Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Recipe

ive been thinking about preserving rhubarb into some kind of jam or preserves by canning it, so i could use it to make crumbles and oat bars specifically, later in the year, like how people do so with raspberry jam. do you think this would work? the jam would need to be quite thick, like raspberry jam, for this to work. does anyone have any ideas, and/or do you think just a rhubarb jam with pectin and sugar would fit the bill?

I’m thinking of making a strawberry and apple crumble.. too bad we don’t get rhubarb here.

Thank you so much for providing healthy delicious recipes and gorgeous eye candy photographs 🙂
I veganized this recipe and it turned out wonderful! In Chicago at this time I couldn’t get fresh strawberries so I substituted apples and it turned out beautifully. I can’t wait to try blueberries and figs!

@Jess- I used very soft coconut oil (not quite liquid) and it seemed to work well, I just also added 2T of applesauce to moisten the rest.
My only problem was the rhubarb was still really crispy, not soft. Any ideas what I did wrong?

So, I made this AGAIN, doubled the recipe, baked it in the 13×9 pan, and cut the amount of sugar in the filling ONLY (used the full amt. of sugar for the topping) in half. I’d have to say, that wasn’t the best move. It still tastes great, but I think that maybe I should’ve used AT LEAST 75% of your recommended amt of sugar….What you put in the recipe is really the perfect ratio of sugar to fruit. 🙂

My grandmother always made strawberry rhubarb pie when I was growing up. This brings me right back to their farm upstate. Can’t wait to make this in my own kitchen. Thank you for sharing!

I’ve tried several of your baked goods recipes now and you have yet to steer me wrong. This was delicious! We initially tried it with a bit of vanilla ice cream on the side, but it was much better all on its own. Another great post!

This was the perfect recipe! I served this on Mother’s Day w/homemade soy milk ice cream. The crumble was the perfect blend of naturally sweet fruit & crunchy crumble. I made a couple of minor changes: replaced the 1/2 c of sugar sprinkled on the fruit w/@ 1/4 c of maple syrup, added a small handful of sliced grapes to rhubarbs & strawberries (since I was lacking the full amnts of both), added a wee bit of orange zest to fruit, used a combo of red wine & good balsamic vin to replace the port, almonds to replace the pine nuts, and WWpastry flour to replace the spelt. My family loved it! Even my health-food phobics did not complain!! Thanks, Heidi! I love your recipes!!

i love it !!! ^^

Looking forward to trying this – Rhubarb and Strawberries always good combination

Looks absolutely delectable. My husband will love me for making this. Hope to be able to sub a different flour.

Made this for Mother’s Day….substituted walnuts for the pine nuts. It was SO GOOD. Everyone gobbled it up!

Can’t wait ’til my month-stay in SF — I even booked a hotel with a full kitchen so I can full take advantage of all the ingredients available in the States, including rhubarb. 😀

Sounds like I wasn’t the only one who made this last night for Mother’s Day Dinner!
I thought I would add that I used walnuts in place of the pine nuts, and a honeywine instead of the port…and it turned out spectacular!

I definitely plan on making a gluten-free version of this VERY soon. It looks amazing.

I made this yesterday for a birthday/mothers day celebration. I made enough so that I can eat a little for breakfast for a couple of days also. It is amazingly good!

I made this last night (subbing a mixture of whole wheat and brown rice flour for the spelt, and almonds for the pine nuts), and it was a big big BIG hit. What a superb way to use the first rhubarb of the year! Next I’m going to work on making a version of this that is gluten and corn-free. Thanks for the inspiration!

I made a gluten-free version of this last night, substituting sorghum for the whole wheat flour. I also used a full pound of strawberries, since 8 oz didn’t seem like quite enough. It turned out quite delicious.

Made this for Mother’s Day….. it was fabulous and lasted only about 5 minutes!

This recipe looks DELICIOUS!! I cannot wait to get my hands on some fresh rhubarb and strawberries from the farmer’s market this summer and get baking, I will definitely be making this dessert!

I made this last night and it was delicious. I’ve never used rhubarb before but I was curious so I bought some stalks. I didn’t have spelt flour and couldn’t find my pine nuts so I substituted ww pastry flour and sliced almonds (toasted in pan). The crumble turned out to be the best I’ve ever made – slightly nutty with that peppery kick. I liked it so much that i decided to make another one but bought small bag of spelt flour to try. My house smells so good from this crumble. Thanks Heidi!

This is FANTASTIC! I have finally found a crisp/crumble topping that I & the fam loves…and
the fruit/wine/sugar combo=wonderful !! Appreciate that it’s not too sweet, and love the pine nuts. Thanks so much for the great combos you come up with…mmm, mmm, good. Still 🙂

I can smell this baking and it’s driving me wild!!
Carolg

I made this last night for a party and it was a hit! Thank you for sharing this recipe, Heidi. I also made your hummus recipe and both of them were fabulous.
I always come to your site and feel inspired to eat more healthfully, consciously, and flavorfully!

Since there is absolutely no possibility to buy rhubarb anywhere in my country, what do you think would be a good alternative to it?
HS: Hi Ena, You could do 100% strawberries, or substitute other berries for the rhubarb.

Just made this with wheat flour (half whole wheat, half all-purpose), ordinary white sugar, pecans & walnuts instead of pine nuts and extra fruit. Oh, and brandy instead of port. It was still badass.
I think you can get away with a bit less sugar if you’re sugar-shy.

I just came back from SF, and I live in Portland! I can’t wait to read about what you saw in my city. I am also looking forward to trying this crumble. I wonder how it would taste with rosewater.

WOW–just made this and had to restrain myself from gobbling it up before I could share it with others. I used frozen organic rhubarb (for some reason, my local organic grocery source didn’t have any fresh rhubarb), fresh organic strawberries, and substituted half the white sugar for brown sugar, just b/c I LOVE how brown sugar tastes w/ strawberries. This dessert is AMAZINGLY delicious. Thanks so much for sharing. The topping is simply marvelous with the oats and spelt flour…THANK YOU, Heidi!
HS: So glad you liked it! And good to hear it still worked with your frozen rhubarb.

I love this recipe, I am looking to find ways to incorporate more rhubarb in my food, and this is easy and tasty.

usually smelling and seeing food makes my mouth water, but this “Before you know it, golden-topped dollops of baked goodness are crisping up in a shallow sea of bubbling fruit” actually made my mouth water… i am heading out to get some rhubarb today!!… thanks for reminding me of one of my favorite desserts!! and thanks so much for your wonderful blog…

No rhubarb at the Chicago farmer’s markets yet….but now that I have your crumble recipe, I can’t wait. This looks absolutely delicious! I’m not much of a sweet eater, but this looks like just my speed. YUM!

mmmm rhubarb season. This is the second mouthwatering rhubarb recipe I’ve seen today. I think it’s a sign that I need to snag some and make something awesome! 🙂

Looks tasty!

Looks amazing! I’m definitely making this for my mom on mother’s day.

Love the recipe but since I’m in the Northwest I’d probably use hazelnuts or walnuts instead of pine nuts and if you add a little maple syrup instead of butter the topping become more crisp. As always I love the local whole wheat pastry flour we have now available at Seattle farmers’ markets. The pictures are so yummy I want to get started now.

@Jess — re: vegan substitute for butter in crumbles…Earth Balance works really, really well replacing butter in baked goods. It can be challenging to work with in pie crust (although the end result has always been delicious), but makes a fantastic crumble topping!

Rhubarb and strawberry is a classic combination here in Norway! looks scrumptious – saving it for when the rhubarb in my garden is ready and the local strawberries are abundant!
another thing – in my family this would be served with cold custard… A lovely contrast between the warm crumble and the cold creamy custard!

I can’t wait for the rhubarb to show up in my part of the world so I can try this recipe! A 9X9 inch pan would never serve 8 -12 people in my world, however . . . more like 6!!

Delicious! I am heading to the farmers market this saturday and I sure hope they have rhubarb!

I’ve never had strawberry rhubarb, but it always looks so delicious. I might make some this year if my strawberries grow. 🙂
Jenn

The timing of this post was perfect. I had all the ingredients on hand, and so excited to try the recipe. We really enjoyed it, and will make it again before the season’s out. Beautiful balance of flavors! Thank you, Heidi!

What a pity that I do not like rhubarbre…because visiting many culinary blogs I can see so many good and tasty-looking recipes….., like yours. Have a good rhubarb day….

I’ve just returned from a trip to Portland! And wouldn’t you know it, we ate at Farm Cafe and the dessert special was strawberry rhubarb crisp. I was looking forward to it all night and crushed when they had run out (the strawberry shortcake wasn’t half bad). So I guess I’ll just have to make yours.

Wow! This looks delicious! Now I have a Sunday brunch recipe 🙂

i didn’t see you already give travel tips. Thank you!

i’m not much of a cook, but i love your site.
Your photos are great. i’m planning a trip to Portland this summer, any tips? Food or adventure.

Hope you had a good time in our town of Portland! I’ve got tons of rhubarb so all I need are my strawberries to ripen up and I’ll have this fab looking dish.

With all the strawberries coming in this will be great! Thanks!!

Hi there – wow what a fab bit of timing ! I love my food but am notoriously dodgy when it comes to desserts, I don’t particularly like sweet food and the va va voom just isn’t there ! I do however love rhubarb & crumble is my default dessert- I’m making this for a dinner party tomorrow. Bravo ! x

Gorgeous! The port must add such a lovely flavor. Wondering it you’ve tried kuzu or arrowroot to thicken the fruit layer?

We never see fresh rhubarb down here in Baja California Sur (sob!), but mangos are coming on strong and I made this with our small criollo mangos and some blueberries I found in the freezer. Along with the pine nuts and black pepper in the crumble (and what a great alternative to flour and oats), it’s delish! Thanks for the idea.

one of my all time favourites, and this version sounds divine!!!

Wow, way to gussy up a homey dessert! It doesn’t get much better than a crisp for dessert, preferably with some ice cream melting over the top. Around here, we’ve been working our way through an apple-rhubarb crisp, sweetened with maple syrup and maple sugar, and flavored with a bit of fresh ginger. The pine nuts and black pepper in this one sound amazing; I love savory ingredients in sweeties. And the port wine does the double duty of adding flavor and coloring the filling a glorious burgundy – brilliant! Love the wheat-free topping, too. This will have to be my next crisp. Thanks for a lovely post as always; hope you enjoyed your trip to Ptown – such an awesome city.

This looks absolutely delicious. Rhubarb I haven’t tasted before but I know it has a very tart flavor. The sweetness of the strawberries must balance that I’m sure.
Magda

I love Strawberry. Thanks for the recipe.

An inspired balance between sweet and tart and what a gorgeous colour!!
Thanks!

For sure and by far the best crumble ever. Nothing better than this sweet and tangy combo!

My husband has been clearing the store shelf of every piece of rhubarb he can find for the last 2 weeks now. I finally have a recipe to help me figure out what to do with it all! Can’t wait to try it!! 🙂

Our friends brought over some rhubarb yesterday here in Spokane. Tonight I made the crumble with a couple substitutions — maple syrup for sugar and almond meal for some of the flour. The crumble just jumped out of the oven and looks heavenly. Thanks Heidi!

Oh, oh, oh!!!
Hm, I bet this would be wonderful with a dash of balsamic vinegar with the fruit & sugar. I am crazy about balsamic & black pepper with strawberries.
I don’t do spelt or wheat, so I would likely grind some oats to a flour. Rice flour would be a nice crunchy texture.

Good one! I am growing my very first strawberries this year, and if I can keep the crows off of them this is a recipe I will try and make with them. There really is nothing better than a fruit crumble. Thanks Heidi!

What a wonderful, easy rustic-style recipe! I have never used rhubarb before (very surprisingly), so I will have to try this!
xo
K

I like my rhubarb “straight”, with no other fruit combined with it. I am frequently served this-and-that having blends of fruits almost pureed together, and I often can’t understand why one or the other wasn’t used alone.
This is certainly not a criticism; it’s just something I myself have never understood. I guess I’ll just have to do this recipe three times: with rhubarb alone, then again with strawberries alone, then with both blended. Now that sounds like fun!

I had some beautiful rhubarb that I used in a chutney and now I can’t find any more. I wish I had saved it to make this!

Decadent! I have never baked rhubarb anything – why is it always with strawberries? Or have I been missing the many other combinations out there?

I am going to make this for my daughter’s birthday celebration this weekend. She will love it!!

Strawberries and rhubarb make such a great flavour combination. I’d like to see a different combo with rhubarb though for a bit more variety.

I’m proudly the crumble queen, so this mix of black pepper, strawberries AND rhubarb is one i’m going to have to try!!!!many thanks Heidi 🙂 your a ledgend!!!!!!!
To ronny re: diabetic crumble version, using stevia in the crumble should be fine,it’s not essential for the structure of the dough.I usually use a few tsp of melted honey or maple syrup instead of sugar, and it’s very forgiving.I don’t like it too sweet,so i’d give stevia a go for sure, good luck 🙂

This looks perfect to end a sunny day!

This looks outstanding and easy! two things I love. Going to give it a good as both rhubarb and strawberries are extremely cheap and tasty right now!

Just made a strawberry rhubarb crumble this week!
The recipes I gathered don’t stand up at all next to yours… thanks for posting! I look forward to round 2 with your awesome ingredient list.

This is my mother’s favorite pie…she loves strawberry rhubarb and it’s so difficult to find in the markets and bakery…thanks Heidi…perfect and just in time for Mother’s Day!

Yum! I just put some strawberry/rhubarb “sauce” in the freezer. I think I will take it out again and add this topping. I’m gluten free, but I think sweet sorghum flour will do fine in place of the spelt since rising is not much of an issue with crumbles! I’ll report back with the results!

Crumble is my favourite dessert and best way to use rhubarb! I love the addition of port wine and black pepper that push an ordinary crumble to a higher level. I just bought rhubarb at farmers market. Can’t wait to try this recipe!

WOW! Your recipes are amazing. My mouth is always watering when viewing your blog. Thanks.

Incredible timing!
We have some rhubarb and were going to make our first ever strawberry rhubarb pie this weekend, but our schedule was not going to allow us much time, and we were seriously intimidated. Thank you for providing an easy solution!!

looks heavenly, I can’t wait to give this a whirl!

It is that time and my rhubarb is ready for ample recipe testing and I do believe this may be the first one I’ll take on. Thanks!

I love these flavors, rhubarb is so old-fashioned so I always feel very home-makery when I use it. I like that this recipe doesn’t use tooooo much butter.

How funny that you should post a strawberry rhubarb crumble since I have been contemplating making one for about a week now. I’m not a huge fan of rhubarb, but with strawberries it’s ok. My mom loves rhubarb, so this might just get made for Mother’s Day this weekend!

This looks great! and…adding pine nuts to crumble…why didn’t I think of that? Genius! :~)

The addition of port and black pepper seem like they would really add some complexity to the crumble. This looks delicious, with tons of good texture.

Pepper and Pine Nuts!
You are a goddess.

Could I substitute another flour for spelt? I don’t usually buy spelt so don’t have it at hand that often.

That looks fantastic. What do you drink with a sweet crumble. Milk?

i am very much looking forward to grabbing a whole lotta rhubarb as soon as i see it. i love the black pepper addition – sounds awesome!

Crumbles are my go-to dessert simple they are so simple! Great idea for the addition of pine nuts and black pepper.

I’ve never thought of putting pine nuts in a crumble topping…that sounds TOO good!

Katrina: At my wife’s folks’ farm in Nebraska, the rhubarb is a couple of weeks away. Should be seeing it on the shelves in most places, with locally produced available already depending on where you live.

if your climate allows it, plant rhubarb in your yard instead of an accent bush. it grows into a hearty looking shrub, and after a few years you’ll need to cut it back considerably. but you’ll get free rhubarb every year. it’s almost like a weed. next thing you know, you’ll find yourself freezing a gallon of it for pies later on in the year, and giving away half to your neighbors.

Katy – thanks for the info! I don’t have any experience with this, so it helps to know that it’s a reasonable idea. Thanks!

This crumble looks so tasty. I love everything about it! Is rhubarb in season now?

Oh that looks like the perfect summer dessert!

Looks amazing!
Does anyone have ideas for a vegan sub for the butter in the topping?

Rhubarb crumble is one of my favourite desserts. I like how you’ve pimped it with strawberries and pine nuts – I look forward to giving it a go next time I make it.

Looks beautiful…can you suggest an alternative to Port that would be suitable in this dessert?

yum! still waiting for local strawberries in upstate ny, but rhubarb is plentiful in the garden right now! can’t wait to try, thanks for sharing such a beautiful yet simple dessert!

Great minds – I played around with your peach crumble recipe a few weeks ago to make a strawberry rhubarb crumble and it turned out delicious!

I have no experience with rhubarb, I don’t even think I have ever eaten it but I am sure I will be getting some in the CSA this year! Great recipe!

Katy, again…I just posted and then saw the comment from “ronny” about diabetics. I am also a diabetic. I would use stevia (tho’ I prefer the powder to the liquid.) When I’m trading stevia for sugar I go by servings: so for 8 servings I’d use 8 tiny scoops or single serve packets of stevia for the whole batch. I taste and taste along the way as I don’t like things supersweet…There is plenty of fiber in this recipe to “counteract” the sugar in the fruit–add a bit of the stevia there to get a sweet enough taste. I find stevia is also enhanced a bit with time, so sugar your fruit and then taste after an hour or so.

I live in Portland & thought I saw you on the street, but didn’t want you stop you as I wasn’t sure! Hope you had a good time visiting.

Thoughts on what kind of flour to use instead of spelt flour to make it gluten free? Thank you!

Just the other day I asked my sister (who does the pastry baking in the family) to make me a strawberry rhubarb crumble pie for as my gift for graduating in a couple weeks. Doesn’t look as if I need the “pie” suffix thanks to this post! Happy graduation to me 🙂

Crumble is one of my favourite desserts. Love this one!

I’ve had rhubarb crumble ON THE BRAIN of late, trying to wait patiently while ours get tall enough not to constitute infanticide. I give it a week, outside.

I love fruit crumbles! Actually, mention the word “crumble” and you’ve got my attention. (Fruit crumble, confections with “a firm crumble,” crumbly shortbread, crumble crumble crumble!)
Try saying that 5 times fast. Ha.
Wei-Wei

This looks delicious! I love the addition of spelt flour!

Hi Heidi – I just picked 3 1/2 pounds of strawberries so this recipe looks great! (You might want to change the post date, apparently this recipe is from the future!)

lovely recipe Heidi. I always use spelt flour and oats in my crumbles these days and the result is just so much tastier and more textured than the plain old flour, butter, sugar variety.
My favourite rhubarb crumble is rhubarb with crystallised ginger (and maybe a bit of orange zest) which we had with the first rhubarb of the year this weekend, but I’ll look forward to trying this later in the year.

Love the idea of spelt and pine nuts. Will be trying this, then eating this. 🙂

What a truly classic combination. Your photo is amazing and I wish I had the real deal sitting in front of me right now. One word – WOW!

When I saw the words ‘strawberry, rhubarb and crumble’, I knew I was in trouble. Then I saw ‘black pepper’ and it’s official…I’m screwed. This sounds insane and I’ll definitely have to try soon.

I had just started looking for strawberry rhubarb crumble recipes yesterday to make for a dinner party we are having this weekend. You have saved the day!

this is perfect! One of my favorite ways to eat strawberries is with red wine and black pepper. I never would have thought of it with rhubarb. Thank you for the recipe

I was looking for the perfect dessert to bring to the critique in my ceramics class tomorrow afternoon. Was going to settle for strawberry pancakes; but this seems like a much better alternative. 🙂

Salivating just a little bit. Looks amazing!

Hi Heidi,
I’m trying to make a dessert for a diabetic, which narrows down almost to nothing the natural sweeteners I can use. I would like to try stivia in liquid form. It is very concentrated so I won’t add more than a couple of teaspoons. But I’m worried that the sugar is essential for the texture of the dough to be right. What do you think? I will be very grateful for any advice because most (if not all) recipes for diabetics use artificial sweeteners. Thanks!

As much as I keep reading about rhubarb, I haven’t seen any at the farmer’s markets here in L.A. I went to one today, but I guess I’ll have to hit up another one since I’m so intrigued with your pine nuts and port.

Thanks. I’ve been looking for a dessert that feels like spring to take to potlucks. This is easy and nice. I always make apple crumbles but hadn’t thought of strawberry/ rhubarb. I love the combo and it’s much less daunting to make a crumble than a pie!