This easy Strawberry Rhubarb Bars recipe features a base of rich, tender vanilla cake that’s topped with a sweet-tart layer of jammy strawberries and rhubarb, plus a buttery crumb topping. A beautiful spring and summer dessert!
Living in the Midwest my whole life, bars recipes are common – and I’m a huge fan. I’d never want to live without chewy chocolate chip cookie bars or monster cookie bars! And these Strawberry Rhubarb Bars are especially fabulous for spring and summer. This easy bars recipe features a moist and buttery, vanilla-flavored base that’s dressed up with a ruby-red layer of sweet strawberries and tart rhubarb. And then an irresistible crumb topping seals the deal!
Strawberry Rhubarb Bars Key Takeaways:
- Easy recipe for rhubarb bars with strawberries
- Perfectly seasonal, a beautiful spring & summer dessert
- Delicious base layer with rich buttery, vanilla flavor and moist, tender crumb
- Strawberry & rhubarb combine for a sweet-tart layer that’s absolutely gorgeous
- Crumble topping is full of rich butter flavor and bakes up delightfully crunchy
More yummy rhubarb and strawberry recipes for you!
Ingredients
Here’s what you’ll need to make these strawberry rhubarb crumb bars. Scroll down to the printable recipe card at the end of this post for the exact ingredient amounts.
- Rhubarb & strawberries – A little tart, a little sweet, this is one of my favorite flavor combinations!
- Butter – Unsalted butter is included in both the cake base and the crumb topping, for rich flavor and texture.
- Brown sugar – This gives a warmed sweet flavor to both the cake base and the crumb topping.
- Flour – All-purpose flour is included in both the base and the crunchy topping.
- Baking powder – This gives rise to the bottom cake layer.
- Salt – A little bit is included in both the base and the topping, to contrast with the sweet flavors.
- Eggs – These add rich flavor and help to bind the base ingredients together with moistness.
- Vanilla – Pure vanilla extract gives super lovely flavor to the cake base.
How to Make Strawberry Rhubarb Bars
This is an easy recipe that comes together with three layers of yummy flavors and textures!
- Prep. Preheat oven to 350°F and prepare a 9” square baking pan.
- Make the crumb topping. Combine melted butter, brown sugar, and salt. Then cut in flour until large crumbs form (should look like the photo in the upper left). Refrigerate until ready to use. (I like this crumb topping method that utilizes melted butter, just like my rhubarb muffins recipe does!)
- Make the strawberry rhubarb filling. Combine rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar, and ¼ cup of the flour.
- Create the base batter. Beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs and vanilla, followed by the dry ingredients of flour, baking powder, and salt.
- Layer in the base and fruits. Spread the cake base batter into the prepared pan. Then layer the fruit mixture over the top.
- Add crumb topping. Sprinkle the chilled crumble topping over the fruits.
- Bake. Place in oven and bake 50-55 minutes, or until topping is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a bit of moist crumbs attached. Remove pan from oven.
- Cool. Let bars cool completely in pan. Cut into individual portions/bars and dust with powdered sugar if desired.
A Few Tips from Brenda
- For super clean cuts, if you’re serving this for a special gathering for example, I recommend following the instructions in the recipe card for preparing the pan with a parchment paper sling. If none of that matters to you, simply give the pan a light spray of non-stick baking spray!
- Do melt the butter for the crumble topping. But do so gently, right away when you start this recipe, so it has some time to cool to warm room temperature.
- Refrigerate the crumb topping so the pieces of crumble chill a bit. This will help the pieces keep their form and become delightfully crispy in the oven.
- Aim for same-size pieces of rhubarb and strawberry, for the best fruit layer.
- Lightly tent the pan with a piece of foil while in the oven if the crumb topping is browning more quickly than you like.
More delicious, easy bars recipes:
- Rhubarb Cream Cheese Bars
- Peach Bars
- Blueberry Crumble Bars
- Lemon Bars (with gorgeous lemon curd filling)
- Lemon Heaven Bars (more like a chewy brownie)
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Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Bars
Yield: 16 servings
This easy Strawberry Rhubarb Bars recipe features a base of rich, tender vanilla cake that's topped with a sweet-tart layer of jammy strawberries and rhubarb, plus a buttery crumb topping. A beautiful spring and summer dessert!
Print
Ingredients
Crumb Topping
- ½ cup unsalted butter, gently melted and then cooled a bit (plus a bit more room-temperature butter to grease the pan)
- ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
- 1¼ cup all-purpose flour
Bars
- ½ pound chopped (½" pieces) fresh rhubarb
- ½ pound fresh strawberries, hulled and sliced ¼" thick
- 2 tablespoons packed light brown sugar
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon Morton kosher salt
- ¾ cup unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 1½ cups powdered sugar, plus a bit more for dusting over the finished bars
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9'' square baking pan with butter, then line with a parchment paper sling, leaving an overhang on 2 sides. Butter and flour the parchment paper and pan, tapping out the excess flour. Set aside.
Crumb Topping
- Whisk together butter, brown sugar, and salt. Add flour and cut with a rigid pastry cutter or fork until large crumbs form. Refrigerate until ready to use.
Bars
- In a medium bowl, combine rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar, and ¼ cup of the flour.
- In another medium bowl, whisk the remaining 1¼ cups of flour, baking powder, and salt.
- In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Then beat in the eggs, one at a time. With mixer on low, beat in vanilla, then the flour mixture.
- Spread batter evenly into prepared pan. Top with rhubarb and strawberry mixture, then top with streusel crumb topping. If you like to have some of the pretty red of the rhubarb and strawberries show on top (I do!), poke a few pieces up through the streusel.
- Bake 50-55 minutes, or until topping is golden and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with just a bit of moist crumbs attached. If crumb topping is browning more than you like and the cake is not yet fully baked, lay a piece of foil loosely over the pan while it continues to bake.
- Remove pan from oven. Let bars cool completely in pan. Run a knife around the edge of the pan and, using the parchment paper overhang, lift cake from pan. Cut into bars; dust with powdered sugar if desired. Serve as is, or with dollops of fresh whipped cream.
Nutrition Information:
Calories: 212kcal
Nutrition information is automatically calculated by Spoonacular. I am not a nutritionist and cannot guarantee accuracy. If your health depends on nutrition information, please calculate again with your own favorite calculator.
Did you make this recipe?Please leave a comment below. And share a photo on Instagram with the hashtag #afarmgirlsdabbles or tag @farmgirlsdabble!
This post was originally published April 2012, then updated in 2017 and 2024.
Still my favorite rhubarb bar recipe to this day! I make them every year now! :D
So wonderful to hear!! Thanks for letting me know!
hey girl- these bars look so yummy!
I just read your Rhubarb 101 post and it was so informative!! I must say I’ve never used rhubarb before but I’ve been wanting to try it and these crumb bars look like the perfect place to start! :)
Bonjour; pourriez vous me donner la recette en gramme s’il vous plait
Merci beaucoup
Made this today but with rhubarb and apple. The recipe was easy to follow and it turned out perfect. Thanks
Beautiful combo, love it! So glad you liked this recipe – thanks for coming back to let me know. :)
Can I use frozen rhubarb and frozen strawberry”s
Brenda,
These look amazing, but what if I want to make a large sheet pan or jelly pan full of these bars? Should I just double the recipe and bake it a little longer?
Hi Margie – I have not played around with different sizes of pans for this recipe, so I can’t say for sure. But I would think that should work fine. Please let me know if you try it.
I double the recipe and made them in a 9X13 inch pan. Very full and the center did not get done. Next time I will put them in a jelly roll pan. The outsides that did get done were delicious.
Made these tonight–they are so yummy!! Thanks for the great recipe!
Thank you Brenda for all the great rhubarb recipes. Have a wonderful weekend!
I’ve never cooked with rhubard before, but my stepfather has a ton in his garden during the spring. I’ll have to steal some and make these. Thanks for the recipe!
Excellent! I want to bake a brownies like this ,its so yummy!
Absolutely amazing… never though that rhubarb could be that sweet! I have learnt a new thing now and is not willing to stop soon. Thanks:)
Made it!
These look so delicious! It’s certainly time for strawberry and rhurbarb anything!
Just gorgeous! Strawberry Rhubarb is one of my favorite desserts. I love that you made this into a coffee cake – must try!
Hi Brenda,
I just saw your crumb bars on Tasty Kitchen and had to pop over to tell you how beautiful they are! I’ve never met a crumb bar I didn’t love, and I could easily go for one right now with my morning coffee :).
Just started peeking around your blog and it looks lovely so I can’t wait to dive in!
Yum! I love rhubarb! It’s been such a long time since I’ve had any. My mom used to grow it in the garden, but we’ve moved far south, and now I’m not even sure it grows here. You have me pining for it though. . . . I know I’ve seen packs of it at the grocery store. I’ll have to check! Thanks for bringing back a “retro” recipe from your pile – I have the same situation going on in my kitchen drawer!
we had something similar to this at school today… but yours looks SO MUCH BETTER!! i want this noowww
I am still not a big fan of rhubarb and this is the second post this week I’ve seen with these bars. I have to tell you what I told the other blogger and friend, that paired with the strawberries I’m sure I could learn to love it. Beautiful looking dessert Brenda.
If you’re especially not thrilled about rhubarb in the first place, a good place to start is pairing it with strawberries. I like it with strawberries or without, but the berries add sweetness and prettiness.
I’ve never made a crumb cake with Rhubarb, only ice cream and it was delicious. This looks so good and the recipe sounds easy. I’m saving this to try sometime soon.
Thanks for sharing.
Rhubarb ice cream? Hmmmm…haven’t had that before. Sounds delicious with cream, though! So nice to hear from you again, Vicki. :)