Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp – the reliable summer recipe!

At a glance

What stands out: Warm strawberry rhubarb crisp topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream is summertime bliss. It’s a straightforward-to-make springtime dessert that’s loaded with flavorful seasonal fruit.

How long it takes: 55 minutes
Equipment you’ll need: sharp knife, baking dish, oven, measuring utensils, mixing bowl
Servings: 8

A Springtime Treat

Just when we think winter is going to last forever, the snow melts, the ground warms up a bit, and the pink knobs of rhubarb emerge. The stalks grow so rapidly, you can almost see the change overnight. Stretching toward the sun from that pink knob, long stalks with gigantic leaves beg to be harvested.

Our mom dropped off a big bag of rhubarb stalks from her garden the other day. Yaaay! We thought of making a batch of rhubarb bars, rhubarb coffee cake, or a bowl of straightforward-to-make rhubarb sauce, but we've been craving a fruit crisp lately. Sweet, juicy strawberries, another early summer crop, are a reliable match for rhubarb, so strawberry rhubarb crisp is the reliable choice.

Enjoy scrumptious strawberry rhubarb crisp while it’s still warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Mmmmm, so good!

An Straightforward Fruit crisp Dessert

A fruit crisp is undoubtedly our favorite dessert to make. It isn’t a fussy dessert. Who has time to mess around with pie crusts? Pile fruit in a baking dish, sprinkle on the topping, and bake. It doesn’t get much easier than that. And the result? Well, give this strawberry rhubarb crisp a try and you tell us!

You’ll want to make blueberry crisp later in the summer when blueberries ripen, or maybe peach blueberry crisp, and don’t forget apple crisp in the fall! How about apple blueberry crisp which combines two of our favorite fruits? Yes!

What goes in

• Rhubarb: Buy firm red or green rhubarb stalks. It doesn’t matter if they are thick or thin. Frozen rhubarb is fine, too, when rhubarb isn’t in season. We like to freeze extra rhubarb in the spring so we can make this dessert year round.
• Strawberries: Fresh or frozen, doesn’t matter.
• All Purpose Flour: Whole wheat flour is good for the topping but you’ll need a bit of all-purpose flour to thicken the fruit.
• Granulated Sugar and Brown Sugar: Use white sugar to sweeten the fruit mixture and brown sugar in the topping. Dark brown sugar is fine, too.
• Oats: Old-fashioned or speedy oats are reliable. Don’t use instant oatmeal or steel-cut oats.
• Cinnamon, Cardamom, Nutmeg: This trio of warm spices will make your kitchen smell like a bit of heaven.
• Butter: we usually use unsalted butter but if salted butter is all you have, that’s fine, too. Make sure it’s at room temperature.

Color is not an indication of ripeness. Some rhubarb varieties tend to be more green, others more red. Rhubarb is ready to harvest when the leaves are completely unfurled and the stalks are anywhere between 7 to 15 inches long. They will vary in thickness.

Rhubarb leaves contain a poisonous substance called oxalic acid. Cut them off, and discard them (don’t be tempted to make a salad out of them).

Rhubarb may look stringy in its raw state but it tenderizes as it cooks, so there’s no need to peel it.

How it comes together

Fruit crisp recipes are straightforward to mix. You don’t need any special equipment, just a baking pan and an oven.

Prepare the fruit. Wash the stalks thoroughly and chop them into half inch pieces. With a good sharp knife and cutting board, chopping rhubarb is actually kind of satisfying. Try it and you’ll see what we're talking about; it’s kind of like celery.

Wash and hull the strawberries. If they’re large, you’ll want to cut them in half, or maybe even quarters.

Add flour and sugar. Mix the fruit in a large bowl with flour, sugar, and a pinch of salt. Since rhubarb is juicy, you need a little flour to thicken the juices.

Scrape the fruit mixture from the bowl into a baking dish.

Make the topping. You can use the same bowl to prepare the topping. Mix flour, oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, and nutmeg, and then add a chunk of butter.

Blend the ingredients together with a fork, a pastry cutter, or your fingers. Like we said, this isn’t a fussy dessert. Once the mixture holds together, sprinkle it by handfuls on top of the fruit mixture. If you like big crunchy chunks, squeeze some of the topping into larger sized lumps.

Bake. Pop your fruit crisp in the oven and bake it until it’s all bubbly and browned. It smells so heavenly while it’s baking that it’s almost worth making just for the smell!

Serve. Cool before serving warm or at room temperature. Rhubarb is an extremely juicy fruit so don’t worry if your crisp is a little on the juicy side. A crisp is sort of a free form dessert; it’s not supposed to be a defined square on a dessert plate. You’ll also notice that the juice thickens as the crisp cools down. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

Ways to change it

Fruit crisps are pretty forgiving. Use what you have in your pantry and fridge to make your own special dessert. By the way, you may also know them as a “crumble.” They’re pretty much the same thing except crumbles usually don’t have oats or nuts.

• Don’t have rhubarb? Just make a strawberry crisp (or vice versa).
• Add nuts to the flour mixture. Walnuts or pecans would be tasty.
• Skip the cardamom. If you don’t happen to have cardamom in your pantry, add a little extra cinnamon. No problem! Same with nutmeg.
• Use rolled oats or speedy oats. Either one works fine. Don’t use steel-cut, Irish oats, or instant oatmeal.
• Make it whole wheat. Replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour. We often do that.
• Use white sugar instead of brown sugar.
• Only have salted butter? That works, too, just omit the salt from the topping mixture.
• Looking for gluten-free rhubarb crisp? Try this recipe from Faithfully Gluten Free. The rhubarb is thickened with cornstarch instead of flour and the topping is made with oats and walnuts. You could also make this recipe with 1:1 gluten-free flour.

Keeping leftovers

Fruit crisps are best served the same day you make them. If you happen to have leftover rhubarb crisp, cover it and save it for later.

It doesn’t need to be refrigerated if you plan on eating it the next day. If it’s going to be longer than that, we'd recommend refrigerating it. The topping won’t be as crisp but it’ll still taste good.

Leftover Love

Enjoy leftover fruit crisp for breakfast with a big dollop of plain Greek yogurt. It’s one of our favorite breakfasts! Sometimes we add a scoop of leftover crisp to our bowl of oatmeal in the morning instead of other sweeteners. Try it, it’s good!

• Yield: 8
• Prep: 15 minutes
• Cook: 40 minutes
• Total: 55 minutes

Ingredients

• 8 ounces strawberries, hulled and halved (quartered if large)
• 16 ounces rhubarb, trimmed, cut into ½-inch pieces
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• ¼ cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon kosher salt

For the topping

• ½ cup rolled oats (old-fashioned or quick, NOT steel cut)
• ½ cup all-purpose flour
• ½ cup brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon ground nutmeg (freshly ground is best)
• ⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup (½ stick) unsalted butter, softened (see note)
• vanilla ice cream, optional

Method

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF. Lightly spray a 8 or 9-inch square glass baking dish with nonstick cooking spray, or rub with butter.
2. In a large bowl, combine strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, flour, and salt. Scrape fruit into prepared baking dish.
3. In the same bowl, combine topping ingredients: oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom, nutmeg, and salt. Add butter, and work it into the dry ingredients, using a pastry cutter, fork, or your hands until mixture resembles a crumble. Sprinkle evenly over fruit mixture.
4. Bake 40 minutes, or until fruit is tender and bubbling in the center and topping is lightly browned. Cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

Don’t have rhubarb? Just make a strawberry crisp (or vice versa).

Add a half cup chopped nuts to the flour mixture. Walnuts or pecans are tasty.

Add a little extra cinnamon instead of using cardamom and nutmeg.

Replace the all-purpose flour with whole wheat flour.

Use white sugar instead of brown sugar.

If using salted butter, omit salt from topping mixture.