Easy rhubarb crumble | Delicious dessert | Cooking with my kids (2024)

Rhubarb crumble is the easiest and tastiest thing you can make with fresh or forced rhubarb.

This easy rhubarb crumble recipe really is the most simple but delicious dessert you can make with some lovely home grown rhubarb in the summer or forced spring rhubarb.

During rhubarb season there are lots of delicious desserts you can make. If you’re lucky enough to grow your own rhubarb or have friends that do, you’ll be spoilt for choice for what to do with it, but my favourite dish is an easy rhubarb crumble. The sweet crunchy topping goes brilliantly with the slightly tart rhubarb. It’s also so simple and quick to make so is perfect for making with kids.

How can kids help make rhubarb crumble?

Crumbles are great desserts to make with kids as they’re so easy and hands on. In fact, crumbles were probably one of the first recipes I ever made with my kids.

Making a crumble topping is really simple and a bit hands on which my kids always enjoy. You don’t need any special equipment either – just get your kids to measure out the butter and flour and rub them together with their finger tips. You can then add the sugar and oats, mix it all together and your topping is done. It’s really is that easy.

Alternatively if you want an even easier way of making the crumble topping, just get your kids to measure the ingredients out and add them to a food processor and blitz them to make a crumb.

If your children are old enough to use a sharp knife they can also help to prepare the fruit. Rhubarb isn’t a soft fruit to cut but if your kids can use a knife, they can help to cut it into chunks. It’s a good job to practice with as it doesn’t matter if the chunks of rhubarb end up the same size or not.

Finally, once you’ve made the topping and prepared the fruit your kids can help to assemble them in the dish.

How long does a rhubarb crumble keep?

Once baked, your crumble should keep for a day or two. Cover it and put it in the fridge, and either serve it cold the next day or reheat it in the oven before serving it.

Can you make a rhubarb crumble ahead of time?

You can prepare both the rhubarb and crumble topping in advance (up to a few days in advance if you keep them in an air tight container in the fridge.

Only assemble the crumble just before you bake it, as the fruit can make the crumble a bit soggy.

If you want to make the crumble even further in advance, you can freeze it once it’s been baked and cooled. You can reheat it in the oven straight from frozen.

Do you need to peel rhubarb for a crumble?

No, you don’t need to and that’s why it’s a great simple recipe for kids. If you have any particularly stringy tough stalks you might want to peel the strings off those, but we don’t really find it necessary.

What can I serve with rhubarb crumble?

Rhubarb crumble is delicious on it’s own, but if you want to really enjoy it properly, try it with some custard or ice cream.

What other fruits can you put in a crumble?

Crumble is such a versatile dessert which goes with alsorts of fruit. Apple crumble is a classic and one of our favourite desserts. I love the contrast of bright fruits with crumble, so mixed berries, plums or even apple and blackberries go really well with crumble. Check out our other crumble recipes below.

Why is my crumble topping not crunchy?

Some crumbles can end dry if there isn’t enough butter but with this recipe should be fine in that regard. If you do find your crumble is too crumbly you could try adding a bit more butter. Either rub it in or melt it and add it in that way.

Likewise your crumble may end up soggy if you’ve used too much butter or if you’ve not baked it for long enough. Again, if you follow the quantities and instructions in this recipe, with the addition of oats this crumble is lovely and crisp.

Once you’ve cooked the rhubarb it can be a little wet, so only add the crumble topping to it just before you put it in the oven. Don’t assemble the crumble and leave it sitting for any length of time.

Other crumble recipes

If you like this rhubarb crumble, why not try one of our other easy crumble recipes:

Apple crumble
Apple and blackberry crumble
Peach crumble
Caramel apple crumble
Plum and apple crumble
Pear crumble
Strawberry crumble

Useful equipment

You might need the following baking tools/gadgets to make this easy rhubarb crumble

Digital scales
Mixing bowl
Measuring cups
Food processor
Pie dish

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Difficulty: Easy

Time: 20 minutes plus 45 minutes baking

Serves: 4-6

Ingredients

For the rhubarb filling
700g rhubarb
3 tbsp sugar

For the crumble topping
100g (½ cup) plain flour
115g (½ cup) butter
75g (1/3 cup) soft brown sugar
50g (1/3 cup) rolled oats

how to make an easy rhubarb crumble

Preheat the oven to 190C / 170 fan / 375F.

Prepare the rhubarb and place it in a baking dish.

Clean and chop your rhubarb into pieces about an inch long. If your child is old enough, they could help with this.

Pop them in a saucepan with the sugar and cook them on a low heat for five minutes.

Mix together the butter and flour

While the rhubarb is cooking start on the crumble.

Get your kids to measure out the flour and butter. Cut the butter into small pieces and add them to a large mixing bowl, or a food processor if you’re using one).

If you are making the crumble by hand (my kids preferred way) then get you hands dirty, rub the pieces of butter and flour together until you have a rough breadcrumb. If you’ve never rubbed in before, simply squeeze and rub the chunks of butter into the flour with your finger tips until the pieces get smaller and like breadcrumbs.

Shake the bowl a little to make the larger pieces come to the surface and then rub them in until all the pieces are nice and small. It works best if with cold hands and cold butter. Heat can make it go a bit clumpy but it’ll still taste nice!

Measure the sugar and oats out and add them to your mixing bowl. Mix them in.

If you are short for time, or you kids don’t like getting their hands messy, you can also mix it together in a food processor. Simply pulse it until it is a nice breadcrumb texture.

Assemble the crumble

Add the stewed rhubarb to your baking dish then get your kids pour or spoon the crumble topping over the top.

Make sure you’ve got a nice even coverage of crumble all over your rhubarb.

Bake the rhubarb crumble

Pop the crumble in the oven for 35-40 minutes.It’s ready when the top looks golden and the rhubarb has softened and is starting to bubble through the topping.

Serve with custard or ice cream and enjoy!

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Similar recipes

If you liked this easy rhubarb crumble you’ll love our Mary Berry swiss roll, or our chocolate roulade (another Mary Berry classic). Or take a look at all our easy dessert ideas for kids.

This recipe was first published in May 2017 and republished with new images and a slightly altered recipe in February 2024.