Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

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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 sweetened whipped cream or 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.

“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

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

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

  • This is our go-to dessert this time of year – so easy and delicious. We’d like to make it for company this weekend, but one of the guests is gluten-free. What type of flour do you think would be the best sub for all-purpose?

    • — Emily on June 13, 2023
    • Reply
    • Glad you like it! I’d just use gluten-free flour. Hope your guests enjoy as well. 🙂

      • — Jenn on June 13, 2023
      • Reply
  • I am so glad I stumbled upon this recipe. It is the perfect combination of flavors. I served it to guests at a dinner party and everyone agreed it was the best crisp anyone of us had ever tried. I will definitely be making this again and again! Delicious!

    • — Heather on June 13, 2023
    • Reply
  • I’ve made this as written and it was delicious!! Was wondering if it could be a pie filling also? Thanks

    • — May W on June 11, 2023
    • Reply
    • Glad you liked it! Unfortunately I don’t think it would work as a pie filling; it would be too liquidy and hard to slice — sorry!

      • — Jenn on June 13, 2023
      • Reply
  • This is one of the most simple, yet best things I’ve made in a while. Fantastic – the perfect summer dessert! I went ahead and added the whole cube of butter and actually pulsed my oats and nuts in the processor a few times with the other mixture. The texture of the topping came out fluffy, uniform and crispy. I will make all my crisps with this topping recipe from now on! Thank you!

    • — Emily M on June 4, 2023
    • Reply
  • Very good recipe. Personally I prefer a higher ratio of fruit to crisp. I feel like I would be happy to cut the crisp part by up to half.

    • — Laurie R Marshall on June 1, 2023
    • Reply
  • Made this for a BBQ and it was fabulous! The top had the right amount of crispiness and the bottom the right amount of tartness without being too sweet. A definite keeper!

    • — Pam on May 30, 2023
    • Reply
  • Hi, wondering if you could tell us how many cups of rhubarb and strawberries in your recipe. I I don’t work well in pounds!

    • — Sharon on May 29, 2023
    • Reply
    • Hi Sharon, You’ll need 4 cups of cut rhubarb and 2 cups of quartered strawberries. Hope you enjoy!

      • — Jenn on May 30, 2023
      • Reply
  • Is the 1 lb of rhubarb and 1/2 lb if strawberries before or after the leaves are removed, stalks cut, strawberries hulled etc? Just want my ratios to be correct 🙂

    • — Kim on May 29, 2023
    • Reply
    • Hi Kim, that’s before they are trimmed and hulled. Hope you enjoy!

      • — Jenn on May 30, 2023
      • Reply
  • Can this be made in individual ramekins?

    • — Kara on May 28, 2023
    • Reply
    • Sure, Kara, that should work. Enjoy!

      • — Jenn on May 30, 2023
      • Reply
  • A keeper! I had frozen some strawberries for smoothies. This was such a fast dessert and so yummy! I didn’t bother to defrost the strawberries, just added the rhubarb. It only took about 15 minutes to make. I lightly toasted the pecans to enhance their flavor. I love that it isn’t too sweet.

    I didn’t know how long to bake it, so I looked at the comments and found the answer. Maybe add that to the recipe?

    This will be my summer go-to dessert! Thank you for sharing it!

    • — Marilynn L. on May 26, 2023
    • Reply

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