5 from 29 reviews

Paleo Apple Crisp with Almond Flour Crumble (vegan option)

By Alanna Taylor-Tobin on Nov 14, 2021 (updated Mar 17, 2025) / 32 Comments Jump to Recipe

This reader-favorite paleo apple crisp (a.k.a paleo apple crumble) combines gooey baked apples with a crunchy almond flour crumble topping. The almond flour crumble topping is made with just a handful of easy ingredients. It's free of gluten, grains, eggs, refined sugar, and dairy, but still tastes like a treat.

Gooey baked apples and a buttery crumble topping made with almond flour and cassava flour make this paleo apple crisp exceptionally delicious.

If you're a fan of almond flour dessert recipes, like my foolproof almond flour tart crust and top-rated almond flour olive oil cake, you're going to love this almond flour apple crisp recipe.

Fruit crisps and crumbles are some of my all-time favorite desserts. They're easy to make with whatever fruit happens to be in season. I love the satisfying combination of tastes and textures: tangy stewed fruit, salty-sweet crumble, and scoops of melty ice cream. I even devoted a whole chapter of my gluten-free cookbook to crisps and other rustic fruit desserts!

And yet as simple and homey as they are, fruit crisps, especially the more allergy-friendly varieties, can be tricky. I've made versions with watery fruit, dry fruit, and gelled fruit. I've suffered pasty, bland toppings that disintegrate in the oven, and overly firm toppings that separate from the filling. Some versions had good textures, but tasted overly sweet.

After tinkering with this paleo apple crisp recipe for over a year, I'm finally 100% happy with it. I'm excited to share it with you today!

close-up overhead of paleo apple crumble in a bowl with ice cream

Here's what one reader had to say about it:

Perfect Recipe

“Perfect recipe, totally in love with it! ”
—Irma

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A couple of key ingredients and techniques make this apple crisp shine

The Apples

Baked apples can be drier than other fruits, but adding too much maple syrup made them overly sweet when eaten with the also-sweet topping. I add a pour of fresh-pressed apple juice and a touch of lemon to keep them moist and tender. This ups the fresh apple flavor, keeping the fruit vibrant-tasting and balanced.

Dotting the apples with butter adds richness, and baking the apples on their own first makes them extra tender.

The Paleo Crisp Topping

Paleo and gluten-free crisp toppings can be a tricky balance. We need enough sticky ingredients and proteins to form those much sought-after clumps and clusters. But too much starch can make the topping soft and chewy.

I tried different ratios of almond flour, cassava flour, and tapioca flour plus butter and sweetener to bind it together.

This streusel-like topping bakes up with clusters of varying sizes. It sinks into the apples a bit, but stands up to the fruit juices nicely. And it's got a lovely balance of sweet, salty, and spicy notes that play beautifully with the roasted apples.

Things I love about this apple crumble:

tender, sweet-tart apples
crunchy almond flour crumble topping
warm flavors of butter, spice, and toasty nuts
minimal sweetness so you can really taste the fruit
allergy-friendly: no gluten, grains, refined sugar, with dairy-free and nut-free options

ingredients for paleo apple crisp recipe — INGREDIENTS: Pecans, coconut sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, almond flour, cassava flour, tapioca flour, butter, maple syrup, salt, lemon juice, apple juice or cider, and apples

Ingredients and Substitution Suggestions

Baked Apples

Apples are the star of this show. I use sweet-tart fuji apples here, which stand up well to baking. Other similar apples are honeycrisp and pink lady. If you use a more tart baking apple such as granny smith, you may want to add a couple more tablespoons of maple syrup to sweeten the apples. I don't recommend using softer apple varieties such as Gravensteins as these will break down into applesauce and be too mushy.
Apple cider or apple juice adds moisture and big apple flavor. I prefer fresh-pressed apple cider, found with other fresh fruit and veggie juices at natural foods stores or farmers markets, but shelf-stable apple juice will work too. Or go wild and use hard apple cider, orange juice, cranberry juice, or pomegranate juice instead. See the recipe notes for boozy variations!
Maple syrup adds a touch of sweetness. Increase the maple if your apples are very tart, or sub any other sweetener you like.
Lemon and salt sharpen the flavors.
Butter adds richness. Use dairy-free butter if you prefer. I haven't tested this with coconut oil, but I think it would work; you might need to add a teaspoon or two of plant milk since butter is about 85% fat and 15% milk solids and water.

Almond Flour Crumble Topping

A blend of grain-free flours gives this paleo crumble topping a dreamy texture. Nerd out on these and more in my guide to baking with gluten-free flours.

Almond flour makes the crisp topping clumpy and crunchy. Almond meal and hazelnut meal work well too. Or you could use any nut or seed, ground to a flour. Try tiger nut flour for a nut-free option, though you may need to add more butter since it can be more absorbent than nut flour.
Cassava flour and tapioca flour help the crumble hold together. You can sub any paleo or gluten-free AP flour for the cassava flour. Use sweet rice flour if grains aren't an issue. Try cornstarch in place of the tapioca flour if you prefer.
Toasted pecans or walnuts add crunch and flavor. Other nuts, such as sliced almonds or chopped hazelnuts, work too. For nut-free, omit the nuts or sub pumpkin seeds.
Coconut sugar or maple sugar add natural sweetness. You can use brown sugar if you prefer.
Cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt add flavor and spicy goodness. Sometimes I use my homemade pumpkin spice if I have some on hand, and it gives the topping a lovely golden hue (shown here). See the recipe notes for a masala chai apple crisp variation.
Melted butter brings the crumble topping together, making it rich and streusel-like. This works equally well with vegan butter such as Miyoko's, and other readers have said that coconut oil works too. For extra flavor, try the browned butter variation in the notes.

How to Make Grain-Free Apple Crisp

For this recipe, I like to bake the apples first to make them super tender. Then we add an easy almond flour crumble topping that's made by simply stirring the ingredients together.

sliced apples in a bowl with maple syrup — Peel the apples using a T-shaped vegetable peeler. Cut the apple flesh off the core by standing a peeled apple upright and cutting downward next to the core to remove large chunks of apples. Place the chunks cut side-down and slice them fairly thin – about three-eighths of an inch.

prepared apples in a pan dotted with butter — Toss the apples with the apple juice, maple syrup, lemon, and salt. Place them in a baking dish and dot with the butter.

baked apples for grain-free apple crisp — Bake the apples until the juices are bubbling. Give them a gentle stir.

ingredients for almond flour apple crisp topping: dry ingredients and melted butter — Meanwhile, make the topping by stirring together all the dry ingredients and melting the butter.

almond flour crumble topping, stirred in a bowl — Stir in the butter to form large, moist clumps of almond flour crumble topping.

almond flour crisp topping on baked apples — Crumble the almond flour topping over the apples. You want a mix of small and larger clumps.

baked paleo apple crumble from overhead — Bake the paleo apple crisp until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling thickly. Let cool slightly to allow the apples to reabsorb some of the juices. The topping will firm up and become more crunchy as it sits.

wide 3/4 angle of a bowl of healthy apple crisp topped with ice cream — Serve warm paleo crisp with scoops of your favorite ice cream. This is my favorite paleo cashew ice cream and my favorite paleo coconut milk ice cream.

Apple Crisp for Everyone

Whip up this paleo apple dessert for a casual weeknight treat, or bake a double batch to feed a crowd. Top it with scoops of drippy vanilla ice cream or rich coconut yogurt for a cozy dessert. Leftover crisp is divine for breakfast with some plain yogurt on the side.

See the recipe notes for some flavor variations such as brown butter apple crisp, masala chai crisp, and boozy apple crisp.

However you make the recipe, I hope you love as much as we do!

paleo apple crisp in a bowl topped with scoops of ice cream dusted with cinnamon

All the Paleo Crisps and Crumbles

Try this almond flour crumble topping with any fruits you like! Here are a few favorite fruit dessert recipes that can be made with this almond flour topping:

Gluten-Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp – crimson, springy deliciousness
Apple Rhubarb Crisp – the fruit combo you never knew you needed
Gluten-Free Rhubarb Crisp – for true rhubarb lovers
Almond Flour Peach Cobbler – luscious summer peaches (or frozen peaches) would pair beautifully with almond flour streusel topping
Gluten-Free Blueberry Crisp – turn this recipe paleo by swapping that topping for the one in this post

Bojon appétit, my sweets! If you make this, I’d love to know. Please leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet.

5 from 29 reviews

Paleo Apple Crisp with Almond Flour Crumble

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With tender sweet-tart apples and a crunchy spiced topping, this paleo apple crisp makes a cozy fall (or anytime!) dessert.

Alanna Taylor-Tobin

Prep Time: 20

Cook Time: 1 10

Total: 1 30

Servings: 6 servings

Ingredients

Apples:

2 pounds sweet-tart apples (such as fuji, honeycrisp, or pink lady; about 7 medium)
¼ cup apple cider or juice
1 tablespoon maple syrup (more if your apples are very tart)
1 ½ tablespoons lemon juice
⅛ teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, vegan butter, or coconut oil, diced

Crumble Topping:

¾ cup (80 g) blanched almond flour*
¼ cup (35 g) cassava flour*
1 ½ tablespoons (11 g) tapioca flour
½ cup (50 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped*
⅓ cup (45 g) coconut sugar or maple sugar
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
¼ teaspoon fine sea or kosher salt
5 tablespoons (70 g) unsalted butter, vegan butter, or coconut oil, melted
Non-dairy vanilla ice cream, for serving

Instructions

Apples:

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 350ºF.
Peel the apples using a T-shaped vegetable peeler. Cut the apple flesh off the core by standing a peeled apple upright and cutting downward next to the core to remove large chunks of apples. Place the chunks cut side-down and slice them fairly thin – about three-eighths of an inch.
Toss the apples in a large bowl with the apple cider, maple syrup, lemon juice, and salt.
Scrape the apples into a 9-inch round baking dish with 2-inch high sides (or an 8x8-inch square pan).
Dot the apples with the cubed butter.
Bake the apples at 350 until bubbling, 30-35 minutes. Stir gently.

Topping:

While the apples bake, prepare the topping. Place the almond, cassava, and tapioca flours in a large bowl with the nuts, coconut sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt. Stir to combine.
Stir in the melted butter until combined; the mixture will resemble gravel.
Crumble the topping over the baked apples.
Return to the oven and bake until the topping is deep golden and the apples are bubbling. This takes 40-50 minutes in my oven, but other readers have reported that it only takes 15-30 minutes, so keep a close eye on it!
Let cool slightly, at least 10 minutes. The topping will become more crisp as it cools and the juices will soak back into the apples.
Serve warm or at room temperature with ice cream.

Video

Notes

*Ingredient subs:

In place of almond flour, sub by weight: almond meal, hazelnut flour, or tiger nut flour (for nut-free)
In place of cassava flour, sub by weight: more almond flour, paleo AP flour, gluten-free AP flour, sweet rice flour
In place of tapioca flour, sub by weight: corn starch or arrowroot flour

This crisp is best within a few hours of baking, but leftovers keep well covered and refrigerated for up to 3 days, or frozen for up to 2 months. I love eating cold leftovers for breakfast with a scoop of plain yogurt. Or you can reheat them in a 350º oven or toaster oven until warm, about 10 minutes, or longer if frozen.

To feed a crowd, double the recipe and prepare it in a 9x13-inch baking dish, increasing the bake times as needed.

Brown Butter Apple Crisp:
Brown the butter (with half a vanilla bean, if you like). Stir 3 tablespoons melted browned butter into the apples and use the rest in the topping.

Boozy Apple Crisp:
Use hard apple cider, GF bourbon, brandy, or Calvados instead of some or all of the apple cider.

Pumpkin Spice Apple Crisp:
Use 1 teaspoon golden pumpkin spice mix in place of the cinnamon and nutmeg.

Masala Chai-Spiced Apple Crisp:
Stir together ½ teaspoon each ground ginger, cinnamon, and cardamom. Use ½ teaspoon of this mixture in the apples and the rest in the topping.

Paleo Peach Crisp:
Omit the apples and apple juice and make the filling with 2 pounds of unpeeled peaches, cut into wedges, plus 1 tablespoon tapioca flour to thicken the juices.

Nutrition

Calories: 417kcalCarbohydrates: 42gProtein: 4gFat: 28gSaturated Fat: 11gPolyunsaturated Fat: 2gMonounsaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 1gCholesterol: 40mgSodium: 299mgPotassium: 224mgFiber: 6gSugar: 26gVitamin A: 554IUVitamin C: 9mgCalcium: 63mgIron: 1mg

Making this? I'd love to see!Tag your snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet and #bojongourmet!

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5 from 29 votes (20 ratings without comment)