This easy and delicious strawberry rhubarb cobbler is the ultimate late Spring fruit dessert! Sweet, crunchy, buttery and fruit filled.
This Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler features a generous layer of warm fruit, topped with a delicious biscuit topping and a layer of crumbs, that crisp up beautifully as it cooks.
This is one of those desserts where you just spoon out in to a bowl and serve warm with a spoonful of whipped cream or ice cream.
Ingredients and Substitutions
Rhubarb – you can use either fresh or frozen rhubarb. For frozen rhubarb, use from frozen. No need to thaw. Allow extra baking time for the extra moisture of frozen fruit to cook off.
Strawberries – fresh strawberries will work best here, as they tend to hold their shape better. Frozen strawberries should work, but allow extra baking time for the extra moisture to cook off.
Buttermilk – use regular buttermilk or make your own version. Simply use a scant 1/2 cup of regular milk combined with 1 1/2 tsp lemon juice instead!
Cook’s Notes
- You’ll notice that the recipe provides a range of sugar for the fruit filling. If you love a tart, less sweet fruit layer, go with the 1/2 cup of sugar. For those who like it sweeter, 3/4 cup of sugar is the way to go. I think the sweetness of your strawberries may also dictate. If starting with super sweet, fresh picked berries you can probably reduce the sugar accordingly. For out-of-season, less sweet strawberries, a bit more sugar might be in order.
- You don’t have to use a cast-iron skillet for this dessert. Simply use any deep baking dish in the 9-inch diameter or square range.
- This dessert has the potential to bubble over, particularly if you baking dish is not super deep. Baking on top of a baking sheet is probably a good idea.
Get the Recipe: Strawberry Rhubarb Cobbler
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1/2-3/4 cup white sugar, (adjust depending on your taste for tart or sweet fruit filling)
- 3 Tablespoons cornstarch
- 3 cups rhubarb, fresh or frozen, chopped
- 3 cups strawberries, fresh recommended, chopped
Cake:
- 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour, spooned and levelled
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 cup salted butter, cold, cut in to 8 pieces
- 1/2 cup buttermilk, cold
- 1 large egg
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Topping:
- 1/2 cup white granulatedsugar
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 2 Tbsp butter, cold, cut into 4 pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 F with rack in centre of oven. Grease a 10-inch top diameter skillet or 9-inch round or square baking dish and set on top of a baking sheet. Set aside.
- For the filling: All all the filling ingredients to your prepared baking dish and stir well to coat fruit.
- For the Cake: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder and baking soda. Add the cold butter pieces. Using your fingertips, rub the butter in to the flour mixture until the mixture is crumbly, with butter pieces no larger than the size of a pea. In a small bowl, whisk together the buttermilk, egg and vanilla. Add to the flour/butter mixture and stir just until the mixture is evenly moistened. Spoon mixture over the fruit filling in the skillet.
- For the Topping: In a small bowl, whisk together the sugar and flour. Add the cold butter and rub the butter together with the flour and sugar until you have a crumbly mixture. Scatter over-top of cake layer.
- *To be safe, I like to place the baking dish or skillet on top of a baking sheet, to catch any bubble-overs.
- Bake at 350 F. for about 45 minutes, or until top is golden and set and filling is bubbling.
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I made this with just rhubarb, no strawbs, for a crowd and it was so yummy! Exactly what I was looking for! Perfect with vanilla ice cream. I did add salt to the cake mix because I prefer dessert a bit less sweet. Also threw cardamom in the topping because I love cardamom with rhubarb! Thank you for this recipe, it’s surely a keeper.
Sounds lovely. So glad you enjoyed it! Thanks so much :)
I made this today and it was more than fantastic! Instead of a skillet, I used La Creuset’s 5 quart “signature” pan Underneath the delicately crunchy top was a moist, sweet cake-like biscuit. The Fruit had the perfect amount of thickener to leave it juicy but not runny. It was a beautiful presentation with great flavors and a huge hit with our dinner guests! Thanks so much for the great recipe and instructions. As a side note, I live in a high altitude area (6000 ft.) The only adjustments I made were to reduce the baking powder and baking soda to 1/4 tsp each and increased the oven temp to 370. It took about 60 minutes to cook at this elevation.
So glad to hear, Mary :) Thanks so much!
I made this yesterday and it is the best Cobbler I have ever made! I was a little shy of the 6 cups of strawberries and rhubarb, so I added some Raspberries that I had…. the crust is so crispy and fluffy and so addicting… This will be my go to cobbler recipe. I have never commented on anyone’s website before today, but this was soooo good I had to!
So happy to hear, Debra :) Thanks so much!
Strawberries and rhubarb are one of Chris’ favorite dessert ingredient combos, better than chocolate he says. I am loving all the butter in this cobbler:) Buttery and warm cobbler with vanilla ice-cream melting all over it – yum!
Thanks Milena and yes, butter makes everything better, I say ;)
Can you use frozen fruit?
Hi Emily, I haven’t tested it with frozen fruit, but I suspect it should work. You might need to cook a tiny bit longer to cook off any excess moisture in the filling. If you try it, let me know how it works out :)
It looks as sweet and delicious on Monday as I bet it was on Saturday! This would be fabulous any day of the week! I’m crazy about the strawberry rhubarb combination. They seem to compliment each other perfectly!
Thanks Chris and yes, this fruit combination is quite possibly my favourite of all of them :)
I can’t wait for my rhubarb to grow some more so I can make this! Can’t beat strawberry and rhubarb together and I just love anything in a little skillet! Perfect with ice-cream on a summer day ;) Have a great week, Jennifer!!
Thanks so much, Dawn and yes, it’s the perfect use for your garden rhubarb!
The only thing better than the combination of strawberries and rhubarb would have to be the combination of strawberries, rhubarb AND buttery biscuit crumbs!! This cobbler looks just heavenly, Jennifer! I’m definitely craving this for breakfast and I’m thinking that’s perfectly acceptable because fruit is involved. ;) Cheers, friend!
Thanks Cheyanne and I completely agree. If it has fruit it can be breakfast ;)
This would make any day sweeter Jennifer! I love the strawberry rhubarb combo.
Thanks so much, Mary Ann :)
Perfect sweet Saturday treat! We love the combination of strawberries and rhubarb – and those biscuits look so tender and buttery, just sitting there soaking up all that amazing juice. I could surely hurt myself on this skillet of deliciousness :) Happy Saturday Jennifer!
Thanks so much, Tricia :) Have a great weekend!