Rhubarb Crisp
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
Yield:6 to 8 servings
- 6tablespoons cold butter, cut into small pieces, plus more for greasing pan
- 2½ to 3pounds rhubarb, trimmed, tough strings removed, and cut into 1½-inch pieces (about 5 to 6 cups)
- ¼cup white sugar
- 1tablespoon orange or lemon juice
- 1teaspoon orange or lemon zest
- ¾cup brown sugar
- ½cup all-purpose flour
- ½teaspoon cinnamon, or to taste
- Pinch salt
- ½cup rolled oats
- ½cup pecans
Ingredient Substitution Guide
Nutritional analysis per serving (8 servings)
276 calories; 14 grams fat; 6 grams saturated fat; 0 grams trans fat; 5 grams monounsaturated fat; 2 grams polyunsaturated fat; 37 grams carbohydrates; 4 grams dietary fiber; 22 grams sugars; 4 grams protein; 30 milligrams sodium
Note: The information shown is Edamam’s estimate based on available ingredients and preparation. It should not be considered a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
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- Step 1
Heat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square baking or gratin dish with a little butter. Toss rhubarb with white sugar, orange or lemon juice and zest, and spread in baking dish.
- Step 2
Put the 6 tablespoons butter in a food processor along with brown sugar, flour, cinnamon and salt, and pulse for about 20 or 30 seconds, until it looks like small peas and just begins to clump together. Add oats and pecans and pulse just a few times to combine.
- Step 3
Crumble the topping over rhubarb and bake until golden and beginning to brown, 45 to 50 minutes.
Private Notes
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Cooking Notes
Marilyn Kruse
I'm an old Iowa farm girl (rhubarb desserts are classics there) and have been eating/cooking with rhubarb for years. This is basically a good recipe, certainly easier than making a pie crust. Suggestions: 1. Double the white sugar. It is too tart. 2. Double the cinnamon, and add a little nutmeg. 3. Melt the butter so you don't have to mess around with a food processor. 4. Dut the baking time by about 8 to 10 minutes. 5. And yes, serve with vanilla ice cream.
John Golden
If you use melted butter instead of cutting it in to flour mixture, it's incredibly crisp/crunchy
Mary Sojourner
Thank you for honoring rhubarb on its own merits. Rhubarb is not helped by strawberry - it is a tedious combination.
Nancy
I've made this several times and couldn't understand why the crisp was not crunchy. So this last time I read the instructions more carefully (that's always good) and realized the dough needs to actually clump together in the food processor, almost like a pie dough. In the past I hadn't processed it enough. So now it's got clumps of crispiness, the way I like it. And I find no need to remove strings from the rhubarb.
Sarah
Replace the juice with grand marnier
K2
To more readily and consistently blend the orange and lemon zest, toss the zest with the sugar before adding it to the rhubarb.
Janet
People's comments: Make sure dough clumps in food processor so it will bake up crisp. "Using melted butter makes it incredibly crunchy." Double oats if no nuts desired. Sweet - try 1/2 cup brown sugar.
Lorraine
I added a tablespoon of cornstarch to stop it bubbling up over the topping.
Gabi C
Try adding ginger (powdered or crystallized, chopped finely) to the rhubarb instead of orange/lemon zest. It adds a little heat. I sometimes add it to the crisp part too.
April
P.S. Oops forgot one thing. The recipe doesn’t call for it but most rhubarb recipes call for a little flour that you toss w/rhubarb to give it a coating.
Tessa
Toss rhubarb thoroughly, lemon zest can clump up. Delicious with double oats and no nuts (one family member loves rhubarb but doesn't like nuts).
Penny
I use almond flour and coconut oil for the topping and it works great.
Chris
I made the crisp as directed in the recipe. It was very good but too sweet for our tastes. If I make it again, I would cut the brown sugar back to 1/2 cup in the topping. Overall the dish was good.
Karen Artiaco
I love the true taste of rhubarb, and feel that the additions of strawberries and/or other berries to rhubarb dishes takes away from that flavor. But, since I also like citrus flavor in dishes, I thought I would like the added orange zest in this recipe. Not so, for me. I felt it the took away from the flavor of the rhubarb. Otherwise a very good crisp recipe that I will use again.
Mandy
This recipe is faulty. For me, 5-6 c. of rhubarb is 1 lb 5oz. The first time I made the recipe, I only went by weight measurements. I see now that I had basically double the amount of rhubarb for the sugar, which is why the recipe came out so tart. Additionally, it was very liquidy, and in the future, I would toss some cornstarch or other thickener in with the sugar.
JT
taste the rhubarb as it can vary greatly in tartness (more tart later in the season) before devising how much sugar to add. Sounds great as written otherwise but still flexible (could melt the butter, use more oats, fewer nuts, etc.)
Kelly R
The recipe is delicious but mine was soupy. I wish I read the reviews that recommended the addition of some cornstarch with the rhubarb. I did use strawberries as well so maybe that’s why.
hdpl
oddly too sweet while also being too tart - can’t say it’s a favorite. put the most of mine in the freezer for fruit desperate winter days. the smitten kitchen rhubarb slab pie blows this out of the water!
Robin
Love this recipe and yes, melting the butter was better!
Alison C.
I made recipe using just over 2 lbs rhubarb (it was plenty!), orange zest, lemon juice, 1/2 cup brown sugar. Seemed perfectly sweetened and flavored.
Graeme Bethune
I used frozen cut up rhubarb. Looked at many of the notes. Could not find any that mentioned cooking time variation or change in temperature whether one used fresh or frozen rhubarb. In the oven now. We shall see.
Sherri
With 2 1/2 pounds of rhubarb (I used a kitchen scale, the 9-inch square cake pan was almost overfull with just the rhubarb. When I put the streusel on top, it was almost over the top. I'm grateful to read these notes about the rhubarb bubbling over and am putting a sheet pan underneath the 9-inch pan now. We'll see how it turns out, but this recipe seems weird now that i have it in the oven.
Theresa Dunn
Great recipe. I'm not a fan of adding strawberries as it detracts from the rhubarb. However, Saskatoon berries are a good addition:) Here in Saskatchewan they're readily available frozen in the off season.
Gail
I think raspberries are a far better addition than strawberries to any rhubarb dessert. And a bit of orange zest.
Best crisp recipe
I've made a lot of fruit crisps but this has to be my favorite recipe yet -- the pecans add a little crunch that other crisps don't typically have. Made as directed except used 50/50 rhubarb and (frozen, thawed) strawberries, plus a teaspoon of cornstarch to thicken up the fruit.
Jessica
Great recipe! I followed other commenters by reducing the brown sugar and melting the butter for the topping. Since I served with vanilla ice cream, I thought the sweet/tart balance was just right. Melting the butter made this quick to prepare, and the topping was crispy. I subbed walnuts instead of pecans because it's what I had - but next time I'd skip the nuts altogether and increase the oats instead.
Jaime
People were not kidding about it being too tart - unless you’re using forced vinegar (which is much sweeter) make sure you double the sugar (or even more)!
MC Salander
I made this mostly the way the author suggested. I did use vegan butter due to my husband’s dietary requirements. It was delicious. I appreciate Mark Bittman’s continuous inclusion of recipes that eliminate unnecessary dairy or that can be “veganized”.
Patti
Unsalted butter, I assume? I hate it when it doesn’t specify!
Maureen
I tried melting the butter for the topping this time and I didn’t have nuts so doubled the oats. It was really delicious and crispy. I might double the amount next time. I used a scant 1/2 cup of white sugar and a combination of apples and rhubarb for the filling.
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