Easy Air Fryer Baked Apples

Air Fryer Baked Apples pack all the delicious flavors of fall – apples, cinnamon, nutmeg – into a sweet and crunchy dessert that’s so delicious and yet so simple to make.

Why You’ll Love It

• Fall ingredients: This is a great recipe to help you use up all of those fall apples that you have sitting on the counter. Who knew the air fryer could make such a perfect apple dessert.
• Simple: The ingredients used in this recipe are basic and common pantry staples. If you don’t have oats use granola, don’t have cinnamon, use nutmeg. Change it and tweak it for a simple dessert.
• Delicious & nutritious: Most desserts are packed with sugar. This recipe relies on the natural sugars in the apple along with a little bit of honey for its delicious sweet tart flavors.

What Are Baked Apples

Obviously baked apples are typical “baked” in the oven, but this version is baked in the air fryer instead. That might seem strange if you’ve never baked in the air fryer before, but it’s really just a convection oven that circulates air around the food to cook it more quickly and evenly.

Baked apples can be made with any type of apple. You just need to remove the core and then either cut them in half, slice them, or dice them and bake them. In this recipe, we’ve halved the apples and use them as a vessel for sweetened oats that we put in the middle of the apples, which make them similar to an apple crisp.

» You might also try these Air Fryer Apple Crisp or 22 Air Fryer Breakfast Recipes.

Ingredients You’ll Need

• Apples – Use your favorite apples or whatever extra apples you have on hand – Fuji, golden delicious, red delicious, Pink Lady, Honeycrisp… They’re all good!
• Butter – This is for brushing onto the apples to keep them moist, and to add to the crumble filling. Remember, butter makes everything better.
• Old fashioned oats or granola – You definitely want to use oats in this recipe, but it’s okay if they are in the form of granola. You might need less honey in the filling if using a sweetened granola.
• Honey – This is the glue that holds it all together and makes it sweet.
• Cinnamon – Ground cinnamon (and maybe some nutmeg if you like it) give this baked apple a delicious fall flavor.

Helpful Tips

• If you like the apple to be completely baked and mushy, cook for 15 minutes. For a slightly firmer apple, cook for 10-13.
• Don’t feel the apples before baking. The skin will help the apples hold their shape and keep the filling from falling out as it cooks.
• Use your favorite apple. I love to use cosmic crisps or pink lady apples.
• Make sure to cook the apples skin side down.

How to Make Air Fryer Baked Apples

Step1: Prep the Apples

The best way to bake apples in the air fryer is to half them and set them on their skin side. So cut the apples in half and cut out the core with a paring knife. Brush melted butter on the tops of the apple halves. 

Step 2: Mix up the Filling

Mix the remaining melted butter with the oats, honey, and cinnamon in a bowl. Add some nutmeg, if you like it. It gives it a nice aroma and flavor.

Spoon the mixture evenly onto the tops of the apples. I find this easier to do outside of the air fryer, so hold an apple half in your palm and scoop in the mixture, then place it gently into the air fryer basket, one by one.

Step 3: Bake

Bake at 375º F (180º C) for 13-15 minutes. Check on them after about 10 minutes to make sure everything is coming along well. If you want there to still be bite left to the apple, you might want to take them out at this point. If you want them apple to be mostly cooked through and soft, continue cooking for 3-5 minutes.

You can eat these apples on their own, straight from the air fryer, or pile them up with whipped cream or ice cream for a more substantial dessert.

Questions About the Recipe

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