Healthier Mixed Berry Rhubarb Crisp

This version of Healthier Mixed Berry Rhubarb Crisp is a favorite summer treat! While rhubarb usually implies a ton of sugar, this recipe has been lightened up, with the sweetness coming from the berries, a touch of honey, and far less brown sugar. The warm filling with the crispy oat topping and a scoop of vanilla ice cream is truly heavenly, you won't notice it's a healthier version!

A Summer Classic with Healthier Swaps

• A Healthier Mixed Berry Rhubarb Crisp - A favorite summer dessert! While rhubarb usually implies cups and cups of sugar, this recipe fixes that! The tart rhubarb is balanced with the natural sweetness of the berries, just a touch of honey, and far less sugar than most rhubarb recipes! If you've got lots of summer berries, you'll love my Strawberry Rhubarb Sauce for the Freezer and Mulberry Ice Cream too!

• Gluten-Free Rhubarb Crisp - The topping has been made healthier too! This recipe is kept completely gluten-free by substituting almond flour for regular flour. More nutritious and adds great flavor too!

• If you Love Healthier Desserts, be sure to try my Healthier Peach Crisp, Black Bean Protein Brownies, Protein Rice Krispies Treats, and our favorite Double Chocolate Zucchini Muffins!

Ingredients

• Rhubarb - If you grow rhubarb, or if you have a neighbor who does, you know you usually need to add gobs of sugar just to use it! Rhubarb is tart, but this recipe balances that tartness with the sweetness of the berries and just a bit of honey and brown sugar.

• Mixed Berries - You can use any combination of berries you have including strawberry, raspberry, mulberry, blackberry, blueberry, or black raspberry. This is a great recipe to make after you've gone berry picking! Rhubarb is usually in season at the same time as strawberry, but store-bought or frozen berries are fine to use too. The recipe uses 3 cups of rhubarb with 2 cups of berries, but this does not need to be exact, any combination totaling 5 cups is fine. More berries will increase the sweetness, while more rhubarb will increase the tartness, so you can adjust the honey amount if you like.

• Honey - Instead of loads of white sugar, ⅓ cup of honey is all that's needed to sweeten the filling!

• Cornstarch - A bit of cornstarch acts as a binder, thickening the juice in your berries to make the filling.

• Rolled Oats - Oats form the base of the topping, adding fiber and protein. If you need to guarantee this recipe to be gluten-free, make sure your oats are labeled gluten-free.

• Almond Flour - The almond flour replaces the standard all purpose flour to make this a gluten-free rhubarb crisp. Not only is this flourless rhubarb crisp healthier, the almond flour gives you delicious nutty flavor. If you aren't worried about it being gluten-free, regular flour is fine to use.

• Brown Sugar - A bit of brown sugar is needed to sweeten the topping, but it's far less than what is often used in rhubarb crisp recipes.

• Butter - A stick of cold butter, chopped into cubes combines with the dry ingredients to form the crumbly topping. While the oats, almond flour and less sugar make the topping healthier, it's still a decadent treat, not short on butter!

See recipe card below for quantities.

Instructions

Step 1 - Mixed Berry Rhubarb Crisp takes just 15 minutes to put together, and is so fun for the kids to help!

First, mix up the healthy fruit crisp filling in a large bowl and pour it into a square baking dish.

Step 2 - Mix the dry topping ingredients in a bowl and add your cold cubed butter. With a pastry cutter, a fork, or my favorite, your hands, work the butter into the dry ingredients to form a crumble.

Work quickly so the warmth of your hands doesn't melt the butter. The butter pieces should be about pea-sized.

Lightly spread it over your filling in the baking dish. No need to press the topping down evenly. Leave the top a bit craggy to get those crispy peaks when baked.

Step 3 - Bake your mixed berry rhubarb crisp for 40 minutes. Allow to cool slightly and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Storage Instructions

• Storage - Store leftover rhubarb crisp in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 days.

• Freezer Instructions - There are a few options for freezing this healthy berry crisp. The completed baked crisp can be portioned into containers, cooled in the fridge, and frozen for up to 4 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and warm in the microwave to reheat. You can also freeze the entire pan unbaked. Cover it with tin foil and then put the whole pan in a plastic bag and tie it up tightly, a leftover produce or bun bag works well. Thaw in the fridge overnight and then bake as instructed.

Freezing Rhubarb

If you grow your own rhubarb, or even if you have a neighbor who does, you know you will have mountains of it! The good news is, it freezes well.

Just wash and chop it and freeze it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Then transfer it to a container or freezer bag.

Pull in out in the middle of winter, along with some frozen berries and make this Berry Rhubarb Crisp in the winter! No need to thaw before baking.

Recipe Tips & Variations

• Fruit Variations - While the combination of rhubarb and berries is fantastic, this healthy fruit crisp is very versatile! You need to have a total of 5 cups for the filling. This could be a combination that includes some rhubarb with chopped apple, pear, or cherry. You could also do an all blueberry or blackberry rhubarb crisp, or whatever type of berry you have a lot of!

• Add Nuts - You can add ½ cup of chopped pecans, walnuts or sliced almonds to the topping for a bit of extra crunch!

• Breakfast Crisp - With a good amount of healthier ingredients like fruit, oats, and almond, leftover healthy berry crisp is delicious warmed up and eaten for breakfast with a scoop of plain yogurt! Especially with yogurt, this is a high protein berry crisp, similar to having a yogurt parfait with granola and berries for breakfast!

If you made this recipe, I'd love to hear how you liked it!  Be sure to leave a star rating by clicking the stars in the recipe card, or leave a comment below!

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