Air Fryer Apple Crisp

This Air Fryer Apple Crisp recipe is the perfect easy dessert! It’s an easy apple crisp made with fresh chopped apples, fragrant spices and a simple oat topping.

 

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Apple Crisp is a recipe we make again and again in The Busy Baker kitchen and this Air Fryer Apple Crisp is our latest dessert obsession! It’s an easy dessert recipe that’s quick to throw together in a pinch and it bakes up perfectly in the air fryer – no oven required!

Apple crisp is a beloved comfort-food dessert that’s packed with soft, sweet baked apples beneath a streusel topping. Traditional apple crisp includes cooked apples, butter, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and often oats and brown sugar. Some variations include ginger, nutmeg and other warm spices, and even other fruits like berries or rhubarb.

Desserts like Apple Crisp are popular thanks to how easy they are to make but also because of the limited ingredients they use. Unlike a traditional fruit pie, crisp recipes call for less butter, sugar and flour, but they contain a high volume of apples which are relatively inexpensive and easy to find, especially when grown locally.

Apple Crisp is often served warm from the oven and topped with custard, whipped cream, or ice cream.

We LOVE making all our favourite recipes in the air fryer! Here’s a short list of our TOP air fryer recipes!

• Air Fryer Breakfast Potatoes
• Air Fryer Eggs
• Air Fryer Green Beans
• Air Fryer Corn on the Cob
• Air Fryer Chicken Breasts
• Air Fryer Garlic Bread
• Air Fryer Steak Fajitas
• Air Fryer Roasted Vegetables

Apple Crisp, Apple Crumble, and Apple Cobbler are 3 classic desserts that are often confused but are distinctly different. Here’s how to tell them apart:

An Apple Crisp features a layer of baked apples underneath a crispy, streusel-like topping made from a combination of oats, flour, butter, sugar, and cinnamon. The inclusion of oats in the topping is a defining characteristic of an apple crisp, giving it a crispy texture that becomes golden brown in the oven.

Apple Crumble is very similar to an apple crisp and the terms are often used interchangeably. However a crumble is a British dessert that is made with a layer of baked apples and a crumble topping that is typically made from butter, flour, and sugar. When combined, the topping forms a breadcrumb-like texture and clumps up in the oven to form a tender, almost shortbread-like topping. Unlike Apple Crisp, a crumble doesn’t usually include oats in the topping, but if it does contain some oats, it’s almost always a lesser amount than an Apple Crisp.

Apple Cobbler is a different dessert made with baked apples covered with biscuit dough, pie crust dough, or a batter topping. The dough or batter is dropped in clumps over the fruit, giving it a “cobbled” appearance, which is where the name comes from. The topping on a fruit cobbler is more bread-like or cake-like in texture compared to the crumbly topping of crisps and crumbles.

Baking Apple Crisp in the Air Fryer is an art! Here’s how to master it:

For the ideal balance of sweetness and tartness, as well as texture that holds up well under heat, choose apples like Granny Smith, Golden Delicious, Fuji, Honeycrisp, or a combination.

If you want the apples to bake evenly, be sure to chop them evenly. Aim for pieces that are similar in size to guarantee each bite is perfectly tender. This prevents some pieces from becoming too mushy while others remain hard and undercooked​​.

Peeling the apples can create a more uniform texture in the filling, but leaving the skin on offers added nutrients like fibre, and it gives this dish a rustic look. We hate peeling produce – it’s absolutely not necessary to peel the apples for this recipe.

Brown sugar creates the most delicious caramelized flavour in the filling, especially when paired with warm spices like cinnamon, so be sure to use it instead of granulated sugar in the filling!

In many baked fruit desserts cornstarch is used to thicken the filling. But because of the air fryer’s efficient air circulation, the apple’s natural juices that are released when cooking concentrate to create the perfect velvety consistency without the need for any additional thickeners​​.

For the crisp topping, cold butter is the key. It helps to create those delicious, flaky crumbs that crisp up beautifully in the air fryer. Cut the butter into small pieces and mix with the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs​​​​.

Just like with a conventional oven, preheating your air fryer means that your apple crisp starts cooking at the right temperature right away, giving you the best results. A preheated air fryer can help you achieve a perfectly crispy topping and an evenly cooked filling​​.

Once you’ve assembled your apple crisp, get it into the air fryer right away. Letting it sit can cause the butter in the topping to get soft, making the topping less crispy. The topping can also get soggy from the fruit’s moisture underneath. Baking it immediately ensures the topping stays crisp and the fruit stays nice and tender​​.

Here’s a list of issues you might encounter when making this air fryer apple crisp recipe and how to fix them!

A dry topping can happen when you don’t add enough butter to the crumble topping. Ensure your ratio of butter to dry ingredients (flour and oats) is correct, according to the recipe. The mixture should resemble coarse crumbs and hold together when pinched together in your hands.

Apples release a lot of juice when they cook, so choose apples that are less juicy, like Granny Smith, Fuji, Golden Delicious, or Honeycrisp apples, and make sure to chop them evenly for consistent cooking.

Different apple varieties cook at different rates. Choose apples that hold their shape well when baked, like Honey crisp or Granny Smith. Checking regularly towards the end of cooking time can also prevent overcooking.

Chop the apples evenly to ensure consistent cooking. Starting with a preheated air fryer can also help cook the apples thoroughly.

If your air fryer cooks unevenly or too intensely at the top, consider covering the crisp with foil partway through cooking. This can prevent the topping from burning while allowing the apples to continue softening.

If you’ve been gifted an air fryer for the holidays and it’s been sitting on your shelf collecting dust, or if you’ve been thinking about picking up an air fryer for awhile but haven’t yet, we’d HIGHLY recommend getting started. An air fryer is a fantastic kitchen appliance for achieving that oven-crisp or fried texture in a fraction of the time with next to no added fat, and to be honest it’s a kitchen appliance we’d have a hard time living without!

Here’s a list of our favourite air fryers (paid links):

• A great Air Fryer for space-saving (2 quart capacity)
• The perfect Air Fryer for large families with a dual basket feature
• A standard Air Fryer for everyday use (works well for a family of 2 to 4 people)
• A large Air Fryer for everyday use (works well for a family of 2 to 4 people)

Aside from an Air Fryer, here’s a list of kitchen equipment you’ll need for this apple crisp recipe (paid links):

• small baking dish OR silicone baking dish
• Cutting Board
• large knife
• measuring cups and spoons
• Silicone Spatula
• mixing bowls

When you’re baking in the air fryer you’ll need to use an air fryer-friendly baking dish. Here’s a breakdown of the most popular kinds of baking dishes to use in your air fryer and our recommendations:

• Silicone baking molds can easily fit into various air fryer sizes, making them a flexible choice.
• They’re non-stick, making clean up nice and easy, and they don’t require greasing.
• Silicone baking molds are resistant to both cold and heat and it won’t crack, rust, or stain over time.
• When baking with silicone, one drawback is that silicone doesn’t conduct heat as well as metal. This can lead to uneven baking.
• Because of the flexible edges, silicone molds can make it difficult to remove from the air fryer without spilling or squishing.

• Aluminum pans heats up quickly and evenly, promoting uniform cooking and browning.
• Aluminum is lightweight, making aluminum baking pans easy to handle, especially when transferring them in and out of the air fryer.
• Aluminum baking dishes, whether they’re reusable or made for one-time use, are usually less expensive than ceramic dishes.
• When baking with aluminum dishes, one drawback is that they are prone to denting and scratching, which can shorten the lifespan of the dish. If you’re using one-time use aluminum dishes, the cost can add up.

• Ceramic baking dishes holds heat very well, which helps to promote even baking.
• Ceramic baking dishes are often more visually appealing, making them great for serving right after cooking.
• Ceramic baking dishes are heavier, which can make handling more challenging.
• Ceramic baking dishes are breakable, and they can crack or break if dropped or exposed to sudden temperature changes.

When selecting a baking dish to use in your air fryer, it’s important to think about what you’re cooking, as well as your air fryer’s model and size – every air fryer basket has different dimensions so be sure the dish you’re using fits! Silicone is great for low to medium-heat dishes and offers the most versatility. We like using silicone baking molds in our air fryer, and we’d definitely recommend keeping a few on hand for daily use.

Single-use aluminum dishes are great to use in a pinch, but ceramic baking dishes are ideal for baking in the air fryer when slow, even cooking is what you’re after, and the presentation of the dish is key.

Regardless of material, the most important thing when baking in your air fryer is to make sure the dish you use fits comfortably in your air fryer without obstructing the air flow. This is critical for ensuring even cooking.

Here’s a list of the ingredients you’ll need to make this delicious Air Fryer Apple Crisp recipe (paid links):

FOR THE APPLE FILLING:

• 4-6 large apples 5-6 cups of chopped apples
• 4 teaspoons brown sugar
• 2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
• 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice
• 1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

(or use apple pie spice in place of the individual spices)

FOR THE CRISP TOPPING:

• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup rolled oats
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter cold from the fridge

1. Almond Flour: Replace the all purpose flour in the topping with almond flour for a gluten-free option.
2. Maple: Add maple syrup instead of the brown sugar in the apple mixture for a maple-flavoured twist.
3. Nuts: Add some crushed or chopped pecans or walnuts to the topping for a nutty twist.
4. Caramel: Add some caramel sauce to the top before serving for a caramel twist on the classic.
5. No Refined Sugar: Replace the sugar with coconut sugar for a variation without refined sugar.
6. Vegan: Use vegan butter or coconut oil in place of the butter to keep this recipe vegan.

We hope you love this delicious Air Fryer Apple Crisp recipe as much as we do! Let us know in the comments below, what’s your favourite easy dessert? We’d love to know!

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