Sweet and bubbly peach crisp with toasted pecans is the biggest test to your self control!
Crisps are sort of like pies, but free-form. Messy recipes are the best recipes, if you didn’t realize already. What makes crisps a little different from pies is the lack of pie crust and the ease. We all know pies can get a little complicated (which is why they are so good), but fruit crisp combines a mountain of juicy fruit and sweet crumbly streusels. Fruit crisps, such as apple crisp, are so simple and only require a baking dish, fruit, streusel, and a lot of willpower to not eat the entire pan. You can use this recipe for nearly any fruit. I make a mean mixed berry crisp using this same recipe. Though I add a touch more sugar since berries aren’t quite as sweet as peaches.
The peaches release their juices, the juices bubble up, the topping becomes crunchy and toasted.
Yet another pro to this fruit crisp is that it’s quick. No making and rolling out pie crust here. Just mix the fruit up, mix the streusel up, pile it together, bake, and eat. No chilling or cooling because this crisp is tastiest served warm. And that way the ice cream melts on top! All the tasty perks of a traditional peach pie in a fraction of the time.
If you love baking with peaches, try my peach quick bread next!
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Peach Pecan Crisp
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 8-12
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Juicy peaches and toasted streusel come together to make one simple summery fruit crisp!
Ingredients
Filling
- 5 cups thinly sliced + peeled peaches (about 5–6 medium peaches)*
- 1/4 cup (31g) all-purpose flour (spoon & leveled)
- 3/4 cup (150g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Topping
- 3/4 cup (150g) light or dark brown sugar
- 2/3 cup (84g) all-purpose flour
- 2/3 cup (57g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats (or quick oats)
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (95g) unsalted pecans, chopped or halved
- 1/2 cup (115g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- optional but encouraged: vanilla ice cream for serving
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (177°C). Lightly grease an 8 or 9-inch baking dish (circle or square). Set aside.
- Make the filling: Combine peaches with the flour, sugar, salt, and vanilla in a large bowl. Toss gently until combine. Spoon into prepared baking dish.
- Make the topping: Whisk the brown sugar, flour, oats, cinnamon, salt, and pecans together. Make sure to get out all those brown sugar lumps. Add the butter and stir with a rubber spatula or a wooden spoon to break up the butter until the mixture is crumbly. (A fork works for this too!) Evenly sprinkle topping over peaches.
- Bake for 40-45 minutes until the topping is golden brown and the peach juice is bubbling on the edges. Remove from the oven, place on a wire rack, and allow to cool slightly before serving. Serve warm, room temperature, or cold. Cover leftovers and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Baked crisp freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then warm in a 350°F (177°C) for 20 minutes or until heated through. I do not suggest preparing the crisp and storing it, unbaked, in the refrigerator. The topping will get soggy. You can, however, prepare the crisp through step 3 and freeze for up to 3 months. Allow to thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then continue with step 4.
- Gluten Free: For a gluten free crisp, use my recipe for gluten free apple crisp and replace sliced apples with sliced peaches. You can leave out the lemon juice in that recipe.
- Peaches: Frozen peaches work too! No need to thaw.
- Adapted from Mixed Berry Fruit Crisp in Sally’s Baking Addiction Cookbook.
Keywords: peach crisp, peach pecan crisp
Used a can of peaches and can of peach pie filling because I didn’t have any others. It was great.
Delicious…but I would decrease the amount of sugar in the filling if the peaches are sweet!
★★★★★
Through the years I’ve made many desserts with fresh Colorado Palisade Peaches but my husband thinks this one is the best. The topping even stays crunchy in the fridge, which is a first for us. If I were making this for myself I’d use less sugar as I find it much too sweet but my husband finds it perfect exactly as described by this recipe.
★★★★★
HI! I am excited to make this recipe, but wanted to ask about the firmness of the peaches prior to baking? Are they to be more firm or on the riper side? Thanks!
Hi Sheila, you want slightly firm (not hard) peaches with zero bruises or soft spots. The softer they are, the softer the fruit component will be. Hope you enjoy it!
This was SOOO good. I made it and served it warm with vanilla ice cream and I could have eaten the entire pan. This recipe is going in my “make again” file, lol.
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious recipe! Thanks, Sally. I did one thing different as far as technique. My peaches were very ripe and juicy and I was concerned they would cook to mush if I sliced them thinly. I used another peach pie technique of Sally’s and cut the peaches into cubes instead of slicing. Worked beautifully! My only other comment is, yes, this recipe comes together quickly, ONCE you have all your prep done. And if you have cling peaches, not freestones, add on extra time, too, to prep those 🙂
Just harvested the last of my peaches and decided to make this recipe. Turned out so delicious. My modifications were switching out the pecans, only because I had walnuts in my pantry and I knew it was my last round of peaches and they were sweet, so I was able to cut back on the sugar in the filling portion and it still came out perfect.
★★★★★
The BEST crisp I have ever had! My family lived it. The pecans ad just The right crunch.
★★★★★
sooooo Good. The vanilla and the pecans added extra flavor. As the receipt stated, peeling the peaches took the longest.
For me, I don’t need ice cream but for company maybe a bit of cream
I can’t wait to try this. I just picked up an order of 25lbs of peaches. They just need to ripen so I can use them.
This recipe was delicious! Will definitely make it again!! I ate mine with a spoonful of plain greek yogurt and loved the combination. Of course my kids ate theirs with vanilla ice cream and loved it.
Has anybody tried applesauce as a sweetener instead of sugar for the filling?
Curious to know if I can prepare the peaches, the topping separately earlier in the day and then combine together to bake?
Hi Rani, yes you can certainly prep both separately in advance.
I skimmed comments and hopefully didn’t miss this question — can I use canned peaches if drained? Thank you!
Hi Amy, we’ve had a few readers used canned with success, but we haven’t tried it.
What about using almonds & almond extract instead of pecans?
Hi Bebe, we can’t see why not — let us know how it turns out for you!
Can’t wait to make this! To make a 9×13 would I just make 1.5 recipe? Thanks!
Hi Alyssia, You can double the recipe for a 9×13 inch pan. The bake time will be a little longer, though we are unsure of that exact time.
Made this Peach Pecan Crisp today and it is the best!! Doubled the recipe as every recipe I’ve tried from Sally is wonderful! My husband and I absolutely love it. Highly recommend.
★★★★★
I was gifted some peaches from Georgia… I’ve only ever made peach cobbler. This recipe is AMAZING! I didn’t refrigerate mine though; hopefully it’s still good, what’s left of it anyway
★★★★★
Absolutely delicious! I doubled the recipe so I ended up using about 12 medium sized peaches and it was the perfect amount for the casserole dish used. Because I love cinnamon, I added some to the peach mixture! One change I will definitely make next time (because there WILL be a next time) is to use less sugar in the filling. It was a little too sweet. Other than these minor tweaks (and serving with vanilla ice cream) it was an incredibly yummy crisp for a hot summer day!
★★★★★
With modifications, I have made this several times. It is quick and easy especially with ice cream as recommended. Made as published I find it more of a warm ice cream topping rather than a dessert with ice cream on top. There is too little fruit in relation to the topping. My changes, with apologies to Sally and team. Reduce the sugar by one third in the topping AND filling. For a dessert with ice cream on top, double the fruit and another half of the dry topping ingredients.
★★★★★
Made this last night and it was superb! Loved it warm with vanilla bean ice cream. I only did 1/2 cup of sugar with the peaches, I think next time I would do the full 3/4 cup!
We’re so happy you enjoyed this crisp recipe, Claudia!
Love this recipe. I make it and put in my freezer to give as a gift for special occasions, like for my grandson when my new very special great granddaughter was born.
★★★★★
So easy and so delicious! I didn’t even peel the peaches. I was short a peach, so I added a cup of blueberries. Mmmm. Just delicious.
★★★★★
I made this and decided to add more pecans because I love them. I ended up using 3/4 cup of butter for the topping to get the crumble right. It was absolutely delicious. A definite show stopper. I served it with my homemade vanilla ice cream (which I feel like I have perfected) and everything was amazing. Thanks for this awesome recipe!
★★★★★
Delicious I loved the crunchy topping with vanilla ice cream
★★★★★
Is there a substitute for the pecans as I’m allergic to nuts?
Hi Belinda, You can simply leave out the nuts with no other changes to the topping.