7 Sweet and Savory Apple Recipes for ALL of Those Apples You Have

It is incredibly tempting to load up on apples at this time of year. Everywhere you turn, there are options to buy bushels of them. And if you take a day to go to a pumpkin patch or an apple orchard, there is no way that you’re leaving without a few pounds of the sweet, tart, crisp beauties that are in season right now. Even a recent trip to Costco left us with 18 beautiful apples that were too cheap to pass up.

But even for us — a family of four — it can be hard to consume that many apples before they start to go bad. What to do? Desperate to not contribute to the huge food waste problem in our country, I set out to find some recipes that would put my plethora of apples to good use. My kids wouldn’t be able to escape my creations: apple muffins for breakfast, applesauce for snack, apple crisp for dessert.

If you need some yummy ideas for your household, then look no further. Below you will find both sweet and savory options to satisfy any appetite.

Mark Bittman’s Apple Crisp

The beautiful thing about an apple crisp is the fact that you don’t need to make a crust, as you would in an apple pie. It is like all the fun parts of apple pie without the kneading and chilling of buttery dough. This particular dish is very quick and easy. The top consists of oats, butter, cinnamon, pecans, and sugar. For mine, I chose to cut the apples relatively thin, which was a nice change from the big chunks of fruit that you would normally find in this dish. A friend pointed out that an apple crisp paired with some plain yogurt is a perfectly acceptable breakfast. Agreed.

Simple Morning Glory Muffins

A friend sent me this recipe when I was in search of an apple muffin that didn’t have some sort of crumble on top. This recipe from Sally’s Baking Addiction delivered. The cool thing about these muffins is how variable they are. In addition to a lot of different ingredients, the recipe calls for shredded carrots, raisins and only one apple. Since I’m not a fan of raisins, I didn’t have any carrots on hand, and wanted to use more than one apple, I cut out the first two ingredients and used three apples instead. The result was a delicious, moist muffin chock-full of fall flavors, like orange, cinnamon, ginger, and of course apples.

Bon Appétit’s Classic Applesauce

While you can easily just peel and roast some apples in a hot oven and then puree them to get a perfectly tasty applesauce, you might want to consider taking a different route at least once this season. This recipe takes some time — but most of it is inactive, with the cinnamon and vanilla cooking into the apples simmering away on the stove. You will need a food mill to complete the process, so if you don’t have one, see if you can borrow it from a friend for the day. It will be well worth it.

Honeycrisp Salad with Crispy Sage and Maple Vinaigrette

How Sweet Eats hit the nail on the head with this crisp, fall salad. Frying up the sage in butter (yum) is by far the most involved part of the process – and then you get to enjoy it with the incredible apple and feta combo. Plus, if you’re a bacon fan (who isn’t?) you can definitely add some to this dish to make it that much more enjoyable.

Martha Stewart’s Pork Chops with Apples and Shallots

Pork chops all dressed up in apples and shallots (which are cooked in butter and white wine) couldn’t look any better. What is incredible about this recipe is that it appears elevated and difficult, but is so simple in execution. Not only will you get to use some of your excess apples, but you’ll be giving your tummy a nice warm hug from the inside.

Grilled Apple and Brie Flatbread

Flatbread — the fancy word for pizza. Pile anything on top of the crust and it’s bound to be good. This recipe from The  Spruce is simple (you can use prepared flatbread, or even naan if you want to take it up a notch), and it pairs two delicious flavors: apples and brie. Just tell your kids that you made pizza for dinner — they’ll scarf this delightful dish down without a fight.

Brown Butter Apple Loaf

No apple recipe list can be complete without an apple loaf. Kitchn doesn’t disappoint, as this recipe includes undeniable crowd-pleasers, such as crème fraiche, Apple Jack (yep, there’s brandy in it), and toasted pecans. The big chunks of apples are there to remind you that you’re eating health food as you smother your piece in a knife-full of butter.