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This Gluten-Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp combines tart rhubarb with sweet strawberries, loaded with a pistachio crumble topping. This crisp is also vegan and refined sugar-free.
Spring is almost here! You can feel it in the air. I’ve been treasuring the extra hours of sunlight after a very long and dark Seattle winter. There have been more sunny days scattered between the rain, flowers are starting to peek out from the ground, and hopefully, the sad, bare trees will start turning green again any day now.
But what’s really making me jump up and down for spring is the return of fresh fruits and veggies! When I spotted rhubarb at the grocery store a few weeks ago, I jumped on it. I immediately started thinking of all the rhubarb desserts I could make this spring.
My love for rhubarb is relatively new. I hadn’t really used the veggie much until last year, but after making this Berry Rhubarb Pie and Caramel Rhubarb Cake, I fell in love with the tart flavor it brings to any treat you add it to. I’ve been anxiously awaiting its arrival this season, and my first rhubarb dessert doesn’t disappoint!
Let’s make Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp!
Strawberries and rhubarb are a classic combination, and for good reason: the sweetness of the strawberries pairs so deliciously with the tart rhubarb. For this crisp filling, we toss strawberries and rhubarb with maple syrup for sweetness, add a little bit of lemon to brighten the flavors, and mix in tapioca flour to help thicken things up a little bit.
We make amazing gluten-free pistachio crumble topping to pile on top of the fruit. Then, we’ll bake it all together until it’s golden brown and bubbling. We make the topping with almond and coconut flour, and sweeten it with both coconut sugar and maple syrup. The pistachios add crunch and color, but you can substitute any nut you’d like or have on hand.
This strawberry rhubarb crisp is a pretty guilt-free dessert – it’s gluten-free, vegan, and Paleo-friendly! In fact, you could totally have this crisp for breakfast. Top it off with some coconut cream or a bit of yogurt and you’ll be in healthy breakfast heaven!
Make sure you find some rhubarb while it’s around, and while you’re at it, stock some up in the freezer so you can have rhubarb treats all year round! What fruits and veggies are you looking forward to this Spring?
Want more gluten-free rhubarb recipes?
Gluten-Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Ingredients
- 2 cups rhubarb, diced
- 2 cups strawberries, diced
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest, from 1 lemon
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 5 tablespoons maple syrup
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons tapioca flour
For the crumble
- 1¾ cups 7 oz almond flour
- 2 tablespoons coconut flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon
- ¼ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup coconut oil, solid at room temperature
- ¼ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup chopped pistachios or nut of choice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease an 8×8” pan or 10” cast iron skillet with coconut oil. Set aside.
- In a large bowl, combine the rhubarb, strawberries, lemon zest, lemon juice, maple syrup, salt, and tapioca flour. Stir to combine. Pour into the prepared pan.
- In large bowl, combine the almond flour, coconut flour, salt, cinnamon, and coconut sugar. Whisk to combine. Add the coconut oil and using a pastry cutter or two forks, work the coconut oil into the dry ingredients until the coconut oil is in little bits. Add the maple syrup and toss to combine until the mixture sticks together. Stir in pistachios.
- Top the fruit with the crumble mixture. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until bubbling and the top is lightly browned. Serve with coconut whipped cream!
Such an appetizing post! The photos make me feel hungry. Thanks for sharing your recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp. I love that it is gluten-free, vegan, and Paleo-friendly. I can’t wait to try this at home.
Thanks for the love, Aika!
The Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp is a great combination. I grow rhubarb, but had to buy strawberries. The ingredients calls for 2 Tablespoons coconut flour, but in the instructions it doesn’t say when to add it to the mixture. If you could text me when to add the coconut flour, I’d appreciate it. If not, I’ll use the coconut flour for some other baked goods. Thank you for the recipe.
Hi Peggy, so sorry that was missed! The coconut flour is added along with the almond flour and the rest of the ingredients for the crumble topping. It’s been updated now!
Hubby doesn’t like baked strawberries in desserts, so I used 4 cups of rhubarb, and I increased the maple syrup by 50% (to 7.5 tablespoons) to make up for missing the sweetness of the strawberries.
A couple of weird things happened:
1. The fruit filling had virtually no flavor; there was no “rhubarb” taste at all, and none of that bright rhubarb tartness that I expected.
2. Once the dessert had cooled, there were unpleasantly-rubbery chunks of congealed starch.
Any idea why the filling lacked flavor? Could it be because the rhubarb may have been kind of old? (I bought it at the grocery store, so no telling when it was harvested). It looked fine to me, but I’m no expert. Any idea why the filling was basically tasteless?
Also, I’m wondering if the absence of strawberries meant that less juice was produced, so I should have reduced the amount of tapioca flour. What are your thoughts?
Hi Terri, you changed the recipe pretty significantly so that’s likely why it didn’t taste great. The strawberries add a lot of sweetness and flavor, as well as a lot of juiciness. This recipe was not developed to be a rhubarb-only crisp, but the flavorings and starch amounts would be different for that. Since you mention there was no rhubarb flavor, my guess is your rhubarb wasn’t great – there’s no other reason related to the recipe of why a rhubarb crisp wouldn’t taste rhubarb-y. Chunks of congealed starch also usually means it wasn’t fully incorporated into the fruit mixture – there shouldn’t be any chunks of starch when it’s going into the oven, it should be fully dissolved into the liquids. I’m sorry you had a bad experience, but this isn’t an accurate reflection of the recipe. I would recommend seeking out a rhubarb-only crisp recipe next time.