Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars
Strawberry rhubarb crumb bars are the perfect treat for spring!
I am one of those people who stores thirty pounds of butter in her freezer and isn’t one bit ashamed to admit it.
(When you bake as much as I do, you have to stock up when the good stuff goes on sale, like Challenge Butter.)
Real, quality butter is an absolute daily part of my life, and I wouldn’t have it any other way. It yields the best flavor in cakes, it’s the shining star of cookies, and it makes the flakiest pie crusts. And I don’t use it just for baking, it’s always within arm’s reach when I’m cooking too. Let’s face it, butter makes just about everything better.
Like these crumb bars! There’s a simple crumb mixture made mostly of flour, sugar, and butter baked around a filling of fresh strawberries and rhubarb. Slice ’em up and let’s celebrate the return of spring and berry season.
Think strawberry rhubarb pie, except easier, and that’s what you get with these crumb bars. They’re soft on the inside and crispy on top, sweet yet slightly tangy, and altogether completely scrumptious. Plus, they’re perfect for taking on the road, like to a picnic or potluck. Show up with these and your friends and family will love you forever!
They don’t need to know how simple these strawberry rhubarb crumb bars are to throw together, it’ll be our little secret. All they will care about is if there’s enough for seconds.
baking tip:Why I only bake with unsalted butter
Most baking recipes call for unsalted butter instead of salted because the amount of salt in salted butter varies from brand to brand, and there’s no way to really know how much salt you’re getting in a stick. So if you’re following a typical recipe that calls for both salt and butter, and you choose to use salted butter, you could be adding quite a bit more salt via the butter than the recipe requires.
To give myself full control over the amount of salt in my baking, I only buy and use unsalted butter. But if all you have is salted butter, can you substitute it in a recipe? In a pinch, yes. Reduce the amount of salt called for by half, and if possible, taste and adjust as necessary.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars
Ingredients
Crumb base and topping:
- 3 cups all-purpose flour (360 grams)
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar (50 grams)
- 1/2 cup packed light or dark brown sugar (105 grams)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/4 teaspoon coarse salt
- Zest from 1 orange , optional
- 1 cup Challenge unsalted butter , cold and cubed (226 grams, 2 sticks)
- 1 large egg , lightly beaten
Filling:
- 3 cups sliced strawberries (395 grams)
- 2 cups sliced rhubarb (260 grams)
- 4 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 grams)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Grease a 9x13 inch baking dish and line with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, combine the flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking powder, salt and orange zest. Add the butter and use a fork or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the pieces are about the size of peas. Add the beaten egg and continue to blend until combined and mixture can be clumped together with your hand. Press half of the crumb mixture evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan.
- In another bowl, toss together the strawberries, rhubarb, cornstarch and sugar. Dump on top of the crumb base, spreading it out evenly as needed. Use your hands to clump the remaining crumb mixture together and sprinkle evenly over the strawberry rhubarb filling.
- Bake until topping is golden brown and the fruit is bubbling, about 50-60 minutes. Let cool completely before slicing, about 2-3 hours at room temperature or about 1 hour in the fridge. For best results, store in the fridge, up to 5 days.
Notes
- Orange zest is an optional ingredient, but I love the added flavor it gives these crumb bars.
- For best results, chop strawberries and rhubarb into 1/2-inch pieces.
- If using frozen rhubarb, do not thaw before using.
Tools for this recipe
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Disclosure: This post is part of a contest to become a future Challenge Butter brand ambassador. Challenge Butter is a brand I believe in and use on a daily basis, and I would love to work with them. Thank you for supporting my partnerships with brands, which makes Completely Delicious possible. All opinions are always 100% my own.
This looks amazing! I will definately give it a try!
I hope I will manage as I am not a great cook!
This looks AWESOME!!! I hope you win, you are suck a great fit for that delicious butter!
I made this recipe today and it turned out perfect. I was a bit apprehensive because I was a little shy of 3 cups of strawberries, but it wasn’t an issue. The flavor is fantastic–not too sweet, not too tart. And the crumble is perfect. Also, this is the first time I’ve ever baked with rhubarb, so it was especially gratifying that it turned out well. Thanks for the great recipe!
Thanks so much for the feedback, I’m happy to hear you enjoyed the recipe! And welcome to the magical world of baking with rhubarb! You’re going to love it. 🙂
Great recipe!! Making it today for the third time!! Everyone loves it, “not too sweet, really brings out the fruit” are the comments. So easy to put together, freezes well.
Yay!!! Thanks so much for the feedback. I’m glad everyone loved the bars. 🙂
I am dying to eat strawberry rhubarb
It is looking delicious.
I’ve made these several times and every time they are a hit! I’ve substituted all sorts of fruits, from tart cherries to blueberries and whatever leftover frozen fruit I have on hand. Always turn out great! Today I am using up some freeze dried pomegranate I have that needs to get used up. Can’t wait to dig in. Great, versatile recipe. Thank you for sharing it.
Yay! Thanks so much for the feedback!
Do you ever use frozen strawberries in this recipe? If so, how much extra cornstarch do I use? Thanks.
Hi Mary! I haven’t used frozen so I can’t say for sure. You’ll want to use them frozen (don’t thaw first), so make sure you buy frozen chopped strawberries. Not sure how much more cornstarch to recommend. Maybe start with an extra teaspoon. Hope this helps!
I ended up using the food processor to combine the butter and flour mixture. Much easier on my hands. Not having made this before I am wondering if the parchment paper is necessary if the pan in well greased. Regardless, It’s now in the oven!
How was it without the parchment paper? I don’t have any either and was just wondering… 🙂
You can make this without parchment paper, but I like how clean and easy it makes slicing. If you don’t have it, just make sure your baking pan is well-greased.
Made them last night with fresh fruit and boy are they delicious!! Not too sweet and not to tangy ! I didn’t change a thing to the recipe. And the orange zest is a nice touch, it brings all the flavors together. Thank you for this recipe.
I have been making this since I first discovered it in 2017, it’s easy to put together, I use parchment paper to line the pan, makes it easy to cut into squares and get out of the pan, best of all, hardly any clean up, just wipe the pan with paper towel and put it away. The only thing I change is the filling, I double the fruit, add another teaspoon of cornstarch and a little bit of sugar. When I see rhubarb coming up in the garden, I think of this recipe! Thank you Annalise!
Thank you so much for this recipe, it is wonderful. As the others say, not too sweet, just perfect. And I have been making it with frozen strawberries from last year, the ones so far are not as nice and tasty, not enough rain, we will pray for rain too. But it is so good as a dessert or snack. I am making them too for my grand-daughter, almost two years old, she loves them, and it is so much better homemade. So they are great anytime! Breakfast, why not! Ha! Ha! Taste so good and smell so nice right out of the oven!
Hello again, I forgot to say that I made this recipe several times, so good. But I make it with strawberries only as I did not have rhubarb… so so good too. I did not have any orange, so I added with the egg about 1 teaspoon of pure orange extract… just perfect! And to the flour mixture, I added about 2 tbsp of raw shelled hemp seeds to the half part that goes on top of the fruits. And I did not thaw the strawberries, I cut them frozen, this is such a good recipe that you can make in no time, just in time for the barbecue tonight! Thank you again!
Love this treat! I made it for a girls spa day and everyone thought these bars were divine! Curious though, if I were to try and make this now, in the dead of winter when fresh strawberries are scarce, would using frozen work along with frozen rhubarb that I have stashed in my freezer? If so should I thaw the berries first or leave frozen with the rhubarb?
Hi Jamie! I think you could use frozen fruit in this recipe, and I would recommend not thawing ahead of time and increasing cornstarch by a teaspoon or 2 to compensate the extra liquid. But I haven’t tested it this way myself.
Delicious!
Made this today with my green/red rhubarb stalks. I used the orange zest and let sit on the bench for 2hours before cutting. The whole family love it, even my 80year old neighbour.
Looks like I’m in the good books tonight, thank you 🙂
The added orange rind to the crumble is worth it! It added another level of flavor. I wouldn’t recommend using frozen rhubarb though. We freeze ours from the garden, and it definitely needs to be thawed, drained, and patted dry. Delicious!
I have made these bars multiple times, and they have rapidly become my favorites!!
Want to try this recipe as it looks very good, but can we freeze the bars?
Yes, these bars freeze very well.
I have made this few times and love it. I wondered, as we have a glut of fruit, could I make it and then freeze it before baking?
Made this twice today. I used my stand mixer (instead of a fork or pastry blender) and I have to say my crust was a little too dry/sandy – likely overworked – so don’t make my mistake. Mine does not look like her beautiful picture, haha. The fruit center does taste wonderful.