Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Recipe (2024)

Today’s vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp makes a delightful and healthy dessert full of vibrant summertime flavors. This easy vegan fruit crumble recipe calls for simple plant based ingredients, and comes together in only an hour or less. Make it gluten free by using certified gluten free oats and oat flour.

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I’ve never eaten anything made with rhubarb when I was growing up in the ex-USSR. I actually had to google the Russian word for rhubarb because I had no idea what it was.

Later, when I moved to the US, I became intrigued by the long, red stalks of rhubarb I saw in grocery stores. “What’s up with this red celery?!” 🙂 But it took years before I tried to cook anything with it.

I believe the first thing with rhubarb I’ve ever tried was an amazing strawberry-rhubarb pie from a small farm in Long Island not far from the place where my husband grew up.

For the longest time I didn’t have much luck with baking my own pies. I have yet to master the perfect pie crust from scratch. That’s why I never even attempted to recreate that delicious pie from New York.

I’ve had much better luck with fruit crisps though (or crumbles if you prefer).

So many years after I’d discovered rhubarb, I decided to see what happens when you bypass the struggle of making the pie crust and use a generous topping of perfectly crispy, golden oat crumbles on top of the strawberry-rhubarb filling.

This is how today’s vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp recipe was born. I was actually impressed with how easy it turned out to be – it takes an hour or less to make from start to finish!

The crunchy oat-based topping isn’t gluten-free by default because I use all-purpose flour. If you want to make this recipe gluten-free, use certified gluten-free rolled oats, and make your own gluten-free oat flour by grinding them in your coffee grinder until pulverized.

What is rhubarb?

Rhubarb is considered a vegetable, but it’s most often treated like fruit. Its vibrantly tangy flavor might be a bit too strong by itself. But when it’s cooked with sweeter types of fruit like apples, pears, strawberries, etc., it serves very well to accentuate their sweet flavors.

Contrary to popular opinion, rhubarb stalks can be eaten raw as long as you don’t eat them too much or too often.

The large leaves of the rhubarb plant, however, should be avoided: they contain oxalic acid that can be poisonous if eaten in large quantities. Thankfully, there’s almost no oxalic acid in the stalks.

Spring and early to mid-summer is the best time to harvest and eat rhubarb. In late summer the fiber in the stalks becomes tougher, so it’s not as appetizing to eat.

Related reading: 25 vegan Mother’s Day brunch recipes.

How LOng Do I Bake a strawberry rhubarb crisp?

Cooking times for vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp will depend on whether the strawberries and rhubarb you’re using are all fresh, all frozen, or include a combination of fresh and frozen.

When I made this recipe for the first time, I didn’t have any fresh strawberries on hand, so I used frozen organic strawberries and fresh rhubarb.

Most strawberry rhubarb crumble recipes I found were written for all-fresh fruit, so I wanted to see if my crisp needed to be cooked differently because I was using frozen strawberries.

Surprisingly, I couldn’t find any tips for that online, so I decided to wing it.

I made sure that the strawberry and rhubarb pieces were about the same size when I chopped them. I didn’t defrost my strawberries, but I made the fruit filling first to let it sit at room temperature a bit while I preheated the oven and made the crumb topping.

When my casserole was assembled, I baked it for exactly 38 minutes at 375° F. That was just enough time for the filling to become gooey and bubbly, and for the topping to take on a beautiful golden color.

Since then I’ve made this recipe with both fresh strawberries and fresh rhubarb, and my strawberry-rhubarb crisp only took about 28 minutes to bake.

I’ve seen frozen rhubarb in my grocery store’s frozen food section, so now I’m thinking about making this recipe with both frozen strawberries and rhubarb. If and when I do, I’ll update this post to let you know how long it took.

Let’s recap:

Watch me make this vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp in this video on my YouTube channel:

HOW TO MAKE STRAWBERRY RHUBARB CRISP

Preheat the oven to 375° F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch casserole dish.

Make the fruit filling: combine cut strawberries and rhubarb pieces in a large bowl (step 1 in the image below).

Add the rest of the fruit filling ingredients and mix to get all fruit pieces covered (step 2). Set aside while you’re making the topping.

Make the crumb topping: combine all-purpose (or oat) flour, rolled oats (use gluten-free flour and oats if needed), almond meal, brown sugar, and a pinch of salt in a medium bowl (step 3).

Add melted coconut oil and vanilla, and mix well to cover the dry ingredients. The mixture will look crumbly (step 4).

Assemble the strawberry rhubarb crisp: spread the fruit filling evenly on the bottom of the prepared casserole dish (step 5), then top with the crumb topping (step 6).

Bake for 28-30 minutes if using fresh strawberries and fresh rhubarb; 38-40 minutes if using frozen strawberries and fresh rhubarb.

This berry crisp is done when the filling is bubbly around the edges and the topping turns a golden color (step 7).

Let cool for at least 20 minutes before serving (step 8). Top with some vegan vanilla ice cream if you’d like. Enjoy!

How to store vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp

Vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp can be stored on the countertop for 1-2 days, or in the fridge for 4-5 days. In either case, cover it with plastic wrap or a silicone lid if you have one.

This fruit crisp can be eaten hot, warm or cold. I like it warm, so if I store it in the fridge, I microwave a piece for 20-30 seconds before eating. Warming it up (or eating shortly after it’s cooked) works wonders if you’re serving it with a scoop of vegan ice cream on top ?

More sweet treats from the blog:

– Tropical Banana-Orange Vegan Granola (naturally sweetened)
– Healthy Vegan Double Chocolate Muffins (oil-free!)
– Vegan Oatmeal Raisin Cookies with Aquafaba
– Vegan Irish Soda Bread with Aquafaba
– 3-Ingredient Vegan Chocolate Treats

I hope your family enjoys this vegan strawberry rhubarb crisp as much as mine did!

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