From-scratch apple galette is as delicious as apple pie, but half the time and work! This easy yet impressive fall dessert is complete with a thick and flaky homemade all-butter crust and a drizzle of salted caramel. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream for the ultimate indulgence!
I originally published this recipe in 2016 and have since added new photos and more helpful success tips.
If you love my salted caramel apple pie, you’re in for a real treat today! We’re making a simple apple galette that’s exactly 97% easier than pie (I did the math ;)).
My galette crust, which is both flaky and buttery, makes a cozy bed for the warm and tender apple slices, which get tucked in nice and snug. The apples within are coated in brown-sugared, cinnamon-spiced goodness. Is this easy fall dessert enjoyment or what?!
There’s a lot to cover today, so let’s dive in.
One reader, Danica, commented: “Wow, this was extremely easy and just as delicious as your pies! Thank you for my new go-to recipe! Can’t get enough of your caramel sauce… so yummy! ★★★★★“
Why You Need to Make a Galette
Galettes are a wonderful alternative to pie when, you know, you don’t feel like making an actual pie. Have you ever made one before? Strawberry peach galette, berry galette, blueberry galette, and ginger pear galette are some of my favorites.
Galettes are delicious, approachable, and best of all: low maintenance. I like to call them “lazy pies” because there’s no complicated shaping involved. Just as delicious and awesome as pie, but there’s no weaving, crimping, trimming, or any of that meticulousness business.
They’re essentially free-form pies, and you really can’t mess this up. If you can fold dough over filling, you can make a galette. The best part is that you’ll receive heart-eyed reactions anytime you serve an elaborate-looking galette, as if you spent all day creating something so beautifully scrumptious.
Same story with my mini fruit galettes, too!
Here’s everything you need:
Here’s How to Make My BEST Apple Galette Dough
The base of today’s galette is a buttery, flaky crust made from simple ingredients like flour, butter, and ice-cold water. This is actually the same dough we use to make pear tarte tatin. Have you ever tried my all-butter pie crust recipe? This galette dough is similar, but it’s *slightly* sweeter and yields only 1 crust. You can also use 1 of the crusts from my flaky pie crust recipe instead (that recipe yields 2 crusts).
I love how thick today’s crust is… think multiple flaky, buttery layers of crust enveloping sweet, cinnamon-y apples. Perfectly delectable!
Make the dough, then chill it before rolling it out and adding the filling. When you roll out galette dough, don’t worry if it’s not a perfect circle. Leave whatever shape it rolls out to be.
(How fun is it to have so few baking rules today?!)
Refrigerate the dough for at least 1 hour before rolling it out.
Apple Galette Filling
The filling for this apple galette combines fall’s favorite spices: cinnamon and nutmeg. You’ll also add brown sugar for sweetness, lemon juice for brightness (it tastes a little flat without it!), and 3–4 peeled, sliced apples. Unlike pies where you can pile the fillings super high, galettes don’t really like it when there’s too much filling. The crust will become mushy and no amount of oven time can save it. Plus, you won’t have enough pie dough to fold over an over-filled galette!
Whenever I make apple pie bars, apple pie, or even apple cake, I always use 2 different kinds of apples for more depth of flavor (half sweet, half tart). For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties and when to use each, you can visit my post on The Best Apples for Baking.
Success Tip: Keep the filling flat and compact, while leaving a 2–3-inch border so you can fold the edges over.
Brush the crust’s edges with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar, such as Sugar in the Raw, or something like these coarse sugar sprinkles.
Success Tip: Chill the shaped galette for at least 15–20 minutes before baking to ensure it holds its shape. I usually do this while the oven preheats. It’s also plenty of time to whip up a batch of salted caramel!
Optional Salted Caramel
For an apple galette upgrade, drizzle homemade salted caramel on top of the apple filling before baking.
If you haven’t tried my salted caramel recipe before, now is the perfect opportunity. You need 4 easy ingredients and it takes about 10 minutes on the stove. No candy thermometer needed! You can also use it as a dip for apples, drizzle it on ice cream or pound cake, and more. In fact, here are 50+ ways to use salted caramel.
Today’s galette doesn’t take very long to bake and there’s no waiting for it to cool completely before serving. There’s only about 45 minutes between baking and eating. (Compare that to 5+ hours waiting for a pie to cook and cool!) Slice and serve with a scoop of ice cream and more salted caramel.
More Recipes With Apples
- Caramel Apple Upside Down Cake
- Baked Apples
- Apple Pie Bars (with Salted Caramel on top!)
- Apple Crumb Cake
- Apple Cinnamon Rolls
- Homemade Caramel Apples
- Apple Cobbler
- Apple Turnovers
Easy Apple Galette
- Prep Time: 1 hour, 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 35 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Yield: 1 galette; about 8 servings
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
As delicious and impressive as pie, but half the time and work! This simple apple galette is a favorite fall dessert. Assembling it couldn’t be easier, and there’s no need to wait hours for it to cool before slicing. Prepare your dough at least 1 hour ahead of time, so it has time to chill in the refrigerator.
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 and 1/2 cups (188g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for work surface
- 1 Tablespoon (12g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (8 Tbsp; 113g) cold unsalted butter, cubed*
- 1/4 cup (60ml) ice-cold water, plus more as needed
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- optional: coarse sugar
Filling
- 3–4 apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices (about 4–5 cups (500–600g) slices)*
- 1/4 cup (50g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons (12g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
- optional: salted caramel sauce
Instructions
- Make the crust: Whisk the flour, sugar, and salt together in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter or 2 forks, cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse pea-sized crumbs. Add the water and stir until the flour is moistened. Add 1–2 more Tablespoons of water if the dough seems dry. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and, using your hands, work the dough into a ball. Flatten it into a thick disc. Wrap the dough disc in plastic wrap or parchment paper and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour, and up to 3 days.
- As the dough chills, prepare the filling: Mix the apples, brown sugar, flour, lemon juice, cinnamon, and nutmeg together in a large bowl. Cover tightly and let sit until the dough is ready. I usually cover it and keep it in the refrigerator during this time.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Clear some shelf space in your refrigerator because the shaped galette must chill in step 6. (See recipe Note below.)
- On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle—it doesn’t have to be perfect. Transfer dough to the prepared baking sheet. (You can also roll the dough out right on the parchment paper or silicone baking mat that you are using to line the baking pan. If doing so, lightly flour the parchment paper or baking mat.)
- Arrange the apples (and any juices from the bottom of the bowl) into the center of the dough, leaving a 2–3-inch border all around them. You can simply spoon the filling on, or arrange the apple slices in a more deliberate design, such as concentric circles. Gently fold the edges of the dough over the filling, overlapping the dough as necessary. Press gently to seal the edges. Brush the crust edges generously with egg wash and sprinkle the crust with coarse sugar, if desired. If desired, drizzle 3 Tablespoons of salted caramel over the filling (not the crust).
- Refrigerate the shaped galette for at least 15–20 minutes as the oven preheats (next step), and up to 8 hours. If refrigerating for longer than 1–2 hours, cover it lightly. The galette will lose its shape if it’s not cold when it hits the oven.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Bake until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown, about 35–36 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool on the baking sheet for 10 minutes before slicing and serving. If desired, serve with vanilla ice cream and more salted caramel sauce drizzled on top.
- Cover and store leftover galette in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: Both the dough and filling can be made ahead of time and chilled in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. The dough can be frozen for up to 3 months after preparing it in step 1. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before rolling out and filling.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowls | Pastry Cutter | Rubber Spatula | Baking Sheet | Silicone Baking Mat or Parchment Paper | Rolling Pin | Pastry Brush | Coarse Sugar Sprinkles
- Butter: Make sure your cubed butter is very cold. I like to chill it in the freezer for about 15 minutes ahead of time.
- Apples: You can use any apple variety, but here are my favorites for galettes: Granny Smith, Honeycrisp, Pink Lady, or Fuji. For a detailed list of my favorite apple varieties and when to use each, you can visit my post on The Best Apples for Baking.
- Chilling shaped galette before baking: Chilling the shaped galette in the refrigerator in step 6 helps it maintain its shape in the oven. I usually refrigerate it for 15 minutes as the oven preheats. If your refrigerator doesn’t have room for your baking sheet, or you’re nervous about transferring a cold metal baking sheet to a hot oven (which can cause warping), try this: Assemble the galette on parchment paper or a silicone baking mat, then lift the parchment/baking mat with galette as a whole directly onto a shelf in the refrigerator. After chilling, when ready to bake, carefully lift up and place the entire parchment/baking mat with galette onto the baking sheet.
Reader Comments and Reviews
Made the Galette tonight with our apples from The Apple Truck. So yummy. I did use premade pie crust though.
I have tried many galette recipes. I like the crust on this one but the apples were dry. I chose not to put the caramel on top so that may have been the problem. After the galette came out of the oven I brushed it with apricot jam that I warmed up, but the apples still were chewy. This is my favorite winter dessert so I am trying to perfect it. Thanks. i love your site.
hi Sally,
Whenever I need a recipe, I tend to go to your recipes and they work every single time! I want to make the salted caramel galette to take to a Thanksgiving gathering. I need to travel 2 1/2 hours. Will it be ok to make ahead and warm to serve or can I make parts of it and assemble easily in my hosts’ kitchen?
Thank you for your time and talent,
Ellen
Hi Ellen, you can make the galette ahead of time, then reheat in the oven once you arrive until warmed to your liking. Feel free to bring along salted caramel sauce too for extra topping (that can be rewarmed in the microwave). Thank you so much for making and trusting our recipes!
I modified this recipe to make it healthier for breakfast. I omit the sugar in the crust, then substitute a mix of half whole whole wheat flour/half whole wheat pastry flour for the AP flour. I also use coconut sugar instead of granulated sugar and omit the salted caramel. I am sure the original recipe is delicious, but my kids love being able to have galette for breakfast.
This looks wonderful! Can I use frozen apples in this galette?
Hi Beth, We haven’t tested this with frozen apples. Fresh fruit is best but for best results with frozen, thaw the fruit first. Blot dry as much as you can before using in the filling. Let us know if you give it a try!
Wow, this was extremely easy and just as delicious as your pies! Thank you for my new go to recipe! Can’t get enough of your carmel sauce …so yummy!
Sally, My first attempt at this type of dessert. It turned out perfect! Another flavor bomb! Thank you for developing all these GREAT recipes. You rock.
Can this be made using the same crust that is used for the Apple Crumb Pie?
Hi Susan, You can! That recipe will yield enough for 2 crusts but you can freeze one if you are not using.
This was a hit! It looks so impressive but easy to throw together. I’m not huge on apple pie, so this was perfect. You have more crunchy crust with all the crust. Will be making this again and again!
After making the mini Galettes for the May Challenge, I decide to make the Salted Caramel Galettes as a mini. Oh my goodness, they turned out really good and the Salted Caramel is to die for. I can eat it by the spoon fulls.
Thank you.
I have an apple and two pears that are about to go bad. Can I combine them to use as the filling for this?
Hi Jess, that should be fine.
The pear slices sort of fell apart in the sugar mix but the apples gave it structure and it tasted great
Hi Sally! So excited to try this! Would it be good if you caramelized the apples on the stovetop ahead of time to get that gooey filling?! Thank you!
Hi Gauri, you can certainly try it but the filling will become quite mushy after pre-cooking and then baking. It’s not necessary to pre-cook it for this.
It’s my job to make a “dessert bar” for Thanksgiving. Each year I try to “outdo” the year before. I have one apple tree that went super crazy this year, so decided to try this recipe. I was a little worried because I’ve never tried making caramel before. Of all my desserts this one was hands down the favorite! I was so pleased with it that I decided to make more and freeze them for later in the year. Now I can stop making applesauce!
This Apple Galette is delicious! Definitely a keeper ! 🙂
Hi Sally! I am going to make this for Thanksgiving this year! I am also making your great pumpkin pie. Can I use your crust with the butter & shortening for this galette? Your pie crust recipe makes 2 so wondered if I could use one for each recipe? The crust for your galette is butter only, so not sure if it makes a difference?
Yes, absolutely! The pie crust recipe yields 2 crusts, so use 1 for the pumpkin pie and 1 for this apple galette. That’s exactly what I would do!
OMG! This crust recipe is amazing and easy. I don’t think that I’ll ever make a regular pie crust again. I skipped the salted caramel this time, but will try it another time. Instead of egg wash, I brushed lightly with half and half and sprinkled with turbinado sugar. I loved how crispy even the bottom of the crust was.
Holy. Cow. Make this.
If you read reviews to see if a recipe is worth it, this one is.
Just went apple picking with the kiddos and made this with the salted caramel sauce.
Spend the ten minutes to make the sauce – you will Not regret it!!!
I made this galette for dessert last week and it was AMAZING. Our guests loved it! And it was so fun to make; I love making pies and pie crust. The filling tasted great with the caramel (which is the best thing ever, by the way), and we drizzled all the leftover caramel over the slices of galette and scoops of ice cream on the plate. Beautiful presentation AND wonderful flavour! This recipe definitely deserves five stars! 🙂
I made this when a friend invited us over for dinner, and it was fantastic! I had to make a gluten free dough because my friend has celiac’s, but it was so good. And that salted caramel sauce is a must! Going to have to keep a supply always in the freezer from now on.
I’ve made this 3 times now and it has been devoured every time. Some people are not keen on the sauce so instead I have added the sauce from the apples which is never very much. I also cook the apple mix a little bit because although the apples are thinly sliced they seem to require a longer cooking time and I let them cool first. The pastry is fabulous – I just sprinkle coarse brown sugar on it after doing the egg wash. Then I have to watch it doesnt burn so the last 10 minutes usually requires a tin foil cover. But it is oh so yummy…..
Just wanted to say thank you for this recipe. So easy to make and absolutely delicious, it was a hit at Thanksgiving and I made another yesterday. Definitely will be making many more of these!
Instead of using a pastry cutter, can’t I use a food processor? I’m anxious to try this!
Yep! I recommend a pastry cutter because I personally like to get a feel for the dough.
Hi there! I’m excited to make this recipe but wondered how to store the leftovers? Is it just like pie; sit in the fridge covered for a few days or so?
I love trying your recipes! They are my go to for all things sweet!
Yep– store in the fridge 🙂
I made this last night as a ‘test’ for a dinner party tomorrow night where I’ll quadruple the recipe. Turned out fantastic, and tasted absolutely amazing… but looking back and prepping for tomorrow I realized that I accidentally doubled the butter in the crust. Should I do this again? Or did I just get lucky that it wasn’t mush?
Sally,
I have made 3 of these in the last 2 weeks and it’s just PERFECT! First, I made one for a birthday dessert for my husband (who prefers pie to cake) and he was blown away! Then I made it for a party we attended, then we made it again for some friends. Each time people RAVED.
I made no changes at all to the recipe because it’s perfect the way it is. I will made one recommendation for those, like me, who might be nervous about browning the sugar. The first time I made it, I slightly overcooked the caramel because I was going for “brown” color I could see. The caramel, though still tasty, had closer to a “hard” candy consistency and we had to microwave it to soften it. The second time (which was enough to cover the 2nd & 3rd time I made the galette), I instead focused on whether it looked like a “liquid” and did not focus as much on the color. The caramel came out much better, lighter in color, but not hardened. Perfect, gooey, drippy caramel!
Plus, the crust is SO EASY and SO PERFECT. Your simple, straightforward recipes, as usual, have totally inspired me to bake more pies! Just last night, as a matter of fact, I tackled your Chicken Pot Pie and it was AMAZING! I’m headed there now to leave you a comment there. 🙂
THANK YOU! I love, love, love your site! <3
I made this over Thanksgiving, and it was such a hit it’s getting requested for Christmas, too! Such a delicious recipe…and I felt so fancy making my own caramel!
Hi Sally,
Can we make this with a store-bought shortcrust dough?
Store-bought dough would work, yes!
I wanted to let you know that I made this galette yesterday for my church’s annual Harvest Festival baking contest, which I’ve entered for the past 10 years or so without winning, and it took first prize! It went so fast that I didn’t even get a chance to taste it, but I heard rave reviews and it looked absolutely gorgeous, just like the pictures. This was my first attempt at a galette and I think I’m a convert – so much more simple and forgiving than a pie with such a striking presentation. I used your recipe for the homemade salted caramel sauce too, and it was easy and delicious. I’ve been making a number of your recipes for the past few years and you’ve become one of my go-to sites for fool-proof baking, so thank you for all your hard work and for sharing the love!
Hey,
made this galette without caramel to keep it even more simple. Was just mouthwatering. So made it the next day with plums instead of apples.
Maybe i will try pears with blackcurrants as well. Love fall.
Thanks for this great recipe.
Sally,
I made your salted caramel apple galette tonight for Sunday dinner, and WOW! The caramel sauce was so easy to do and probably the best I’ve tasted. I can’t wait to make this for Thanksgiving! So glad you shared this recipe.
I made this last night. It was DELICIOUS but the pastry was tough. I am an experienced pastry maker and this is not the best pate sucree I’ve made. This morning, I double checked Julia’s & Jacque Pepin’s recipes to be sure and they both use 10T butter for 1 1/2 cups flour. That makes the pastry flakier. I will definitely make this again (with revised pastry) – probably alongside pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving. This Caramel Sauce is THE BEST! Thanks Sally, for the inspiration.