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.
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.
“I served it to guests at a dinner party and everyone agreed it was the best crisp any one of us had ever tried.”
What You’ll Need To Make Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
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
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.
Transfer the fruit mixture to a 2-quart baking dish (no need to butter it) and set aside while you prepare the topping.
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.
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.
Stir to combine.
Spoon the topping evenly over the fruit without packing it 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, then spoon into shallow bowls and serve with vanilla ice cream.
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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.
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
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
For the Filling
- 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.
- 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
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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).
- 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
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- 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
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Excited to try this out this summer! We have tree nut allergies so I often avoid crumbles because of the topping. Any suggestions for the substitution of pecans or just leave them out?
Hi Julie, you can just omit the pecans. Hope you enjoy when the time comes!
Best crisp ever!
Hi Jenn.
I am looking forward to making this for Thanksgiving.
What would you suggest is the best result to prepare ahead of time. Do what you said and bake it, then freeze, or prepare up to the part of cooking (a few days ahead) and then bake? I just don’t want the topping to be soggy.
Secondly, can you confirm that 1 pound equals 4 cups?
Thanks,
Jackie
Hi Jackie, I’d bake it before freezing. Just be sure to reheat so the top can crisp up again. And when you slice the rhubarb, the volume should fill approximately 4 (measuring) cups. The sliced strawberries would be the equivalent of about 1-3/4 cups. Hope that helps and you enjoy!
Yes, this helps a great deal. Thank you so much!
Love your recipes Jenn and you are my “go to”
This was the BOMB!! I added a bit more rhubarb and strawberries and it was perfect! This will be on our Thanksgiving table!
I just made this beautiful cake. It was so easy to put together, and I’m waiting for it to come out of the oven. My only question is about high altitude baking. I live at 7,000 ft so I’m just going to wait and see. I added a little extra flour and let it Go! I’ll let you know when I get the results! It was really a nice, easy recipe for beginners to make.
Love it. Made it twice in one week.
Your strawberry rhubarb crisp is to die for. So easy to make and so delicious. Your recipe is very easy to follow and very attractive with all the pics.
can you use frozen rhubarb in this recipe?
Yep, using frozen rhubarb is fine — just defrost it first and drain any excess liquid. Hope you enjoy!
Amazing
My family loved the taste of this crisp to the extent they suggested that the crisp was good enough to sell at our local farmer’s market. Thank you for sharing this recipe that will now become a family treasure!
– Christine
Edmonton, Canada
I am a new fan of rhubarb and this recipe is terrific. It is sweeter the second day than right out of the oven. Doubling the recipe and baking it in smaller portions I have left over topping so have tp make more for the freezer. No problem! Per usual, I replace vanilla with King Arthur Baking’s Fiori di Siciia at 50% of the amount for vanilla.
Hi Jenn,
Huge fan and lover of ALL of your recipes! Is it possible to use the same proportions from this crisp recipe to make a deep dish strawberry rhubarb pie instead? I was hoping to try out your pie crust recipe. Thanks for the help!
So glad you like the recipes! 💗
Unfortunately, I don’t think this would be a good pie filling — I suspect it would be too soupy. Sorry!