Peach Crisp

This homemade peach crisp loaded with juicy peaches and baked with sweet crumble topping is the ultimate end-of-summer dessert for peach lovers.

Since we moved to Idaho we can fully enjoy the peach season. Those juicy summer peaches you bite and they just burst with sweet liquid, ah!

My favorite peach dessert is easily peach crisp.

..and maybe also peach pie…and peach cobbler, ok, I confess I love pretty much all other peach recipes too, but making peach crisp is so much easier than baking a pie!

With perfectly ripe peaches you can make a super easy peach crisp recipe that requires only 15 minutes of prep work and serves a whole pan of dessert for a crowd.

After a long day, a quick-to-whip dessert is all I need.

Ingredients You’ll Need

The fresh peach crisp is technically peach filling and cinnamon topping. There is no baking crust, chilling, blanching, or complex water bath techniques involved. 

Peach Filling

• 5 fresh peaches – sliced, peeled, or unpeeled. I use sweet and juicy peaches. They need to be ripe and soft, or even peaches that are almost too ripe. Canned peaches (drained) are a good substitute if it is not a peak season for peaches, you will need around 2 cans.
• Granulated sugar or cane sugar for more sweetness.
• All-purpose flour, quick-cooking tapioca, or cornstarch help thicken peach juices and keep the dessert from getting soggy and mushy.
• Lemon juice is a simple flavor enhancer. The crisp won’t taste lemony but also won’t have overpowering sweetness.
• Vanilla extract or almond extract for flavor and subtle aroma.
• Salt to balance the flavors.

Topping

• All-purpose flour is the base for crumbly topping.
• Brown sugar works best for topping as it has flavors, unlike white sugar. It is not as sweet as white granulated sugar but it adds subtle caramel flavor.
• Ground cinnamon and salt. Cinnamon and peaches work really well together and add subtle festive flavor to the fruit crisp.
• Uncooked oats. You need regular whole rolled oats (those old-fashioned oats, yep), don’t use quick oats.
• Unsalted cold butter, cubed to bind the crisp topping mixture.

Kitchen Equipment

• 13×9-inch baking dish or 8×8-inch baking dish
• mixing bowls
• pastry cutter or regular fork to work the butter in the topping.

How To Make Peach Crisp

Prepare The Peach Filling

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.  Lightly grease the baking pan with butter.  Set aside. 
2. Combine the sliced peaches, sugar, flour, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt in a large bowl.  Gently toss until peaches are evenly coated with a wooden spoon or hands.
3. Spread the peach mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking dish.  Set aside. 

Prepare The Topping

1. Combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium bowl.  Whisk to combine. 
2. Add the oats and cubed butter to the mixture and then cut the butter into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or a fork, mixing until crumbly.  
3. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the peach slices to completely cover them. 

Bake The Peach Crisp

1. Bake for 45-50 minutes or until the crisp and peach juices are bubbly and the topping is golden brown.  We need light golden brown, not dark. Dark means burning. Fully cooked peaches should be fork-tender.
2. Allow to cool slightly for 5-10 minutes before serving. 

Serving

Serving warm peach crisp with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a glass of White Peach Sangria is what I call style.

Of course, you can top a slice of this perfect summer dessert with homemade or store-bought whipped cream or sliced almonds.

Storage

Store peach crisp refrigerated in an airtight container or covered with plastic wrap for up to 3-5 days.  

You can freeze peach crisp once it is cooled. Store in the freezer for 1-2 months.

Reheat in the oven for 15 minutes or until bubbly at 350 degrees F.

Make Ahead

With these simple ingredients, this peach crisp recipe is perfect to make ahead. 

Follow all the steps but do not bake it. Wrap well with plastic wrap and foil, and freeze for up to 3 months.

To bake frozen peach crisp, bake at 350 F for 60-65 minutes.

Tips To Make The Perfect Peach Crisp

• Choose your sugar. Dark brown sugar has more molasses, a deeper and stronger flavor, and more caramel. Light brown sugar, consequently, has a milder taste. Both work for peach desserts.
• If you have not quite ripe peaches, put some bananas next to them to speed up the process. Ripe peaches are easy to spot. Press with your finger gently to see if the peach is soft. Soft – good. Firm – not ripe. 
• If you use frozen peaches add 10 minutes to the baking time. You don’t need to defrost them first however, I would still do it to make sure they don’t give too much liquid into the pan (and the crisp will get soggy).
• Fruit crisps. If you don’t want to use peaches but want a simple summer dessert, use apples, pears, berries, or plums.
• Booze it up by adding some whiskey and maple syrup to the peaches. Saute them with alcohol before baking.
• Make it gluten-free by using gluten-free flour (almond flour or amaranth) for the filling and cornstarch instead of flour for the topping.
• Pumpkin pie spice is a beautiful substitute for cinnamon in this recipe. Pumpkin pie spice usually contains cinnamon too, but also ginger, nutmeg, allspice, cloves, and sometimes black pepper.
• You can easily make the peach crisp topping without oats. Simply skip them and that’s it. Flour, cinnamon, salt, and butter make an amazing crumble even without oatmeal.
• It is one of my favorite summer desserts because it is very forgiving. Even if you don’t peel the peaches, don’t cut them nicely, and don’t use the cutter to mix in the butter, you will still get a delicious snack.

Popular Questions

How To Find Ripe Peaches?

Ripe peaches have more juice and don’t turn mushy in a dessert.

• Skin color: even color without green or yellow spots.
• Smell: ripe peaches are really fragrant, unlike unripe fruit.
• Texture: ripe peaches are soft to the touch and fingers can easily press them a little bit. Unripe peaches are very firm.

Do I Need To Peel Peaches For The Peach Crisp?

If your ripe peaches have thin soft skin, leave it on. If the skin is somehow thick, peel it for better taste and texture.

To peel peaches you can use a vegetable peeler (a Y-shaped peeler works best), or using a blanche method.

How Do You Cut Peaches For Peach Crisp?

For peach crisp, cut peaches in halves and then each half in slices 1/4 to 3/4 inch thick. Sliced peaches are best for fruit crisp desserts.

What Is The Difference Between Peach Crisp And Peach Cobbler?

The two are easy peach desserts without a crust but have a different topping.

A peach crisp has no batter just peaches and crumble sweet topping, while a peach cobbler is a much thicker dessert with biscuit topping.

Why Is My Peach Crisp Soggy?

If you didn’t use flour or cornstarch in the peach filling, didn’t drain canned peaches or had overly ripe peaches, and didn’t add enough butter into the filling the peach crisp may become soggy.

To keep the peach crisp from being runny or soggy use flour and/or cornstarch as the recipe directions suggest. 

If you love this peach recipe, you’re going to love these other tasty peach treats too. Please click each link below to find the easy, printable recipe!

More Great Crisp/Cobbler Recipes

Easy Apple Crisp Recipe

Crockpot Cobbler with Cake Mix

Apple and Blueberry Crumble

Simple Blackberry Cobbler

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