Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (2024)

From cozy desserts to delightful main dishes, these recipes are perfect for apple lovers. Each recipe highlights apple’s tart and crunchy flavor and is rated with four and five stars, so we know you’ll love them. Recipes like our Apple Cider Chicken and Crispy Smashed Apples with Cinnamon Sugar are so good, you’ll want to make them forever.

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Sesame-Crusted Tofu with Radish-Apple Slaw

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (1)

We coat slices of tofu with sesame seeds for a delightfully crunchy crust and serve them with a tangy, refreshing slaw. We love the look of black and white sesame seeds combined, but if you have only one variety on hand, that will work well too. Serve this ultra-quick recipe with brown rice or soba noodles on the side.

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Apple Cider Chicken

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (2)

Fresh apples and apple cider add fall flavor to this quick chicken sauté.

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Apple, Onion & Cranberry Stuffing

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (3)

Apples and fresh cranberries add a unique twist to this variation on the classic stuffing. Use fresh sage or rubbed sage in this healthy stuffing recipe; the ground version is too bitter.

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Crispy Smashed Apples with Cinnamon Sugar

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (4)

Toasted pecans, brown sugar and cinnamon combine in a crunchy, nutty topping for these apples. Smashing the fruit helps create a crispy edge. Serve these apples warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

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Sweet Potato Hash Stuffed Portobello Mushrooms

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (5)

Diced sweet potato, bell peppers and apples make a vegan stuffing inspired by the flavors of sausage. To add that savory flavor, we use poultry seasoning (don't worry, there's no actual poultry in it!). Piled into portobello mushroom caps, it creates a beautiful and filling plant-based main dish—perfect for the holidays.

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Apple Coffee Cake

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (6)

Apples lend their sweet-tart flavor to this warm and comforting apple coffee cake. The nutty oat and pecan filling in the middle of the cake also acts as a crispy topping that's drizzled with a sweet vanilla glaze.

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Apple-Cranberry Spinach Salad with Goat Cheese

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (7)

The tangy-sweet dressing in this spinach salad beautifully amplifies the apples and cranberries—and the creamy goat cheese transforms it into the perfect salad. Tasters raved about this easy fall salad. If you can't find Pink Lady apples, any sweet, crisp apple is a worthy substitute. Want to make this salad a main meal? Top with some rotisserie chicken, chickpeas or tofu.

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Bircher Muesli

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (8)

Named after a Swiss physician, Bircher muesli features fresh apple, lemon juice and nuts. We added to this refreshing combo by including chia seeds for a boost ofomega-3 fatty acids and fiber, and we finish our version with a mix of fresh berries for color and flavor.

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Baked Cinnamon Apple Slices

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (9)

These baked cinnamon apple slices have just the right level of tenderness and bite and a gooey apple caramel that forms at the bottom of the pan. Enjoy this healthy dessert spooned over ice cream, with biscuits or served over yogurt—the options with these are endless!

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The Easiest Apple Tarts on the Planet

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (10)

These apple tarts look and taste like they came from the bakery but are so easy to whip up yourself. An ultra-flaky, buttery puff pastry crust frames tart-sweet Granny Smith apple slices, while the warm flavors from the fruit soak into the pastry. To prevent your apple tarts from becoming soggy, leave any juices from the apple slices behind in the mixing bowl.

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Apple & Pecan Stuffed Butternut Squash

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (11)

Let this cute little vegetarian stuffed squash side dish steal the show at the dinner table! Butternut squash is stuffed with a sweet and savory filling that gets a crispy finish under the broiler. If you can't find small butternut squash, honeynut squash is a great alternative. Shaped much like a butternut squash (but smaller), the honeynut squash has a deep orange skin and sweet flesh.

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Slow-Cooker Apple Crisp

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (12)

Let your Crock-Pot do the work for this easy slow-cooker apple crisp. It tastes just like a classic apple crisp, with the apple combination adding a sweet and tart balance in each bite. It's sure to become a new fall favorite.

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Curried Parsnip & Apple Soup

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (13)

This creamy parsnip and apple soup recipe has amazing flavor from the combination of curry powder, coriander, cumin and ginger. Be sure to use fresh curry powder when making this soup. Not sure if yours is fresh? Open the jar: the aroma should meet your nose immediately. Serve with flatbread or whole-wheat rolls.

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Apple-Pie Bread

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (14)

This easy everyday apple-pie bread makes a great breakfast-on-the-go with a cup of coffee. The fragrant spices typical of apple pie and the tender bits of baked apple inside also make it worthy as a healthy after-dinner dessert. Enjoy it warm from the oven with a pat of butter or cream cheese or keep it on your counter for a tasty treat during the week.

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Apple Ricotta Pancakes

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (15)

These healthy apple pancakes puff to perfection thanks to the right combination of ingredients, including a mixture of double-acting baking powder and baking soda (using both ensures the batter will spread out evenly and rise well). Ricotta cheese makes pancakes moister than using milk alone, and it packs nearly four times more protein than whole milk. Walnut oil is full of healthy fats and has a rich, nutty flavor, and white whole-wheat flour packs in more fiber than all-purpose flour. A bit of buttermilk adds a nice tang to these flapjacks. All in all, it adds up to a healthy breakfast that's sure to impress.

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Chopped Salad with Shrimp, Apples & Pecans

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (16)

Sweet and crunchy apples and celery combine with savory shrimp and nutty pecans in this easy, colorful dinner salad.

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Butternut Squash Soup with Apple Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (17)

Layering apple slices into grilled cheese sandwiches adds a little crunch to a favorite soup dipper. And creamy butternut squash soup with ginger, cumin and turmeric is a nice change of pace from grilled cheese's usual tomato soup partner. If you have a sensitive palate, you can cut back on the spices. Be sure to use seasonal squash for the best squash flavor. Serve the duo for a comforting and easy weeknight dinner for the family. The soup keeps well in the fridge, so save leftovers for lunch or dinner later in the week.

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Apple-Glazed Chicken with Spinach

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (18)

A drizzling of lemon scented apple jelly glazes the chicken during broiling and lightly sweetens the braised spinach in this recipe.

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Apple-Cinnamon Quinoa Bowl

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (19)

Move over, oatmeal! Get a satisfying serving of healthy whole grains in the morning with this breakfast quinoa bowl.

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Deep-Dish Apple Pie

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (20)

With all that delicious fruit an apple pie should be healthy, but the truth is a slice can have as much as 750 calories. For the most part, the culprit is the crust. We use whole-wheat pastry flour to add fiber and lower the saturated fat by replacing some of the butter with canola oil. The brown sugar-sweetened filling in this pie is made with two kinds of apples for the perfect balance. A slice has half the calories of a typical version—sweet!

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Seared Pork Chops with Apples and Onion

Our 21 Best Apple Recipes of All Time (21)

Seared pork chops topped with sautéed apples and onions are served over brown rice and sprinkled with thyme in this easy main dish recipe. Want something green with this meal? Pair it with steamed green beans or an arugula salad.

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