This Strawberry and Rhubarb Crisp is a favorite spring dessert. Tart, sweet, jammy, buttery, crumbly – yes please! This recipe is simple to make and it easily feeds a crowd, which makes it a dinner party favorite. For context, a crisp is a baked dessert of fruit that’s tossed with sugar and topped with a topping of butter, flour, sugar, and rolled oats. Here, tart rhubarb and sweet strawberries bake until almost jammy under the crumbly, buttery topping, which crisps up beautifully when baked, hence the name. Serve with your favorite vanilla ice cream and you’ll be a hero!
I love making crisps for both their simplicity and flavor. Crisps come together really easily and they’re super forgiving, which makes them an ideal dessert to make regardless of your confidence in the kitchen. Be sure to check out the Riffs section underneath the recipe for ways to spin this recipe with any seasonal fruit, different sweeteners (yep, maple syrup works), and ways to spice it up. I use the same below ratios and swap out other fresh seasonal fruit during the summer, like peaches or mixed berries, more on that in my Riffs section.

Strawberry + Rhubarb Crisp
Ingredients
Strawberry + Rhubarb Filling
- 4 cups sliced strawberries
- 4 cups sliced rhubarb about 1" slices
- 1- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar start with 1 cup if you have very sweet strawberries
- 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
Crisp Topping
- 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cups packed brown sugar or granulated sugar
- pinch kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted or room temp AKA 1/2 cup or 1 stick
Instructions
Prep the strawberry + rhubarb filling
- Preheat oven to 375* F.
- While the oven preheats, combine strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch, and salt in large mixing bowl. Let mixture sit while oven preheats to macerate the fruit (this will become super jammy while it bakes)
Prep the crisp topping
- Make the crisp topping by mixing rolled oats, flour, sugar, and salt in bowl. Work in the butter with your fingers, a fork, or pastry cutter, until combined. The mixture should be a combination of large pieces and coarse crubmly bits.
Assemble + bake
- Transfer strawberry rhubarb mixture to a large baking dish that's at least 2 quarts, top with the crisp mixture, and bake for 40-45 minutes, or until topping is crisp and slightly golden brown.
- Let cool for about 15 minutes to let it set, and serve.
A FEW NOTES ON RIFFS:
- The fruit: Strawberry and rhubarb are a classic combo. If you can’t get your hands on rhubarb, replace it with more sliced strawberries, and add in some lemon zest and juice for that tart flavor. In the summer, swap in peaches, nectarines, mixed berries, cherries, plums, you name it! In the fall and winter months, apples and pears are lovely.
- The sweetener: Granulated sugar is classic in the strawberry rhubarb mixture, but I’ve tested this recipe with maple syrup and date syrup, and both work super well as a refined sugar-free option! Plus, maple syrup and date syrup lend additional jammy-ness to that fruit mixture, yum. If you’re going that route and want to keep it refined sugar-free, sub in coconut sugar in the crisp topping mixture in place of brown sugar.
- The spice + aromatics: Here, I keep the mixture pretty simple since strawberries and rhubarb are pretty balanced as is. Some other fun ideas to mix into the fruit: lime zest and ginger, lemon zest and juice, or cinnamon (this is the move when using apples or pears).
Did you make this recipe?
I want to see your delicious creation! Leave me a comment below, and share a photo and tag me on Instagram with the hashtag, #whatannieseating !
This recipe was so easy to follow. The results were as scrumptious as they were beautiful! I’ll definitely be making this one again.
Hi Laurie,
Thank you so much for trying my recipe! It makes my day to hear that you enjoyed it. Glad to hear that it was also easy to follow 🙂 I’m looking forward to trying this out with summer stone fruit in the coming months! Thank you for sharing your experience here in the comments!!
xx,
Annie