Slice into this perfect sweet and tart Strawberry Rhubarb Pie recipe. Bursting with fresh, in-season fruit and a flaky pastry crust topped with an oat streusel for a dessert sure to impress your loved ones.
The best part is how rustic this pie is thanks to it's easy streusel topping that sinks into the juicy produce as it bakes. This is easy to make (you don't need to make the pastry if you don't want to) and even easier to savor. If you had to choose between streusel or pastry, which would you go for in a pie topping? Let me know your thoughts in the comments below!
Table of Contents
This Strawberry Rhubarb Pie has an unfussy crumble topping and easy pie base. It still has a full bodied taste of strawberries and rhubarb in the best science experiment. So let's just call it rustic looking and ignore the imperfections while we enjoy slices of it? Okay 😉
Ingredients and substitutions for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
- Plain flour: This is the best option for that flaky pastry, cake flour is not recommended here and if you live in the UK, see the FAQ's section as to a the type of flour to use here.
- Butter: Cold and cubed helps you press it into your flour without heating it up too much as you work it. Make sure that butter is fully coated with flour so no puddles form during baking. Unsalted was used here as this is fresher than salted, however, you could absolutely substitute salted butter here.
- Ice water: Ice water helps the water not soak into the flour too much which helps the gluten form in the dough whilst giving you that flaky texture!
- Sugar: Superfine or caster sugar is best here thanks to it's fine texture that will help draw out the moisture in our produce whilst also dissolving perfectly.
- Strawberries: Fresh or frozen strawberries work well here. You could easily sub blackberries and apricots or plums and raspberries, virtually any soft fruit would be good in this.
- Rhubarb: Fresh rhubarb is best here as it soaks up the sugar and gives us the perfect sweet interior. You could use blackberries or even cherries instead, if you prefer.
- Oats: Simple rolled oats are used, no quick oats or steel oats which might result in a different texture within the streusel.
See recipe card for quantities.
How to make Strawberry Rhubarb Pie:
Make the dough: Stir the flour and salt together and add the cold cubed butter.
Rub: Rub and toss the butter into the flour to coat fully until no pieces are smaller than peas.
1
Ice ice water: Add in the ice water and stir to form the dough.
Press and shape: Press the dough together ensuring no dry portions remain in the base of your bowl and shape into a disc.
Cover and refrigerate: Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour.
Roll it out: Roll the dough out, shaping to your pie dish and trimming the edges.
2
Shape and chill: Shape the pastry edges and pierce the pie crust. Return to the fridge to chill.
3
Bake: Fill with baking beans and bake until lightly golden. Set aside to cool.
Filling: Stir the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract to coat evenly.
4
Streusel: Toss oats, flour, sugar and butter into a bowl and combine until clumpy and holding together. Set aside.
5
Fill: Spoon into the pie crust nice and evenly.
6
Top: The streusel over evenly.
7
Bake: Until bubbling and golden, covering with aluminum foil, if the top is browning too much.
Cool completely: Refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Slice and serve: Ideally with a scoop of ice cream or pouring cream.
Enjoy: Dig in!
FAQ's for the best Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Plain flour in the UK has a lower protein amount which contributes to the dough strength, type of crumb and texture of your pastry, in this case. Plain flour in the Unites States for example has the same level of protein as Bread flour in the UK so the best flour to use here will be 175 grams / 1 ¼ cups bread flour. This will help you ensure a flaky pastry and making it easier to shape without being flimsy which is often the feeling of unbaked dough.
You can if you are short on time, shortcrust pastry is the best option to substitute for homemade flaky pastry.
More fruit pies you'll love!
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients
Pastry
- 150 grams/ 1 ¼ cups plain flour
- ¼ teaspoon sea or kosher salt
- 110 grams / 3.88 ounces butter chilled and cubed
- 62 milliliters / ¼ cup ice water
Filling
- 300 grams / 3 medium stalks rhubarb ends removed and sliced into 1 inch lengths
- 600 grams / 1.3 pounds strawberries hulled, halved (or quartered if large strawberries)
- 100 grams / ½ cup superfine/caster sugar
- 30 grams / ¼ cup cornflour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Streusel topping
- 45 grams / ½ cup rolled oats
- 40 grams / ¼ cup plain flour
- 60 grams / ⅓ cup superfine/caster sugar
- 35 grams / 2 ½ tablespoons butter softened
Instructions
Pastry
- For the pastry, place the flour and salt into a bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the cubed butter and toss through the flour to coat completely in flour.
- Press each cube between your fingers to thin out and continue tossing through the flour, trying to ensure the butter becomes no smaller than the size of peas.
- Add in a little of the ice water and stir to combine, continuing 1 tablespoon at a time until a dough forms, but ensuring it’s not too sticky, but that there are no dry portions in the base of the bowl.
- Press firmly into a disc, wrap and refrigerate for 1 hour.
- Lightly flour your surface and both sides of your dough and roll out to ¼ inch thickness.
- Flipping the dough and adding a small sprinkle of flour, where necessary.?Roll the dough around your rolling pin and place into your pie dish.
- Pressing therein and trimming the edges, folding ½ inch of the dough under the edges and pinching firmly.
- Return the dough to the fridge for 20 minutes to chill.
- Preheat the oven to 220C/425F.
- Remove the chilled pastry and pierce with a fork all over. Lay greaseproof paper to cover the entire pastry.
- Fill with baking beans or rice right up to the edges of your crust.
- Bake for 20 minutes until the edges are golden, remove the baking beans and continue to bake until golden all over, approximately 10 further minutes.
- Remove and allow to cool completely.
- Lower the oven to 180ºC/350F.
Filling
- Meanwhile, place the strawberries, rhubarb, sugar, cornflour and vanilla extract into a bowl and stir to coat evenly with the mixture. Set aside.
Streusel
- For the streusel topping, place the oats, flour, sugar and butter into a bowl and combine with your hands until the mixture is clumpy and holding together. Set aside.
Assembly
- Spoon the fruit mixture into the pie crust nice and evenly.
- Toss the streusel over the top evenly.
- Place in the pie in the oven and bake for 45 minutes until bubbling and golden, covering with aluminum foil, if the top is browning too much.
- Remove and allow to cool completely before refrigerating for at least 3 hours.
- Slice and serve with a scoop of ice cream or pouring cream.
- Dig in!
Notes
- Rhubarb: Fresh rhubarb is best here as it soaks up the sugar and gives us the perfect sweet interior. You could use blackberries or even cherries instead, if you prefer.
- Strawberries: Fresh or frozen strawberries work well here. You could easily sub blackberries and apricots or plums and raspberries, virtually any soft fruit would be good in this.
- Oats: Simple rolled oats are used, no quick oats or steel oats which might result in a different texture within the streusel.
- UK Flour: Plain flour in the UK has a lower protein amount which contributes to the dough strength, type of crumb and texture of your pastry, in this case. Plain flour in the Unites States for example has the same level of protein as Bread flour in the UK, so the best flour to use here will be 175 grams / 1 ¼ cups bread flour. This will help you ensure a flaky pastry and making it easier to shape without being flimsy which is often the feeling of unbaked dough.
- Pie dish: The pie dish used here is 18 cm / 7 inch which is around average, though a substitute would be a deep tart tin.
- Baking beans: Baking beans help keep your help to keep the pastry in shape as it bakes. Uncooked rice is a great substitute, but make sure you have sufficient to come right up to the edges of your crust.
Nutrition
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Made it and loved it?
If you have made this recipe, it would mean so much to leave a review below to help more people find this.
Sasha
Absolutely delicious. Made with 7 year old who loves cooking. She was so happy with it and has been begging me to make it again every night since we had it. Huge hit with the whole family. Had with custard as that's what we had in the fridge. Will try next time with ice cream.
Sylvie Taylor
So great to hear this was a hit!