Peach Crumble is a simple baked dessert you can make with fresh or frozen peaches. Made in under an hour, it's delicious and easy to make!
If you have fresh peaches hanging around, this fruit dessert is a must-make!
This fresh peach crumble has the most delicious buttery streusel, and the warm fruit filling is incredibly juicy!
Difference Between a Crumble, Crisp and Cobbler
Crumbles and crisps are very similar, but not identical. Both are baked fruit desserts with a crumbly streusel topping. The difference between a crumble and a crisp is that the streusel of a crisp typically includes oats.
But, because I don't care for the texture of oats in my topping, I actually have an apple crisp recipe without oats. The recipe can also be used to make a peach crisp!
Then there are cobblers. Fruit cobblers are also baked, but they have a thick, biscuit-like topping. If that sounds good to you, check out my Peach Cobbler for Two recipe.
This dessert tastes fantastic any time of the year, but it's best during the summer, when peaches are in season.
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- Make it with fresh or frozen peaches. No worries if fresh fruit isn't available, because this recipe works perfectly with frozen fruit too!
- Adaptable: This crumble recipe can be made with almost any fruit you like!
- Common ingredients. There are no fancy or overly expensive ingredients in this dessert. Just the fruit and a few basic pantry staples.
If peach desserts are a favorite of yours, consider also making a pie or some turnovers with homemade peach pie filling!
Ingredients
See ingredient substitutions in the next section. ⬇️
To make this fantastic summer dessert, you'll need:
- peaches: If you plan to use fresh peaches, you'll need to pit, peel, and slice them.
- sugar: You'll use brown sugar in the peach filling and white sugar in the crumble topping. The molasses in brown sugar adds a wonderful caramel flavor.
- thickener: There are other ways to thicken a fruit filling, but my favorite is cornstarch
- all-purpose flour: This holds the topping ingredients together. If you didn't include it, the topping of the peach crumble would basically become melted butter.
- ground cinnamon: The cinnamon also adds a nice warm flavor to the dessert.
- sea salt: You can really use any type of salt except for iodized table salt. The iodine gives fruit desserts an unpleasant metallic aftertaste.
- vanilla extract
Substitutions and Recipe Variations
- peaches: You can use fresh or frozen peaches. You can also used canned peaches to make the filling, or canned pie filling in place of making it from scratch.
- all-purpose flour: If you'd like to make a gluten-free dessert, substitute the AP flour with any cup-for-cup variety of gluten-free all-purpose flour. Two popular brands are Bob's Red Mill and King Arthur Flour.
- sugar: You can use all white sugar or all brown sugar if you prefer. For a deeper molasses flavor, you can use dark brown sugar.
- butter: If you need or want to use salted butter, just omit the salt this recipe calls for. Dairy-free butter substitutes will also work.
- cinnamon: If you're out of cinnamon, you can leave it out. To make a dessert for Fall, you can add ⅛th teaspoon of ground nutmeg and/or ground ginger.
- vanilla extract: If you need an alcohol-free flavoring, you can use vanilla essence. You can also omit this ingredient and the crumble will still taste fantastic.
How to Make Peach Crumble from Scratch
The first step to making fresh peach cobbler is making Peach Pie Filling. You can use canned pie filling, but fresh filling tastes so much better!
Summary only. The complete recipe instructions are in the card at the bottom of this post ⬇️
- Cook the peach crumble filling.
- Make the topping.
- Add the filling to your baking dish.
- Sprinkle on a layer of crumble topping.
- Bake for 15-20 minutes or until the filling is bubbling and the top is nice and crispy.
Liz's Tips for the Best Crumble
- Don’t overfill the dish. Be sure to leave some room at the top of the dish so the filling doesn't bubble over.
- If you want to double this recipe, be sure to use a larger and/or deeper baking dish.
- To make a smaller dessert, check out my Peach Cobbler for Two recipe!
Storing and Freezing
Refrigerator: It's best to store peach crumble in the fridge. Transfer any leftovers to an airtight container, or cover the baking dish tightly with plastic wrap.
Freezing: You can freeze the baked dessert for up to 3 months. The texture of the crumb topping will be a bit softer after it thaws, but it will still be delicious!
Making ahead: I have also frozen this dessert before baking and it came out great! I thawed it to room temperature and
Reheat: You can reheat individual servings of the dessert in the microwave, or use the oven. If you're going to put the baking dish in the oven, let it come to room temperature first. Never put a cold dish straight into a hot oven because it can crack.
Peach Crumble Recipe FAQ
It's better to use frozen peaches that have been cooked down than canned peaches. Fresh and frozen peaches have better flavor than canned fruit!
A gummy filling often means there was too much syrup in your filling. This happens more often with canned fruit or canned pie filling. Using homemade pie filling made with fresh or frozen fruit is the best way to avoid this.
If the filling of your crumble is runny, you can let it simmer a little longer, or use just a tiny bit of additional cornstarch. If you've already baked the dessert and the filling is runny, unfortunately, there isn't any way to fix it. You could try putting it in a mesh colander or strainer to remove some of the excess liquid.
Other Great Summer Fruit Desserts
Easy Peach Crumble
Ingredients
Peach Filling
- 8 cups peeled, sliced, fresh or frozen peaches about 3 lbs
- ½ cup light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ½ tablespoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Cobbler Topping
- ½ cup butter (1 stick), room temperature
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ⅛ teaspoon sea salt omit if using salted butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 400℉. Butter the inside of a 9x13-inch baking dish; set aside.
- Heat a medium saucepan over medium-high heat and spray with olive oil spray. Add peaches, brown sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine and cook for about 10 minutes. Frozen fruit may take longer to cook.
- When the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low and simmer the filling for another 5 minutes until the peaches start to soften and the sauce thickens.
- White the peaches cook, prepare the streusel. In a medium bowl, use your fingers or a pastry cutter to combine softened butter, butter, flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt. Mix until you achieve a crumbly consistency.
- Add the cooked peaches to the prepared baking dish, using a spatula to spread them into an even layer. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the filling in an even layer.
- Bake in preheated 400 degrees F oven for 15-20 minutes, or until the filling bubbles and the top is lightly browned and crispy.
- Remove from the oven and let the dessert cool for a few minutes before serving.
Video
Helpful Notes and Tips From Liz
- Add more fruit - You can always add in other fruits with peaches to jazz things up. For example, cherries, apples, blueberries, and blackberries are all great choices.
- Use canned pie filling - Don’t have time to whip up your own fruit filling? Canned will work just as well, although the flavor will be a little muted.
- To convert this recipe to a peach cobbler, cover the pie filling with canned biscuit dough instead of the crumble topping.
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