Dutch Apple Slab Pie (Apple Crumb Pie)

Everything you love about Dutch apple pie, baked in a sheet pan! One slab pie easily yields 18-24 slices, perfect for sharing with friends.

You might also like our blueberry crumb slab pie, our banana bread bars with frosting, or our lemon hand pies!

Watch our step by step video!

Dutch Apple Slab Pie

Dutch apple slab pie is absolutely delicious. It’s sturdy enough to pick up a slice with your hands, although I prefer eating it with a fork. Slab pie is easier to serve than a regular pie and stays fresh for up to three days, so it makes great leftovers.

I make my slab pies in a 10×15″ jelly roll pan. This is a great all-around size. It’s smaller than the half-sheet baking pans that I typically use for baking, but easier to work with when rolling out the dough.  You can turn any pie recipe into a slab pie by doubling your favorite two-crust pie crust recipe and making about 1 ½ batches of pie filling. Make sure to follow my tips and tricks for achieving a perfectly baked crust (top and bottom).

WHAT MAKES THIS RECIPE A KEEPER

Basic ingredients: My pie crust recipe is a keeper, a variation of my favorite pie crust recipe from Betty Crocker. It uses shortening, butter, and oil for the best texture and flavor. You can use canned pie filling if you’d like (you’ll need 3 cans), but I like making apple pie filling from scratch. The crumb topping is super easy to make and is the perfect texture. Made with melted butter, sugar, and flour.

The crust is forgiving: Not great at making pie crust? That’s ok. With a crumb pie, you only have to roll out one pie crust for the bottom. And nobody will really see it anyway. Do your best to roll it into a rectangular shape, but just know that once it’s baked up, the golden crumble top and bubbly filling will hide imperfections. If you’d prefer a regular crust on top, follow the crust measurements and directions in my original apple slab pie recipe.

Feeds a crowd: One jelly roll pan of Dutch apple pie yields 18-24 slices.

Stays fresh for several days: Mine have been kept for at least 3 days, making this a great dessert to make the night before you need it.

TIPS FOR BAKING SLAB PIE CRUST

Fruit pies, if not baked properly, can end up with an underbaked bottom crust or one that goes soggy after a few hours—don’t ask me how I know. This is because fruit fillings break down during baking and leak juice. Having a properly thickened filling (using flour) and making sure your crust is baked properly is key. This is especially important with slab pie because it has a large surface area. Here are 5 tips for perfectly baked pie crust:

Use Crust Dust: I first learned about the miracle of CRUST DUST from King Arthur Flour. It’s super easy to make, too! Crust dust is a 1:1 ratio of all-purpose flour and sugar. You simply mix the two ingredients together, then sprinkle it over the bottom crust in a THIN layer before adding the pie filling. As the pie bakes, the flour and sugar create a barrier, preventing the juices from soaking into the crust. It really works, too, and once baked, you won’t even know it’s there.

Bake In Bottom ⅓ of Oven: Baking the pie lower in the oven (I bake on the second-to-bottom rack position) helps the bottom crust to bake evenly.

Use a Baking Stone: I swear by baking my pies on top of a preheated baking stone (pizza stone). If you don’t have one, that’s ok! The first two tips will still yield a delicious crust. The baking stone just helps center the heat evenly for the bottom crust.

Use a Metal Pan: Metal pie pans work better than glass for a golden bottom crust.

Don’t Worry About Overbaking Your Pie: yep, that’s what I said. It’s better to slightly overbake the crust vs. to underbake. I bake my crumb slab pies for 30 minutes, then loosely cover with foil for another 20-25 minutes. Covering the pie during the last part of the baking process will prevent the crumble topping from getting too brown. And a tip for making fruit pies: if the filling isn’t bubbling up and almost coming out of the pie, it’s not done! 

Dutch Apple PIE INGREDIENTS

PIE CRUST

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup shortening
• ¼ cup COLD butter (I use salted), cut into small cubes
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• ⅓ cup milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

Apple PIE FILLING

• 10-12 cups peeled and chopped apples, about 4 pounds (I used a combination of Granny Smith and Gala)
• ⅔ cups sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

CRUST DUST

• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

CRUMBLE TOPPING

• 1 ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup melted butter (1 ½ sticks)

HOW TO MAKE A Dutch Apple SLAB PIE

• Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening using a pastry cutter. Cut in butter until the particles are the size of small peas.
• Combine the milk and lemon juice in a small bowl.
• Add oil and milk/lemon mixture to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. You may need to use your hands to form the mixture into a dough.

• Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap with plastic. Refrigerate while you make the pie filling and crumb topping (30 minutes).
• Mix crumble topping ingredients together. Place the bowl in the refrigerator and chill until the pie crust is done chilling.
• Combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the oven rack to preheat.
• Roll the pie crust on a lightly floured surface. Keep rolling until it is a 13×18″ rustic-looking rectangle. It won’t be exact, and that’s ok.
• Place the rectangle into a 10×15″ jelly roll pan, allowing the excess to hang over the edge of the pan.
• Sprinkle crust dust over the pie crust bottom.
• Pour the apple filling over the bottom crust.
• Tuck the excess pie crust into the pan (rolling it forward or behind to tuck into place).

• Remove crumble topping from the refrigerator. It will be solid, and that is what you want. Break it up with a fork into small crumbs (pea-sized). Sprinkle the crumble over the apple pie filling.

• Bake the slab pie for 30 minutes.
• Cover/tent loosely with foil and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.
• The top should be GOLDEN and the filling should be bubbling.
• Allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Storage: Store leftover pie in the pan, covered with plastic wrap, to keep fresh for 2-3 days.

Baking Sheets: I only bake on light-colored baking sheets. If you bake on dark sheets, you may need to adjust the baking time.

Dutch Apple Slab Pie Recipe

Dutch Apple Slab Pie

Everything you love about Dutch apple pie, baked in a sheet pan! One slab pie easily yields 18-24 slices, perfect for sharing with friends.

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 45 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 55 minutes minutes

cooling: 2 hours hours

Total Time: 3 hours hours 40 minutes minutes

Servings: 24

Calories: 220kcal

Ingredients

Pie Crust

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• ⅔ cup shortening
• ¼ cup COLD butter I use salted, cut into small cubes
• 2 teaspoons vegetable oil
• ⅓ cup milk
• 1 ½ teaspoons lemon juice

Apple Pie Filling

• 10-12 cups diced and peeled apples about 4 pounds
• ⅔ cup sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• 1 ½ teaspoons ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg

Crust Dust

• 2 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp. sugar

Crumble Topping

• 1 ½ cup flour
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¾ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup melted butter 1 ½ sticks

Instructions

• Mix flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in shortening using a pastry cutter. Cut in butter until the particles are the size of small peas.
• Combine the milk and lemon juice in a small bowl.
• Add oil and milk/lemon mixture to the flour mixture and stir until a soft dough forms. You may need to use your hands to form the mixture into a dough.
• Flatten the dough into a disc and wrap with plastic. Refrigerate while you make the pie filling and crumb topping (30 minutes).
• Mix crumb topping ingredients together. It will look like a ball and not crumbly, that's what you want at this point. Refrigerate the crumb mixture until the pie crust is done chilling.
• Combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Coat evenly.
• Preheat the oven to 400 degrees. Lower the baking rack to the bottom ⅓ of the oven. If you have a pizza stone, place it on the oven rack to preheat.
• Roll the pie crust on a lightly floured surface. Keep rolling until it is a 13×18″ rustic-looking rectangle. It won’t be exact, and that’s ok. The crust will be thin.
• Place the rectangle into a 10×15″ jelly roll pan, allowing the excess to hang over the edge of the pan.
• Sprinkle crust dust over the pie crust bottom.
• Pour the apple filling over the bottom crust.
• Tuck the excess pie crust into the pan (rolling it forward or behind to tuck into place).
• Remove crumble topping from the refrigerator. Break it up with a fork into small crumbs (pea-sized). Sprinkle the crumble over the apple pie filling.
• Bake the slab pie for 30 minutes.
• Cover/tent loosely with foil and bake for an additional 20-25 minutes.
• The top should be GOLDEN and the filling should be bubbling.
• Allow the pie to cool for at least 2 hours before slicing.

Notes

Storage: Store leftover pie in the pan, covered with plastic wrap to keep fresh for up to 3 days.

Baking Sheets: I only bake on light-colored baking sheets. If you bake on dark sheets, you may need to adjust the baking time.

Nutrition

Calories: 220kcal