Rhubarb Crumble

Rhubarb crumble is a delicious crisp recipe made with the tart bright pink Rhubarb and topped with a sweet crunchy crumble topping. This beautiful English dessert is a family favorite!

Here I am with another typical English dessert. What can I say I love my roots and the food! Whoever said English food was boring, hasn't had good English food!

I love rhubarb crumble as a change from a berry or apple crumble since rhubarb is so tart, it totally balances the sweet crumble and the sweet vanilla ice cream or custard normally served on top.

Crisps/ Crumbles are one of my favorite desserts to make, simple, large portions, everyone loves them. Check out my apple and blackberry crumble recipe too!

Let's get to the recipe.

Jump to:

• What Is Rhubarb
• What are the ingredients for Rhubarb Crisp
• How do you make Rhubarb Crisp?
• Can you make Rhubarb Crisp ahead of time?
• More rhubarb recipes
• Recipe Card
• Recipe Ratings & Comments

What Is Rhubarb

Technically a vegetable but most often used as a fruit these stalks are super tart! Known for their bright pink color

What are the ingredients for Rhubarb Crisp

• Rhubarb
• Light Brown Sugar- I only sweeten the rhubarb with 100 grams (½ cup) of brown sugar but if you like it sweeter use up to 200 grams (1 Cup)
• Lemon
• All-Purpose Flour/ Plain Flour
• Rolled Oats aka Old Fashioned Oats
• Pinch of Salt
• Light Brown Sugar you could use granulated sugar if that is all you had on hand but I prefer the warmth of brown sugar
• Roasted Walnuts, check out my chocolate walnut cookies next!
• Butter- Cold! You want it cold so you can rub it into the flour mixture

While it's not traditional and not my preference you could add ½ a teaspoon of cinnamon to the rhubarb mixture or the crumble if you love ground cinnamon.

If you have strawberries on hand you could throw some in with the rhubarb mixture once its mixed through.

Baking is a science and to really achieve the best results I highly recommend investing in a kitchen scale. This OXO Kitchen Scale is the one I use and is also the number one recommended kitchen scale by Cook's Illustrated. Think about it -what one person scoops into a "cup" is completely different from what someone else scoops!

How do you make Rhubarb Crisp?

Preheat your oven to 350F/180C and get an 8 -9-inch plate ready. 

Clean and cut your rhubarb into one and a half-inch pieces.

Add the rhubarb and brown sugar to a medium size pot and cook over low heat. I only use 100 grams (½ Cup) of brown sugar because I enjoy the tart flavors but feel free to use up to another ½ cup if you want a sweeter rhubarb filling.

In a small bowl combine corn starch and lemon juice, and whisk to combine until it is a smooth slurry with no lumps.

Once the brown sugar is fully melted add the slurry and cook over medium heat for roughly 5 minutes, make sure to stir the whole time. The rhubarb mix should have thickened and look shiny. Transfer the rhubarb from the saucepan to the prepared pan, I used a 9-inch pie dish but the beauty of a crumble is you can use any shape dish you want!

In a large bowl add the all-purpose flour, rolled oats, brown sugar, and salt. Mix until fully combined.

Add the roasted walnuts, mix to combine.

Then the chunks of butter and use your hand to rub the butter into the dry mixture.

The crumble/ crisp topping is mixed when you have a thick coarse meal texture. 

Sprinkle over rhubarb and bake for 30 minutes, or until the top is golden brown and the rhubarb is bubbling up the sides of the dish.

Let the rhubarb crisp cool for at least 20 minutes before serving. This dessert is best served with heavy cream, Birds custard, or ice cream. 

Can you make Rhubarb Crisp ahead of time?

You can definitely make rhubarb crisp ahead of time. Often when I make a crisp or a crumble I actually double the topping mixture and store half of it in the freezer for an easy crisp next time!

For the rhubarb filling I would make up to 1 day ahead of time, then put the crumble on top of the fruit just before baking.

More rhubarb recipes

My rhubarb custard pie was shockingly a huge success with my sisters, they can be quite picky sometimes but they literally argued over the last bites of this pie!

Rhubarb muffins are a delicious out-of-the-ordinary muffin recipe.

Fruits of the forest pie has all of your favorite traditional pie ingredients like apples and berries plus gorgeous rhubarb!

★★★★★ Please let me know if you make this recipe by leaving a star rating and comment below!

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