Fresh Apricot Crumble with an oat topping, a delicious summer dessert that is easy to make with a few simple ingredients. Serve the crumble with custard or your favourite ice cream, and you are in for a treat.

When in doubt, bake a crumble! Apricots are at their best in the summer months, and sweet, juicy, really ripe fruit call for a good old crumble. It's literally the easier dessert you can come up with, and it would be a shame not to use up any fruit that would otherwise turn bad and end up in the bin.
And if you have some apricots around that you don't know what else to use them for, well, apart from enjoying them on their own, this is a recipe for you. They don't need to be precooked, just pit them and add them as they are.
The secret to making a good crumble is using ripe fruit that soften beautifully in the oven. While they won't hold their shape well, they won't have a mushy jam-like texture either.
It's more like a lovely contrast between the soft juicy filling and the crispy topping that tells us the crumble is baked to perfection.
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Ingredients needed to make an apricot crumble

- apricots - choose ripe apricots that are soft to touch and very juicy
- plain flour - it works best for the topping, no need for self-raising flour
- oats - help achieve a crispy topping
- butter - unsalted butter works the best
- sugar - I used granulated, caster sugar also ok - this goes into the topping
- brown sugar - used to sprinkle over the bottom of the dish
- vanilla extract - or the extract of your choice
Easy swaps
If you only have a handful of apricots that's not quite enough for a crumble, you can use either fresh or canned peaches together with the apricots. They have similar texture when ripe, so they will work together.
Other fruit that would work well with apricots are apples or plums - just cut the apples in smaller pieces so they can soften in the oven. I tried different variations of crumbles, and I can say that they all work beautifully.
Step-by-step photos and instructions
Making this crumble is an easy job indeed:
- cut the apricots in half and remove the pits
- melt the butter over a low heat, and leave it to cool slightly
- use a bit of butter to grease the bottom of the ovenproof dish used for the crumble, then sprinkle the brown sugar over
- add the apricots
- in a bowl, sift in the flour, add the oats, granulated sugar, melted butter and vanilla extract, and mix to get a lumpy mixture
- scatter the mixture over the apricots, and bake in the preheated oven at 190 degrees Celsius (350 Fahrenheit) for 35 minutes or until golden and bubbling hot

Expert tips
If baking sounds daunting, crumbles are a great first recipe to try, as errors are pretty uncommon. There really isn't much that could go wrong here.
Just make sure that the ratio butter and flour is 1:1, too little butter, and the topping won't be wet enough to bake well and become golden.
I wouldn't recommend icing sugar for the topping, it's the granulated sugar that helps with the crispy texture too.
You can also turn this apricot crumble into apricot crumble bars by following my recipe for Apple and Blackberry Crumble Bars recipe.
What to serve with apricot crumble
Custard is my first choice when it comes to making a crumble even better. You can choose between my traditional homemade custard or my mango custard.
Or, you can enjoy it with some delicious homemade ice cream, I have lots to choose from on my Ice Cream Recipes post.
Other crumble recipes

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Apricot Crumble
Ingredients
- 500 g fresh apricots, ripe
- 150 g butter + more to grease the dish
- 150 g plain flour
- 50 g oats
- 100 g granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoon light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 190 degrees Celsius, 375 Fahrenheit, or 170 degrees fan.
- Cut the apricots in half, and remove the pits.
- Melt the butter in a pan set over a low heat, then allow it to cool slightly.
- Butter an ovenproof dish well, then sprinkle the brown sugar over.
- Add the apricots, scattering them evenly over the bottom of the pan.
- In a large bow, sift the flour, add the oats, granulated sugar, vanilla extract and melted butter, and use a spatula to mix well.
- Spread the topping over the apricots, and bake for 35 minutes or until golden and bubbling hot.
- Serve warm or cold with custard or your favourite ice cream.
Video
Notes
- If you'd like to see the ingredients listed in cups and ounces, please check the US Customary Link.
- Also, the amount of ingredients changes depending on the servings, so click on the number listed to change it to the number you prefer.
- If baking sounds daunting, crumbles are a great first recipe to try, as errors are pretty uncommon. There really isn't much that could go wrong here.
- Just make sure that the ratio butter and flour is 1:1, too little butter, and the topping won't be wet enough to bake well and become golden.
- I wouldn't recommend icing sugar for the topping, it's the granulated sugar that helps with the crispy texture too.
- You can also turn this apricot crumble into apricot crumble bars by following my recipe for Apple and Blackberry Crumble Bars recipe.
David says
I used the quantities in the recipe and got a lovely crunchy topping. Required 45 minutes in the oven.
I used a mix of apricots and peaches and this worked really well, the peaches providing a pleasant tartness.
I'm going to try to use less sugar in the crumble next time, as it was a bit too sweet. However, this will probably affect the crunchiness of the crumble.
Daniela Apostol says
Thank you for your feedback! I am glad you liked the crumble! The sugar can definitely be tweaked to your liking!
Johanne Cote-Lyne says
Absolutely delicious. Since making this crumble topping I haven't got back to the old ways. Thank you so much for sharing.
Kylie Pep says
The flour to butter ratio is incorrect I think. 150g butter requires 300g plain flour. This then produces a very nice crunchy crumble. Cooking took 1 hour also.
Daniela Apostol says
300 g sounds like too much flour, especially that we use oats as well. It also depends on the amount of fruit used, if you have too much crumble compared to fruit, it wouldn't be as delicious in my opinion. Cooking time tends to depend heavily on the oven used too. I hope you enjoyed the recipe!
Judith says
Can you make this recipe ahead of time and just reheat?
Daniela Apostol says
Absolutely! It should work just fine - we also enjoy it cold.