Easy Baked Cinnamon Apples

These cinnamon baked apples are easy enough for tonight, but double as the perfect dessert for friends and family (or the holidays). These just might beat apple pie!

Watch the Video

Cinnamon Baked Apples Recipe Video

Related: If you love cinnamon and apples together, take a look at our 15-minute stovetop cinnamon apples.

How to Make the Best Baked Cinnamon Apples

The topping for the apples comes straight out of our popular apple crisp recipe. It’s really simple. Just flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter. You can put it on anything and it would taste amazing, but when you blanket apples with it, it’s insane!

Baked Apples

We like to bake our apples cut in halves. You could go the more traditional route and make a well in the center of each apple and stuff the topping down the middle, but by halving the apples, we use more of that topping I was talking about. We like our topping-to-apple ratio to be high. I said this baked apples recipe was easy, let me show you how easy!

Start by halving each apple — we used honey crisp apples, here, but any firm and sweet apple should work. Use a spoon to remove the core and any seeds. Then line the apple halves up in a baking dish and scatter a little brown sugar and cinnamon over them. If you love apples with cinnamon, try our simple applesauce.

Scatter a little brown sugar and cinnamon over the apples before baking.

Now, the topping. Melt some butter in a saucepan then dump flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and a little salt into the butter — do it in the saucepan for less dishes!

Baked apple topping

Divide the topping between the apples, pressing down gently and then they are ready to be baked.

Adding the crisp topping to the apples

Slide them into the oven for 40 minutes then get your ice cream ready! And maybe some salted caramel sauce. Then that’s it, a dessert that’s easy enough for tonight, but 100% amazing enough for friends and family (or the holidays)!

Serving cinnamon baked apples with ice cream and caramel sauce

More Apple Desserts

  • Our Favorite Apple Pie — This recipe guarantees apple pie with perfectly cooked (not mushy) apples surrounded by a thickened and gently spiced sauce all baked inside a flaky, golden brown crust.
  • Simple Apple Tart — How to make a stunning apple tart with a buttery crust, thinly sliced apples, and toasted almonds. 
  • Easy Apple Crisp — This apple crisp recipe with oats has sweet tender apples and a crisp and crunchy topping made with flour, oats, brown sugar, butter, and cinnamon.
  • Extra Easy Sautéed Apples — Enjoy these buttery cinnamon-laced apples over ice cream for dessert, spooned over pancakes and waffles for breakfast, or as a deliciously sweet side.
Baked apples with an oat crumble topping

Easy Baked Cinnamon Apples

  • PREP
  • COOK
  • TOTAL

These baked cinnamon apples are so simple to make, they just might beat apple pie! Bake the apples cut in halves. You could go the more traditional route and make a well in the center of each apple and stuff the topping down the middle, but by halving the apples, we use more topping. We like our topping-to-apple ratio to be high.

Makes 6 (1/2 apple) Servings

Watch Us Make the Recipe

You Will Need

Cinnamon Apples

3 medium firm, sweet apples, like Honeycrisp or Fuji

1 tablespoon brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Oat Topping

8 tablespoons (115 g) unsalted butter (1 stick)

3/4 cup (105 g) all-purpose flour

3/4 cup (65 g) old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup (100 g) brown sugar

1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

For Serving

Vanilla ice cream

Salted caramel sauce, see our easy homemade caramel sauce

Directions

  • Prepare Apples
  • 1Heat the oven to 375 degrees F. Lightly spray a baking dish large enough to fit 6 apple halves with non-stick cooking spray.

    2Halve the apples from stem to end and use a spoon to scoop out the core, seeds, and stem. Arrange the apple halves in the baking dish with the flesh facing up. Scatter 1-tablespoon of brown sugar and a 1/4-teaspoon of cinnamon over the apples.

  • Make Topping
  • 1Melt the butter in a pan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat then stir the flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt into the melted butter (doing this directly in the saucepan reduces dishes).

    2Divide the topping between the apples, lightly pressing it down onto the apples.

  • Bake Apples
  • 1Cover with aluminum foil and bake 25 minutes. Uncover the apples then bake another 20 to 30 minutes until the apples are soft and the topping has browned.

  • To Finish
  • 1Serve with a scoop of ice cream, a drizzle of caramel sauce, or plain. The apples will keep for up to a week, simply reheat in a warm oven or in the microwave.

Adam and Joanne's Tips

  • Gluten-free: To make this gluten-free, substitute your favorite gluten-free flour mix, almond or oat flour for the all-purpose flour called for in the recipe. Also, make sure the oats you use are labeled gluten-free.
  • Nutrition Facts: The nutrition facts provided below are estimates. We have used the USDA database to calculate approximate values.

If you make this recipe, snap a photo and hashtag it #inspiredtaste — We love to see your creations on Instagram and Facebook! Find us: @inspiredtaste

Nutrition Per Serving Calories 339 / Protein 3 g / Carbohydrate 47 g / Dietary Fiber 3 g / Total Sugars 26 g / Total Fat 16 g / Saturated Fat 10 g / Cholesterol 40 mg
AUTHOR:  Adam and Joanne Gallagher
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45 comments… Leave a Review
  • Barbara January 17, 2024, 3:18 pm

    These are delicious! The first time I made it the only thing I did differently was to use Granny Smith apples because that’s what I had. The topping cooked into a solid block rather than a crumbly crust, so now I just soften the butter to room temperature and go from there, and it works fine. But the Granny Smiths aren’t working at all; they cook down to almost a sauce-with-skins in the time given. I did not expect this and still have a bunch of Granny Smiths to use, but do you think it’s the Granny Smith apples themselves that are too soft for this recipe? I have always heard them described as baking apples so I thought I was all set.

    Reply
  • Joanne April 13, 2023, 6:13 pm

    Oh no. I wonder why? I’ glad they tasted great, anyway!

    Reply
    • Barbara February 3, 2024, 8:30 pm

      Wow – that’s a heck of a trick! You were able to answer my question 9 whole months before I asked it! LOL

      Reply
  • Tyromom December 24, 2022, 12:52 pm

    These are delicious! I didn’t really follow the measurements, just threw the ingredients together, baked them and they turned out delicious. I cut back on the sugar and used oat flour, so its a very easy, pretty healthy dessert option! Looking forward to taking these to a potluck!

    Reply
  • Amy September 13, 2022, 7:54 pm

    I made these little gems for the first time today and they did not disappoint. They were so delicious that I felt compelled to let you know. I used four smaller apples, but changed nothing in the oatmeal mixture. They cooked perfectly! The apples held up, yet were tender. The oatmeal crumble was sweet and buttery with a nuttiness that came from browning. Thanks for sharing this recipe! I’ll be making these again! 10/10

    Reply
  • Kelli December 11, 2021, 3:48 pm

    Have them in the oven now!

    Reply
  • Amanda May 12, 2021, 10:33 pm

    Can I peel the apples or will it affect the cooking and texture in any way? Making these tomorrow for sure!!

    Reply
    • Joanne November 8, 2022, 1:41 pm

      Hi Amanda, We’d keep the peel on for this recipe.

      Reply

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