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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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  • I really liked this recipe! It was the perfect combination of everything.

  • I made this and family LOVED it!

  • Hi Jenn
    Can you make it with frozen rhubarb?

    • Sure, Maggie – I’d defrost it first and drain away any excess liquid. Hope you enjoy!

  • The measurements seem off to me. The recipe indicates 1 lb of rhubarb, which is equivalent to two cups. It doesn’t matter how big you slice the rhubarb….two cups is two cups! Not sure how this would feed 6-8 people with only 2 1/2 cups of fruit (including the 1/2 pound of strawberries, or one cup).

    • Hi Chris, the pound of rhubarb is measured in weight, but when you slice it, the volume would fill approximately 4 (measuring) cups. And when the strawberries are sliced, they would fill about 1-3/4 measuring cups. And while it may not sound like enough to feed 6 or 8, I think that once you assemble it, you’ll feel more comfortable. Hope that clarifies!

      • Thanks so much for the fruit volume measurements, Jenn! (I need to get a kitchen scale one of these days…) We grow so much rhubarb in our backyard and I think my family will love this! We love all your fruit crisps and crumbles.

  • Tried this for the first time last week with fresh rhubarb and frozen strawberries from a local farm…..all I can say is WOW! So yummy, whole family loved it. The addition of pecans to the topping is to die for….thanks

  • First attempt using rhubarb from our garden. Such a great recipe! I diced up the fruit a little smaller as I don’t like big pieces. Flavours are amazing and the topping is so lovely and crisp. Definitely adding to the rotation of desserts for company and special occasions!

    • — Hannah Johnston
    • Reply

  • I absolutely loved this recipe! I like the fact that you added the oats after you mixed the topping, that way the oats didn’t turn to dust. Also my son loved the addition of the nuts in the topping, it gave it some crunch. I wished I would have read the suggestion to freeze the crisp and add the topping later when reheating it. It was still excellent! Can’t wait to try again.

  • Delicious, like all of your recipes!

  • I am not much on strawberry rhubarb pie, so I made the crisp. It was perfection …we loved it!
    Thank you

    • I have made this crisp twice now, and my husband and I love it! It’s hard to beat the combination of strawberries and rhubarb, but I will have to say that the topping is scrumptious!!! BTW, I have become one of your biggest fans! I have made many of your recipes, all of which are delicious, but what I really like about you/your recipes is how clear and concise you are in explaining the “how to’s”. Plus, the recipes are practical to make. I usually have all the ingredients already in my kitchen. Thank you for your expertise and dependability!!! You have inspired me more than you know!!! 😁. BC from Knoxville, Tennessee 6/29/19

  • I made this recipe today and my husband just loved it. I only put a 1\4 cup of sugar in the mix because my husband is a diabetic and he said it was great.

    Thank-you so much Jenn

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