Honey Baked Apples: Easy Fall Dessert (Oven or Slow Cooker)

Honey baked apples are the dessert that makes the kitchen smell like September. Four firm apples, a filling of oats and walnuts, a quarter cup of raw honey, and 40 minutes in the oven. The honey runs down the sides, mixes with the apple juice in the bottom of the dish, and turns into a syrup you spoon back over the top.

The recipe forgives almost everything except the wrong apple. Pick a soft variety and you get applesauce with a skin on it. Pick a firm one and it holds its shape while the inside goes tender and the honey caramelizes at the edges. The apple guide below sorts that out first.

TL;DR: Core 4 firm apples (Honeycrisp, Granny Smith or Pink Lady), fill with 1/3 cup oats, 1/4 cup walnuts, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 2 tablespoons butter and 2 tablespoons honey, set in a dish with 1/2 cup water, drizzle 2 more tablespoons of honey over the top, and bake at 375°F for 35 to 45 minutes. Slow cooker: 3 hours on low.

Honey Baked Apples at a Glance

Serves	4
Prep time	15 minutes
Bake time	35 to 45 minutes at 375°F
Slow cooker	3 hours on low
Honey	1/4 cup total (2 tablespoons in the filling, 2 over the top)
Best apples	Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Pink Lady, Braeburn

Which Apples Hold Up in the Oven

Baking apples need a firm flesh and enough acid to taste like apple after 40 minutes with honey.

Apple	Holds shape?	Flavor after baking	Verdict
Honeycrisp	Yes	Sweet-tart, juicy	Best all-round
Granny Smith	Yes	Tart, firm	Best if you like contrast with the honey
Pink Lady	Yes	Sweet-tart, dense	Excellent
Braeburn	Yes	Aromatic, balanced	Excellent
Jonagold	Mostly	Sweet, soft edges	Good
Fuji / Gala	Softens	Very sweet, mild	Fine, reduce honey slightly
Golden Delicious	Softens	Mild	Acceptable
McIntosh	No	Collapses into sauce	Skip
Red Delicious	No	Mealy	Skip

Choose medium apples, about the size of a tennis ball. Very large apples take closer to an hour and the filling burns before the center is done.

Ingredients

• 4 medium firm apples
• 1/4 cup raw honey, divided
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
• 1/3 cup rolled oats (old-fashioned, not instant)
• 1/4 cup chopped walnuts or pecans
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup water or apple cider, for the dish
• Optional: 2 tablespoons raisins or dried cranberries, 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg, 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Old-fashioned rolled oats stay chewy. Instant oats turn to paste. If you only have quick oats, cut the butter back by a teaspoon so the filling does not go gluey.

How to Make Honey Baked Apples

Step 1: Heat the oven and prepare the dish

Heat the oven to 375°F. Pour 1/2 cup of water or apple cider into an 8x8-inch baking dish or a 9-inch pie plate. The liquid keeps the honey from scorching on the bottom and becomes the syrup at the end. Cider gives a deeper apple flavor; water works fine.

Step 2: Core the apples

With a paring knife or an apple corer, cut a cone out of the top of each apple, removing the core and seeds but stopping about 1/2 inch from the bottom. You want a cup, not a tunnel, or the filling and honey run straight out. Widen the cavity to about 1 1/4 inches across with a small spoon.

A shallow ring of skin scored around the apple's equator is optional. It lets the apple expand without splitting randomly and gives a cleaner look, but a split skin tastes exactly the same.

Step 3: Mix the filling

In a small bowl, stir together the oats, walnuts, cinnamon, salt, softened butter and 2 tablespoons of the honey until it holds together in clumps. Add raisins or dried cranberries now if you are using them.

Step 4: Fill and drizzle

Pack the filling into each apple, pressing it down and mounding the last of it on top. Set the apples in the dish. Drizzle the remaining 2 tablespoons of honey over the tops so it runs down the sides. A small pat of butter on each apple is a good idea if you have any left.

Step 5: Bake until tender

Bake uncovered for 35 to 45 minutes. At the 25-minute mark, spoon the pan juices back over the apples. They are done when a knife slides easily into the side of an apple and the skins have started to split. The filling should be golden and the liquid in the dish should look like thin syrup. If the filling is browning too fast, tent the dish loosely with foil.

Step 6: Rest and serve

Let the apples rest for 5 minutes. They are very hot inside. Spoon the honey syrup from the dish over each one and serve warm.

Slow Cooker Honey Baked Apples

The slow cooker version is hands-off and works for a crowd.

1. Core and fill the apples exactly as above.
2. Pour 1/2 cup of water or cider into the slow cooker and stand the apples in it, filling side up. They can touch.
3. Drizzle the remaining honey over the tops.
4. Cook on low for 3 hours or high for 1 1/2 hours, until tender.
5. Lift out carefully with a large spoon. The skins will be softer than the oven version and the filling will not brown, but the apples themselves are meltingly tender.

What to Serve With Honey Baked Apples

• Plain Greek yogurt or vanilla ice cream, which melts into the hot honey syrup.
• A shard of raw honeycomb on top. The wax softens against the warm apple, the honey inside runs, and it looks far more impressive than it is difficult. Cooking with honeycomb has more ideas, and if you already keep comb in the house, our guide to storing honeycomb covers how to keep it fresh between uses. We cut ours from our own frames; see raw California honeycomb.
• A pinch of flaky salt over the top, right before serving.
• A mug of honey ginger tea, which uses the same jar of honey and is ready before the apples come out of the oven.

Variations

Honey pecan baked apples. Swap walnuts for pecans and add 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg. Slightly sweeter and more Thanksgiving.

Honey oat crumble apples. Double the oats and butter and skip the nuts for a crumble-style topping that browns crisp.

Honey and cranberry. Add 2 tablespoons of dried cranberries and the zest of half an orange to the filling.

Boozy baked apples. Replace the water in the dish with 1/4 cup water plus 1/4 cup bourbon or dark rum. The alcohol cooks off and leaves a warmer syrup.

Cored and halved. Halve the apples through the equator, scoop out the core, fill the hollows, and bake cut side up for 25 to 30 minutes. Faster, and easier to eat with a fork.

Hot honey baked apples. Drizzle hot honey over the top instead of plain honey for a sweet-heat version that is very good with vanilla ice cream.

Which Honey to Use

Honey is a quarter of the flavor here, so it is worth using one you like on a spoon.

• Raw wildflower honey brings a floral, faintly citrus note that stands up to cinnamon and walnut. Our raw California wildflower honey is what goes into every batch at home.
• Clover honey is milder and reads mostly as sweetness. If it is what you have, add a squeeze of lemon to the filling for balance. The raw honey vs. clover honey comparison covers the difference in detail.
• Crystallized honey works without any fuss. It melts in the first five minutes of baking.

If you are new to swapping honey into baked things, baking with raw honey explains the sugar-to-honey conversion, and our raw honey desserts roundup has nine more recipes, from panna cotta to honey cake.

Storage and Reheating

• Refrigerator: 4 days in a covered container, with their syrup.
• Reheat: 15 minutes at 350°F in a covered dish, or 90 seconds in the microwave. Spoon the syrup over again before serving.
• Freezer: Not recommended. The apple texture goes watery after thawing.
• Make ahead: Core and fill the apples up to a day ahead, cover, and refrigerate. Bake straight from the fridge, adding 5 minutes.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the best apples for baking whole?

Honeycrisp, Granny Smith, Pink Lady and Braeburn. All four are firm and tart enough to hold their shape and still taste like apple after 40 minutes in the oven. Avoid McIntosh and Red Delicious, which collapse.

Do you have to peel apples for baked apples?

No. The skin is what holds the apple together while the inside softens. Leave it on. It will split in a few places as the apple cooks, which is normal.

How much honey do you put in baked apples?

One tablespoon per apple is a good rule: half mixed into the filling, half drizzled over the top. With sweeter apples like Fuji, use a little less. With Granny Smith, you can go up to 1 1/2 tablespoons each.

Can I make baked apples without oats?

Yes. Fill them with chopped nuts, dried fruit, cinnamon, butter and honey alone. The filling will be looser and the honey more prominent, which some people prefer.

Are honey baked apples safe for toddlers?

For children over 12 months, yes; the apple is soft and easy to eat, and the nuts can be left out or chopped fine. Do not serve honey in any form to an infant under 12 months. Honey can contain Clostridium botulinum spores that an infant gut cannot yet handle (the CDC), and baking does not reliably remove them.

Why did my baked apples turn to mush?

The variety was too soft, the apples were too small, or they baked too long. Use a firm apple from the table above, choose medium fruit, and start checking at 35 minutes.

Four Apples and a Jar of Honey

Honey baked apples are the fall dessert you can make on a Tuesday. Firm apples, an oat and walnut filling, a quarter cup of raw honey, and the oven does the rest. Serve them with yogurt, ice cream, or a piece of honeycomb, and if the oven is already on, a tray of honey glazed carrots makes the same jar do dinner as well.

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A quarter cup of our raw California wildflower honey goes into every batch. It is strained once and never fine-filtered, which is why it tastes like flowers instead of syrup.