These strawberry rhubarb crumb bars are like strawberry rhubarb pie in handheld form. Simply combine a buttery brown sugar crust, jammy strawberry rhubarb filling, and crumbly oat topping. The crust and crumble topping are made from the same mixture, so there’s no need to dirty an additional bowl. They’re easy to make, transport, serve, and freeze!
Serving as a sequel to my cranberry bars and lemon strawberry crumb bars, today’s strawberry rhubarb bars are seasonally fresh with hints of orange zest and vanilla.
What I love most—and what you’ll find wonderfully convenient—is that all of my crumb bars feature a delicious crust and crumb topping that are made from the same dough. Portion it out, add the layers, and bake.
These Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars Are:
- Quicker than most—no pre-cooking the filling
- Crumbly, yet moist (don’t over-bake!)
- Stuffed with rhubarb and juicy strawberries
- Wonderfully sweet and buttery
- Easy to slice, serve, eat, and freeze
Ingredients You Need for Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars:
- All-Purpose Flour: Flour is the base of this recipe.
- Granulated Sugar: Sugar sweetens the crust/crumble and the strawberry rhubarb filling.
- Baking Powder: Baking powder keeps the crust/crumble on the lighter side. Without it, the texture would be a little too hard and dense.
- Salt, Cinnamon, & Vanilla: Each add flavor.
- Cold Butter: Just like pie crust, biscuits, scones, and even the crumb topping for coffee cake, cold butter is necessary. We’re cutting the butter into the dry ingredients to create a deliciously flaky and crumbly texture. The texture would completely change if we used softened butter.
- Egg: 1 egg helps binds the crust/crumble ingredients together.
- Milk: Milk also helps bind the crust/crumble ingredients together. I use this combination in my cranberry crumble bars too.
- Strawberries & Rhubarb: You can use fresh or frozen berries/rhubarb.
- Cornstarch: We’re essentially making a jam as the filling, so cornstarch is necessary to keep the fruit combined.
- Orange Zest: Strawberries are pretty soft, so I don’t add additional liquid (like orange juice) to this filling as I do with the cranberry version. However, flavor from a little orange zest is definitely welcome. I use orange in my strawberry rhubarb pie too—it brightens up the flavors.
Crust & Crumble Topping
It’s so convenient that the crust and crumble topping come from the same bowl. Combine the dry ingredients together, then cut in the cold and cubed butter. If you don’t have a pastry cutter or if you don’t want to make it by hand, you can use a food processor to gently cut in the butter. By hand it takes a good 5 minutes to get that flour completely coated with butter.
Photo below on the right shows this mixture.
The photo below shows the mixture after we add the wet ingredients: egg, milk, and vanilla extract. Don’t be alarmed if this takes you awhile to mix together and/or if doesn’t totally come together. The mixture will have the texture of moist sandy crumbles.
You’ll have about 6 cups of crust/crumble mixture. Reserve 2 cups for the topping, then press the rest into a lined 9×13-inch baking pan. Just use your hands or a spatula to flatten.
Again, don’t be nervous if things are crumbly:
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
And now for the most difficult part in the recipe: add all of the filling ingredients to a bowl and mix them together. 😉 No pre-cooking. Simply spread it all over the crust.
Add the remaining crust/crumble on top. For extra texture, add a handful of oats. I recommend this little addition because it helps cover up the fruit filling. If desired, replace with sliced almonds, your favorite chopped nuts, or you can skip it completely.
More Recipes Like This
I love serving bars like this because they’re handheld and easy to eat, great for freezing or transporting, and the recipe yields a nice big batch. It tastes like you’re eating pie, but with half the work getting there. And I have plenty more flavors and variations, too!
- Apple Pie Bars (with Salted Caramel!)
- Lemon Strawberry Crumb Bars
- Raspberry Streusel Bars
- Pecan Pie Bars
- Lemon Bars
- Cranberry Crumble Pie Bars
- Blueberry Pie Bars
- Cherry Pie Bars
Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 18-24 squares
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
To prepare these strawberry rhubarb crumb bars, simply combine a buttery flaky crust, jammy strawberry rhubarb filling, and crumbly oat topping. The crust and crumble topping are made from the same mixture, so there’s no need to dirty an additional bowl!
Ingredients
- 3 cups (375g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup (2 sticks; 230g) unsalted butter, cold and cubed
- 1 large egg
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup (60ml) milk
- 1/3 cup (28g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats*
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling
- 2 and 1/2 cups (about 380g) chopped strawberries
- 2 and 1/2 cups (250g) sliced rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon orange zest
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line the bottom and sides of a 9×13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on the sides to lift the finished bars out (makes cutting easier!). Set aside.
- Make the crumble mixture for the crust and topping: Whisk the flour, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Add the cubed butter and using a pastry cutter, two forks, or a food processor, cut in the butter until all the flour is coated and resembles pea-sized crumbles. (See photo above for a visual.) This takes at least 5 minutes of cutting in with a pastry cutter.
- Whisk the egg, milk, and vanilla together in a small bowl. Pour over the flour/butter mixture and gently mix together until the mixture resembles moist crumbly sand. Use your hands if needed—the mixture comes together easier with your hands than with a spoon. See photo above for a visual.
- You will have about 6 cups of the crust/crumble mixture. Set 2 cups aside. Pour the remaining into the prepared pan and flatten down with your hands or a flat spatula to form an even crust. It will be a little crumbly—that’s ok. Set aside. (Oats will be used in the topping in the next step.)
- Strawberry Rhubarb Filling: Gently mix all of the filling ingredients together. Spread over the crust. Sprinkle the remaining crumble mixture all over the filling. Sprinkle the oats on over top. With the back of a large spoon or flat spatula, lightly press the topping down so it’s a bit snug on the strawberry rhubarb layer.
- Bake for about 42-50 minutes or until the top is lightly browned and a toothpick comes out *mostly* clean (with a few jammy strawberry/rhubarb specks!). Mine take about 45 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow the bars to cool completely in the pan set on a wire rack. After about 1 hour, I stick the whole pan in the refrigerator to help speed things up.
- Lift the cooled bars out using the parchment paper overhang on the sides. Cut into squares. Cover and store leftover strawberry rhubarb bars at room temperature for up to 2 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Bars freeze well up to 3 months. Arrange in even layers in a large freezer container between sheets of parchment. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then bring to room temperature before serving.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): 9×13-Inch Baking Pan | Glass Mixing Bowl | Whisk | Pastry Cutter | Zester | Cooling Rack
- Don’t Have Rhubarb? Skip it and use 5 cups of chopped strawberries instead. Increase cornstarch to 1 and 1/2 Tablespoons.
- Frozen Fruit: Feel free to use frozen strawberries and/or rhubarb. Do not thaw. The bake time will be a little longer.
- Oats: Whole oats are best, but you can use quick oats if needed. I recommend this little addition because it helps evenly cover the top of the bars. If desired, replace with sliced almonds, your favorite chopped nuts, or you can skip it completely.
- Orange Zest: The orange zest is optional but it adds an extra pop of flavor to the filling. I recommend it. 1 medium orange is plenty for 1 teaspoon of zest.
- Milk:Â I use and recommend whole milk, but nondairy or lower fat milks will work too.
- Half Batch: Feel free to halve the recipe by halving each ingredient and baking in a lined 9-inch square baking pan. The bake time is slightly shorter. Use a toothpick to test for doneness.
I thought the shortbread crust and filling were both lacking sweetness. The bottom crust was hard to spread into the bottom, so I resorted to using wet hands to prevent the dough from pulling up and sticking to anything. I used dozen fruit do I had to extend the baking time to 60 minutes. But everything tested done. I added the icing from the cranberry bars to boost sweetness.
Has anyone used Blackberries for this recipe?
Hi Robin, we haven’t tested it, but you could try swapping some of the rhubarb and strawberries for an equal amount of blackberries. Let us know if you try it!
The base and top layer was more like a dough than a crumb even after adding about another full cup of flour. I am quite certain that my measurements were accurate. I had to pull apart the ‘dough’ into pieces in order to do the top layer.
Hi Chris! Did your crumble mixture look like the photos above? Make sure to start with cold butter!
I think the butter in the crumble topping softened quite a bit while I was preparing the filling. I couldn’t ‘sprinkle’ the topping as it was like a pastry . Could you give me some ideas for next time.
Hi Sue, for next time, when you separate out the 2 cups of crumble mixture to reserve for topping, place that in the fridge until you’re ready to use it. Hope this helps!
These were wonderful. I would like to try this base with a peach topping. I know you have a peach bar with an oat base – would the topping from that recipe work here, or would you recommend one of your other peach toppings for this base?
Hi Barbara, I don’t see any reason why that wouldn’t work! Let us know how they turn out!
Follow the recipe to a T. Phenomenal!
I pre baked the crust for about 10 minutes at 350 until fragrant and this helped keep it more firm and flaky. Very good recipe, highly recommend!
I made these for a family BBQ. I cut them into smaller squares in case folks didn’t like them, but they gobbled them up. I used a little less sugar, a little more cinnamon, 1/2 cup rolled oats and 3 cups each of the rhubarb and strawberries. For me, this shows how versatile the recipe is. I’ll definitely make these again.
This turned out really well. It was not “crumbly” but the base was very tender when done. Used berries from my own plants. The center was slightly too mooshy (technical term) to hold up super well as a bar, but with a fork, who cares!?! It was delicious. Baked for about 45 minutes. Will definitely make again!
Any hints on how to make it easier to cut?
Hi Julie, did they seem especially crumbly? Be sure not to overbake, and a very sharp knife (wiped clean between cuts) will also help!
I was disappointed with these bars. The crust wasn’t a good texture and the bars needed more sweetness.
I think these are great- definitely felt more like a coffee cake to me than a pie, but delicious either way. Only change I made was unsweetened almond milk rather than dairy. If I make these again I think I would add about 50g more rhubarb – maybe up to 100g more – if I have it on hand
– maybe even more orange zest – perhaps some in the crust? Overall a good flexible recipe.
I have this recipe with a date 6/23/20 and it does not have milk as part of the recipe.
Why was milk added?
Hi Susan, we revisit recipes and re-test them if we get a lot of comments from readers having issues with them. So if you see a discrepancy from a printed/saved recipe, that was likely the reason it was updated. But if the older version works for you, by all means keep using it!
I’m looking to make these with more of an oat crumble crust like your Oatmeal Lemon Crumble Bars or Blueberry Pie Bars. Looking at your recipes, it seems like you have a lot of different versions of that crust between the lemon, peach, blueberry, etc. I’m wondering which do you think would be best to use with this filling? Your crust recipes have varying amounts of flour, butter, cinnamon, etc. so I am worried the wrong one will not hold up or go with this filling well! Thank in advance!
Hi Rey, I do have a lot of fruit crumble bars on my website, and some are for smaller 8-inch or 9-inch square pans, and some recipes are for 9×13-inch pans. For an oat crumble crust topping, I would use a shortbread-style crust (follow the crust recipe from these lemon bars, including pre-baking), and then add the oat topping. For that, to ensure you have the right amount, I would use the topping from this blueberry crumble pie. You could add some more oats, too… such as increasing to 3/4 cup (about 65g). The bake time for this new oat streusel version will be similar to the regular strawberry rhubarb crumb bars recipe.
This recipe was the perfect balance of sweet and tart that the whole family loved! Seriously so good!
– I didn’t have an orange so I subbed lemon zest with no issues
– TLDR: Don’t worry if it doesn’t look perfect going in. My crumble mixture was super sticky. I had a hard time spreading it in the bottom of the pan and an impossible time spreading it over the filling. I sprinkled oats on top, threw it in the oven, and prepared to come back to a mess when the timer dinged. However, it actually turned out great.
– I made a half recipe and baked it in an 8×8 for about 40 mins.
Can you assemble this ahead of time , freeze it and bake it the day you want to use it?
Hi Janine, we would recommend baking the bars and then freezing them. See recipe notes for make ahead instructions.
I’ve strayed… baked a recipe from another website. It was awful. I thought about you the whole time. Sally has never let me down. I made reconciliation with this recipe and Sally, baby, I’ll never stray again. I’m in love with this recipe. Thank you for this recipe!
Quick and easy to make, I made half recipe, it’s delicious.
I am usually a huge fan of your recipes, however this one is causing me ALOT of stress. I needed a rhubarb bar recipe for a wedding, and need to make 7 pans of these. The first 2 the bottom crust was basically raw!!! I had to flip it out of the pan and bake it upside down to finish the crust. So for the next 2 pans, I prebaked the crust for 15 minutes before I put the filling on and baked it for 45 minutes more and it was still underbaked!! So I had to flip it over again and bake longer. I’m extremely frustrated. What is going on here??
Hi Cindy, Are you following the recipe closely without making any substitutions an also using the correct size pan? Also are you frozen fruit? If so you can expect the bake time to be longer.