Vegan Apple Crisp
This easy, vegan apple crisp recipe is the best! It’s made with no butter and without oats. It’s perfectly sweetened and laced with fall spices, then topped with a delicate streusel topping salted caramel sauce. It’s going to be your new favorite fall dessert. In fact, it’s so good you’ll even want to eat it for breakfast!
Why I love this easy apple crisp recipe
Last week, I shared my vegan caramel sauce recipe with you. This week, I’m showing you what you can do with it – with a Salted Caramel Apple Crisp.
This recipe apple crisp recipe without oats is an adaptation of my favorite apple crisp – my mom’s. One that she made every year on Halloween – along with some vegetable beef barley soup to warm us up after trick-or-treaking.
So in the spirit of all things fall, I’ve kicked it up a notch and added some salted caramel sauce. It’s autumn perfection on a plate. It’s also really great for breakfast if you’re into that sort of thing.
Here’s what you’ll need to make it
Equipment
- Large mixing bowl
- Baking dish or cast iron skillet
- Measuring cups
- Measuring spoons
- Chef’s knife
- Cutting board
Ingredients:
To make this vegan crumble, I usually use vegetable shortening, but you can also use vegan butter. Either way, I recommend putting it in the freezer to get it nice and cold.
This helps give you the best crumble topping texture. You can use it straight from the freezer too, you don’t need to thaw it at all. (I do this for my vegan biscuits, too).
How to make apple crisp without oats
Make the filling. Core and chop, or slice, your apples. You can peel them or leave the skins on, it’s totally up to you. I even like a good mixture of half peeled. Whatever works.
Put the apples into a mixing bowl and add the sugar, lemon juice and spices. Stir to coat the apples evenly and set them aside.
Mix the topping. In a different mixing bowl, whisk the dry topping ingredients together. Then, cut the shortening or vegan butter in until the mixture forma sort of crumb-like appearance – about the size of peas.
Assemble the crisp. Transfer the filling into a baking dish (this can be a skillet or a 9×13 baking dish, both will work). Next, top the filling with the crumb topping.
Bake. Pop it into the oven for 50 – 60 minutes. The apples should be soft and the topping should be golden and crisp. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.
FAQS and tips for making vegan apple crisp
If you can use butter, or just don’t have it, you can use vegetable shortening (like we did here), coconut oil or vegan butter. Just make sure it’s cold before cutting it into the flour mixture.
The two can be used somewhat interchangeably, at least in some regions, but a crumble generally refers to a topping that contains oats, while a crisp refers to a dessert with a streusel topping.
My favorite apples to use for baking are granny smith, cortland and honeycrisp. You can use other types of apples, but they may soften too much leaving you with a mush apple crisp.
Apple crisp should last for about 3 – 4 days in the fridge. After that it will start to get watery and should be thrown out. I don’t think we’ve ever had ours last that long, though.
More apple recipes:
- Apple kiwi green smoothies
- Fried cinnamon apples
- Apple pie bars
- Apple cider sangria
- Apple cider margaritas
More fruity dessert recipes:
- Berry rhubarb crisp
- Ginger peach galette
- Blueberry crumble pie
- Door county cherry pie
Ingredients
- 8 cups cored and roughly chopped baking apples*
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
- 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 12 tablespoons cold vegetable shortening or vegan butter
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 recipe vegan caramel sauce
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350˚F and grease a large baking dish.
- Place apples in a large mixing bowl. Add lemon juice, sugar, cinnamon and cloves, and stir until evenly coated.
- In a separate bowl, whisk the flour, sugar and salt to combine. Cut in the cold shortening with a pastry cutter, or two forks, until a crumb-like texture forms.
- Pour apple mixture into baking dish. Sprinkle the crumb topping over the apples and bake for 50 – 60 minutes.
- Remove from oven and let apple crisp cool for about 30 minutes. Drizzle vegan caramel sauce oven apple crisp before serving.
