Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp is one of the summer's best desserts. Our little taste of sunshine berry crisp recipe is Top 8 allergen free, vegan, and Gluten free.
Jump to:
- Why We Love This Berry Crisp Recipe
- Equipment Needed
- The Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp is Not Only Easy You Only Need These Ingredients to Give it a Whirl:
- Adaptations and Substitutions Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp
- What To Serve With This Berry Crisp
- Storage and Reheating the Vegan Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp
- Other recipes our kids love to make
- We hope you love making this blueberry rhubarb crisp as much as our kids do.
- 📖 Recipe
Why We Love This Berry Crisp Recipe
We have a rhubarb patch in our yard that came with our house when we bought it a couple of years ago. It is well established and a huge producer of rhubarb for us. I had to Google the best ways to harvest and care for it when we first moved in. It must be working as we are able to get 2-3 big harvests a year out of it and still have healthy plants for the next year. Perfect to make our children's favourite summer dessert, Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp.
Growing up eating it but I never knew how to care for it, my job was to eat it. I can remember we would get a small stalk and a little bowl of sugar as kids and that was a huge treat. Recently, someone turned me on to eating it raw with a smidge of salt. I was blown away! How had I never known to try it! I can handle the extra salt as I need to have a higher salt intake for some health issues I have but do keep in mind that a tiny bit of salt goes a long way with rhubarb.
Does anyone else remember a fad in the 80s where people put used tyres around their rhubarb plants? My grandparents used that truck to keep the leaves off the ground but how was it good for any of us?! Tyres?!!!!! Sometimes I look back at how we used to grow food and am shocked at what we did. We don’t do that. We don’t even use chemicals on our plants so they are as close to organic as we can get them.
So Easy Our Kids Make This Dairy Free Berry Crisp!
This recipe is one that I have to admit I don’t make a lot. It is one I farm out to the kids to make. One of our four kids has EoE, a rarer cellular allergic syndrome, if the one who has mastered this dessert. He is 11. We use these recipes to show him that he can eat most meals he wants but it has to be adapted to what he can eat. He is top 8 plus mustard free and will probably be for life. So this is one of the special desserts he is succeeding at. To see how proud he is when he made something for our family that we all love and no one realises it isn’t “regular” food is pretty amazing.
That said, if he can make it anyone can.
Equipment Needed
Equipment used is pretty minimal. A couple of large bowls, a spoon, and a 12 inch x 9 inch casserole dish. If you choose to cut in the butter a pastry cutter would be helpful. Our child prefers to get down and dirty and rub the butter in by hand.
The Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp is Not Only Easy You Only Need These Ingredients to Give it a Whirl:
Rhubarb-
Fresh works best but if using frozen thaw first. Chop it into medium diced pieces.
Blueberries -
I prefer fresh here but you can use frozen and thaw them under running water or in a bowl in the fridge overnight.
Granulated sugar -
We get “safe for us “sugar that is also vegan. Some countries process their sugar in a way that renders it not vegan. Therefore, be aware that if you have friends you are making it for those who observe a vegan diet or are restricted from some animal products.
Vanilla extract -
Good quality can go a long way. Make sure it is safe for you. We make our own from “safe for us” vodka and vanilla beans as an added layer of safety for our allergies.
Lemon juice and zest -
Zest about ⅓ of the lemon you are going to squeeze before you cut and juice it. I usually do the whole lemon and freeze the rest or pop it in pancakes.
Gluten free flour -
We have used various brands of premixed flours and had no issues so far. Robin Hood, Bob's RedMill 1:1, Western Family GF have all turned out beautifully.
Rolled Oats -
Make sure these are gluten free or free of any grains you need to eliminate. Oats have a high cross contamination risk. Therefore, we get GF certified oats. In Australia and New Zealand, oats are not considered safe for Coeliacs so do check with your guests if they can eat oats first.
Rolled oats work best for this recipe rather than steel cut oats. Instant oats and quick aren't well suited to this recipe.
Brown sugar -
Pack it well in the measuring cup. I keep a special moisture trapper in ours all the time to make sure it stays soft. You can use an apple slice or a bread slice from bread you can have.
Vegan butter -
The sticks work best here and keep them super cold. We don’t take them out of the fridge until the second we are using them in this dairy free berry crisp recipe, keep them chilled. Our fav is the buttery sticks from Melt Organics you can find info on them here.
Spices and leavening agents - cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt. All are safe for us. Be sure to check that yours are free of your allergens and cross contamination.
Adaptations and Substitutions Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp
To change up this dessert the quickest and easiest way is to switch the fruit around. If rhubarb season has come and gone try it with bluberries and peaches, or raspberries and mangoes. There are so many different flavour combos you can do. I haven't tried it with some fruit like kiwis, pineapple, or bananas. If you do please let us know.
The spices you use can also heavily influence the taste and adapt the dish. With apples try it with apple pie spices, nutmeg, cinnamon and all spice.If doing strawberries add a bit of mint and lime juice instead of lemon.
What To Serve With This Berry Crisp
This berry crisp is heavenly with a scoop of vegan vanilla ice cream. Our favourites are coconut based. A scoop of (n)ice cream next to a warm piece of dairy free blueberry rhubarb crisp and a cup of tea is the best dessert.
This recipe makes ahead well. It can easily be doubled and made in two dishes for large gatherings and summer BBQs.
Storage and Reheating the Vegan Blueberry Rhubarb Crisp
Storage
-Fridge
It is a super easy recipe that can be made in advance and stored in the fridge up to 2 days before cooking and serving. If you do prep the gluten free berry crisp and refrigerate it, pull it out 2 hours before to come up to room temp to cook quicker.
-Freezer
Reheating
When reheating remove it from the fridge and allow it to come up to room temperature or
-Oven
20 minutes in the oven at 400F will reheat this bad boy once it has been initially cooked.
- Microwave
In a Microwave safe bowl heat one portion at a time for 45 seconds. If not heated through heat for an additional 20 seconds. Add Vegan ice cream after microwaving.
Other recipes our kids love to make
Rhubarb raspberry muffins with a streusel topping
Allergen Friendly Chocolate Cake
We hope you love making this blueberry rhubarb crisp as much as our kids do.
Please leave a comment if you have made this recipe. We would love to hear from you.
📖 Recipe
Ingredients
- Filling
- 3.5 c Rhubarb
- 2.5 c Blueberries fresh
- ¼ c granulated sugar
- Juice of ½ lemon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon lemon zest
- 2 tbsps Gluten Free Flour
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Topping
- 1 c gluten free flour
- 1 c oats
- 1 c brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ c vegan butter chilled really cold.
Instructions
- Mix all the filling ingredients together in a bowl and evenly distribute to an oval casserole dish.
- In a clean large bowl put all of the topping ingredients and work the butter in to pea sized granules with your fingers. You can also cut the butter in with a pastry cutter.
- Layer the topping on the filling, evenly. Patting lightly to keep in place.
- Place the casserole on a baking sheet, in case it bubbles over.
- Bake 350°F for 50 mins to 1 hour. Until the centre is bubbling.
Have you made this recipe? Please leave a comment and us know how much you liked it.