Granola Stuffed Baked Apples (Warm, Buttery Fall Treat)
Granola-stuffed baked apples turn a bowl of pantry granola and four whole apples into a warm, spoonable dessert, or breakfast, in under an hour. The apples are hollowed out, packed with a buttery granola and raisin filling, and baked until the edges caramelize and the inside turns soft and jammy.
This one skips the crumb-topping fuss of a crisp or crumble. Some cooks call it an apple granola bake, since the granola goes straight into the fruit instead of on top of it, so there is no dough to make and no extra pan to grease beyond the baking dish. Any granola works, from a plain oat blend to one already loaded with nuts and dried fruit, which makes granola-stuffed baked apples a genuine use-what-you-have recipe rather than a shopping list. For a version that skips the oven entirely and uses the same apples in a crunchy lunch bowl instead, the apple walnut salad puts them to work in a different way.
Serve them warm from the oven with a scoop of ice cream for dessert, or spoon on crème fraîche and call it breakfast. Either way, they deliver a lot of flavor for very little hands-on work.
Jump to:
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- No crust to make. Granola-stuffed baked apples skip the crumble topping entirely: the apple shell holds the filling, so there is no pastry to roll out and no streusel to mix separately.
- Granola does the work. A store-bought or homemade granola brings the crunch, sweetness, and spice in one scoop, no separate streusel required.
- Ready in under an hour. About 10 minutes to fill, then 30 to 40 minutes in the oven, with almost all of that time hands-off.
- A flexible filling. Swap in whatever dried fruit or chopped nuts are already in the pantry for these granola-stuffed baked apples, without changing the method.
Key Ingredients
See the recipe card for the complete list of ingredients and quantities.
- Granola: Pick a granola with some nuts or clusters already mixed in for texture. A soft, sugary granola turns mushy once baked. The best baked apples with granola use one with a little bite left in it after baking, the same kind that works well in a batch of oatmeal recipes. If the granola is unsweetened, the honey drizzle in the recipe makes up the difference.
- Baking apples: Choose a variety that holds its shape in the oven, like Honeycrisp or Gala, rather than one that breaks down into sauce, like McIntosh. This single choice does more to make or break granola-stuffed baked apples than any other ingredient on the list.
- Raisins and dried fruit: Any dried fruit swap, such as dried cranberries, apricots, figs, mangoes, or prunes, should be chopped to about the same size as the raisins so everything bakes evenly instead of drying out in bigger pieces.
- Butter: A pat placed over each filled apple bastes the granola as it melts in the oven, which is what gives the top its sticky, caramelized finish, the same trick that makes baked apple granola taste richer than plain granola on its own.
How to Make Granola Stuffed Baked Apples
Preheat the oven to 375°F. Cut the tops off the apples and set them aside, then core and hollow out each apple to make room for the filling. In a bowl, combine the granola, raisins, chopped nuts, and cinnamon. Mix well, drizzling in a little honey if the granola is unsweetened. This filling is really the whole trick to good granola baked apples.
Set the hollowed apples in an oven-proof baking dish. Fill each apple with the granola mixture, pressing gently to pack it in.
Top each filled apple with 1 teaspoon of butter. Bake the granola-stuffed baked apples for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the apples are soft and the filling is sticky and caramelized.
Remove from the oven and let the apples cool briefly before serving.
Granola-stuffed baked apples are best served the same day, still warm from the oven, while the filling is at its stickiest. The tips below cover how to keep granola-stuffed baked apples from turning out too soft or spilling their filling.
Tips for the Best Results
A few small adjustments make granola-stuffed baked apples turn out right every time.
- Let them rest before serving. Five minutes out of the oven keeps the filling from spilling out when it is scooped.
- Don't overfill the apples. Granola expands slightly as the butter melts into it, so leave a little room at the top of each apple rather than mounding the filling above the rim.
- Score the inside walls. A few shallow cuts inside the hollowed cavity help the apple soften evenly instead of staying firm at the core while the outside collapses.
- Baste halfway through baking. Spoon any melted butter pooling in the dish back over the tops around the 20-minute mark for a deeper caramelized finish.
What to Serve with Baked Apples
These granola-stuffed baked apples are rich enough to stand alone, but a topping rounds out the plate. For another fuss-free fall dessert that skips rolling out dough entirely, the rustic pear galette makes a good next bake once apple season winds down and it is time to move on from granola-stuffed baked apples for a while.
Vanilla ice cream for dessert. It melts into the warm filling and pools around the base of the apple.
Crème fraîche for a breakfast version. Its tang cuts the sweetness of the granola and raisins, and turns these granola baked apples into something closer to a warm bowl of fruit and granola than a dessert.
Granola Stuffed Baked Apples FAQs
Yes. Combine the granola filling and hollow out the apples up to a day ahead, then store the filling and the apples separately in the refrigerator. This makes weeknight baked apples with granola almost as fast as a box mix. Fill and bake them right before serving so the apples do not brown, or the filling turns soggy while it sits.
Granola-stuffed baked apples collapse most often from too much time in the oven. Once the filling is sticky and the skin has shriveled, they are done, and extra minutes push them from soft to falling apart. A thin-skinned apple variety will also break down faster than a firmer one.
Let leftover baked apples cool completely, then store them covered in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat in the microwave for about a minute, or in a 350°F oven for 10 minutes, until warmed through.
Freezing granola-stuffed baked apples is not recommended. The apple's texture turns watery and grainy once thawed, and the granola filling loses its crunch. This one is best made fresh and eaten within a few days.
Any dried fruit chopped to a similar size works in place of raisins for granola stuffed baked apples, including dried cranberries, chopped apricots, figs, mangos, or prunes. A mix of two or three keeps this apple granola bake interesting.
Make granola-stuffed baked apples lighter by using an unsweetened granola and skipping the honey drizzle, or swapping the butter for a smaller pat. Traditional baked apple granola recipes lean on butter and sugar for the caramelized top, so cutting back there makes the biggest difference. The high fiber desserts collection has more options built the same way, around oats and fruit instead of refined sugar. The apples themselves add plenty of natural sweetness on their own.
Tried this Granola Stuffed Baked Apples? Please rate the recipe and leave a comment below to let us know how it turned out. Your feedback helps others find and enjoy it too!
Granola Stuffed Baked Apples
Equipment
- Apple corer or pairing knife
- Baking dish
Ingredients
- 4 small to medium baking apples tops cut off and reserved, apples cored and hollowed out to make room for the granola.
- 5 tablespoons granola use more if necessary based on size of apple
- 2 tablespoons raisins plus dried fruit as desired See above
- 2 tablespoons nuts chopped, optional
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 4 teaspoons unsalted butter
- Drizzle of honey optional
- Optional: Crème fraiche or ice cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Combine the granola, raisins, nuts, dried fruit and cinnamon. Mix to combine. If desired drizzle in a bit of honey to add sweetness.
- Place cored apples in an oven-proof baking dish.
- Fill apples with granola mixture. Top each apple with 1 teaspoon of butter.
- Bake for 30-40 minutes or until soft and sticky.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool briefly. Serve as is or with a scoop of ice cream or crème fraiche.
Notes
- Depending on what type of granola is used, additional dried fruit or nuts can be added to jazz it up. Dried cranberries, apricots, figs, mangos, and prunes are all delicious. Chop the dried fruit into pieces the same size as the raisins for best taste and texture. If the granola is unsweetened, drizzle in a bit of honey to add sweetness if desired.
- The granola filling and hollowed apples can be prepped up to a day ahead and stored separately in the refrigerator; fill and bake just before serving.
- Nutrition information is an estimate and will vary with the specific ingredients used.
