June is an early summer golden period when the rhubarb season intersects with local strawberries, one of my favourite times of year. Simple recipes like this highlight both of them without overpowering or hiding their natural flavours.
Chickpea flour and rolled oats in the crumble topping ups the protein content a bit here and makes this vegan crisp suitable for breakfast as well as dessert. With coconut oil and coconut sugar, there’s no need for vegan butter or other tricky ingredients.
The texture is virtually identical to a normal sugar & butter crisp, I think even better using chickpea flour instead of spelt, and there’s no hint of bean-y flavour in the finished product. Plus, it makes things GF without any flour blends needed.
With just 11 ingredients and less than half and hour baking time, this gluten free rhubarb crisp is one of the easiest recipes I’ve ever posted, and it’s one of my favourites, too.
Ingredients
- Strawberries: more berries than rhubarb, so minimal maple syrup is needed.
- Rhubarb: even if your rhubarb is quite green, the strawberries will make for a pretty pink crisp. No need to peel unless it’s very late in the season.
- Ginger: a touch of finely grated fresh ginger adds interest.
- Maple Syrup: or honey, if the crisp doesn’t need to be fully vegan.
- Arrowroot Flour: to thicken the filling slightly. Sub cornstarch if preferred.
- Rolled Oats: extra thick are fine, but not steel cut.
- Chickpea Flour: make sure this flour isn’t expired, as it will taste noticeably off if it is.
- Coconut Sugar: for the streusel topping.
- Sea Salt: for the topping.
- Coconut Oil: use refined if you’re concerned about a slight coconut flavour – I don’t find it noticeable.
- Non-Dairy Milk: this makes for a better topping texture and helps replicate the behaviour of butter. I usually use oat milk.
Step by Step
Mix the fruit in the dish. Make the crisp topping. Sprinkle the topping.
Bake for 20-25 minutes. Cool slightly and serve.
Notes and Substitutions
Don’t eat the topping raw. Uncooked chickpea flour smells, and tastes, absolutely terrible. Trust. This won’t come through at all in the crisp after baking.
Using fresh ginger is key, not ground. I find that strawberry rhubarb combos can taste a bit flat and the ginger lifts everything up. I’m a big fan of combining rhubarb with ginger – like in these rhubarb ginger muffins – and it’s even better with strawberries in the mix.
Raspberries are a good substitution for strawberries, or go for all rhubarb. If using frozen rhubarb or berries, thaw and drain them beforehand to avoid a soggy crisp.
If anything, oat or buckwheat flour could be used as substitutions for the chickpea flour. I haven’t tested this, but those are my go-to GF flour types and can often be used interchangeably in recipes that don’t require leavening.
More Rhubarb Recipes
Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Rhubarb Banana Muffins
Vegan Rhubarb Streusel Cake
Honey Rhubarb Lemonade
Gluten Free Rhubarb Cake
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Gluten Free Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
This vegan & gluten free rhubarb crisp is made with chickpea flour and oats for a healthier, higher protein topping. Strawberries sweeten the naturally tart rhubarb alongside a little maple syrup for a simple and wholesome spring dessert.
Ingredients
- 500 grams (~3 cups) fresh strawberries, halved
- 400 grams (14 oz., 2-3 stalks) rhubarb, chopped*
- 1 teaspoon fresh ginger, finely grated
- 2-3 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
- 1 tablespoon arrowroot powder**
Oat Crisp Topping
- 120 grams (~1 cup) rolled oats
- 40 grams (¼ cup) chickpea flour
- 50 grams (½ cup) coconut sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 40 grams (~3 tablespoons) coconut oil, solid
- 1 tablespoon oat milk or water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). Place the fruit, ginger, and maple syrup into an oven-safe baking dish and mix until coated.
- Sprinkle the arrowroot onto this mixture and stir again, or use your hands, to fully combine.
- To make the crumble topping, mix the oats, flour, sugar, and salt in a bowl. Use your hands to mix in the coconut oil and milk until combined and crumbly.
- Sprinkle over the strawberry rhubarb base, trying to make it as even as possible.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until the topping is golden and the fruit is bubbling around the edges of the dish.
- Cool for at least ten minutes before serving. Leftovers will keep well in the refrigerator for up to three days and are just as good cold.
Notes
* I know lots of people peel their rhubarb, and I grew up doing it, but have since given up on it. I don't think there's any difference in a recipe like this.
* Arrowroot powder works as a binding agent, like cornstarch, to keep the base of the crisp from being too juicy.
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
6Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 266Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 6gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 2gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 100mgCarbohydrates: 44gFiber: 5gSugar: 23gProtein: 5g
This data is provided by a calculator and is a rough estimation of the nutritional information in this recipe.
This post was originally shared in June 2018. It has been updated most recently as of June 2021.
Gena says
You’re so sweet to acknowledge my recipe, my dear! We fellow foodies often share brainwaves—it’s all part of the fun. This looks absolutely wonderful. <3
Stephanie says
Thank you for this wonderful recipe. Do you think i could sub the Chickpea flour and use Coconut flour instead?
Alexandra | Occasionally Eggs says
Hi Stephanie, I’m afraid I haven’t tried it so I can’t be sure, but I think it might be too crumbly with coconut flour. If you were to use it, I’d do about half the amount of (coconut) flour since it absorbs so much moisture.
Carly says
The instructions say to add cardamom, but there is no cardamom in the ingredients list. How much cardamom should go in this recipe? Or no cardamom?
Alexandra Daum says
Hi Carly, this is an update error from the site changeover. There is no cardamom in the recipe.