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. Dessert doesn’t get much easier than this.
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 (16 Tbsp; 226g) 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 | Citrus 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: 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.
Omg these bars are amazing! I used frozen strawberries and fresh rhubarb from my garden. I was worried because a couple people said it was bland/missing something? So I added a pinch of salt to the filling as well. Though I’d imagine they must have just had bland fruit because I thought this was so flavourful and delicious! I will be making these all summer long!
Fantastic recipe! Just the right amount of sweetness for my taste. I rubbed the butter into the flour by hand, but even with some bigger pieces of butter in the crumble mixture, it worked just fine. Yours is one of the few blogs I go to for dessert recipes because you give weight measurements – thank you so much for that! 🙂
Hello. In your description of the bars you say they have brown sugar, but the recipe only calls for granulated in both the crust and filling. Should I use brown sugar in the crust maybe? I made it with just granulated and I did miss the deeper flavor of brown sugar.
Hi Juli! The crust recipe calls for 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Thank you for giving these a try!
Perfect squares. I cut them small and had enough for 3 events — they froze well and tasted fresh. Wonderful recipe, thank you!
Great! I somehow forgot the sugar, cornstarch, and orange zest in the filling , but it still turned out very tasty!
Just about to make these, my rhubarb is already defrosted…can I still use it with fresh strawberries? Love everything I have made from your site, excited to try these!!
Mine turned out more cake like than bars with slight crunch on top. Filling was good though.
The recipe calls for granulated sugar, the description states a buttery brown sugar crust. I am confused. Should I use granulated or brown sugar?
Hi Linda, apologies for any confusion — you’ll want to use regular granulated sugar here as written in the recipe. Hope you enjoy the bars!
Excellent recipe!! I made this to the recipe. And let it cool for 1 hour,than refrigerated over night. The only problem I had was getting it out of the pan. Sliced in pan and it came right off the parchment paper. I would highly recommend this recipe.
My bars were not solid how can I make them solid next time so you can pick them up we don’t have to eat them in a bowl when you just pick them up eat them
These were fantastic! A girl at work gave me some rhubarb from her garden so I brought these in to say thank you, and so many people raved about them!
Easy and very tasty! Love this site.
I’m going to let these rest overnight. At first taste I was disappointed hoping for more of a brown sugar flavor (there’s no brown sugar in the recipe?). To me it just seems somewhat cakey and dry. I was hoping for more of a cross between bars & a fruit crisp I think.
This was so delicious! My family didn’t wait for it to cool down. They put in bowls with scoops of ice cream!! What was left, about half went to work. I can’t keep delicious stuff like this at home or we would be huge!!
Out of the park as usual Sally!
The recipe is great! I don’t usually bake with rhubarb but when I do, I make these bars. Love it!
Hi! I have a 21oz. Can of strawberry/rhubarb pie filling—would that work for filling in the recipe? I’m assuming it would, trying to find another way to use it besides a pie. The bars look wonderful! Love the name of your site!
Hi Sally! We don’t see why that wouldn’t work. Would love to hear how they go for you.
I made a GF version for my husband and to test as a recipe for my business at the farmer’s market. It turned out great. Do you think the same recipe would work with a variety of fresh fruit? I am thinking of making a peach or blueberry version. I noticed your raspberry bars use mostly jam but my recipes for the market typically rely on fresh fruit. By the way, I have been using your scone recipe and just switching out fruit for my market scones. Everyone loves the scones. The hit of the market. Susan
Hi Susan, So happy that you enjoyed these bars – and that the scones have been a hit! You can use any variety of your favorite fresh fruit in these bars.
I ran into the same problem with the orange zest, unfortunately. The two teaspoons were way too overpowering and the strawberry rhubarb flavour was completely lost. Disappointing since everything else turned out beautifully. I ran into the same issue with Sally’s cranberry sauce so should’ve known better than to add the orange zest to these. Lesson learned.
I made these. They are tasty, but the ratio of crumb to fruit was way off for me. I will try these again, but will either half the amounts for the crumb/base it do let the amount of fruit.
Hi! This is a wonderful recipe – I have made it twice now and it is a huge hit with friends and family. Last time I made them I put them in a tupperware and they got really soggy after having been in there for only a couple days. What is the best way to store these without the sog-factor?
Hi Meredith, I’m thrilled they were a hit! The leftovers should be ok at room temperature for up to two days but after that store them in the refrigerator.
I just made this recipe and it is in the oven so I haven’t tasted it yet but with all the wonderful ingredients I know they will be delicious.
I do have a question – I measured the flour with a measuring cup and then weighed it to see how accurate my measuring was. I ended up removing about a tablespoon per cup to get the gram weight that you have listed. My topping was very sticky and gooey, not crumbly. I wasn’t too concerned with the bottom crust but I ended up putting topping on in globs and tried to break it apart.
I’m wondering if it was because I weighed the flour. Any ideas?
Hi Kolina, How was the texture when you ate it? If your butter was too warm it could have caused the crust/topping to be too greasy/wet. An easy fix for next time is to make sure your butter is cold and you can add an extra tsp of flour or two to the topping if you feel it really needs it.
I had same issue as Kolina with it no longer being crumbly after mixing. I mixed with my gloved hands so maybe hands a bit warm and softened up that butter. I did the best I could putting bottom layer in pan and then had to just add blobs of the topping. I even threw the oatmeal in the crumbly topping to maybe make more crumble but didn’t help a lot. It has baked and looks fine but just more open spots seeing the berries. We will see once I cut into bars!
I ended up with too much cut up rhubarb from my garden, so I did the recipe with 1.5 of the ingredients in an 11×13 pan. The crust was really great, loved the brown sugar sweetness, and plenty of fruity and sour flavor in the bar from the rhubarb. The smell of it cooking was amazing. Also used Bob’s Red Mills gluten free flour to make it a gluten free dish and it came out beautifully.
Sally, You know what would be SUPER helpful next time you make this? If you could weight the rhubarb BEFORE you chop it up and put that amount in the notes. I have SUCH a hard time knowing how much rhubarb to buy in the store to equal 2.5 cups when trimmed and chopped! I know it will depend on the ripeness of the stalks, but giving us a rough estimate of what it should weigh before trimmed would be so helpful. Thanks!!
These fell flat for me. I used lime peel instead of orange, but feel they need some spices or something else to pep up the flavor.
Made this yesterday for my family. My husband and I love these!
I followed the recipe to a T and they turned out beautifully but they were not my favorite. I felt they were lacking a little flavor; perhaps some spice or a little more salt might have enhanced the flavor. I have tried many of Sally’s recipes and I trust and value her knowledge an expertise. Thanks Sally for sharing so many great recipes but this one didn’t quite work for me….sorry!
I kinda agree, I just made it too.. but I feel like it is definitely lacking salt and probably would add a little more sugar to the rhubarb mixture ! Maybe even put salt in the rhubarb mixture?
I’m going to try halving this recipe. Would that work in a pan that is 8 or 9 inch square? These look so delicious!
Yes! See recipe note.
Wondering when halving the recipe, if you could use the whole egg, or do you have to halve that as well?
Hi Ali, Our general rule for halving an egg is to crack it open, beat the yolk and white together with a fork, measure the volume (should be a few Tbsp), then use half.
These were awesome! I used frozen whole strawberries and frozen rhubarb. I cut some of the bigger strawberries once they thawed a bit. It was seamless putting everything together. I may try adding toasted nuts on top with the oats next time, if I have them on hand!
Just put them in the oven. Easy and looks terrific!
I cannot wait to make this! I’m only able to find frozen rhubarb. Is it okay to use fresh strawberries and frozen rhubarb, or should I also freeze my strawberries? Thanks!
You can use some frozen and some fresh. Let me know how you like them!
Hi Sally,
The recipe looks amazing I have never baked a pie or crumble only cake and this looks easy enough to try. For another time – what can I use instead of eggs as I want to make it for someone who doesn’t eat eggs. Dairy is fine not eggs as she is vegetarian.
Thank you.
Bina
Hi Bina, I hope you love these bars! I have not tested this recipe with an egg substitute but let me know if you try.