I. Am. So. Pumped!! Today I’m going to share with you one of personal all time favorites where dessert is concerned. Whilst I can’t personally eat this recipe, it was something I created during my food trial days when I found truly corn free apples (a true miracle indeed). I’ll have to tell you all about food trials another day. For now, let’s focus on this hyper delicious vegan apple crumble recipe.
This vegan crumble is made from simple ingredients, which makes it much easier for someone with a corn allergy to source safe ingredients. Also know that this vegan apple crumble recipe is grain free, truly corn free, top 14 free, GERD friendly, and so much more.
If you follow a special diet, be sure to read through the compatibility notes. If you’re not corn free, read through the ingredient notes where swaps are listed. Fire up your oven and let’s get to work.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nut (including Coconut), Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Top 14 Allergens, Alliums, Avocado, Banana, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Buckwheat, Cane/Refined Sugar, Carrot, Celery, Cinnamon, Citrus, Corn, Cruciferous, Garlic, Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Oat, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Rice, Squash & Gourd, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, GERD, Paleo, Vegan
Compatible With: Seed Free, Stone Fruit Free, AIP Paleo, Low Histamine
Seed Free, AIP Paleo: Omit the flax seeds in the dough. It will be more delicate but still delicious.
Stone Fruit Free: Swap the dates for a safe dried fruit, or omit the dried fruit. Use a safe oil instead of the EVOO.
Low Histamine: Omit the dried fruit if it’s not tolerated, and make sure your fruit filling is sweetened to your liking. If you can’t tolerate vanilla extract, use 2 teaspoons of ground vanilla instead.
GERD Reminder: Make sure you serve a portion size that works for YOU. With too large a portion, this could be considered a high fat food due to the oil content.
Tools Needed to Make This Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe
- Knife (my current fave knives)
- Cutting Board
- Kitchen Scale (this is the one that I LOVE, I have three…)
- Food Processor (I have this large one and love it)
- Baking Dish
Corn Free, Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe Ingredients
Apple Filling Ingredients
- 840g Organic Apples (30 ounces), peeled & cubed
- 170g Organic Maple Syrup (6 ounces)
- 2.5 TBSP Organic Vanilla Extract
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for drizzling)
Crumble Dough Ingredients Part 1
- 400g Cassava Flour (this is a corn free brand at the time of publishing)
- 100g Organic Medjool Dates, pits removed
- 50g Golden Flax Meal (this is the best brand to use)
- 2 TBSP Organic Vanilla Extract (this is the brand I use, for CF, only get the organic vanilla extract, no other product)
- 3/4 tsp Sea Salt
Crumble Dough Ingredients Part 2
- 200mL Organic Maple Syrup
Crumble Dough Ingredients Part 3
- 165mL Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil
Critical Ingredient Notes
Choosing the Best Apple: If you have a corn allergy like me, there’s no right or wrong answer. The best apple is a safe apple that’s unwaxed from a safe farm. For everyone else, aim for sweet apples or mid-range apples. If you LOVE sour apples (such as granny smith apples), you can go that route, but it’s not necessary. Click here to see a list of apples in order of sweet to most tart.
Cassava Flour: This is by design a grain free, truly corn free, vegan crumble. To keep it that way, you need to use cassava flour. The ratios as listed will NOT work with almond meal, coconut flour, oat flour, tiger nut flour (tuber, not a tree nut), or any other single flours. I can’t stress this enough.
You *might* be able to use an all purpose flour, or your favorite gluten-free flour blend, in place of the cassava flour. However, I haven’t tested this, so swap at your own risk.
Dates: You can omit these if you’d like. They add natural sweetness and a nice chewy texture to the crumble filling. For nut free dates, check out Sam Cobb. They grow and harvest on the farm, and they only grow dates.
Maple Syrup: This is a liquid sweetener, and you can only swap it for other liquid sweeteners including date syrup and honey. You can NOT use granulated sweeteners such as white sugar, brown sugar, date sugar, coconut sugar, demerara sugar, or any other granulated sweetener.
Olive Oil: You can swap this for other oils that are liquid at room temperature. My top suggestion will always be organic tiger nut oil (tuber, not a tree nut). The flavour is super neutral, and it has great health benefits. From there, choose an oil that’s not super present in flavour to the apples can shine bright.
Planning Tip
Plan ahead with a recipe like this. Prep your apples on the weekend. One night whilst cooking dinner have the apple filling cooking off to the side. Then on the actual bake day you’re doing a lot less work. Additionally, if you love this kind of food, double batch. It doesn’t take much extra hands on work, and it’s freezer friendly. Your ROI drastically increases.
More Delicious Apple Recipes
Each of these amazing apple desserts is gluten free, vegan, egg free, top 9 free, and more.
- Vegan Apple Crisp Recipe (transform simple ingredients into an amazing dessert)
- Amazing Apple Sheet Cake Recipe (one of the best vegan apple cakes you’ll ever eat)
- Corn Free, Vegan Apple Pie Cups (such a great recipe that makes individual portions of apple pie)
- Gluten Free Vegan Ginger Apple Crumble Cake Recipe (a delicious cinnamon free option to enjoy in the winter months)
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Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe Directions
Start by prepping your apples. You’ll want to wash, peel, and cube them. I don’t suggest leaving the apple skin on, as it can throw the texture of the dish off a bit.
Place the apples in a glass baking dish. Drizzle on the oil, add the maple syrup, salt, and vanilla (Filling Ingredients). Mix well, then cover with foil. Roast in your oven at 350f/175c until they’re easy to pierce with a fork. Your oven time will vary based on the size of your cubes. Start checking on your apples after 30 minutes.
Alternatively, you can pressure cook the apples to create the same soft texture. The bake time is generally 30-40 minutes. With a pressure cooker, start with 15 minutes on high and check on the apples.
When your apples are done, prepare the dough. To do this, place the Crumble Dough Part 1 Ingredients into your food processor. Pulse to combine. Next, add the maple syrup and pulse several times. Finally, as you continue to pulse, add the oil (via the chute). You’ll want to keep an eye on your crumb as it forms once you’ve added the first few ounces. Remember, you want a nice semi-loose crumb. If you add too much oil, you’ll end up with a solid dough/paste.
When the crumble dough is done, press about 2/3 of it into your baking dish. Add the apple filling, then use the last of your crumble dough as the final layer. When adding the last 1/3, hold it in your hands and add it like your rubbing and pouring sand on to something. The goal is to have crumbs of varying sizes on the top.
Once your crumble assembled, bake at 350f/175c for 20 – 30 minutes. You want your crumble topping to be golden brown and cooked all the way through. That’s it!
As an alternative to using a glass baking dish, you can use individual sized glass containers to bake small crumbles. Once they’ve completely cooled, top with a lid and freeze. This allows you to have an awesome treat whenever you’d like.
Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe Storage
When your crumble has cooled completely, transfer portions to containers that are a size that make sense for your household. I always go with individual containers for desserts. Just be sure to use an airtight container.
Store your vegan apple crumble in the fridge for up to a week and enjoy, or, pop it in the freezer for many months. To thaw, leave a container on the counter at room temperature for about 90 minutes.
Make This Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe Your Own
This is a foundational recipe that teaches you the principles of making a grain free crumble. The great thing is that you can use ANY filling with the crumble ratios provided. So, go a step further and experiment with all sorts of delicious options.
Use a different apple variety the next time you make this recipe (perhaps a sweeter apples, or venture into the world of sour apples).
Make it spicy by adding cayenne pepper to the crumble topping.
Swap the dates for a different dried fruit such as figs or prunes.
Season the apples with warm spices such as cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, allspice, and more. Or, season in an entirely different direction with honey, lavender, and thyme.
After you’ve made this once and understand the ratios and process, go wild crafting your own crumble concepts. That friend, is the real joy of cooking and baking if you ask me.
More Tasty Vegan Desserts to Enjoy
Each of these easy recipes would make a fantastic addition to your regular dessert options. You can also freeze the ice cream, donuts, and cookies so you have a little stash for future you to enjoy.
- Vanilla Vegan Ice Cream Recipe (truly corn free, top 9 free)
- Chocolate Baked Doughnuts (truly corn free, top 14 free)
- Vegan Nutella (truly corn free, top 14 free)
- Easy AIP Paleo Pumpkin Cookies (truly corn free, grain free, top 14 free)
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Answering Your Questions About This Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe
Could I use coconut oil instead of the olive oil?
Coconut oil can be used, BUT. And it’s it’s a big one. You’re going to alter the taste and texture of the recipe. Since one of my kids is allergic to coconut, I can’t tell you a tonne about what changes you’ll see.
Know that coconut oil is solid at room temperature whereas olive oil is not. They’ll interact with the other ingredients differently. Also, if you don’t LOVE the taste of coconut oil, don’t use it. I know some people are more sensitive than others, but you may find that in such a large amount, the taste is very forward.
Will vegan butter work in place of the olive oil?
In a traditional apple crumble, vegan butter would be the go to option. However, this is far from traditional. This recipe is designed to work with room temperature oil, rather than cold butter. Whilst the crust isn’t super flaky, it functions, and that’s half the battle when it comes to truly corn free, grain free, top 14 free, and so on.
If you don’t need the free-from status that this recipe offers, I’m going to encourage you to use a different recipe. I’m sure there are plenty of other delicious recipes to follow online. I also don’t want to see you go out and purchase corn free ingredients if you don’t need them.
Would a little lemon juice make this recipe taste better?
When you make this comforting dessert, if adding lemon juice would make you happy, add it. This isn’t a combination I normally use, but there’s no harm in trying. If it’s your first time combining apple and lemon in a dessert setting, I suggest trying it on a small amount first.
The worst thing you could do is take all of your expensive truly corn free ingredients, and create something you end up not liking, only to waste said ingredients. And waste the elbow grease, and money as well.
Also, if you’re corn free like me, you’ll need to source truly corn free lemons. They should be unwaxed from a safe farm. Happy baking!
What type of apples are corn free?
This is a bit of a loaded question. It’s not the apples themselves that contain corn (as in, actual seed). It’s everything else. Corn can be in the soil, pesticides (even natural options like vinegar), can be in produce wash, and much more.
If you can find an apple orchard in your area that uses growing practices that are safe for you, there would be many varieties of apple for you to choose from. Also check local farmer’s markets (localharvest.org can be helpful). I once found a farm that produced truly corn free apples and had ten different apple varieties to choose from.
Could I use apple slices instead of cubes?
Yes, you can use apple slices and this won’t alter the flavor of the dessert, but it will alter the overall texture a bit. Whilst apple crumble recipes generally don’t call for slices like a pie does, I think you’ll still be happy with the results. If you have an apple slicer that does most of the work for you, I think you’ll be extra, extra happy with the end results.
Could I pressure cook in apple juice instead of water?
If you opt to make the filling for this easy vegan apple crumble in your pressure cooker, yes, you could cook the apples in apple juice. You’ll still have tender apples, and overall, your apple flavour will be more present.
Should you go this route, don’t toss the apple juice (leftover cooking liquid). Strain the apples in a sieve over a container to catch the juice then use it for cooking pork, or make ice cubes and use them the next time you make a fruity smoothie.
What’s the difference between this and an oat crumble?
There are quite a few differences between this vegan apple crumble recipe and a traditional oat crumble. Let me start with the biggest similarity – the apple mixture. In both delicious desserts, the apple mixture in the middle is going to be very similar, if not the same. Now, to the differences.
This recipe is grain free, and Paleo compliant. Oats are neither grain free or Paleo (they’re considered pseudograins). In the case of an oat crumble, rolled oats will be part of the crumble mixture, sometimes called an oat streusel mix.
It’s not uncommon to find oat flour in the base crust portion as well. In a traditional oat crumble you’ll also see the use of cold butter to create a flaky dough. Overall, an oat crumble is going to be very similar to an apple cobbler, whereas this recipe is more like… an apple version of millionaire shortbread crust layer meets a crumble’s cousin. Something like that.
No matter which way you go though, both oat crumbles and this grain free crumble will be outstanding.
Can I mix the crumble part of the recipe by hand?
Honestly, if you were to try to make the crumble part of this recipe in a large bowl, I don’t think you’d be happy with the end results. Mixing by hand won’t necessarily get you to a good crumble consistency, and that’s my main concern for you.
However, if you have a stand mixer with a paddle attachment, that may be a better choice. You can pulse the mixer and hopefully get yourself to the right crumble consistency. As a general rule though, for the best results with this recipe, you’re going to want to use a food processor.
Could I bake this in a pie dish instead of a casserole dish?
Yes, in fact, you bake this vegan apple crumble recipe in different types of vessels including a glass baking dish (casserole dish), pie dish, cake pain, individual glass cups, paper loaf pans, and pretty much any other kind of baking pan.
With some of these options, getting a slice out may be more difficult, so keep that in mind as you make your selection. My personal favourite way to bake this delicious recipe is small individual containers. My child with a sweet tooth loves that they’re available whenever they want something tasty to eat.
Would this be a good Christmas dessert?
A good Christmas dessert? Absolutely! A traditional Christmas dessert… probably not. However, as I’m constantly reminding people, ditch tradition. What’s on your plate matters a whole lot less than who you share your time with. Focus on connections with the people in your life, and let food play second fiddle. Plus, if you love it, then you can’t go wrong.
