This easy-to-follow recipe for gluten-free Apple Pecan Crisp with caramel sauce has a perfect blend of flavours. Sweet apples, toasted pecans, and a crunchy oatmeal topping, all topped off with a drizzle of velvety homemade caramel sauce combine to make a popular dessert for any time of the year!
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❤️ Why you'll love this recipe
- Delicious! Adding pecans to the apple crumble topping gives a satisfying crunch and is a nice contrast to tender apple slices. Finishing it off with a rich buttery caramel sauce (and maybe a scoop of ice cream) puts this dessert over the top.
- Quick to make: Slice apples, top with a crumble topping and bake!
- An always popular dessert: You can't go wrong serving apple crisp!
- Fruit crisps are my favourite dessert. You'll find 10 more fruit crisp recipes here, using everything a variety of fruits and berries.
🛒 Ingredients and substitutions
You'll find a complete list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But before we get to the full recipe, here are a few notes about the ingredients.
For the crumble topping
- old-fashioned rolled oats, certified gluten-free, if necessary
- gluten-free flour blend (or all-purpose flour if you don't need it to be gluten-free)
- pecans
- ground cinnamon and nutmeg
- ground nutmeg
- brown sugar or coconut sugar
- sea salt or Kosher salt
- butter, (or coconut oil) melted
For the apple filling
- apples: Use your favourite variety. I like to use a sweet variety, like Honeycrisp, Gala or Fuji so I don't need to use any (or just a little) sugar
- lemon juice: prevents the apples from turning brown and adds a bright flavour.
- brown sugar or coconut sugar, optional
- cornstarch: to thicken the apple filling
- homemade salted caramel sauce for drizzling on top
🔪 How to make the best apple-pecan crisp
Here's an overview of what you'll do to make this recipe perfectly. You'll find complete instructions in the recipe card at the end of this post.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, pecans, flour, cinnamon, coconut or brown sugar, and ½ teaspoon salt. Add melted butter and stir until the mixture starts to stick together.
- In a separate medium bowl, gently toss the sliced apples with lemon juice, the remaining sugar, and cornstarch until well combined.
- Transfer the mixture to a 2-quart (2 liter) baking dish. Top evenly with the crumble mixture.
- Bake at 350°F. for 30-35 minutes or until the fruit is bubbly and the topping is golden brown.
- Serve warm with homemade caramel sauce and/or ice cream, dairy-free ice cream, whipped cream or Greek yogurt.
🔁 Possible Variations
You can easily substitute walnuts for pecans.
👍🏼 Helpful Tips
Double the recipe for the crumble topping and freeze half of it for another day. That way you can whip up a delicious dessert in minutes, especially if you're using frozen blueberries or cherries.
Either Blueberry Crisp or Cherry Crisp takes only minutes to make if you've made the crumble topping ahead of time.
🍽 What to serve with apple pecan crisp
- Apple pecan crisp with caramel sauce makes an ideal dessert at any time of the year, but especially at summer's end. Use my recipe for homemade caramel sauce, using either the classic recipe with heavy cream and butter or the vegan or paleo caramel sauce made with coconut milk and coconut sugar. Both are amazingly delicious!
- Top it with ice cream, dairy-free ice cream, whipped cream, whipped coconut milk or slightly sweetened Greek yogurt.
- Or simply enjoy it plain, warm from the oven!
⏰ Storage Instructions
To store: Refrigerate leftover apple crisp in an airtight container. It will still be delicious 3 days later.
To reheat: Gently reheat in the microwave, or in a 350°F. oven for 10 to 15 minutes.
Freeze it: Freeze apple crisp in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
🗒 More fruit crisp recipes
- Peach Crisp with Bourbon and Vanilla
- Pecan Pear Crisp (Gluten-Free)
- Gluten-Free Apple Blackberry Crumble
- Cherry Crisp with Frozen Cherries
🌟Did you make this recipe?
When you make this recipe, please leave a comment and a star rating below. I love hearing from you! Thanks in advance. Subscribe to my newsletter and have new recipes delivered straight to your inbox.
📖 Recipe
Apple Pecan Crisp with Caramel Sauce
Equipment
Ingredients
Crumble Topping
- ½ cup finely chopped pecans
- 6 tablespoons gluten-free flour blend or all-purpose flour if you don't need this recipe to be gluten-free.
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ½ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar
- ½ teaspoon sea salt or Kosher salt
- 1 cup old-fashioned rolled oats, certified gluten-free, if necessary
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
Apple Filling
- 5 cups apples peeled, cored and thinly sliced
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice, freshly squeezed
- ¼ cup brown sugar or coconut sugar, optional
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- salted caramel sauce for drizzling on top (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- In a medium bowl, stir together the oats, pecans, flour, cinnamon, coconut or brown sugar and ½ teaspoon salt. Add butter and stir until the mixture starts to stick together.
- In a separate medium bowl, gently toss the sliced apples with lemon juice, the remaining sugar and cornstarch until well combined.
- Transfer the mixture to a 2-quart (2 liter) baking dish. Top evenly with the crumble mixture.
- Bake at 350°F. for 30-35 minutes or until fruit is bubbly and topping is golden brown.
- Serve warm with caramel sauce and/or ice cream, dairy-free ice cream, whipped cream or Greek yogurt.
Bunny
OMG! This is so delicious with that pecan crumble!
Bunny
OMG! This is so delicious with that pecan crumble!
Val
Made this on the weekend with apples from our tree. It has a wonderful caramel flavor and the pecans put it over the top. Simply the best apple crisp!
Elaine
Thanks Val! I appreciate the 5-star rating!
Tina
My new absolute favorite apple crisp recipe! Thanks so much.