Best Apple for Baking, According to Chefs

• Granny Smith apples are prized for their tart flavor and ability to hold texture when baked.
• Many chefs mix them with varieties like Pink Lady or Honeycrisp for flavor balance.
• Apple skins can be baked into snacks instead of tossed—don’t waste them!

When Lauren Wilson was a child, her father signed up for a pie-baking contest at a local fair. “He made countless pies that fall, swapping the kinds of apples he used until he came up with the perfect combination,” she recalled. His competition pie, filled with a combo of zingy green Granny Smiths, sweet-tart and juicy Pink Ladies and delicate, sweet Fuji apples—topped with homemade salted caramel and toasted pecans to set it apart from the pack—took second place. 

It’s no wonder, then, that Wilson went into the dessert biz. Owner of the now-closed Seattle ice cream company Sweet Lo’s—where she specialized in small-batch, made-from-scratch pints in a range of classic flavors—Wilson’s now hard at work on an ice cream cookbook. One of the ice cream expert’s flavors is dubbed Apple Butter Crisp; another is Apple Stroopwafel Caramel. When she makes them, she uses the same apple trio that her father favored for his pies. “I love the complete and utter tartness of a Granny Smith,” Wilson explained. 

Her sentiment is shared by other chefs, including Chris Piro of Kittery, Maine. Piro is founder of The Again. Foundation, which uses the proceeds from his elegant, many-course pop-up dinners to fund scholarships for youngsters in the foster care system (by day, he’s a food and beverage director for a large hospitality company). Piro loves using Granny Smith apples in his cooking.

Why Granny Smiths? 

Discovered in Australia in 1868 by a woman named Maria Ann “Granny” Smith, the tart, bright green apple variety became widely popular due to its ability to maintain its texture as it cooked and because it stores beautifully. This exceptional ability to last for long stretches of time makes it one of the most widely available apples in supermarkets nationwide. It stays crisp and flavorful year-round, whereas some other varieties become mealy over time. 

Piro, who thinks that “a nice, crisp, cold apple is one of the nicest, most rewarding things [to eat],” loves to use Granny Smiths in his “showstopper” apple tarte tatin with miso brown butter caramel. “What I’m looking for is apple flavor,” he noted. “Red Delicious doesn’t have it. Granny Smith is punchy and acidic.”

But Make It a Combo

Because Granny Smith apples are on the more sour side of the spectrum, many chefs do as Wilson does in her ice cream flavors: they combine different varieties of apples to get the exact profile they’re seeking. It’s similar to the way that winemakers combine different grapes to create well-balanced table wines. 

Ashley McCuin (who lives in Cambridge, New York) remembers doing crafts with apples and baking with them, too, when she participated in the 4-H program as a youth. Now pastry chef at the elegant Hill Farm Inn in Sunderland, Vermont, McCuin likes to mix up three types of apples in her desserts: Granny Smiths, Ginger Golds and Cortlands. “If you want a nice texture in your apple dessert, go with any of those three,” she recommended. “A Macintosh will just completely fall apart.”

For his part, Piro thinks that Honeycrisp apples, which are a much newer variety, are the perfect complement to Granny Smiths, although he also favors Braeburns and Pink Ladies. When he’s making roasted apple semifreddo, which is a close cousin of ice cream, the fruit is a mashup of Golden Delicious for its “pure apple” notes and Granny Smith for its brightness and zip. “I’ll mix and match to balance acid levels with flavor,” he said. 

What About the Honeycrisp? 

Developed at the University of Minnesota and patented in 1988, the Honeycrisp apple was bred for flavor and for crispness—its cellular structure is slightly different from most other types of apples, which gives it an especially crunchy texture. 

Piro appreciates biting into a “really good [Honeycrisp] where there’s a floral, almond, rose-blossom nature to it. I love floral flavored things.”

McCuin notes that “apple flavor is a spectrum” ranging from simple, sweet-tart tastes to the lighter, more ethereal flavors that are prevalent in Honeycrisps as well as in many older varieties of apple. Honeycrisp apples are “usually more expensive but worth it,” she says  

Because everybody’s palate is different, McCuin suggests that budding bakers “get a variety of different apples, bring them home and taste test.”

How Do Heirlooms Hold Up? 

In addition to all the apples already mentioned, heirlooms such as Northern Spy, Cox’s Orange Pippin, Gravenstein, Winesap and the fun-to-say Esopus Spitzenburg are great choices when cooking with apples. 

There are plenty of even more obscure apple varieties that have the qualities most desired in baking apples, including firm flesh and deep flavor. If you live near an orchard and are picking your own fruit, don’t hesitate to ask an employee for guidance on baking apple choices. 

Tips and Tricks for Cooking with Apples

Unless you’re getting a deal on apple drops, or are planning to immediately make a big batch of applesauce, select fruits that look unblemished and plump. If an apple feels soft or wrinkled, it may have a less pleasant texture and diminished shelf life. 

Wilson, McCuin and Piro all peel their apples when they’re making fancier treats (although McCuin leaves the peel on when whipping up batches of applesauce). What do they do with the peels? For McCuin they’re a snacky treat just as they are, but both Wilson and Piro like to sprinkle them with cinnamon sugar and bake or dehydrate them into crispy tendrils. Whatever you do, don’t put them in the compost! Apple skins are incredibly nutritious—they’re packed with antioxidants, fiber and extra vitamins and minerals.

Another tip: If you’re cutting up a bunch of apples, toss the slices into a lemon, honey and water solution or a salt-water brine as you cut them. This helps prevent browning. 

The Bottom Line

Make sure to select firm apples for baking. To get the ideal apple flavor, use either a single type of sweet-tart apple or a combination of sweet and sour apples. Granny Smiths are almost universally considered to be a great—albeit tart—cooking apple, and there are plenty of other types that are wonderful for baking and delicious as well. Just remember…Red Delicious isn’t one of them.