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Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

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By Jenn Segal
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Gorgeous red fruit bubbling away beneath a crunchy oat streusel topping — this strawberry rhubarb crisp is one of the easiest and best desserts I know.

how to make rhubarb crisp

Perfect for a spring or early summer, this strawberry rhubarb crisp is one of the easiest and best desserts I know. It’s wonderful served warm from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. But if you happen to have leftovers, they’re delicious with your morning coffee, too. Heads up: while fruit desserts like this one tend to be flexible, be sure to keep the ratio of rhubarb to strawberries the same. As tempting as it might be to add extra strawberries, doing so can lead to a too-juicy “fruit soup” situation, since strawberries release a ton of juice. For more seasonal fruit crisp variations, see my summer peach crisp and autumn apple crisp.

Table of Contents

“I served it to guests at a dinner party and everyone agreed it was the best crisp any one of us had ever tried.”

Heather

What You’ll Need To Make Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Crisp ingredients including corn starch, vanilla, and oats.

If you’ve never cooked with rhubarb, now is the time to start! Technically, it’s a vegetable but you treat it like fruit. It’s very tart but when you add a little sugar and cook it down, it becomes deliciously sweet, like berries. To prepare it for this recipe, trim the leaves (they should not be eaten) and rough ends and wash the stalks, then cut them into 1/2-inch pieces.

Step-by-Step Instructions

Bowl of fruit with sugar and cornstarch.

Quarter the strawberries and combine them with the rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch and vanilla. Stir until the fruit is evenly coated with the sugar mixture, and the sugar mixture is no longer white.

Fruit coated with a sugar mixture.

Transfer the fruit mixture to a 2-quart baking dish (no need to butter it) and set aside while you prepare the topping.

Baking dish full of rhubarbs and strawberries.

In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt.

Dry ingredients in a food processor.

Process until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add the cold butter.

Butter cut onto dry ingredients in a food processor.

Pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, with a few pea-sized clumps of butter within.

Mixture resembling coarse crumbs in a food processor.

Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the oats and chopped pecans.

Oats, pecans, and processed mixture in a bowl.

Stir to combine.

Spoon mixing oats, nuts, and more in a bowl.

Spoon the topping evenly over the fruit without packing it down.

Fruit mixture topped with crisp topping in a baking dish.

Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling around the edges and the topping is golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes before serving, then spoon into shallow bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Baked strawberry rhubarb crisp in a blue dish.

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Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Metric Cup Measures
By Jenn Segal

Gorgeous red fruit bubbling away beneath a crunchy oat streusel topping — this strawberry rhubarb crisp is one of the easiest and best desserts I know.

Servings: 6-8
Prep Time: 20 Minutes
Cook Time: 50 Minutes
Total Time: 1 Hour 10 Minutes

Ingredients

For the Filling

  • 1 pound rhubarb stalks, trimmed and sliced ½-inch thick (about 4 cups)
  • ½ pound strawberries, hulled and quartered (about 2 cups)
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • 1½ tablespoons cornstarch
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the Topping

  • ¾ cup all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off with a knife
  • ½ cup packed light brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 6 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch cubes
  • ¾ cup old fashioned rolled oats
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • Lightly sweetened whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, for serving (optional)

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.

For the Filling

  1. In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and vanilla. Stir until the fruit is evenly coated with the sugar mixture, and the sugar mixture is no longer white.
  2. Transfer the fruit mixture to a 2-quart or 8-inch baking dish (no need to butter it) and set aside while you prepare the topping.

For the Topping

  1. In the bowl of a food processor, combine the flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar and salt. Process until well combined, about 30 seconds. Add the cold butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs, with a few pea-sized clumps of butter within. Transfer to a medium bowl and stir in the oats and chopped pecans.
  2. Spoon the topping evenly over the fruit without packing down. Bake for 45-55 minutes, until the fruit is bubbling around the edges and the topping is golden brown. Cool for 20 minutes before serving. Spoon into shallow bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream.
  3. Note: If your baking dish is shallow, place it on top of a foil-lined sheet pan to catch any spills that might bubble over the edges.
  4. Note: Don't be tempted to increase the strawberries in the recipe, or you'll end up with fruit soup (they release a lot of juice).
  5. Freezer-Friendly Instructions: The crisp can be frozen tightly covered for up to 3 months. Before serving, reheat it, uncovered, in a 300°F oven until heated through and crisp on top.

Nutrition Information

Powered by Edamam

  • Per serving (8 servings)
  • Calories: 332
  • Fat: 14g
  • Saturated fat: 6g
  • Carbohydrates: 49g
  • Sugar: 32g
  • Fiber: 3g
  • Protein: 4g
  • Sodium: 81mg
  • Cholesterol: 23mg
Nutritional Data Disclaimer

This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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Comments

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  • This was not your average crisp. It struck such a nice balance between sweet, tart, smooth, crunchy. I didn’t have quite enough rhubarb so I subbed the remainder with zucchini. Next time I will peel it so the kids don’t notice 😉
    I will also try to reduce the sugar and butter a bit and see how much I can get away with. Thanks for this; perfect with some vanilla ice cream!

  • Hi Jen, I have made dozens of your recipes, and they have come out delicious and perfect every time. I have made the strawberry rhubarb crisp for small dinner parties and everyone asks for the recipe. I would like to make it for a larger crowd and wonder if I can just double the recipe.’Thanks so much for bringing such goodness to our table.
    Nancy

    • So glad you like the recipes, Nancy! Yes, you can double this and bake it in a 9 x 13-inch dish. Enjoy! 🙂

  • Delicious, never had rhubarb before! Will make it again and again!

  • Our friends brought this over for dessert recently and I have made it twice since then to RAVE reviews by all. It is delicious and SO easy to prepare. I put the fruit together earlier in the day, refrigerated it and had the dry ingredients in the food processor ready to go so it was quick in the evening and cooked while we had dinner. Everyone LOVES it!

  • I’ve always loved rhubarb but never tried to bake with it. I’m getting ready to gather my ingredients but I don’t have a big food processor. Can I improvise?
    Love your book n recipes!!

    • Sure, Jackie – you can cut the butter into the flour mixture using a pastry cutter (or rub it in with your fingers). Hope you enjoy!

  • Made this tonight and followed the recipe precisely. It was AMAZING. This is the quintessential summery crisp. I am definitely not a skilled baker, but this is really simple. Another keeper!! Thank you.

    • — Guita B. Griffiths
    • Reply

  • I made this today to take to a dinner with friends and it got rave reviews from everyone.
    I made one minor revision when I discovered I didn’t have any old-fashioned rolled oats.
    We’ve been buying the quick little packages and my husband suggested I use them. I used two cinnamon packs and it worked out just fine! We served it with vanilla ice cream…yum.

    Also, thanks for making it so easy to get into your site and see your recipes!!!

  • This recipe is incredibly good!!!!! I had never made anything with rhubarb before but this was fantastic and will be made again and again this summer. Thank you for sharing!

  • Hi Jen,

    I am planning on making this dessert for a family lobster bake! Is the weight of the strawberries AFTER hulling or before? Thank you! Always LOVE your recipes.

    • Glad you like the recipes! The weight is before you hull them. Hope you enjoy. 🙂

  • Jenn,
    I would like to make this recipe with rhubarb only. Do you have any suggested modifications or adjustments I would need to make. Thanks

    • Hi Rich, I haven’t tried it, but I think you could use all rhubarb here without any modifications. Please LMK how it turns out if you try it!

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