Apple crisp in a slow cooker takes about 3 hours on high, 1kg of chopped cooking apples, and one unexpected piece of kitchen kit: a clean tea towel.
Tucked under the lid, it soaks up the condensation that would otherwise drip onto your oat crumble. Take it away for the final 30 minutes, leave the lid slightly open, and the topping firms up into something properly crisp.
That small trick matters more than it sounds. A slow cooker is brilliant at turning apples soft, spiced and fragrant, but it traps every wisp of steam, and steam is the natural enemy of a crumble. Get this one detail right and the oven becomes optional.
This dessert is also having a moment. Alia Bhatt has been learning her mother Soni Razdan’s apple crumble for her YouTube series, and M&S has just turned the idea into a Chunked N’ Loaded cookie that one reviewer would happily choose over the real thing. So why not make the real thing yourself, with almost no effort? The full recipe is below, along with the reasoning behind every step.
This recipe solves that with a simple trick, explained below.
What You Need Before You Start
The ingredient list is short, and most of it is probably already in your kitchen. You need cooking apples for the filling and a handful of pantry staples for the topping.
The apple filling
- 5 to 6 large cooking apples, around 1kg, peeled, cored and cut into chunks
- 50g caster sugar or brown sugar
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
The crumble topping
- 175g plain flour (called all purpose flour in some countries)
- 100g cold unsalted butter, cubed
- 100g golden caster sugar or brown sugar
- 70g rolled oats
Both the filling and the topping give you a choice between caster sugar and brown sugar, so use whichever you have.
How to Make Apple Crisp in a Slow Cooker
Work through these in order. The topping takes only a few minutes, and the slow cooker does the rest.
- Lightly grease the slow cooker insert. Add the apples, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla, then toss everything together until the apple pieces are evenly coated.
- Put the flour and cold butter in a bowl. Rub them together with your fingertips until the mixture looks like coarse breadcrumbs.
- Stir in the sugar and rolled oats.
- Scatter the crumble evenly over the apples. Resist the urge to press it down firmly, because a lightly spread layer is what you want.
- Lay a clean, dry tea towel over the top of the slow cooker, then set the lid firmly on top. Make sure the towel is secured safely beneath the lid and does not hang down near the heat source.
- Cook on high for 3 hours.
- For the final 30 minutes, carefully remove the tea towel and leave the lid slightly ajar.
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Why the Tea Towel Makes Such a Difference
A slow cooker is a closed, humid space. Steam rises from the apples, hits the lid and drips back down, and that is bad news for a crumble. The tea towel absorbs the excess condensation before it can land on the topping, which helps keep it from going soggy.
The final 30 minutes with the lid slightly open do the second half of the job. Steam can escape freely, and the topping gets the chance to crisp. Skip that step and you will likely end up with something closer to a soft, cakey layer than a proper crisp.
Have you ever lifted the lid of a slow cooker and found a pale, damp topping? This pair of small steps is the fix.
One Dessert, Many Names and Many Kitchens
Whether you say crisp or crumble depends on who you ask, and the sources behind this recipe use both words freely. A recipe from Susan Lachmann of Boone Street Market was shared as apple crisp, alongside a pork chop dish with fresh figs and goat cheese. Meanwhile, actor Alia Bhatt has been learning her mother Soni Razdan’s apple crumble in her YouTube series, In My Mama’s Kitchen. Viewers loved the mother and daughter moments, including Soni telling Alia to watch first before trying it herself.
The dessert is popular enough to be reinvented, too. This autumn, M&S turned it into a cookie. Its Chunked N’ Loaded Sticky Apple Cookie combines white chocolate buttons, sticky apple pieces and crisp caramel flakes. The reviewer at Good Housekeeping even declared it better than the real thing. That reviewer also suggests warming the cookie for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave and adding vanilla ice cream, a pairing that would suit a bowl of warm apple crisp just as well.
Questions People Often Ask
Do the apples need to be peeled?
This recipe calls for them peeled, cored and cut into chunks, and that is how it was written to be made. Chunks of a similar size will soften at a similar pace over the 3 hours.
Can I use brown sugar instead of caster sugar?
Yes. The recipe allows either caster sugar or brown sugar for the filling, and golden caster sugar or brown sugar for the topping.
Why does the butter have to be cold?
The method asks you to rub cold, cubed butter into the flour with your fingertips until it resembles coarse breadcrumbs. Starting with cold butter lets you reach that texture by hand without it turning into a paste.
What should I do if my topping turns out soggy?
Check two things next time. First, make sure the tea towel is sitting under the lid to catch condensation. Second, remove the towel for the last 30 minutes and leave the lid slightly ajar so steam can escape.
How long does apple crisp take in a slow cooker?
Cook it on high for 3 hours. The last 30 minutes of that time are spent with the towel removed and the lid slightly open.
Is apple crisp the same as apple crumble?
The sources behind this article use the two names for very similar desserts, with a spiced apple base under a buttery, crumbly topping. This version includes rolled oats in the topping, which gives it a rustic texture.
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