As you may or may not have noticed, this past month I’ve been trying to do my best to bring you more savory recipes. When I did my reader survey last year, many of you wanted more healthy meal options.
But sometimes I just can’t help but bake, I think it’s my true calling in life. Last week I had a 6am flight out of Chicago to see Tony. I knew I had to leave by 4am in order to skip traffic and give myself enough time. You think that I would have went to bed at 8pm the night before, but nope, there I was baking a batch of chocolate chip cookies at midnight. I call it stress baking. Some things never change.
Anyway I want to take full advantage of this year’s farmer’s market fruit and so throughout summer I plan on bringing you fresh, seasonal recipes… Maybe a fruit pie, or two?!
There’s a small farmers market a few blocks away from my house that always seems to have the best fruit selection. (Wait, don’t they all?) From the moment I spotted the beautiful rhubarb, I knew that a crisp needed to happen.
If you’ve ever been to the Midwest, you know how we love our strawberry rhubarb combos. The sweet and tartness is everything you could want, especially paired with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream.
I decided to make this crisp both gluten free and vegan so that everyone would be able to enjoy it. Basically it just meant replacing butter with coconut oil and using oat flour instead of regular flour for the topping. You can mix and match if you aren’t gluten free and/or vegan; I’ve indicated more tips in the notes below the recipe.
What really makes this crisp stand out is the addition of vanilla and coconut sugar. The vanilla adds a lovely flavor to the fruit that makes it unforgettable, I swear.
And the coconut sugar? Well it’s an unrefined sweetener that isn’t processed like regular sugar, meaning it provides more nutrients and minerals, along with adding a unique flavor. And no, it doesn’t taste like coconut. I recommend giving it a try if you haven’t, it’s one of my favorite sugars to bake with these days.
Last but not least, I love love love the pecan oat topping. While the crisp bakes, the pecans get all toasty, nutty and sweet. Perhaps it’s just me but I think pecans are one of the most underrated nuts out there. But who knows maybe you aren’t a pecan fan; if that’s the case, feel free to sub in almonds.
Make your own oat flour for rhubarb crisp
Good news, you can easily make your own oat flour right at home to use in this rhubarb crisp recipe and keep it gluten free. Check out my tutorial with all of my best tips & tricks. So easy!
I cannot wait for you to try this one out on your family and friends, or just eat it all yourself. This crisp is best served warm with a scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream. Enjoy! Xo.
If you make this, be sure to snap a pic and upload to Instagram using the hashtag #ambitiouskitchen! xoxo.
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
Lightened-up Vanilla Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp (vegan, gluten free)
Ingredients
- For the crisp topping:
- 1 cup gluten free oats
- 1/2 cup gluten free oat flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 3/4 chopped pecans
- 1/4 cup coconut sugar
- 1/4 cup coconut oil, melted
- For the filling:
- 2 pounds strawberries, hulled and quartered
- 5 stalks rhubarb, diced into 1 inch pieces
- 1/2 cup coconut sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
- seeds from 1 vanilla bean
- 2 tablespoons gluten free oat flour
Instructions
- Make the topping: In a medium bowl, whisk together oats, oat flour, cinnamon, pecans, coconut sugar and coconut oil; set aside.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan with coconut oil (or generously coat with cooking spray).
- In a large bowl, add coconut sugar, vanilla bean, strawberries, rhubarb and oat flour; toss a few times to evenly coat the fruit with the sugar and flour. Pour into prepared pan and evenly sprinkle the topping over the fruit.
- Bake for 30-35 minutes until the filling begins to bubble and the top is golden brown. Cool for 10-15 minutes before serving. Top with your favorite ice cream, if desired. Serves 9.
Serving size seems off at 1 g
It should be 1 serving (based on 9)!
Would it be possible to weigh the amount of rhubarb needed for this recipe please?
Can I thaw frozen strawberries for this? Or will they be too mushy for the recipe?
Yes that should work!
Hello Monique,
Do you know how many cups of rhubarb we need for this recipe?
Cheers,
Hi! It depends the size of your stalks (you need 5). I would say between 2-3 cups! Enjoy!
Thank you for your response <3
Stop your search for another crisp. This is the only recipe you’ll ever need! Delicious. Everyone who tried it asked for the recipe.
Awww so happy you loved this one, Sabrina!!
I LOVE your recipes and this one looks fantastic, but with a tree nut allergy I wish you could note some alternatives for the tree nuts in your recipes for people in my shoes.. For those of us with those allergies the health benefits of being a specialty diet is a moot point if we don’t know of a safe and good substitute.
Hi there! Feel free to do some experimenting 🙂 the more you experiment, the easier it is knowing when and if you can substitute. It’s difficult for me to test all of my recipes with various reader dietary substitution requests, I’m sorry! To be fair, this also isn’t an allergy specific blog, but I can understand the frustration.
I would state this as vegan only if the coconut products source could be established. There’s quite a number of child slave labor involved in this articles, from Thailand and elsewhere.
This would rule out vegan, since is hurting the animal many forget to take care of -ourselves.
Also, many products described here are processed and as such, it’s factories contaminate animals and animal’s environment and resources.
Wake up people, we do and impact as human beings, to nature, to environment in this planet.
Not so much by eating some self-compassion, self pity, auto convinced vegan product, but creating a demand for other goods instead, be in foods, clothes, cellphones.
I love your recipes! Such a great wealth of information, too! I LOVE rhubarb, but don’t know how to tell when it’s ripe. Any ideas? I grew up with strawberry 🍓 rhubarb pies and have been dying to make one—now I’ll make your recipe!
So happy to hear that! Rhubarb should be ripe when it’s about 7-15 inches long 🙂 Let me know if you give this a try!
Absolutely delicious! I left out the pecans because I only had a few on hand. Also I did add a table spoon of melted Earth Balance to the crumb mixture for the buttery flavor. But ,Wow! This recipie is a keeper. Thank-you
Hi Monique,
This looks amazing and can’t wait to make it for a Christmas party this weekend. Can I use frozen berries for this? If yes, would I have to thaw them first or just use them straight away?
Thanks!!
Some of my favorite flavors and I *finally* saw rhubarb here in the LA farmers markets this week!
Amazing — hope you try this. And hope you are doing well lady! 🙂
This seriously looks WAY too good. My mouth is watering, literally.
This is exactly whats been on my mind lately! We have fresh local berries coming out like crazy right now and Im craving a crisp! I love how they can totally satisfy that sweet tooth, but still be on the healthy side. This looks like the perfect topping for my crisps to come. Thanks for the recipe.
This is my favourite crisp recipe, I really like it 🙂
This is just what is needed for our Home School graduation reception. I may use even less sugar, since most of us don’t have a sweet tooth.
Thanks for the recipe
Anything with the addition of vanilla has my name written all over it! This recipe looks like the perfect mix between healthy & indulgent. Thank you so much for the recipe, Monique!
What a great, healthy recipe! This is perfect for a summer BBQ!
Another winner Monique! I love using coconut sugar in all my baked goods and baked goods into the middle of the night? No shame.
That should be ‘my favorite nut…not but’
Can’t wait to try this! I was just given some rhubarb from a friend’s garden & this is what I’ll use it for. I love crisps & cobblers…and yes, I agree with you on pecans, my favorite but! Thank you for all of your wonderful recipes! 🙂
OH my goodness “stress baking”. I can 100% relate. That is me ALL the time! I will have a million thngs to do or a ton of cookies in my cake stand but sometimes baking is the only way to soothe the soul.
Also this crisp is too perfect for summer! Loving all your healthy attributes too, totally going to serve this with some ice cream for summer bbqs!
I love this idea! I’ve never had rhubarb before, but the classic strawberry-rhubarb pairing here is making me eager to try it out!
I just love all the fruits and veggies available at the farmers market this time of year! I just made a blueberry crisp the other day (emphasis on the crisp) and it was delicious! Great recipe, I’m certainly curious about that coconut sugar!