This apple crumble pie recipe is easy to make. It's a great pie for every occasion, from festive family events to everyday dessert situations. Flaky pie crust filled with juicy, sweet cinnamon-spiced apples and topped with crunchy crumb topping. It's perfectly spiced and delicious. Serve it warm or cold with your favorite toppings.
If you love apples, you will love my apple pie as well!
Maybe you ask how to make apple crumble pie? Well, it's a straightforward and easy process. Prepare the pie crust in the food processor, combine all ingredients for the apple filling in a bowl, combine the ingredients for the crumb topping in another bowl, and assemble.
I show you how to make apple crumble pie and how to make crumble topping for apple pie step-by-step with detailed photo instructions, and you can even watch me making the pie in the video.
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Ingredients and substitutions
To make this easy apple crumble pie, you need flour, sugar, salt, unsalted butter, water, apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and walnuts.
- All-purpose flour - you can use gluten-free flour 1:1 instead. Use a blend with xanthan gum.
- Unsalted butter - to make vegan apple crumble pie, use your favorite vegan butter instead.
- Apples - I prefer Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, or Braeburn. Also, Granny Smith works fine.
- Lemon juice - use freshly squeezed lemon juice and not store-bought one.
- Walnuts - since there are walnuts in the topping, I like to refer to this pie as apple walnut pie but if you have a nut allergy or don't like walnuts, leave them out. You could swap the walnuts for pecans if preferred.
Photo instructions
In a food processor, combine the flour, salt, sugar, and butter and pulse 4 to 6 times until larger than pea-sized butter pieces are still visible. Add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of cold water (straight from the tap is fine - as cold as possible) at a time, pulsing one or two times after each addition. Stop adding water and pulsing when you notice that the dough comes together and starts to clump.
Without kneading the dough, transfer it to a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 1- to 1 ½-inch (2.5-4cm) thick disk.
You can wrap and chill the dough as it is now or proceed with my folding technique to create the flakiest pie crust possible. Either way, it is a delicious and flaky pie crust, but I feel folding the dough brings the crust to another level.
Lift the left side of the dough and fold one-third of the dough over itself to create a section 2 layers thick. Then, take the right side of the dough and fold it on top so that it covers the previously folded left side of the dough, like a folded business letter, to make three layers.
Using just your fingers, flatten the dough again into a 1- to 1 ½-inch (2.5-4cm) thick disk and fold it again into thirds. This time fold the side of the dough facing away from you and fold it towards you. Then fold the side of the dough facing to you, away from you in the same style as described above. Form into a 1- to 1 ½-inch (2.5-4cm) thick disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
The following collage shows the folding process step-by-step. Beginning from the top left corner, reading from left to right.
In a large bowl, stir the apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and vanilla to combine. Set aside.
In another large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until combined and butter flakes are still visible. Don't overwork the butter, or it will become a paste. It should have a crumbly texture, as shown below.
Add chopped walnuts and combine. Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to sprinkle the topping on top of the pie.
After chilling the dough, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into an 11-inch (28cm) even circle and transfer to a 9-inch (23cm) pie dish.
The yellow dots in the crust, as shown in the picture below, are the butter flakes. If it looks like this, your pie crust will be beyond flaky.
Evenly press the dough into the bottom and against the sides of the pie dish and flute the edges.
Evenly spoon the filling with a slotted spoon or spider skimmer into the pie crust and discard any excess liquid from the filling if there is any.
Sprinkle the crumb topping on top and bake.
Expert tips
- Use cold butter straight out of the fridge for the pie crust and the crumb topping. Soft and warm butter results in a pie crust that is not flaky at all, and the topping turns into a paste.
- Don't overwork the butter in both the crust and topping, or the same outcome will happen as described before.
- Discard any excess liquid from the filling, if there is any, otherwise, the filling could turn out a little watery.
- Give it time to chill before you serve the pie. I prefer chilling mine overnight before serving because the filling has time to thicken up. It's a great recipe to make ahead.
- Cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil in the beginning when baking it at a high temperature to prevent the top from burning or darkening too much.
Variations
- Crumble topping with oats - you can add ¾ cup (75g) old-fashioned rolled oats to the topping or use the crumb topping from my strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe.
- Top it with homemade caramel - here is a great tutorial on how to make caramel from scratch.
- Mini apple crumble pies - make half of the recipe as described and bake it in muffin pans. Learn here how to make mini pies.
Make ahead and freezing instructions
This pie is even better on the second day, so it's the perfect pie to make ahead and store in the fridge overnight. You can prepare the pie crust for up to 2 days in advance and store it in the fridge or freeze it for up to 3 months. Baked pie freezes well for up to 2 months. To thaw, place in the refrigerator overnight.
Storing and reheating
Store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat single slices in the microwave for 30-40 seconds if you want to serve it warm.
More pie recipes
There is no doubt that pies are a delicious treat. No matter how you fill them or prepare them, there is the perfect pie for every occasion. Here are some of my favorites:
Recipe and Video
Apple Crumble Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 ¼ cups flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp sugar
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter
- 4-6 tbsp cold water
Filling
- 6 large apples, peeled, cored, and sliced into ⅛-inch slices
- 1 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Topping
- 1 cup all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled
- ½ cup packed light brown sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ½ cup cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 1 cup walnuts, roughly chopped
Instructions
- Crust: In a food processor*, combine the flour, salt, sugar, and butter and pulse 4 to 6 times until larger than pea-sized butter pieces are still visible. Add 1 tablespoon (15 ml) of the cold water at a time, pulsing one or two times after each addition. Stop adding water and pulsing when you notice that the dough comes together and starts to clump.
- Without kneading the dough, transfer it to a sheet of plastic wrap and form into a 1- to 1 ½-inch (2.5-4cm) thick disk.** Lift the left side of the dough and fold one-third of the dough over itself to create a section 2 layers thick. Then, take the right side of the dough and fold it on top so that it covers the previously folded left side of the dough, like a folded business letter, to make three layers. Using just your fingers, flatten the dough again into a 1- to 1 ½-inch (2.5-4cm) thick disk and fold it again into thirds. This time fold the side of the dough facing away from you and fold it towards you. Then fold the side of the dough facing to you, away from you in the same style as described above. Form into a 1- to 1 ½-inch (2.5-4cm) thick disk and wrap tightly with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours or up to 2 days.
- Filling: In a large bowl, stir the apples, lemon juice, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and vanilla to combine. Set aside.
- Topping: In another large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and butter. Use your fingers to work the butter into the dry ingredients until combined and pea-sized butter flakes are still visible. Don't overwork the butter, or it will become a paste. It should have a crumbly texture. Add chopped walnuts and combine. Place in the refrigerator until you are ready to sprinkle the topping on top of the pie.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F (204°C). After chilling the dough, on a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough into an 11-inch (28cm) even circle and transfer to a 9-inch (23cm) pie dish. Evenly press the dough into the bottom and against the sides of the pie dish and flute the edges.
- Evenly spoon the filling with a slotted spoon or spider skimmer into the pie crust and discard any excess liquid from the filling if there is any. Sprinkle the crumb topping on top. Cover loosely with aluminum foil and bake for 15 minutes. Then remove the aluminum foil, let the pie in the oven, turn down the temperature to 375°F (190°C), and bake additional 30-35 minutes. Cover the last 15 minutes with aluminum foil again to prevent heavy browning if necessary. Remove from the oven and let cool to room temperature. Then chill for at least 4 hours in the fridge. Reheat in the microwave or serve cold with your favorite toppings. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days or freeze up to 2 months.
Video
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Notes
** Make your pie crust extra flaky You can prepare the crust in the food processor, wrap, and chill the dough without folding it. The folding technique is just an additional step to create the flakiest pie crust possible. Either way, it is a delicious and flaky pie crust, but I feel folding the dough brings the crust to another level.
Ingredient notes and substitutions
- All-purpose flour - you can use gluten-free flour 1:1 instead. Use a blend with xanthan gum.
- Unsalted butter - to make vegan apple crumble pie, use your favorite vegan butter instead.
- Apples - I prefer Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Jonagold, or Braeburn. Also, Granny Smith works fine.
- Lemon juice - use freshly squeezed lemon juice and not store-bought one.
- Walnuts - since there are walnuts in the topping, I like to refer to this pie as apple walnut pie but if you have a nut allergy or don't like walnuts, leave them out. You could swap the walnuts for pecans if preferred.
Expert tips
- Use cold butter straight out of the fridge for the pie crust and the crumb topping. Soft and warm butter results in a pie crust that is not flaky at all, and the topping turns into a paste.
- Don't overwork the butter in both the crust and topping, or the same outcome will happen as described before.
- Discard any excess liquid from the filling, if there is any, otherwise, the filling could turn out a little watery.
- Give it time to chill before you serve the pie. I prefer chilling mine overnight before serving because the filling has time to thicken up. It's a great recipe to make ahead.
- Cover the pie loosely with aluminum foil in the beginning when baking it at a high temperature to prevent the top from burning or darkening too much.
Make ahead and freezing instructions This pie is even better on the second day, so it's the perfect pie to make ahead and store in the fridge overnight. You can prepare the pie crust for up to 2 days in advance and store it in the fridge or freeze it for up to 3 months. Baked pie freezes well for up to 2 months. To thaw, place in the refrigerator overnight.
Storing and reheating Store it in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat single slices in the microwave for 30-40 seconds if you want to serve it warm.
More questions Make this recipe perfect every time. So be sure to check the full post above. I included easy step-by-step photo instructions and a video to make it easy for you to replicate this recipe.
Janet
That is THE most scrumptious Apple Pie I have ever seen. Cannot wait to try it. We have 2 apple trees that produce abundantly every year, so we have a very good supply with which to make this pie. Thanks for a great recipe
Marina
Very easy recipe. I had all of the ingredients at home. If you follow the instructions you will ohave a beautiful looking and tasty pie.
Thanks Sabine!
Sabine
Thank you so much for your feedback! I'm happy that you like this pie as much as we do!
Becky
Thanks for the fantastic recipe!
Corinna
this recipe sounds delicious! and I love your pictures! makes it even more appealing to the eye!