Slow Cooker Apple Crumble
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This Slow Cooker Apple Crumble combines tender apples with a buttery oat topping, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Put it together in about 10 minutes, let the crockpot do the cooking, and serve it warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
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Easy Slow Cooker Apple Crumble
Who doesn’t love warm apple crumble with a scoop of vanilla ice cream? I had this recipe tucked away in one of my recipe books and finally gave it a try. My family was more than happy to be the taste testers!
The topping turned out more like a buttery oatmeal cookie than a crunchy crumble, which was perfectly fine with us. It was gobbled up in a flash! My favorite part was putting it together after lunch and having a warm dessert ready by dinnertime.
Why Make This Slow Cooker Apple Crumble
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No oven needed – Keep the oven free for dinner or skip heating it up altogether.
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Made from scratch – Fresh apples and a simple oat topping, with no cake mix required.
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Easy afternoon prep – Assemble it after lunch and let it cook while you do other things.
Ingredients and Substitutions
The recipe card has the full measurements. Here are a few things to know before you start:
- Apples: Peel, core, and thickly slice enough apples to measure about 6 cups. That is more useful than relying on an exact apple count, since sizes vary. Firm apples such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp are good cooking choices.
- Old-fashioned rolled oats and all-purpose flour: These make the topping. Use rolled oats for this topping; steel-cut oats are not a direct substitute.
- Brown sugar and granulated sugar: Both go into the topping mixture.
- Cold butter: Cut it into pieces before working it into the dry ingredients. You’ll need 1 cup for the rich oat topping.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt: These season the topping.
- Walnuts or pecans: The chopped nuts are optional. Leave them out if you prefer.
- Apple juice: Use 6 tablespoons. When I made this without apple juice, I used 1 tablespoon lemon juice plus 5 tablespoons water instead.
Good to Know: A Softer Topping Is Expected
A covered slow cooker traps steam, so its topping will not dry and brown the same way an oven-baked crisp does. This apple crumble has a soft, rich oat topping rather than a crunchy crust.
That does not mean you need to keep cooking it until it becomes crisp. Judge doneness by the apples: they should be tender when pierced with a fork.
How to Make Slow Cooker Apple Crumble
1 Make the topping: Stir together the flour, oats, both sugars, nutmeg, cinnamon, salt, and optional nuts. Add the cold butter and work it into the mixture with a pastry blender, fork, or your fingers until you have pea-sized lumps.
2 Add the apples: Place the peeled, cored, thickly sliced apples in the slow cooker. Pour the apple juice, or the lemon juice and water mixture, over them.
3 Layer and cook: Sprinkle the topping evenly over the apples without stirring it into the fruit. Cover and cook on LOW for about 4 hours, until the apples are tender. Slow cookers vary, so check sooner if yours tends to cook quickly.
4 Serve warm: Spoon the warm apple crumble into bowls and top with vanilla ice cream. A dollop of whipped cream is another easy serving option.
💡Pro Tip:
Slice the apples to a similar thickness so they soften at about the same time. Avoid mixing very thin slices with large chunks.
Recipe Tips
- Keep the butter cold. Work it into the dry ingredients just until small lumps form rather than mixing everything into a smooth paste.
- Leave the layers separate. Spread the topping over the apples instead of stirring it through the fruit.
- Check the apples for doneness. A fork should slide into a slice easily. The original cooking time is about 4 hours on LOW, but your cooker and the apple variety can affect that.
Easy Variations
- Leave out the nuts: They are optional in the original recipe, so no replacement is needed.
- Mix apple varieties: A combination of tart and sweeter firm apples gives you a mix of flavors. Keep the total at about 6 cups.
- Change the finishing touch: Serve with whipped cream, butter pecan ice cream, or a little caramel sauce.
- Try apples and pears: For a version developed with both fruits, try my Slow Cooker Apple Pear Crisp.
Storage Suggestions
Transfer leftovers to a shallow, covered container and refrigerate within 2 hours. Use within 3 to 4 days. Store ice cream or other toppings separately.
Reheat individual portions in the microwave in short intervals until hot throughout. The oat topping will remain soft. This dessert is best freshly cooked or refrigerated; freezing and thawing can make the topping wetter.
What apples are best for slow cooker apple crumble?
Firm apples that hold their shape during cooking, such as Granny Smith or Honeycrisp, are good choices. You can use one variety or a mixture. Measure about 6 cups after peeling, coring, and slicing.
Do I have to peel the apples?
I peel mine for a tender filling without pieces of apple skin. Leaving the peel on saves a little prep, but the skins will still be noticeable after cooking.
Will the topping get crunchy?
Not like an oven-baked crisp. In this recipe, the topping is soft and buttery, with a texture more like an oatmeal cookie. The covered slow cooker holds moisture, so a crunchy top is not the doneness test.
Can I cook this on HIGH instead?
I make this on LOW for about 4 hours. I haven’t tested a HIGH-setting cooking time for this recipe, so LOW is the setting I recommend.
Can I use apple pie filling instead of fresh apples?
This recipe is written for fresh apples. Canned pie filling is already sweetened and thickened, so it would change the result. For a shortcut dessert that uses pie filling, try my Apple Pie Dump Cake instead.
More Apple Desserts to Try
If you make this slow cooker apple crumble, I’d love to hear how it turned out! Leave a star rating in the recipe card and a comment below.
Print
Slow Cooker Apple Crumble
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 4 Hours
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 6 servings 1x
- Category: desserts
- Method: slow cooker
Description
This Slow Cooker Apple Crumble recipe is amazing! It’s so easy to put together – just toss a few ingredients into the crockpot and a few hours later you’ll have an amazing warm apple dessert that will leave everyone begging for more.
Ingredients
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 cup old fashioned rolled oats
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 1/4 tsp ground nutmeg
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup walnuts or pecans, roughly chopped (optional)
- 1 cup cold butter cut into pieces
- 4 to 6 large apples peeled cored and thickly sliced (you want about 6 cups)
- 6 tbsp apple juice ( I didn’t have any apple juice, so used 1 tbsp lemon juice and the rest water)
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Instructions
- In a large bowl, stir the flour, oats, sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon and nuts together until combined. Add the butter and mix with a pastry blender, fork or hands until pea sized lumps are formed.
- Place the apple slices in the base of the slow cooker and add the apple juice. Sprinkle the flour mixture evenly over them.
- Cover and cook on low for 4 hours. (make sure your slow cooker actually cooks on low- many of the newer ones actually run higher. If your’s cooks hot, you may want to shorten the cooking time.)
- Serve warm with a scoop (or 2) of vanilla ice cream.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/6 of recipe
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Made this yesterday, loved it!
Hi, what size crock pot did you use? People always forget that part. There are 3 qt., 4, 4.5, 5, 5.5 6, 6.5…… Thanks
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I'm not sure what size my crock pot is, but it is a larger one. I dont think it matters in this recipe as long as the crock is big enough to hold your ingredients.
This looks amazing! Thanks for sharing this recipe; with fall coming on, I am looking or more ways to use my slow cooker. I'm visiting from Friday Frenzy.
Oh yum! Pinned. Hugs! Lou Lou Girls
Sounds good, I have heard about baking in the crock pot, but have not tried it. Guess I will now!
Definitely pinning this, I LOVE apple crumble and in the slow cooker – bonus!
Looks awesome! I have been wanting to do a dessert in the crock pot. This looks like a good first try recipe. I've pinned it!
Oh this looks wonderful! Apple crumble is one of my fall favorites, I've never made it in the crockpot before though, I need to give it a try sometime! I'm sure it smells so wonderful as it cooks!!!