Juicy Air fryer Baked Apples are cored apple halves filled with cinnamon oat apple filling and baked until tender. This recipe uses two clever hacks for making a moist baked apple that is delicious with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and salted caramel sauce.
Air fryer love continues with an easy baked dessert, snack or light breakfast.
What I love about baked apples is that you still get sweet cravings satisfied, without all of the extra calories (one serving contains only 171 calories). Baked fruits in general are one of our family favorites. The fruit tends to get sweeter and softer, making it even more delicious when paired with the crispy topping (like Baked mango or Baked pear).
What are baked apples?
In a more simple form, any apple that is oven baked is termed as baked apple. It can be whole, halved, sliced or chopped - stuffed or topped with buttery, sugary, nutty, spicy mixture that compliments the crisp-tart apple and then baked until softened and juicy.
How does air fryer work?
The top part of an air fryer holds a heating mechanism and fan. When you place the food in the basket, hot air rushes down and around the food. This rapid circulation makes the food crisp like deep-frying. So, this machine is excellent for foods that need to be crispy.
However, making a moist baked apple in air fryer was tricky, since air fryer mostly dries out the moisture from the exterior. So, we came up with 2 clever hacks to solve the problem.
THE SECRET
1. Water in the air fryer basket - This might sound unconventional, but adding a little water in the air fryer basket when cooking fatty foods like bacon to avoid smoking is a more common hack. Inspired from this technique, we added water into the air fryer basket, which creates a steamy environment that in turn helps in not drying out the apple.
2. Adding apple into the filling - Traditional baked apples generally have a streusel like filling made with butter, sugar, spices, oats and/or nuts. But, this recipe has some chopped apple mixed along with it, which softens upon cooking and helps in retaining the moisture inside out.
Air fryer baked apples is:
- Quick & easy
- Great for dorms / eating for one or two
- Recipe can be easily doubled
- Kid friendly
- Perfect Fall flavors
- Not-too-sweet
- Healthy
- Allergy free - Nut-free / Gluten free / Egg free
- Delicious
Main ingredients:
Apple - Use you favorite apple like Fuji, Honey crisp, Jonagold, Braeburn or Granny smith.
Butter - Just a tablespoon of butter - unsalted / salted / cold / room temperature
Oats - Old fashioned oats
Sugar - Light or golden brown sugar
Spices - Ground cinnamon and Nutmeg
How to make baked apple in air fryer?
An overview
Prepare apples - Cut an apple in half, using an ice cream scoop, spoon or pairing knife, scoop out the core and some flesh making a small golf ball size cavity to hold the filling. Chop the scooped flesh (making sure not to use the seeds or core) into ¼ inch pieces.
Make filling - Stir melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt to make a paste and then stir in oats and chopped apple. Fill the apple cavity, packing them gently.
Air fry / Bake - Pour ½ cup water into the air fryer basket and then bake at 350 degrees for 12 to 15 minutes.
Eat - Serve hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Expert tips:
½ cup water into the air fryer basket helps in producing steam which results in a moist baked apple recipe.
Don't reduce / increase the quantity of water - We tested the recipe with ¼ cup / ½ cup and ¾ cup water. We found that ¼ cup was just perfect, but all the evaporates in the cooking and the air fryer basket becomes a sticky mess to clean after. Whereas, ½ cup created the necessary steam yet was much easier to clean.
The recipe can be easily doubled for 2 large apples.
Make the following changes if using medium size apples:
- The same filling recipe can be used for 2 medium apples
- Reduce the cooking time to 10 - 13 minutes.
Best Apples to use - The best apples to use for air fryer baked apples are firm and not super round. We prefer apples that hold its shape after the intense cooking like Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonagold, Braeburn, Pink Lady, or Honey crisp (refer more on best baking apples here).
Select apples that are a touch flatter on the sides - This helps the apple half stand up straight when placed in the air fryer basket because you don’t want them to topple over in the air fryer.
Serving suggestions:
Serve baked apples hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, salted caramel sauce or whipped cream for an easy dessert or snack.
If serving for a light breakfast, then serve it with some greek yogurt sweetened with honey.
Frequently asked questions:
One serving of this baked apple (which is one half) is 171 calories. Please note that calories are subject to increase with the addition of vanilla ice cream, caramel sauce, whipped cream or yogurt.
Apples that are firm yet holds its shape upon baking without breaking down like Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonagold, Braeburn, Pink Lady, or Honey crisp are all great choices.
Air fryer Chocolate Chip Cookies
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Air Fryer Baked Apples
Ingredients
- 1 large apple
Filling
- 1 tablespoon melted butter
- 3 tablespoons light or golden brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg optional
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
To serve
- Vanilla ice cream / Salted caramel sauce / Whipped cream
Equipment used
Instructions
Prep apple
- Wash apple, pat dry and halve the apple from stem to end (Select apples that are a touch flatter on the sides instead of round – This helps the apple half stand up straight when placed in the air fryer basket without toppling over).
- Using a large ice cream scoop, spoon or pairing knife, scoop out the core and seeds, along with some flesh (to make a cavity, big enough to hold the filling). We left both the ends intact for a prettier presentation but you can go ahead and cut it out if feeding young children.
- Chop only the scooped out flesh to about ¼-inch dice (make sure not to include any seeds or core) to measure less than ½ cup measure (if needed scoop out some more apple to get the required amount).
Make filling
- Stir melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt together, until evenly combined. Stir in oats and chopped apple.
- Divide the filling between the two apple halves (packing lightly into the cavity).
Air fry
- Pour ½ cup water into the bottom pan / air fryer basket and place the apple halves on top, making sure that they don't wobble around. Close air fryer.
- Set air fryer to 350°F for 12 to 15 minutes (as various models cook differently, we recommend checking after 13 minutes. We used Instant Vortex air fryer and the apples were perfect in 15 minutes).
- Open air fryer and let apples cool for at least 2 minutes before serving hot with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Notes
Make the following changes if using medium size apples:
- The same filling recipe can be used for 2 medium apples
- Reduce the cooking time to 10 – 13 minutes.
Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third party calculations, should be considered estimates and not be construed as a guarantee. Varying factors such as product types, brands purchased, produce, the way ingredients are processed and more change the nutritional information in any recipe.
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Sandra
I was looking this however, an ad is covering part of the ingredients so I dont know how much brown sugar or butter I need
Maria Doss
Hi Sandra, We are sincerely sorry for that experience and will address the issue right away!
Here is the ingredient list -
1 large apple
Filling
1 tablespoon melted butter
3 tablespoons light or golden brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 pinch freshly grated nutmeg, optional
1 pinch salt
2 tablespoons old fashioned oats
Hope it helps, Maria
Chris
Made this today and thoroughly enjoyed it. Served with Greek yoghurt delicious.
Maria Doss
Glad to hear. Have a wonderful week - Maria
LESLEY
You can't have 'more sweeter'. It is either 'sweeter' or 'more sweet'.
Maria Doss
Fixed! Thank you for bringing it to our attention hun and have a wonderful day - Maria