconut oil is melted before you combine it with the topping – this will ensure it mixes well.
This recipe sounds delicious! I love that it is healthier and uses loads of apples. Pecans and walnuts are my fav, yum!!
Yay!! I can’t wait to hear how this turns out for you!
As I have a friend on gluten free diet, I am certainly trying this apple & pear crisp next time she will be visiting. Thank you for sharing!
Awesome!! Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!
A delightful crisp! The cinnamon adds such a lovely flavour and goes so well with the apple and pear.
So happy to hear that Alexandra!
I can’t wait to try this recipe! Love how quick and easy it is and also nutritious! My daughter will enjoy it too for sure!
Yay!! You’ll have to let me know how it turns out Tania!
We make something like this every fall – my fiance is an apple dessert fanatic! I love the idea of using coconut oil in the crisp – will definitely be giving that a try next time – I bet it adds so much to this recipe!
Yay!! I can’t wait for you to try this recipe – I’m sure you will love it!
I have gone through some serious apple crisp this fall and could definitely use a healthier gluten-free version. This looks and sounds amazing!
Yay!! Thank you so much Aimee! I’m sure you’ll love it if you try it!
This is the kind of winter dessert I simply cannot resist! Love the combination of pear and apples, and the addition of pecans and walnuts in the topping must bring a delicious crunch to this recipe!
Definitely!! The topping is perfectly crispy and pairs so nicely with the gooey filling in this recipe! 🙂
Such a delicious dish and perfect for fall! Excited to enjoy this all season long!
Thank you so much Sara!! It’s great for the holidays too! 🙂
One of my favorite combo apple + pear. Perfect fall treat. yummy.
I know right?? Sweet Apples and pears are some of my favorite things about fall!
I can smell this baking now, filling my house with cinnamon goodness. This apple and pear crisp is the perfect fall dessert!
Yay!! So glad to hear that Kelly! 🙂
You had me at “crisp!” Yum, can’t wait to try this recipe!
I’m sure you’ll love this recipe 🙂 Can’t wait to hear how it turns out!
Another great recipe! First time, I used apples and pears, second time…just apples! Both times used almonds instead of walnuts. Tastes so good warm with a scoop of vanilla frozen yogurt.
Woohoo! So glad you liked this recipe Barbara 🙂 And yumm – vanilla frozen yogurt is perfect with this dessert! Love the idea of using almonds instead of walnuts too — I’ll have to try that next time (or I might use almonds and walnuts!) Thanks for letting me know!
Tried your recipe – loved it! I think it’s the lemon that makes it so good, balances the sweetness 🙂 Never quite got used to cooking spray so just used a bit of butter instead. Yummy!
Yay!! So glad to hear that Charlotte! And butter instead of cooking spray is totally fine 🙂 Thanks for letting me know how it turned out!
This sounds lovely, but we don’t have Graham Crackers here in the UK – what kind of crackers are they exactly? Like a savoury cream cracker, or a slightly sweet cracker?? I’d love to find an alternative and give this a try.
Happy New Year!
P x
Hi Porcelina! So graham crackers are definitely a sweet, crumbly cracker (not savory at all) – they more closely resemble a cookie than a cracker. You can substitute any crushed crisp cookie for the graham cracker in making your cheesecake crust (e.g., shortbread, chocolate or vanilla wafers, animal crackers, gingersnaps, biscotti, amaretti cookies, etc.). I think sweeter digestive biscuits sold in the UK might work as a substitute as well. Hope that helps!
That’s really helpful, thank you so much! I have some biscotti that need using up so will give this a whirl over the next week.
P xx
No problem at all! Keep me posted on how it goes! 🙂
What a good idea to throw graham crackers in there! Yum Yum!
Hehe thanks Kira!! Enjoy!
This looks delicious!!!!
Thanks Danielle! I’m sure you will love it! 🙂