My vegan apple cobbler is the ultimate sweet treat to get cozy with this fall! It's made with a gooey, spiced apple filling covered with a buttery biscuit topping. Served warm with a scoop of dairy-free vanilla ice cream, it's like a hug in a bowl!
Apples are one of my favorite dessert flavors, because baking them is so transformative! I'll be honest here: apples normally aren't one of my favorite fruits. I mean, they're fine. They're better than fine — they're pretty good! But once they're incorporated into a sweet, spiced, gooey treat like vegan apple crisp, vegan apple strudel, or vegan apple pie, they're pretty amazing. But perhaps the most amazing apple treat is this vegan apple cobbler.
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Apple cobbler has the same juicy apple filling you love in crisps and pies, but it’s topped with sweet, buttery biscuits. BISCUITS, PEOPLE. That means every spoonful is full of tender, spiced apple filling oozing all over fluffy little clouds of biscuit goodness. And it gets even better when you add a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream.
And good news: this amazing dessert is pretty easy to whip up! The topping is made with a handful of simple ingredients, and the filling gets mixed up in one bowl. This recipe doesn't require pre-cooking the filling, like many do, but it still bakes up to bubbly perfection. Trust me, you’ll want to make this cobbler on repeat all apple season long!
Ingredients You'll Need
Below you'll find a list of ingredients in this recipe, with notes and substitutions. Scroll all the way to the bottom of the post to see the full recipe, including the amount of each ingredient.
- Vegan butter. Most grocery stores sell this near the regular butter, in the refrigerator case.
- Flour. I've only made this recipe with all-purpose wheat flour, so I can't promise it will work with any other varieties.
- Sugar. Watch out for conventional granulated sugars, which are often processed using animal bone char. We're using organic sugar here, which is processed differently, to ensure the recipe stays vegan,
- Baking powder.
- Salt.
- Non-dairy milk. Use any variety you normally drink, like soy milk, almond milk, or oat milk. Read my guide to dairy-free milk if you're feeling lost.
- Apple cider vinegar. You'll be mixing this with the milk to create homemade vegan buttermilk. If you don't have any apple cider vinegar on hand, check out my guide to apple cider vinegar substitutes for baking.
- Apples. I like Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, or a mix of both varieties for this recipe. Feel free to use what you like, though!
- Brown sugar. This one needs to be organic as well.
- Lemon juice.
- Spices. We're using a mix of ground cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cloves.
How It's Made
Below is a detailed photo tutorial on how to make this dish. Scroll all the way down if you'd like to skip right to the recipe!
Steps 1 and 2: Get ready. Preheat your oven to 350°F. Slice the butter up and place it in the freezer to chill while you get started on the dough.
Step 3: Mix the dry ingredients. Whisk your flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
Step 4: Mix the wet ingredients. Stir the non-dairy milk and apple cider vinegar together. The milk should be cold!
Tip: Colder is better, at least when it comes to making pastries, pie crust, biscuits, and the like. That's why we're chilling the butter and milk, and then the dough after it's made. It also doesn't hurt to chill your mixing bowl and spoon.
Step 5: Cut in the butter. Add it to the bowl with your dry ingredients, then cut it in with a pastry cutter or fork. The goal is to create tiny little bits of butter coated in flour.
Step 6: Make the dough. Pour the wet ingredients into the bowl with the dry ingredients, then stir just until a dough is formed. Place the bowl in the fridge for now.
Step 7: Make the filling. Stir sliced apples together with sugar, brown sugar, lemon juice, flour, spices, and salt.
Step 8: Assemble the cobbler. Place the filling into a baking dish, then dollop the topping all over it. Brush the topping with a little non-dairy milk.
Step 9: Bake. Place it into the oven and let it bake until the filling is nice and bubbly, and the biscuits are fluffy.
Step 10: Cool. Let it cool on a rack. The filling will continue to set during this time.
Step 11: Serve. Vegan apple cobbler is best served warm. You can either scoop it out before it cools completely, or warm it back up before serving. I like having mine with a scoop of dairy-free vanilla ice cream, but it's also great with vegan whipped topping, or all by itself.
Variations
- Apple berry cobbler. Stir 1 cup of fresh raspberries or cranberries in with the filling.
- Caramel apple cobbler. Drizzle each portion with some of my vegan caramel sauce before serving.
- Boozy variation. Stir one to two tablespoons of rum or bourbon in with the filling. These will subtly enhance the flavor.
- Cinnamon sugar biscuits. Sprinkle the topping lightly with cinnamon sugar before baking.
Frequently Asked Questions
Possibly, but I'm not sure. The flour is the only gluten-containing ingredient in this recipe, so you could try replacing it with an all-purpose gluten-free flour blend, but I haven't tested this myself.
I like to store my leftover cobbler in the original baking dish, but you could also transfer it to one or more airtight containers. It will keep in the fridge for about three days, or in the freezer for about three months. To reheat, thaw it out (if frozen), and if you transferred it to airtight containers, place it in something oven or microwave safe. Warm it up in the microwave or in a 350°F oven.
Not if you don't want to! I specify peeled apples in the recipe because that's what most folks seem to prefer, but if you don't mind peel, then skip it.
You can! Don't thaw them out. Just add them right to the filling, and add a couple minutes to the bake time if needed.
More Vegan Apple Desserts
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📖 Recipe
Vegan Apple Cobbler
Equipment
- 2-quart (or slightly larger) baking dish
Ingredients
For the Topping
- 6 tablespoons vegan butter, chilled
- 1 ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- ½ cup organic granulated sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup unflavored and unsweetened non-dairy milk, chilled, plus a bit more for brushing
- 1 teaspoon apple cider vinegar
For the Filling
- 2 ½ pounds apples, peeled and thinly sliced (about 5 to 7 medium, or 7 cups sliced)
- ⅓ cup organic granulated sugar
- ⅓ cup organic brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon ground cloves
- ¼ teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- To make the topping, first cut the butter into 6 to 8 slices. Place them on a small dish or in a small bowl, then place it in the freezer. Let it chill while you mix the dry and wet ingredients.
- Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together in a large mixing bowl.
- Stir the milk and apple cider vinegar together in a small bowl or container.
- Take the butter out of the freezer and add it to the bowl with the flour mixture. Use a pastry cutter or fork to cut the butter into the dry ingredients. Continue until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Add the milk mixture and stir just until the ingredients are combined and form a very soft and sticky dough. Place the bowl in the fridge and let it chill for 10 to 15 minutes while you make the filling.
- Stir all of the filling ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.
- Transfer the filling to a medium (approximately 2-quart) baking dish, spreading it out evenly. Take the topping out of the fridge and arrange dollops of it on top of the filling. Try to get it relatively evenly distributed, but it's okay if there are some uncovered spots. Brush the topping lightly with a tablespoon or two of non-dairy milk.
- Place the cobbler into the oven with something underneath it (such as a baking sheet) to catch any drips. Bake the cobbler until the filling is bubbly and the topping is fluffy and lightly browned on top, about 45 to 50 minutes.
- Place the dish on a cooling rack when it comes out of the oven. Let the cobbler cool down until it's just warm (or let it cool completely and reheat).
- Scoop into bowls and serve warm.
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