These easy skillet apple biscuits taste like a cross between fresh apple pie and a sticky bun! They’re the perfect fall breakfast loaded with sweet apple pie filling. Make them with canned biscuits for a semi-homemade shortcut!
You might also love this homemade skillet apple pie and my easy apple cinnamon bread recipe.
I LOVE a good apple recipe all year long, but especially during apple season. The start of fall, when the weather starts to change and the air gets a little crisp, is just my favorite. Plus, when apples are plentiful and at their sweetest, I tend to stock up! Between eating them fresh to baking them into apple pie and apple crisp, I’ll always find a way to use them. These apple biscuits are easy to make and the perfect weekend breakfast in the fall. They’re so irresistibly gooey and flavorful, though, don’t be surprised when they double as dessert.
What Makes These Apple Biscuits So Irresistible
- Sweet and caramelized. These are soft, buttery biscuits topped with an easy version of homemade apple pie filling. The biscuits stay soft, while the filling gets caramelized and bubbly, giving the biscuits a slightly chewy caramel edge.
- Make them with a shortcut. I use canned biscuits in this recipe! You can absolutely use homemade biscuits if you prefer. I even have a great recipe for skillet biscuits that would work well here. But I’m all about a shortcut from time to time, and these apple biscuits are perfect for that.
- A rustic touch. I bake my biscuits in a cast-iron skillet for a fun and rustic, home-style presentation.
- Gooey homemade apple pie filling. Be prepared to want to eat the cooked apples right out of the saucepan before you can even add them to the biscuits.
What You’ll Need
Let’s go over the ingredients you need to make this biscuit recipe happen! As mentioned, I use a semi-homemade approach with canned biscuits. Then, there’s only a handful of other ingredients, which I cover with some helpful notes below. Scroll down to the printable recipe card for the full list with amounts.
- Apples – I like to use Granny Smith apples, as they hold their texture well when cooking, but a few more I recommend are Gala, Honey Crisp, or Pink Lady. Peel and dice them up ahead so you have everything ready to go!
- Lemon Juice – You can use fresh or bottled.
- Butter – I use salted butter, and I like to cube it so it melts evenly into the apples.
- Heavy Cream – You will need this for the caramel apple filling as well as the icing. Heavy cream makes the caramel sauce for the apples rich and creamy.
- Vanilla Extract
- Flour and Sugar – All-purpose flour to thicken the apples, along with light brown sugar (or granulated sugar).
- Ground Cinnamon – I only use a teaspoon, but if you love cinnamon, you can use up to 2 teaspoons in the filling. If you’d like, swap cinnamon for another cozy fall spice, like nutmeg or apple pie spice.
- Canned Biscuits – Use the large biscuits for this recipe. If you’re buying Pillsbury, they are the “Grands” version. You could also use homemade biscuit dough if you prefer.
- Powdered Sugar – To combine with heavy cream for the icing.
How to Make Apple Biscuits
These skillet apple biscuits are so easy, and they’re a great recipe to get the kids to help with. Start by greasing a 10-inch cast iron skillet (or any oven-proof skillet) and then follow the steps below. You’ll find the printable instructions in the recipe card after the post.
- Prepare the apples. Peel the apples using an apple peeler. Afterward, dice the apples and add them to a saucepan with lemon juice, butter, heavy cream, vanilla, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt.
- Cook. Heat the apple mixture over medium-low heat, stirring often, and cook for 8-10 minutes until the caramel is bubbly and the apples have softened a little. Set the apple pie filling aside for now.
- Assemble the biscuits. Sprinkle sugar into the bottom of your greased skillet. Then, arrange the canned biscuits in an even layer over the sugar. I can fit 10 biscuits in my 10-inch skillet. If you have a 12-inch pan, you’ll likely be able to fit a few more biscuits in!
- Add the apple filling. Next, spread the apple pie filling evenly over the biscuits. Top that with the remaining sugar.
- Bake. Pop your skillet biscuits into a 350ºF oven to bake for 30-35 minutes, until the biscuits are browned and the apple mixture caramelizes at the edges. Leave them to cool in the pan for 10 minutes. Lastly, whisk powdered sugar with heavy cream to make a quick icing, and drizzle that over the biscuits. Enjoy!
Recipe Tips
- No cast-iron skillet? No problem. You can use whichever oven-proof skillet you have on hand, or use a casserole dish instead. I recommend a 3-quart casserole dish or a 9×13 baking dish.
- Use flaky biscuits. I prefer a “flaky layer” style biscuit in this recipe (as opposed to, say, butter swim biscuits or similar). The layers allow the biscuits to really absorb all that yummy caramel apple filling!
- Don’t overcook the apple filling. Usually, 10 minutes over medium-low heat does the trick. If you overheat or overcook the caramel apples, the sugar hardens and makes the filling chewy.
How To Store and Reheat Apple Biscuits
- At room temperature. I won’t lie, these are best eaten the same day, and especially warm from the oven. BUT if you have leftover apple biscuits, store them airtight at room temperature until the next day. You can refrigerate them, but I have found that the biscuits get very firm.
- Reheat. Pop the biscuits in the microwave for a few seconds to reheat.
More Favorite Apple Recipes
Skillet Apple Biscuits
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Total Time: 50 minutes
- Yield: serves 10 1x
- Category: Biscuits
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Breakfast
Description
Sticky, gooey skillet apple biscuits taste like a cross between fresh apple pie and a sticky bun! Make them with canned biscuits for a semi-homemade shortcut.
Ingredients
- 3 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and large diced
- 1 teaspoon lemon juice
- 1/4 cup butter, cubed
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar, divided
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 10 large biscuits (I like the canned “flaky layers” kind)
For the Icing
- 2/3 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
Instructions
- Biscuits: Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a large (10- inch) cast iron skillet with butter, set aside.
- Place the apples, lemon juice, butter, heavy cream, vanilla, flour, 2/3 cup brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring to combine. Cook for 8 – 10 minutes until mixture is bubbly and apples are softened. Remove from the heat.
- Divide the remaining sugar in half (doesn’t have to be exact) and sprinkle half onto the bottom of the skillet. Set the remainder of the sugar aside. Place the biscuits evenly in the skillet on top of the sugar.
- Spread the apple mixture on top of the biscuits evenly and sprinkle the remaining sugar on top.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until biscuits are golden brown and bubbly.
- Icing: allow the biscuits to cool for 10 minutes. Whisk the powdered sugar and heavy cream together in a small bowl until smooth and drizzle on top of biscuits. Serve warm.
Notes
- Store airtight at room temperature for up to 2 days.
- To reheat, place the biscuit in the microwave for 10 – 15 seconds, if desired.
Made this for brunch and it was a hit! This recipe is fabulous, and quick and easy! Reminds me of apple pie. I will definitely be making this again, but may try the addition of pecans as one reader suggested but it was delicious without them. Thanks for the great recipe.
I made this for brunch and even my picky husband raved about this. The only changes I made was I added a tsp vanilla extract to the apples, and after removing the biscuits from the oven and pouring the glaze, i sprinkled some chopped pecans that i had toasted on the stove with a pat of butter. And i used 12 refrigerated biscuits and an 8×11 baking dish. Worked perfectly. Delish!
I’m in Australia and am wondering after reading a few biscuit recipes like this- what kind of biscuit are you talking about?? If I was to make these biscuits in this recipe what ingredients do you use? This looks amazeballs!!!
You can make your own biscuits with flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda, shortening and buttermilk or you can use self rising flour (if available) and omit the salt, baking powder, and baking soda. Just google a recipe for buttermilk biscuits.
Amazing recipe, gonna try it this weekend,thnx
What exactly are canned biscuits? We don’t have anything like that in South Africa. I would love to try this recipe! Is there a substitute I can use?
@Gigi and Enas, if you are non-American like myself, the closest substitute or equivalent of the American Biscuit is what we call Scones. From the recipe you can guage that its actual prebaked scones and not the raw dough used.
i live in swaziland have no idea what canned biscuits are please assist with a replacement or a recipe for the biscuits
So you just pour the heavy cream and don’t mix it correct? Just stir it with the sugar? I love the flaky buttermilk bisquits, is there a reason you say not to use them? Thanks, Alicia
Not sure if you read the full recipe, but it explains what you do there!
Anyone try it with canned pie filling?
what kind of biscuits is this? it seems like a batter not biscuits, i appreciate your help
They are canned biscuits like Pillsbury 🙂