These apple pie bars are quick, easy, no-mixer, and impossible to eat just one! These easy apple bars are soft enough to cut with a fork if but sturdy enough to pick up with your hands. The crust is homemade, but it doesn’t have to be chilled and is so much easier than making traditional pie dough. The apple pie filling is also made from scratch, which sounds time-consuming but really it’s just sliced apples tossed with some sugar and spices. The crumble topping is my kryptonite in any dessert. Those bits of crispy oat crumble just stare at me from the pan, begging to be pulled off and savored one by one. I have to serve these apple pie bars ASAP otherwise my family will get a whole pan, minus the crumble topping! And because I can’t resist temptation when it stares me in the face, I went ahead and drizzled salted caramel sauce over the entire pan. The combination of tender apples, warming spices, crispy crumble, and salted caramel makes these apple pie bars THE dessert you need for your upcoming Thanksgiving, Halloween, and fall gatherings!
Ingredients for Apple Pie Bars
These apple pie crumble bars have three components: the flaky crust, the spiced apple filling, and the oat crumble topping.
For the crust:
Unsalted butter Granulated sugar Pure vanilla extract Salt All-purpose flour
For the filling:
Apples All-purpose flour Granulated sugar Ground cinnamon Ground ginger Ground nutmeg
For the topping:
Light brown sugar All-purpose flour Old-fashioned oats Unsalted butter Salted caramel sauce (homemade or store-bought is fine)
Note: Scroll down to the recipe card section of the post for the ingredients with amounts included and for more complete directions.
How to Make Apple Pie Bars
The caramel apple pie bars take around 20 minutes to prepare, and after that your oven does all the hard work for you! Here are the basic steps for this recipe:
More Easy Apple Recipes:
ALL OF MY APPLE RECIPES! At room temp: Store airtight up to 2 days. I’m comfortable storing baked fruit desserts at room temperature, but use your best judgment. In the freezer: I imagine the pie bars would freeze just fine, but I’ve never had any left over to test that out! If you have to stack the bars to get them to fit into a freezer bag, be sure to place a square of parchment or wax paper between the layers to prevent sticking. Tried this recipe? Leave a review! Consider leaving a 5 star rating if you’ve made and loved one of my recipes! Easy Apple Cobbler — A spiced apple filling is topped with a sweet biscuit topping before being baked to golden brown and bubbly perfection! Apple cobbler is such an EASY dessert to make and tastes even better when drizzled with caramel sauce and served with a scoop of ice cream! Crustless Apple Pie – Sometimes called Swedish apple pie, this EASY recipe for apple pie without a traditional pie crust is a FAST, foolproof, no-mixer recipe! It’s loaded with cinnamon-spiced apples in every bite, dense, chewy, hearty, and is next level when topped with ice cream and salted caramel sauce! Best Homemade Apple Pie (From Scratch!) — This fabulous apple pie is a specialty of my grandma’s. The sauce for the apples is slowly poured over the lattice crust until it fills the shell. Apple Crisp Foil Packs with Caramel Sauce — EASY, zero cleanup, made on the grill (or oven) in record time, and tastes amazing! Juicy apples, chewy crumble topping, and luscious salted caramel…SO irresistible! Apple Pie Bread with Streusel Topping — If you like apple crumble pie, you’re going to love this EASY no-mixer apple pie bread!! Soft, tender, moist bread with the contrast of the slightly crunchy crumble topping is PERFECT! Great for breakfast, brunch, snacks, or dessert!! Apple Fritter Bread — The bread tastes as decadent as the apple fritters of my childhood, no deep frying required and it’s more like cake disguised as bread. Fresh Apple Bundt Cake with Cream Cheese Frosting — An EASY, one-bowl, no-mixer apple cake that’s to-die-for!! Loaded with juicy apples in every bite, perfectly spiced, and topped with tangy cream cheese frosting! So DELISH!! Cinnamon Roll Apple Bake — A layer of cinnamon rolls topped with apples and a crunchy oatmeal crumble makes this the ULTIMATE apple crisp!! EASY, ready in 40 minutes, and tastes AMAZING!!
