This rhubarb crunch dessert is amazing! Using fresh or frozen fruit with an oatmeal crisp topping it’s great for brunch, breakfast or a light dessert. Rhubarb apple crisp is just a delight.
Have you made a fresh rhubarb dessert? They’re easier than you think and great with other fresh fruits like apples or strawberries. We found some fresh rhubarb in the store and thought we’d make an apple rhubarb crunch dessert today! (originally published 11/19, affiliate links present)
Apple Rhubarb Crisp
Maybe it was something that was more commonly used “back then”. It must be because I had a hard time finding it in the store myself! SO, this year we are growing fresh rhubarb in our garden! Have you ever eaten rhubarb in any form before?
I think it honestly was something bought and baked with back in the day. My Grandmother used it like all the time in pies and in savory dishes too. I will admit it is harder to find it in grocery stores nowadays if you live in rural areas like we do. That is why I was so excited that it grew so well right at home.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumble
You could use another fruit with it instead of apples if you wanted to. I think the texture is best with Fuji or Granny Smith but it’s your choice. This is more like a cobbler texture vs. our old fashioned fresh apple cake recipe which is fluffier.
I don’t see why you couldn’t use frozen rhubarb as well if it was out of season, it would just have more liquid and wouldn’t be as firm once it defrosted so the texture would be different than here. Fresh rhubarb is always best when it comes to taste and texture for sure.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Peel your apples, core them, and cut into 1″ cubes. Slice fresh rhubarb into 3/4″-1″ pieces as well. Put these in a bowl.
- In a bowl combine together your chunks of fresh fruit, white sugar and cornstarch. Mix together so fruit is nicely coated.
- Pour your mixture into a greased square 8×8″ square baking dish.
In another bowl mix your crunch ingredients together. I use 1/2 c brown sugar with melted butter, oats, and other ingredients. - It’s sweet for my taste. If you wanted it sweeter you could increase sugar to 3/4 c. Pour this over rhubarb mixture.
- Put pan into the oven for about 40 minutes, until fruit is as tender as you’d like it to be and top is golden brown. Allow to cool on a cooling rack for at least 15 minutes before serving to solidify.
Serve topped with ice cream with any remaining crumbs or oats you have left over…or add some more. Once it’s lightly browned take it out and allow to cool a bit to solidify. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top when serving if you dare!
Apple Rhubarb Crunch
We made enough to fill an 8×8 pan which was enough for the 5 of us to enjoy but you could easily double it if you wanted to really fill a 9×12 pan for more people.
- Rhubarb – fresh is best
- Apples – peeled and diced, we used Fuji
- Sugar
- Butter
- Flour
- Brown sugar
- Old Fashioned Oats – not instant
- Cinnamon
- Cornstarch
Yes you could make a rhubarb crisp without oats for sure if you wanted to omit that ingredient. This is great served warm with ice cream on top!
Fresh Rhubarb Dessert
Once you’ve enjoyed our fresh rhubarb recipe you could use a few more green apples and make our Bisquick apple cobbler. That one is super simple to prepare and uses fresh fruit as well. A few other fresh fruit desserts are;
- Our pressure cooker jam can be made with anything, we used huckleberries!
- If you only have canned fruit pie filling, this dump peach cobbler is amazing.
- Fresh blueberry pie is one of my favorites, as well as oven baked apples in a cast iron pan.
If you need sugar free rhubarb crisp you could use a sugar alternative and Splenda brown sugar.
This Instant Pot apple crisp takes just 1 minute to cook. If you want them with more texture I would actually set it for 0 minutes which sounds crazy but comes out perfectly every time.
Do you have to peel rhubarb before you cook it?
No. I didn’t. Some do use a peeler to remove some of the outside as you would with celery but it isn’t necessary. When I make this crunch recipe I don’t bother.
What happens if rhubarb is green?
Green rhubarb isn’t as sweet as it is unripe. It is safe though you would want to add more sugar into the mix or recipe.
Personally I think fresh is always best BUT I do live in an area that snows so it is rarely actually in season and available. So…..YES, it can be substituted with rhubarb from the freezer.
You can do this two ways. When it is fresh, buy extra, slice it as you’d want to use it, and freeze in freezer bags. OR buy frozen from the get go.
Find the printable recipe below with nutritional information such as calories and saturated fat too.
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Rhubarb Crunch
Equipment
- 1 8×8 pan or 9×9
Ingredients
- 3.5 c rhubarb we used fresh, diced
- 3/4 – 1 c sugar 1 cup if you want it on the sweeter side
- 4 tbsp cornstarch
- 2 c apples peeled, cored and diced
- 1 c old fashioned oats
- 1/2 c butter melted
- 1/3 c flour all purpose
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 c brown sugar
Instructions
- Mix together your rhubarb, sugar, cornstarch and diced apples gently so all fruit is coated well.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 8×8 pan with non stick spray.
- Pour fruit mixture into pan.
- Mix together melted butter, oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a bowl until everything is combined well. Sprinkle this on top of your fruit mixture in your pan so it is spread evenly across.
- Put in oven for about 40-45 minutes or until top is lightly golden brown. Allow to sit to thicken up a bit. Serve with ice cream on top if desired.
Video
Judy
Monday 5th of October 2020
My dessert is not out of the oven yet so I can’t say anything about the finished product. I will say something about the recipe,though! I made this exactly as the recipe said.......up to putting it in the oven. The topping just didn’t seem right to me but I had done everything like the recipe said. OK, maybe I’d better check again, maybe??? Then I noticed 1/3 cup of flour was called for in the recipe ingredients but not included in the instructions. A new baker might not have wondered about the topping. I think you had better edit your recipe and include the flour in the topping ingredients
The Typical Mom
Tuesday 6th of October 2020
Fixed, sorry about that. Must have had a "mommy moment" when I was writing it down