Use fresh or frozen strawberries to make this delicious Easy Strawberry Crumble in no time at all! The traditional crumble topping (made without oats) is soft with a crispy top while the strawberries bubble away to make their own sauce underneath. Together they come together to make the most deliccious summer berry crumble.
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I often come into possession of extremely cheap berries. Don’t ask how I do it, I have my ways and means. When I came into a couple of kilos of strawberries but already had several jars of Seedless Strawberry Jam and Strawberry Curd hanging out in the fridge, I got creative. And strawberry crumble was born.
Obviously I’m not the first person to ever make a strawberry crumble! But it was new in my life. I hadn’t really been convinced that hot strawberries would be a good idea. Of course we tend to think of fresh strawberries in Sponge Cake, served simply with cream or even as a layer in a Sherry Trifle.
But when I tried it, I was totally converted. I polished off two portions before I knew it. I should have known really. If you have ever made strawberry jam, the smell of the strawberries boiling is out of this world.
How to Serve Strawberry Crumble
Warm and with lashings of custard, cream or ice cream! Or yoghurt or crème fraiche if they take you fancy. Or an excessive amount of squirty cream from a can if you are that way inclined (I am).
In seriousness warm is the real key here. Straight out the oven and you are in danger or burning away the lining of your mouth. Cold is fine (but not fridge cold) but you do lose some of the unctuousness of when you eat it warm.
I tend to always serve a crumble in a dish for everyone to help themselves. Folks who prefer a bit more fruit and a little less crumble can sort themselves out. And vice versa. Plus it allows everyone to get the quantity they prefer without any pressure.
Ingredients for Strawberry Fruit Crumble
Flour
The recipe uses self-raising flour (self rising) which just gives it a little lift. The crumble doesn’t bake up like a cake but it does make a slight difference with the texture.
If you prefer to use plain flour and add baking powder you can do this. Charlotte over at Charlotte’s Lively Kitchen has a great helpful guide for How to Make Self-Raising Flour.
You can actually just use plain flour if you don’t have any baking powder. It will still be good, just not amazing.
Butter
I always use salted butter in my baking. And I use salt in all my baking. Please add extra salt if you insist on using unsalted butter. Salt enhances flavour and without it, the topping will be bland.
It is also best to use actual butter rather than margarine. This both helps the texture and the flavour of the finished crumble.
It is also important that the butter is fridge cold when you start making the crumble.
Sugar
It doesn’t matter if you use granulated or caster sugar (regular or superfine). But please make sure to use white sugar not brown. An unbleached white sugar is fine.
It is less important what sugar you add to the fruit layer. It is optional whether you add any at all. I found the crumble far to tart without it but it seems to be split 50/50 on preference. If you like things tart, leave it out. If you have a sweeter tooth, add it in.
Cornflour
The cornflour is used to slightly thicken the strawberry layer of the crumble. Usually when you use cornflour, it needs to be mixed with cold water before being added to the food. But when using it with fruit like this, I find that simply sprinkling it over and mixing it up with the fruit works perfectly.
Strawberries
I used medium sized, nice and ripe fresh strawberries to make this crumble. You can get away with using ones that are overripe or ones that have been picked a little too early. You might want to add a little extra sugar to the latter kind.
It is just as good made with frozen strawberries. Frozen strawberries have much more limited use then fresh ones as the texture is changed significantly by being frozen. But as the strawberries are cooked down in the crumble – there is zero difference.
To prepare the strawberries, I recommend taking the super quick and easy route of simply slicing off the green top and very top of the strawberry. This removes plenty of hull and takes roughly a second per strawberry. If anyone tried to sell you some kind of special strawberry preparation tool, tell them to jog on.
As for the size, it will really depend on the size of your strawberries. I halved three quarters of mine and then quartered the rest so give variation of texture. If you have large strawberries it is best quarter them all. If you have very small ones, you could even leave them whole.
Be Flexible
As with most of my crumble recipes, it is super easy to adapt this recipe. For starters you can mix in pretty much any other berry you like. Just keep the total weight of the fruit roughly the same. Raspberries and blueberries are the most obvious mix ins.
There is nothing stopping you from going off piste either. What about strawberry and pineapple crumble? Strawberry and mango crumble? And I am totally pro a strawberry and peach crumble as a concept.
You can also mix summery strawberries with classics like rhubarb, apple or even gooseberry. When using harder fruits that take longer to cook down than fresh berries or stone fruits, you must make sure to cut or slice the fruit quite small so it cooks down in the same time as the crumble topping takes to cook.
You can also mix in other flavours or even a drop of booze. Black pepper, balsamic vinegar, basil and black pepper are all common (if odd sounding) flavour pairings with strawberries. And all could be worth a try.
I am a particular fan of adding a drop of orange liqueur like Cointreau. Adding fresh lemon or orange zest also adds a lovely extra zing.
Vegetarian Strawberry Crumble
This recipe is naturally vegetarian as written.
Vegan Strawberry Crumble
It is very simple to adapt this recipe to be suitable for vegans. All you need to do is swap the butter for a vegan butter substitute. You do need to use a hard block type version and not a margarine. But otherwise, that’s it.
Make it Allergy Friendly
This recipe is free from egg and nuts.
Gluten Free Strawberry Crumble: To make a gluten free version of this recipe, you can simply use a standard gluten free flour blend in place of the flour. If the blend you use does not contain raising agents, you will need to add baking powder.
Dairy Free Strawberry Crumble: As with the vegan version, to make this dairy free, you will need to swap the butter for a hard block type dairy free butter.
Please note that this recipe may contain other allergens not referred to above and any variations suggested have not been tested unless otherwise stated. For more information regarding any dietary information provided on this website, please refer to my Nutritional Disclaimer.
Equipment Notes for Strawberry Crumble
You only really need kitchen basics to make a crumble. Measuring scales and spoons, a silicone spatula, and a small sharp knife should be fairly standard in most kitchens.
You can use almost any baking dish you like. I tend to use a ceramic baking dish or a glass Pyrex dish rather than a tin.
I was feeling a bit renegade when making this crumble so I tried making it in my cast iron pan. It worked beautifully and the retained heat kept the crumble warm at the table. Which was ideal when I went in for second helpings.
I will do this again and would recommend it. But you must be careful at the table because it is easy to forget how hot the pan is and touch it by mistake. Maybe not one for if there are kids (or klutzes) around.
Making Crumble Topping in a Food Processor
I’ve written this recipe for the crumble topping to be made by hand. I don’t tend to want to dirty the food processor for just one small batch. But if you prefer to use a processor or are making a larger batch, you can do so.
- Measure the Self Raising Flour and Salted Butter into the processor bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces as you add it.
- Pulse until the butter is no longer visible. It is ready when the mixture resembles breadcrumbs. If you don’t have a pulse function, turn the processor on for a second at a time then turn it off. Just keep repeating doing this.
- Measure in the Sugar and Sea Salt Flakes then pulse again a couple of times to combine and evenly distribute them in the flour butter mix.
A comprehensive list of the equipment used to make this recipe is included in the main recipe card below. Click on any item to see an example. There are no hard and fast rules so many items can be sensibly substituted to achieve the same results.
Get Ahead
Strawberry crumble is a great dessert to get ahead with. You can prepare the strawberries the day before and keep them in a sealed container in the fridge. And you can also make the crumble topping and keep it alongside. You can actually make the topping up to a week in advance. It is them simply a case of putting the crumble together on the day.
It will sit quite happily for a few hours before baking. You can keep it in the fridge if the day is warm. But you do want to take it out at least half an hour before baking.
You can also freeze the crumble, either entirely put together or just the topping. Its actually really handy to make batches of crumble, bag them up and keep them in the freezer.
Leftover Fruit Crumble
Leftovers crumble is great. I like to reheat it in the microwave as it prevents the crumble from drying out. You can reheat in the oven but I would tend to cover it with foil to help with the dry issue.
Leftovers served with yogurt make an excellent breakfast as far as I am concerned. Otherwise I am quite content to eat is for dessert a few days on the trot.
The cooked and cooled crumble will also freeze. I would do this in individual portions. Allow to defrost and then reheat as normal.
Strawberry Crumble Tips
Feel free to adjust the ratio of crumble topping to fruit. I like my crumble generous so that is how this recipe is written. You can reduce the crumble quantities and increase the fruit quantities if you prefer.
The quantities given for the fruit are in general really flexible. Don’t go and buy another punnet if you are 50g short. Or leave 50g of strawberries out if that’s what you have left.
Please don’t dive straight in with a spoon. I appreciate the enthusiasm but the cooked fruit will be scalding hot. Just be careful!
Don’t forget to let me know in the comments if you try making this recipe – I want to know what you think and if you made any substitutions, how did it turn out?
Still Have Questions?
Simple! Just contact me and I will do my best to help as quickly as I am able. Head over to my Contact Me page, any of my social media channels or post a comment at the bottom of this page and I’ll see what I can do.
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More Easy Fruit Crumble Recipes
The Recipe
Easy Strawberry Crumble Recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Crumble Topping
- 200 g Self Raising Flour (Self-Rising)
- 100 g Salted Butter - cold
- 100 g Sugar
- ¼ tsp Sea Salt Flakes
- 1 tbsp Demerara Sugar (Turbinado Sugar)
For the Fruit Filling
- 800 g Strawberries
- 1 tbsp Lemon Juice
- 1 tbsp Sugar
- 1 tbsp Cornflour (Cornstarch)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 180c fan | 200c | 390f.
- Measure 200g Self Raising Flour and 100g Salted Butter into a mixing bowl. Cut the butter into small pieces as you add it.
- Rub the butter into the flour using your fingertips. It is ready when the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
- Measure in 100g Sugar and ¼ tsp Sea Salt Flakes then stir into the flour butter mix until evenly distributed.
- Set aside the crumble mix for the time being.
- Use a sharp knife to slice off the tops of the 800g Strawberries stawberries. This will remove most of the hull too. Quarter or halve the strawberries depending on the size. Tip into your baking dish.
- Sprinkle over 1 tbsp Sugar, 1 tbsp Lemon Juice and 1 tbsp Cornflour.
- Give everything a mix in the baking dish – just so everything is evenly distributed.
- Sprinkle the crumble topping over the fruit. Heap the crumble up more in the middle of the dish and keep it thinner at the edges.
- Lightly sprinkle 1 tbsp Demerara Sugar over the top of the crumble for extra crunch.
- Bake for 40 minutes then serve warm.
Lesley says
Oooh two of my favourite things combined right there, strawberries and crumble – delicious. Now pass the custard!
Sisley White - Sew White says
I’d never thought to use strawberries in a crumbel before but this is so delicious and smells amazing when cooking. I can’t wait to make it with homegrown strawberries.
Jo Keohane says
I love stawberries oven baked – will definitely try this one. Thanks for posting, roll on summer.
Janice says
Such a simple recipe but with the most amazing colour and flavour. A definite favourite.