This easy slow cooker peach cobbler is a healthy version of the classic peach cobbler dump cake – using fresh peaches and homemade yellow cake mix.
When I think back to the days before we ate real food, there were a lot of “classics,” like Little Debbie Fudgey Brownies and Hot Pockets.
Recreating those classics and making them with real food (black bean brownies and homemade hot pockets, respectively) brings immense satisfaction.
I want my kids to enjoy some of my favorite foods growing up, and that’s why I recreated the classic peach cobbler dump cake into a real food slow cooker peach cobbler!
So I picked up some “seconds” peaches from a local farmers market and set out to re-create this dessert.
This new slow cooker peach cobbler tastes just like the original classic recipe, complete with the nooks and crannies of uncooked cake mix and caramelized peaches.
My kids tasted this and immediately asked for seconds. My daughter said to me, “Mom? Can I have this for breakfast?”
That’s the sign that we’ve made a winner!
Slow Cooker Peach Cobbler Recipe
I stopped looking at other people’s recipes, went back to the drawing board, and found a way to re-make each individual component. It’s such a great recipe because:
- It’s using fresh peaches in their own juices instead of canned peaches in heavy syrup…
- And it’s homemade yellow cake mix instead of boxed cake mix.
- Plus, we’re making it in the slow cooker so the kitchen stays cool this summer!
Ingredients for Slow Cooker Easy Peach Cobbler
- Ripe peaches
- Sugar
- Lemon juice
- All-purpose flour
- Baking powder
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Cold butter, cubed
How do you make peach cobbler from scratch?
- Quarter the peaches. Slice each quarter into thirds and then cut the slices in half.
- Place the peaches in a medium-sized bowl. Add sugar and lemon juice, refrigerate.
- Combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt and set aside.
- Drain the juices from the peaches and set aside.
- Layer the peaches and the dry mix evenly on the bottom of a slow cooker (this is the one I have).
- Sprinkle with cinnamon. Add peach juices and butter.
- Cook on low for 2 hours and serve warm.
Can I make this peach cobbler recipe in an Instant Pot?
Yes! Layer the ingredients in the same way that you would for a slow cooker. Don’t forget the peach juices. They’ll serve as your liquid in the Instant Pot (remember that the instant pot needs at least a cup of liquid inside to come to pressure).
Set to manual high pressure for 10 minutes, then slow (natural) release for 10 minutes before venting and opening cover. Allow your peach cobbler set for 5 minutes to cool.
Tips for making peach cobbler from scratch
There are three keys to making this recipe taste as good as the old processed kind.
- First, you have to use peaches in their own juices. This sounds strange because whole peaches don’t come sitting in a jar of juice, but with a little bit of sugar and time, you can make enough natural peach juice to make the best slow cooker peach cobbler you’ve ever had.
- Second, you make a variation of homemade yellow cake mix. You’re taking the individual components of a dry cake mix – flour, sugar, baking soda, salt – and controlling how much of each you use. This means making a slow cooker peach cobbler that isn’t overly sweet and offers the right ratio of cobbler to fresh fruit. There’s just 3/4 cup of sugar in this slow cooker peach cobbler, but you can reduce it to make it just sweet enough for your family.
- Finally, I made this recipe in my 6-quart slow cooker and the thickness of the peaches and the dough was just right. You could make this in a 4-quart slow cooker, but I don’t recommend using a smaller slow cooker unless you cut the recipe in half.
Can I use frozen peaches for this slow cooker peach cobbler recipe?
Yes, you can use frozen peaches if that is what you have on hand. Just be sure that you allow the peaches to thaw before you make the cobbler.
What do I serve slow cooker peach cobbler with?
I think this recipe would be absolutely delicious served warm with my homemade vanilla ice cream!
Can I take this peach cobbler recipe to go?
Yes! Of all of my slow cooker recipes, this is my favorite dish to “make and take.” Depending on where I’m going, there are 3 ways to make this slow cooker peach cobbler travel-friendly:
- Prepare it up at home, cook it at home, and take it to the party.
- Prepare it at home, take the uncooked dish to the party and cook it there.
- Bring the ingredients to the party, prepare it, and cook it there.
I prefer the second option best. It reduces the number of things I’m bringing back and forth to the party and allows me to spend more time having fun and less time “working” at the party. Plus since it cooks there, everyone enjoys freshly baked and warm cobbler for dessert.
More Easy & Healthy Dessert Recipes
- Slow Cooker Blueberry Cobbler
- Snickerdoodle Hummus
- Cake Batter Hummus
- White Bean Blondies
- Black Bean Brownies
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This easy slow cooker peach cobbler is a healthy version of the classic peach cobbler dump cake – using fresh peaches and homemade yellow cake mix.
- Prep Time: 8 hrs
- Cook Time: 2 hrs
- Total Time: 19 minute
- Yield: 4–6 servings 1x
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Slow Cooker
- Cuisine: American
Ingredients
- 4 ripe peaches (use 5 if they’re on the smaller side, or if you like the cobbler extra peachy)
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp lemon juice
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup sugar
- 1 ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- 4 Tbsp cold butter, cubed
Instructions
- Quarter the peaches. Slice each quarter into thirds and then cut the slices in half. Per whole peach, you should have 12 slices of peaches, halved.
- Place the peaches in a medium sized bowl. Add ¼ cup sugar and lemon juice and stir well. Place the bowl in the fridge and allow to sit overnight, stirring occasionally. This process releases the natural juices from the peaches.
- Meanwhile, combine the flour, sugar, baking powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
- When you are ready to make the cobbler, drain the juices from the peaches into another bowl and set aside.
- Layer the peaches evenly on the bottom of a slow cooker. Layer the dry mix evenly on top of the peaches.
- Sprinkle the top with cinnamon Pour the peach juices on top of the dry mix. Place the cubed butter evenly on top of the juices and mix.
- Cook on low for 2 hours and serve warm.
Is it 1/4 cup sugar or 3/4 cup?
Per the instructions, you need 1/4 cup sugar to macerate the peaches overnight. Then you need 3/4 cup for the cobbler.
Ooooh! Sounds amazing! How many people does this serve? I’m planning on making it with the gluten free flour. Thanks so much for a great recipe for summertime!
Well, I could eat this all by myself, but it really should serve min 6-8 as a dessert portion. 🙂
Ok. Thanks. Another question for you: do you think it would be ok to double this recipe and would amount of cooking time and temp be the same?
You’re welcome! I haven’t doubled this before, but my guess is that the cooking time and temp would be about the same. You MAY need additional cooking time, but watch carefully because the sugars will caramelize and burn if it’s cooking for too long.
About how many cups of peaches would you say 12 peaches makes? My girlfriend brought me about 2-3 cups frozen in ziploc bags and I have everything else to make this.
I’d say one average peach is just over one cup, diced.
I had some completely out of season, texture challenged, flavorless peaches that someone thoughtfully bought me as a last hurrah of summer. In October. =) I needed to find a way to make them edible. I tried your recipe, and even using the most unremarkable peaches, it was absolutely delicious. Thank you for sharing!
Oh happy day Sam! I’m so glad you found a use for those peaches. 🙂
Dumb question maybe….How well would apples work in this recipe? I’ve got about 60 of them sitting on my counter from an orchard trip.
Not dumb at all! I think apples would be pretty good!
If I use fresh apples, should I still mix them with sugar and lemon juice and let them sit overnight?
Yes, this is to pull the juices from the fruit. The “processed” version includes using canned peaches, which come canned in syrup. Since we don’t have that syrup, we create our own by letting the fruit + sugar sit overnight.
This looks so good and I grew up with “dump cakes” so I appreciate the real food version. I got to this recipe via a link on the yellow cake mix recipe. It looks like the “cake mix” ingredients here are about half of your yellow cake mix (which I have 3 jars of in my pantry). I’m thinking I’ll just shake up a jar (to combine ingredients) and use half in place if the four, sugar, baking powder & salt?
You got it Tess! The homemade yellow cake was actually created FOR this dump cake, so you can definitely use it in place of the items you mentioned. Just add cinnamon, peaches and butter and you’re good to go!
Can you use almond flour?
I never come back and comment but this was delicious! I think I’ll experiment with more than one layer of peaches and mix because I need there to be more. 😃 The only bad thing is that I’ll probably finish it off very quickly because it is so yummy!
I have a question about the directions. After you layer everything and place the cubed butter evenly on top of the juices, it says “and mix”. Do you really mix it? Seems like it wouldn’t matter how you put things in if you were going to mix it in the end anyway.
Sorry if it’s a dumb question. I’ve never made anything like this and didn’t want to screw it up.
Thanks!
Hi Lisa! It’s actually, “place butter on top of peaches and mix,” not “… on top of peaches, and mix.” So the “mix” is what’s in the slow cooker; it’s not a direction TO mix. Sorry for the confusion!
This is similar to what my family called “Lazy Man’s Pie” when I was growing up, and still my own family’s favorite. In a nutshell, you melt butter in a pan in the oven, mix 1 cup each of flour, sugar and milk to make a batter, pour it over the melted butter, top with a drained can of peaches, then bake. I’ve thought about using fresh peaches a few times, but wasn’t sure how to re-create the juicy quality of the canned peaches. I LOVE the idea of macerating them–why didn’t I think of that sooner? And your method is not only simpler, it uses less sugar AND it can be done in the slow cooker!! Definitely giving this a try!!
Tiffany! I made this dessert last night with bated breath. 🙂 We have several peach trees on our property and so over the years I’ve cooked and perfected my family’s favorite peach cobbler that happens to have lots and lots of sugar! I wondered if I could get away with trying a new recipe with less sugar, plus the crockpot was so tempting (it was 108 outside yesterday). Well, it was a hit! My family devoured it and my kitchen stayed cool(er). 🙂 How exciting to have a recipe very similar to our original favorite but a little more healthy. I have a feeling I will be sending the kids out to pick more peaches very soon for another cobbler. Thank you!!!
Oh my – you’re SO welcome Heather! I’m honored that you compared my recipe to your family favorite peach cobbler (those are big shoes to fill!), and even more excited that they loved it! Cheers to peaches!!
This sounds amazing. Can you take the yellow cake mix part of the recipe and actually make it into a cake? If so, what would you add and how much? Thanks!!
Yes! I just shared that recipe a couple days ago: https://dontwastethecrumbs.com/2016/06/homemade-yellow-cake-mix/
I love fruit desserts, but don’t like turning on the oven in the summer, so I’m definitely going to give this a try. Don’t be alarmed, but I may top it with a little vanilla ice cream.. 🙂
Ooh – can I come over and join you! 🙂 A la mode sounds wonderful!