If you are looking for a vegan apple crisp made with wholesome ingredients, this recipe if for you! It's sweetened with maple syrup instead of brown sugar and doesn't contain any oil. This is a tasty vegan dessert that you can feel good about eating!
When apple season comes around, I love making an apple crisp. It's much easier to make than a pie since you don't need to make a dough or crust. But it has the same delicious apple and spice flavor.
While apple desserts like my Irish apple cake and vegan apple galette are great to eat all year long, they are especially wonderful with fresh apples during the autumn season.
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Why You'll Love This Vegan Apple Crisp
- No processed sugar: Instead of white sugar, this apple crisp is made with maple syrup which is a better option.
- No pie crust: If you're like me, making a pie crust from scratch is too much work. And apple crisp has a crumbly topping instead of a pie crust.
- Apples and cinnamon: The apple layer is sweet and a little gooey. The crispy topping if full of cinnamon spice.
- No oil: This delicious dessert has no oil which makes it a lot healthier than others that have a lot of butter and oil in it.
Ingredient Notes
This apple crisp is made with wholesome ingredients:
- Apples - I like using a mixture of tart and sweet apples, especially after some apple picking at the farm. I love Fuji, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp and Granny Smith apples but use whatever you have on hand.
- Oats - Old fashioned oats work best but if you only have quick oats, you can use them. Steel cut oats do not work in this recipe.
- Cornstarch - If you do not have any cornstarch, you can use arrowroot powder instead.
Please see the recipe card below for the full list of ingredients and amounts needed.
Variations
- Top with some vegan vanilla ice cream.
- Add some chopped nuts - walnuts and pecans would be tasty.
- Top with some vegan whipped cream.
How To Make Vegan Apple Crisp
Step 1: To start, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prepare the apples by peeling them and thinly slicing them.
Step 2: . Place the apple slices in a large bowl and add in the lemon juice, maple syrup, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir until well combined.
Step 3: Pour the apple mixture in an even layer in a 9" x 13" baking dish. You can use a smaller dish if you want and that will give you a thicker layer of apples. Cover with aluminum foil and bake for 30 minutes.
Step 4: While the apples are baking, prepare the apple crisp topping. In a medium bowl, add the oats, whole wheat flour, white flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well.
Step 5: Pour in the maple syrup and mix well.
Step 6: Take the baked tender apples out of the oven. Use your hands to crumble up the crisp topping on top of the apples. You do not want to have any large pieces.
Step 7. Place the uncovered baking dish back in the oven and continue baking for 25 minutes. Take the apple crisp out of the oven and let cool for 5-10 minutes before serving.
Expert Tips
- You don't want to have big chunks of the crumble mixture. As there is no oil or vegan butter in this recipe, the topping will not be too crisp. If you have big chunks, it will be chewy.
- Try mixing different kinds of apples. I like mixing a few sweeter apples with a couple tart apples together for this recipe.
Storage Tips
Refrigerator
Store the cooled leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Reheating
Reheat individual portions in the microwave for about 1 minute. You can also reheat in the oven but make sure the baking dish is covered with aluminum foil so the topping doesn't get too brown.
Recipe FAQs
Sure! I prefer to peel the skins but you can definitely leave them on. You can also just partially peel the apples.
Both use sweet, tender apples with cinnamon. But an apple pie uses two pie crusts, one on the bottom and one on the top. An apple crisp doesn't use any crusts but it has an oat crumble on top.
Apple cobbler has a sweet, cakey layer on top of the apples instead of the apple crisps oat topping
Oat flour definitely works in this apple crisp. I have not used almond flour but it might make the crumble topping a bit tough and dense.
While I have not tried it, you should be able to substitute the whole wheat and white flours for a gluten-free flour of your choice.
More Vegan Dessert Recipes
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Recipe
Simple Vegan Apple Crisp (No Oil)
Equipment
- 9 x 13 baking dish
Ingredients
- 7 apples, any kind
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 tablespoon maple syrup
- 2 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ teaspoon salt
Topping
- 1 cup old fashioned oats
- ½ cup whole wheat flour
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
- ½ cup maple syrup
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°.
- Peel and slice your apples. Use any kind you like. I like to use at least two kinds for more flavors. Place the apple slices in a large mixing bowl.
- Add the lemon juice, maple syrup, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and mix until well combined.
- Pour the apple slices into a 9" x 13" baking dish. Cover with aluminum foil.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, while the apples are baking, prepare the topping.
- In a medium mixing bowl, combine the oats, whole wheat flour, all purpose flour, cinnamon and nutmeg and mix well. Stir in the maple syrup and set aside.
- After 30 minutes, take the apples out of the oven and remove the aluminum foil. Using your fingers to break up any clumps, spread the oat crumble on top of the apples. Make sure there aren't any large pieces.
- Bake uncovered for 25 minutes. Take the crisp out of the oven and let rest for 5-10 minutes before serving. Feel free to add some vegan whipped cream or ice cream on top.
- Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.
Notes
- You don't want to have big chunks of the crumble mixture. As there is no oil or vegan butter in this recipe, the topping will not be too crisp. If you have big chunks, it will be chewy.
- Try mixing different kinds of apples. I like mixing a few sweeter apples with a couple tart apples together for this recipe.
Jen says
I love making this when we have a ton of apples from apple picking. I don't love making pie crusts so much prefer a crisp. This is healthier than a traditional crisp since there isn't any added oil. We love it!