This easy-to-prepare Slab Apple Pie takes just minutes to assemble. It’s deliciously simple — a huge hit for fall. Bake one for now and stash an extra in the freezer for later.
Perfect for a pie buffet, you can dish up this crumb-topped Slab Apple Pie alongside Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Pie and Mixed Berry Pie for a beautiful, festive spread.
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Apple pie is almost a perfect food. What with its buttery, flaky crust, tender, sweet filling, and crunchy, nutty topping, an apple pie makes an excellent breakfast, snack, or dessert.
It is probably one of my favorite foods ever. My Gramma John used to make it when she’d come to visit, but it was one of my mom’s specialties as well. Making it is one of my favorite fall recipes.
When I luck out and find apples at a great price, I like to make many pies at once and freeze them to enjoy throughout the fall and winter. This Slab Apple Pie is one of my favorite versions of the classic dessert because it’s SO EASY to assemble.
Why Make This
It serves a lot of people. The only problem with your typical apple pie is that it only yields 8 servings, often not enough for seconds. Or thirds. Baking a slab apple pie in a 9×13 baking dish allows you a world of possibilities, including extra servings. And leftovers.
It’s freezer-friendly. This pie freezes beautifully and can be baked from frozen. Not only that, but baking your pie in a rectangle makes it easier to fill your freezer with a stack of pies to bake throughout the fall and winter months. (If you don’t have enough pans in the house, freeze each layer’s ingredients in its own freezer bag. Then thaw and assemble prior to baking.
This pie looks good without a lot of fuss. A slab apple pie is what I call the Lazy Woman’s Pie. You don’t need to roll out a fancy crust. You don’t need to arrange the apple slices in fancy patterns. You don’t need to make a pretty top crust. Just layer the ingredients and bake.
The secret is in the crust! There’s a bigger crust to apple ratio in a slab apple pie which makes for the most amazing dessert. A sweet layer of cooked apples sandwiched between two buttery layers of crust? What’s not to love?
Ingredients
Here’s what you need to make a Slab Apple Pie:
flour – We’re going to do a double crust for this Slab Apple Pie, so you’ll need flour. I like to use unbleached, all-purpose flour, but you can use regular all-purpose or even whole wheat pastry flour.
butter – All-butter crust is absolutely delicious, but you can use margarine, lard, shortening, or another plant-based butter if you like.
apples – Use apples that are good for baking, such as Jonagold, Granny Smith, Rome Beauty, Golden Delicious, Honeycrisp, Braeburn, Crispin, Winesap, and Pink Lady.
sugar – You’ll want granulated sugar for the apple filling and brown sugar for the top. In a pinch you can use all brown sugar or make your own brown sugar.
lemon juice – Lemon juice adds great flavor to the filling and helps it retain its color.
ground cinnamon – Cinnamon is a perfect pair for apples, but you can also use apple pie spice if you prefer or try a mixture of ginger and nutmeg.
chopped nuts – I love adding nuts to the crumb top, but you can easily make this slab apple pie nut-free if you omit the nuts or replace them with rolled oats.
Step-by-Step Instructions
This recipe is super simple to assemble. I use my food processor to speed up the process.
1. In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, place the flour, salt, and butter cubes. Pulse until coarse crumbs are formed. Pulse in cold water until the dough easily holds together.
2. Transfer the crumbs to a 9×13-inch baking dish and press the crumbs into a crust across the bottom and slightly up the sides of the pan. Using the paper wrapping from the stick of butter can help the crumbs from sticking to your hands.
3. Peel and slice six apples. Place them in a mixing bowl with sugar, lemon juice, and cinnamon. Stir to combine. Transfer the apple mixture to the prepared pie pan. Spread evenly.
4. In the same food processor (no need to wash), place the flour and butter for the topping. Pulse until coarse crumbs are formed. Add the brown sugar and chopped nuts. Stir to combine.
Sprinkle this crumb topping over the surface of the apples. Bake until the apples are tender and the filling is bubbling, about 45 minutes. If the top starts to brown too much, cover it with a piece of foil until the filling is ready
Cool on a rack before serving.
Notes:
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender, fork, or two knives to cut the butter into the flour.
- Not quite sure how to slice an apple? I’ll show you four different ways to make easy apple slices.
Freezing Instructions
If you’d like to freeze this pie, do so prior to baking. Simply cover the pan securely with a lid or heavy duty aluminum foil. Label it with the date and baking instructions and store in the freezer until you’re ready to bake.
When you want to bake the pie, do not thaw it. Preheat the oven, remove the lid, and bake the pie from frozen at 425° for 15 minutes. Reduce the heat to 375° and continue baking until the filling is tender and bubbling, about another 40 to 45 minutes.
FAQs
Yes! While pies are traditionally baked in pie tins, you can bake a pie in cake pans as well. If you use an 8- or 9-inch cake pan you’ll have a very similar proportion of crust to filling as you do in a pie pan.
If you bake your pie recipe in a 9×13 baking dish, your ratio of crust to filling may trend more toward crust. If you like, 1 ½ times your filling to make for a fuller pie.
You don’t need to grease a pie pan for apple pie. Your typical pie crust has plenty of butter or other fat to keep it from sticking to the pan.
An apple pie is done when the apples are tender and the filling is thick and bubbly. If the top crust browns too much before the filling is done, cover it with aluminum foil to allow the filling to catch up.
Recipe Costs
Knowing how much it costs you to prepare a recipe can help you decide if it’s the type of recipe to make regularly or one you might want to save for special occasions. Let’s crunch some numbers and see how this recipe pencils out.
- flour – $0.38
- butter – $1.84
- apples – $1.50
- sugar – $0.22
- lemon juice – $0.10
- ground cinnamon – $0.10
- chopped nuts – $0.15
You costs may vary depending on where you shop and what’s on sale, but you can expect to pay about $4.29 for a large slab apple pie, or about 35 cents/serving.
More Great Pie Recipes
Slab Apple Pie with Easy Crumb Top
Equipment
Ingredients
For the bottom crust
- 1 ½ cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks) cut into cubes
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoon ice water
For the apple filling
- 6 apple peeled, cored, and sliced
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
For the top crust
- 1 cup unbleached, all-purpose flour
- ½ cup butter
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup chopped nuts
Instructions
To make the bottom crust
- In the bowl of a food processor fitted with a metal blade, place the flour, salt, and butter cubes. Pulse until coarse crumbs are formed. Pulse in cold water until the dough easily holds together.
- Pat these crumbs into the bottom of a 9×13-inch pan. You can use a butter wrapper to press and keep the crumbs from sticking to your hand.
To make the apple filling
- In large mixing bowl, combine apple slices, sugar, lemon juice and cinnamon. Spread this mixture in an even layer over crust.
To make the top crust
- In the food processor, combine the flour, butter, and brown sugar, pulsing until coarse crumbs are formed, or in a large mixing bowl, combine these ingredients, cutting butter into sugar and flour with a pastry blender or two knives held together. Stir in nuts. Sprinkle crumb top over apple layer.
- Preheat oven to 375°. Bake for 45 minutes to an hour or until filling bubbles. Cool completely.
Video
Notes
- If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender, fork, or two knives to cut the butter into the flour.
- Not quite sure how to slice an apple? I’ll show you four different ways to make easy apple slices.
Nutrition
This post was originally published in November 2009. It has been updated for content and clarity.
Kathy C
The food processor makes easy work of the crust and topping. I love this recipe. I made a 9 x 13 pan and stuck it in the freezer and baked it the day before Thanksgiving. Today I got apples from the local FFA so I made another batch and put it into 8 x 8 pans and put that in the freezer. I’m going to have to look for more freezer dessert recipes because it’s so nice to make them when you have time. Then on a cold winter evening we can bake up a nice apple pie with no work! And, it was delicious and nice for a small crowd.
Jessica Fisher
Great to hear it! Check out the freezer friendly archives here: https://goodcheapeats.com/category/freezer-friendly-recipes/
Leslie
I don’t have a food processor. Is it too difficult to make this without it?
Jolene
I made the whole crust recipe, but halved the rest. Half the crust went for pumpkin pie and the rest went into an 8×8 dish. It came out very good! It took a little longer in the oven, I used honey crisp apples, maybe that’s why. Whatever, it’s yummy and I’ll be making it again, thank you!
Jessica Fisher
Different apples can affect the cooking time. Glad you enjoyed it!
Colleen
Making this for our Thanksgiving dinner. My hubby loves apple pie, and this is perfect. My kitchen smells like fall. Thanks for sharing this with us! ??
Jessica Fisher
Happy Thanksgiving!
Colleen
I had picked up 2 Macintosh apples at a trick or treating event at work. I don’t normally eat these apples so I was trying to think of something to do with them and your blog post came at the perfect time. I cut this recipe into one-third and it turned out fantastic! Thanks for the idea!
Jessica Fisher
Awesome!
Linda
I made this tonight and it came out amazing, rich and full of sweet, apple cinnamon goodness–delicious! And I used Gramma John’s Pie Crust recipe and Omg, so flaky and I am thrilled! I am using this recipe for Holiday Pie baking! Thank you, Jessica, I am sharing both recipes with all of my friends and will try more of your recipes as well!
Jessica Fisher
Yay! So glad you loved it as much as we do!
Joybird6
Gee. Thanks for pointing out that it’s PI Day – means I have to go and make this pie!!! More work for me… BUT I CAN’T WAIT! 😉 I’ll enlist my little girlies to help!
Jessica Fisher
I bet you’re really bummed about that, aren’t you? 😉
Beth
I made this last night for Thanksgiving. Swapped oats for nuts due to allergies but the rest was as written. It’s gone. .. and they loved it. Thank you ?
Jessica Fisher
So glad you enjoyed it!
Kim
Oh my! This was so, so, so good! I made this to take to a ministry lunch today and it was gobbled up. I served it still warm from the oven with a little bit of jarred caramel sauce drizzled over the top. This is definitely a keeper recipe and my go-to way to make apple pie! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. So long Pillsbury! I’m no longer intimidated by making homemade pie crust!
Jessica Fisher
Yay! I love the empowerment that a homemade pie brings! So glad you enjoyed it. And will be making it again. 😉
Tammy
Question: I want to make this for my parents and was wondering if I could split this and make two 8×8 pans instead of one 9×13. Would the baking time stay the same? (They would be cooking it from “frozen”.)
Jessica Fisher
I haven’t done it that way in awhile, but I would check it when you have 5-10 minutes left to go. You want the crust browned and the filling to bubble.
REGINA
Hi there – we made this for thanksgiving. it was DELICIOUS! thank you. quick question – we had a ton of dessert and we have a lot leftover. can I freeze it once it is already baked? or will it be to dry to reheat once it’s thawed? thanks!
Jessica Fisher
I’ve never frozen it once it was baked. It doesn’t last that long around here. I don’t think it would get dry. I worry that it would get soggy.
Kara
9/21/13: This recipe was AWESOME! I love baking and cooking big time, and when I tasted this, it was so good I couldn’t believe it came from my own oven and not some fab bakery! I made a half batch in an 8×8 pan, used 4 fresh/FIRM Golden Delicious apples, 1t cinnamon, added 5-6 taps of nutmeg, sprinkle of salt, and about 1/4 cup of flour because my apples were juicy. For the crust, I used the full recipe and added a good 1/2T of sugar to round out the salt, but just pushed the crust 2/3 up the sides, so there was a nice crust all the way around. I used the full amnt of ingredients for the topping as well, and just added a sprinkle of salt to that too. Baked it for 55 minutes and served with Cool Whip. Entire family was freaking over it, and it was crazy easy. This is going to be my go to crust for pies in general now! Love not having to roll it out. Would definitely recommend to any level of baker! Thanks for an awesome recipe!
Jaime
This recipe sounds so easy and yummy. Unfortunately my son has a nut allergy. Do you have any suggestions on what else I could use for the topping??
Jessica Fisher
My daughter has a nut allergy, too. I now leave out the nuts. The crumb top is great without nuts.
maria
This is in my oven right now! Smells great but how on earth did you use one pie crust to cover the whole pan??? I had to use a 9×9 because there was no way it was covering anything bigger. Its tall and thick but hopefully works out
Jessica Fisher
Sometimes I double it, but not always. Usually just stretch one thin.
Kelly
This was delicious after our Sunday dinner! This was my first ever pie crust (they’ve always scared me!) and it was easy and delicious. I ran out of AP flour, so I used whole wheat and rolled oats in the crumble. Was delicious served with vanilla ice cream!
Jessica Fisher
I’m so glad to hear it was a success! Yeah!
Jessica
Is it really 1.5 cups of butter in the crust? Or 1.5 sticks?
Jessica Fisher
Thank you for catching that typo, Jessica. It is 1 1/2 sticks or 3/4 cup butter. My apologies that we didn’t catch it sooner.
Cindi @Frugal New England Kitgchen
This has my name all over it! Can’t wait to try it – my charming son-in-law doesn’t care for chocolate, but luvs anything with apples in it! I’m not much of a pie baker, so this looks right up my ally! Thanks for posting!
Colleen P
Printing the recipe out now in hopes of making it this week…and pinning it to make in the future. Thanks for sharing a yummy-looking recipe. Can’t wait to try!
SnoWhite @ Finding Joy in My Kitchen
We made this recipe recently & divided it between two pie plates. We used 100% whole wheat flour, reduced the butter & sugar & LOVED the results. Thanks, Jessica!