Hello and welcome to Djalali Cooks. With Mother’s Day around the corner, how about a treat that is easy, quick, tangy, sweet, and delicious? This Skillet Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp utilizes fresh spring fruits, but you can also use frozen! It comes together in about 1 hour, so it’s perfect for last-minute baking. Serve it warm with vanilla ice cream – it’s a perfect finish to a great Mother’s Day celebration. Let’s get right to it.
Table of contents
Crisp Topping Ingredients + How To
- 3/4 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
- 1/4 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 6 tbsp. Unsalted Butter, melted
Crisp Topping Step 1
Start by making your crisp topping. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, panko, brown sugar, salt, and cinnamon until the mixture is well-combined.
Crisp Topping Step 2
Then pour in the melted butter and whisk until the mixture is totally moistened by the butter, leaving no dry flour bits.
Refrigerate the crisp topping until we are ready to use it.
Strawberry-Rhubarb Filling Ingredients + How To
Position an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees. As I mentioned at the top, I am using fresh strawberries and rhubarb, but you can use frozen if you like. We want 1 pound of rhubarb, cut into 1/2-inch pieces. Then, 16 ounces of strawberries were chopped roughly into quarters.
This original recipe is by Cook’s Country, and if you’re using frozen, you may need to increase the stovetop cooking time a little if the fruit is not fully defrosted.
Otherwise, we have 1 and 1/4 cups of light brown sugar, 2 tablespoons of cornstarch and 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt. I have a mix of 1 cup light brown sugar and 1/4 cup dark brown. I simply ran out of light brown sugar.
- 1 lb. Fresh Rhubarb, trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces, or frozen rhubarb, thawed and cut into ½-inch pieces (3½ cups)
- 16 oz. Fresh Strawberries, hulled and chopped coarse, or frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped coarse (2 cups)
- 1.25 cups Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp. Cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling Step 1
Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
Strawberry Rhubarb Filling Step 2
Transfer the fruit mixture to a 10-inch oven-safe skillet. Cast iron is perfect for this! Heat the fruit mixture over medium-high heat and stirring frequently, cook the mixture until the fruit has released most of its liquid and the liquid nearly covers the softened fruit. Taste test a piece of rhubarb to ensure it has softened.
Cut the heat and pull the crisp topping out of the fridge.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Step 3
The butter in the crisp topping will have started to firm up. This is perfect because we want to clump it up and break it into irregular sizes and shapes to top the fruit.
Sprinkle the crisp topping over the whole top of the fruit.
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Step 4
Bake the Skillet Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp for about 20 minutes, until the topping is golden and the fruit filling is bubbling up like hot lava all around the edges.
Skillet Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp – Finishing Touches
Now, let it cool for about 15 minutes, because that fruit is as hot as hot lava. It will still melt the ice cream into rivers of vanilla cream even after it’s cooled a bit.
And there we have it! A super simple, pretty darn quick spring fruit dessert that doesn’t require making pie dough, or biscuits…it’s a perfect bite of Spring: tart, sweet, and rich, with a little crunch. For another easy Mother’s Day Treat, try my Strawberry Oat Bars!
I hope you’re having a lovely Spring! Take care and be well. xo Kelly
FAQS – Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Most crisps use oats in the topping, but this one uses panko breadcrumbs instead, which gives you a lighter, crunchier texture. It’s a Cook’s Country technique that I love — the panko soaks up the butter beautifully and bakes up into the most satisfying crispy topping.
Yes! Frozen fruit works great in this recipe. Just be aware that frozen fruit releases more liquid, so you may need to cook the filling a little longer on the stovetop to get it to the right consistency before adding the topping.
You want the fruit to have softened and released most of its liquid, with the liquid nearly covering the fruit. Do a quick taste test on a piece of rhubarb — if it’s softened through, you’re ready to add the topping.
This crisp is best served warm, straight from the oven with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. That said, you can make the crisp topping ahead and refrigerate it until you’re ready to use it — that step is actually built into the recipe!
A 10-inch oven-safe skillet is ideal. Cast iron is perfect because it goes seamlessly from stovetop to oven and holds heat beautifully.
If you can’t find rhubarb, tart cherries or diced Granny Smith apples make a great swap and give you that same sweet-tart balance.
Key Equipment
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp Recipe Card
Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp
Ingredients:
Crisp Topping
- 3/4 cup All-purpose Flour
- 1/2 cup Panko Bread Crumbs
- 1/4 cup Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 1 tsp. Kosher Salt
- 1/4 tsp. Ground Cinnamon
- 6 tbsp. Unsalted Butter melted
Fruit Filling
- 1 lb. Fresh Rhubarb trimmed and cut into ½-inch pieces, or frozen rhubarb, thawed and cut into ½-inch pieces (3½ cups)
- 16 oz. Fresh Strawberries hulled and chopped coarse, or frozen strawberries, thawed and chopped coarse (2 cups)
- 1.25 cups Packed Light Brown Sugar
- 2 tbsp. Cornstarch
- 1/4 tsp. Kosher Salt
Instructions:
Crisp Topping
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, panko, brown sugar, salt and cinnamon until the mixture is well-combined.
- Then pour in the melted butter and whisk until the mixture is totally moistened by the butter, leaving no dry flour bits.
- Refrigerate the crisp topping until we are ready to use it.
Fruit Filling
- Position an oven rack in the middle position and preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
- Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl and mix well.
- Transfer the fruit mixture to a 10-inch oven safe skillet. Heat the fruit mixture over medium-high heat and stirring frequently, cook the mixture until the fruit has released most of its liquid and the liquid nearly covers the softened fruit. Taste test a piece of rhubarb to ensure it has softened.
- Cut the heat and pull the crisp topping out of the fridge.
- The butter in the crisp topping will have started to firm up, this is perfect because we want to clump it up and break it into irregular sizes and shapes to top the fruit.
- Sprinkle the crisp topping over the whole top of the fruit.
- Bake the Skillet Strawberry-Rhubarb Crisp for about 20 minutes, until the topping is golden and the fruit filling is bubbling up like hot lava all around the edges.
- Let cool for 15 minutes and serve with vanilla ice cream.
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