Simple Gluten-Free & Vegan Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp

Jul 12, 2020 (Last updated May 29, 2026) by Hannah Sunderani

Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp is sweet, jammy, and lightly tart, with a crispy oaty-almond topper. It’s vegan, gluten-free and made with wholefood ingredients. It’s about time that I shared a recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp on the blog! As kids, I grew up eating lots of crumbles and so I’ve learned a thing or two about making this beautiful sweet bake. This

Certainly, fruity crisps are a must-have dessert in the summer months – with the abundance of fresh fruits available. And with all the strawberries and rhubarb that are cheap as chips at the farmers markets, it would be a crime not to bake this winning dish.

I love making this strawberry rhubarb crisp because it’s a fuss-free dessert. Plus, you can use this recipe to revive any sad-looking punnets of strawberries or other fruits – we like to call them “forgotten fruit crumbles.”  

So, let me tell you exactly how to make this crisp so you can get baking pronto!

Ingredient Notes:

A few simple ingredients goes a long way to making this strawberry rhubarb crisp! For this recipe you will need:

• Rhubarb: I recipe tested with fresh rhubarb and frozen rhubarb and both worked great!
• Strawberries: I recipe tested with fresh and frozen strawberries, and again – both were delicious!
• Oats: Used for the crumble topping. My preference is rolled oats, but I also recipe tested with quick oats and it worked well for this recipe.
• Almond flour: Also used in the crumble topping. I love the nutty flavour and chewy texture that it gives the crumble topping as opposed to traditional flour.
• Coconut oil: Melted coconut oil is used to make the crumble topping. I like using coconut oil because it’s one simple ingredient as opposed to a vegan butter. But you can absolutely swap for a melted vegan butter of choice.
• Cinnamon + Cardamom: My favourite spices to add to a crumble! A little bit of these warm spices really enhances the fruity flavours and compliments them so nicely. I highly recommend!

As you can see, there is nothing odd or unique about these ingredients. Likely you can find them at your local grocery store. Which is why I have given it my newbie cook stamp of approval.

And of course, if it’s available to you, then I encourage you to try using fresh local strawberries, as they are so sweet and abundant right now.

Recipe Tips & Notes:

Now, this recipe is very easy and straight forward. So I don’t have too many tips to nailing this recipe as I know you’ll ace it! However, there are a few helpful tips/modifications for making this bake that I think you’ll appreciate. 

Firstly, know that you can substitute fresh rhubarb or strawberries with frozen.

This is helpful to know in case you are having trouble finding the fruits in the fresh aisle, or if you have an abundance of fruit that you want to use up, but aren’t quite yet ready to make this crumble. In fact, I froze my fresh rhubarb as I waited for our local strawberries to come in season. 

In addition, the amount of water content in your fruits (which will vary) can affect your baking time. It will be longer if there’s high water content, and shorter if lower water content. Since I used frozen rhubarb and local strawberries (which are extra juicy) the water content was high for me, and resulted in a longer bake time – about 1 hour as opposed to 40 minutes.

So, check your crisp after 40 minutes, the fruits should be thick and bubbling all around the edges, if it it still looks wet then it will need more time. Pop back in the oven for 10 to 15 minute increments. 

My last tip is not to limit yourself to just strawberry and rhubarb for making this crumble. As I mentioned above, crumbles make for a great dessert when you’ve got an abundance of fruits that are past their prime.

So, feel free to get creative with your crumble mixed. Strawberry and peach is also a beautiful combination that we love.

And there it is, a simple and delicious strawberry and rhubarb crisp recipe. This simple dessert is so easy to enjoy through the summer months and I know you’re going to love it as much as we do. And, if you do make this recipe please let me know in the comments below what you think! I love hearing from you. And of course, tag me on Instagram with the hashtag #twospoons. Nothing makes me happier than to see your recreations.

• Spring