This Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp is an easy family dessert with the most delicious sweet-and-sour combination of strawberries and rhubarb. Plus, this crisp recipe is also dairy-free and easy to make sugar-free for a diabetes-friendly dessert.
I love rhubarb recipes and I really want to share more with you here. Rhubarb is a healthy vegetable that grows massively in my garden so every year I love to make easy dessert recipes with it. Since I am a big fan of crumble recipes, known as crisp recipes in the US, I often make rhubarb crisp.
It tastes very similar to strawberry rhubarb pie without the hassle of baking a pie crust.
What’s A Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp?
A vegan strawberry rhubarb crips is an easy crumble recipe that combines two delicious fruits and vegetables in a one-pan dessert.
Rhubarb brings a tangy and slightly sweet taste while strawberries add sweetness and delicious flavors. It’s a typical family dessert for summer that can be shared and topped with generous scoops of ice cream.
Ingredient and Substitutions
It’s very easy to make strawberry rhubarb crisp all you need are:
- Rhubarb Pieces – fresh or frozen. Rhubarb leaves are somewhat toxic so if you pick yours from your garden, make sure to remove all the leaves.
- Strawberries Slices – fresh or frozen. Strawberries are the best sidekick to rhubarb and offer the best combination of sweet and sour.
- Cornstarch or Arrowroot Flour for a grain-free option.
- Soft Brown Sugar or coconut sugar or granulated sugar or sugar-free Monk fruit erythritol blend to make a sugar-free crisp recipe.
- Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats – use certified gluten-free oats if you are gluten intolerant.
- All-Purpose Flour – or gluten-free flour or almond flour for a low-carb alternative.
- Vanilla Extract
- Pecan – Pecans, or any nuts you love
- Shredded Coconut
How To Make Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
- First, if you are using fresh rhubarb as I do, cut the end of the rhubarb stalks and discard them.
- Then, cut the rhubarbs talks into 0.5-inch pieces (1 cm) and place them in a large mixing bowl. If using fresh strawberries, core and discard the stems of the strawberries.
- Cut the strawberries into medium-sized slices and place them in the bowl with the rhubarb.
- Add the cornstarch and sugar, and stir to coat the rhubarb and strawberry slices with the mixture.
- Spread the fruit layer evenly onto a 9-inch x 9-inch baking dish or a 9-inch x 11-inch ceramic pan as you like. Set it aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, chopped pecan, shredded coconut, and soft butter – we used dairy-free butter or softened coconut oil.
- Rub the softened butter with the remaining ingredients until it forms small bits and pieces.
- Crumble the crisp topping all over the fruit mixture.
- Bake at 375°F (190°C), in the center rack of the oven until the topping is golden brown and the fruit filling is bubbly.
- Remove from the oven and cool down at room temperature for 15 minutes in its baking dish before serving.
Serving Rhubarb Crisp
Most of the time crisp recipes are served warm with ice cream or one of the creamy cold toppings below:
- Scoop of Vanilla Ice Cream
- Whipped Cream – like my Vegan Whipped Cream
- Soy Vanilla Yogurt
Storage
This Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp can be stored in its own baking dish, in the fridge, for up to 3 days. It’s recommended to seal the top of the dish to keep the crisp fresh and moist. Otherwise, store it in an airtight box.
You can also freeze crisp leftovers, in single-serve portions in small containers or in a large airtight container. Thaw in the fridge the day before
You can absolutely eat leftovers of crisp cold, straight out from the fridge. Or, if you like your Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp lukewarm, then you can:
- Microwave for 30 seconds in a microwave-safe bowl – this softens the topping but it still tastes amazing.
- Air fry for 5 to 8 minutes at 325°F (150°C).
- Bake in the center rack of the oven in small oven-safe ramekins for 8 to 12 minutes at 325°F (150°C).
Allergy Swaps
I listed below some options to make this recipe even if you have some food allergies:
- Sugar-Free Low-Carb Option – use a sugar-free granulated sweetener like allulose or erythritol instead of sugar. It has no carbs, no calories, and it’s natural. Also, swap flour for low-carb flour like almond flour or oat flour.
- Gluten-Free – pick a gluten-free certified oats brand and use almond flour or gluten-free all-purpose flour blend in the recipe.
- Dairy-Free – we always use dairy-free butter or coconut oil as an alternative to butter in crumble recipes.
- Nut-Free – swap pecans for more oats or more shredded coconut.
Frequently Asked Questions
Below I listed the answers to your most common questions about this Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp.
Yes, you can use frozen rhubarb in this crisp recipe and you don’t have to thaw the rhubarb before coating it with cornstarch and sugar.
If you are new to rhubarb, it’s a very tart and sour vegetable on its own. So it’s not recommended to eat rhubarb raw as it doesn’t taste very good.
However, it makes amazing rhubarb desserts when cooked, like in a rhubarb crumble recipe or on the stove, in a nonstick saucepan with water and sugar, rhubarb makes delicious rhubarb compote.
It tastes between apple and lemon, it’s sweet and tart but sweet too and gets ultra-smooth and melts in your mouth after baking or cooking.
More Vegan Crisps and Cobblers
If you like this delicious crisp recipe, you’ll love these:
Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Ingredients
- 3 cups Rhubarb - fresh or frozen, cut into 1cm pieces (0.5")
- 2 cups Strawberry Slices - fresh or frozen
- 2 tablespoons Cornstarch - or arrowroot flour
- ¼ cup Coconut Sugar - or soft brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble Toppings
- ¾ cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
- ½ cup All-Purpose Flour - all-purpose flour, oat flour, almond flour, or gluten-free flour blend
- ½ cup Coconut Sugar - packed or sugar, or soft brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla
- ½ teaspoon Cinnamon
- ¼ cup Pecan - chopped
- 3 tablespoons Shredded Coconut (Unsweetened)
- 6 tablespoons Coconut Oil - (not melted) or dairy-free butter
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Slightly oil a 9-inch x 9-inch square pan or a 9-inch x 11-inch pan. Set aside.
- Wash, rinse rhubarb stalks, discard ends and cut into 1/2 inches (1 cm) pieces. If using fresh strawberries, wash, core and slice.
- In a mixing bowl, stir rhubarb piece, strawberry slices, cornstarch, cinnamon, and sugar. Spread evenly into the prepared baking dish
- In another mixing bowl, mix flour of choice, rolled oats, chopped pecans, coconut, sugar, vanilla, and cinnamon.
- Rub in soft (not melted) coconut oil or dairy-free butter with fingertips until it forms a breadcrumb-like texture.
- Sprinkle the crisp topping over the fruit mixture.
- Bake for 25 to 35 minutes at 375°F (190°C) until the fruits are cooked, bubbly, and the top is cooked and crispy – golden brown color.
- Serve with a dollop of dairy-free ice cream or whipped cream.
Storage
- Store leftovers for up to 3 days in the fridge in an airtight container.
this strawberry rhubarb crumble was absolutely delicious! Usually rhubarb dishes are often too sweet for me, but this had the exact great combination of sweet and tart. Everyone in my family and all the friends I gave it to loved it. I’m gonna make it again right now!
Thank you!
This was excellent!! I tweaked with a little less sugar and still it was one of the best crisps I’ve made, even considering it’s gluten and dairy free. Thank you!
Thank you!!
Your directions say to use dairy free butter, but your ingredient list says not to use dairy free butter. Can dairy free butter be used instead of coconut oil?
Sorry, the instructions were a bit confusing indeed! What I meant was either Coconut Oil (but not melted) or dairy-free butter. The not melted bit made it look like I meant no dairy-free butter 🙂
Hello,
I love the recipe. However, I’m curious how you came up with the calorie count? I inputted the ingredients that I used into my fitnesspal app and the per serving calorie count came up as 292! The high calorie items are pecans, coconut oil, coconut sugar. Can you tell me the name brands you used of these items? Thanks!
The nutrition in all my recipes comes from a service called Spoontacular, which calculates macros and calories based on the ingredients I use, it’s therefore very standardized to be consistent (most recipe websites use the same system).
Nutrition is given only as an indication as you will have very different results based on the very specific ingredient that you choose. Even the very simple all-purpose flour has up to 20% of nutrition variation depending on the brand you use.
How di make this diabetic friendly
I didn’t try a sugar-free version but I guess you can use sugar-free brown erythritol as a sweetener, swap oats for sliced almond and use a low-carb flour like almond flour.