You can make this Strawberry Crisp quickly with fresh or frozen strawberries. A summer dessert that’s easy to make and can be enjoyed all year long!

Introduction

It’s the summer! And we all know what that means! It’s time for berries. Let’s be honest: who doesn’t love eating a lot of fresh berries in the summer heat? I love all kinds of berries, but fresh strawberries from the garden are one of my favorites.

I love strawberries! They taste great, are sweet and juicy, and in my opinion, they are the best candy flavor. Plus, they’re really good for your heart and very healthy! This classic Strawberry Crisp recipe, which is like Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, is one of my favorite summer recipes because strawberries scream summer.

During the summer, I’m always thinking about how to make easy, simple, and kid-friendly treats. Please try making a fresh strawberry crisp if you haven’t already! It is definitely a must-have for summer. It will make you love strawberries even more!

Plus, it’s the perfect dish to serve to guests at dinner! It’s sure to be a treat they’ve never had before.

Making strawberry crisp isn’t as hard as it looks. You’ll feel like a pro dessert baker after making this recipe. As long as you have all the ingredients, your strawberry crisp will turn out beautifully! Speaking of ingredients here is what you are going to need:

Ingredients

• The more strawberries, the better! Fresh ones are preferred but frozen or wilted are good as well.
• White Sugar: It will definitely make it sweeter!
• Cornstarch: This is what is considered the binder. It is what helps thicken the juice and helps give it the desired texture.
• All purpose Flour: This is the base of the crumbly topping.
• Old Fashioned Rolled Oats: The old fashioned oats will give your end result an extra crisp!
• Brown Sugar: The Molasses in brown sugar will give your strawberry crisp more moisture and will create a chewier texture. And of course make it more sweet!
• Cinnamon: The more flavor the better!
• Salt: Salt in an enhancer. It will make everything taste that much better!
• Butter: It adds more moisture and more flavor into your recipe.

• ○ X strawberries, fresh or frozen
• ○ X white sugar
• ○ X cornstarch
• ○ X all purpose flour
• ○ X old fashioned rolled oats
• ○ X brown sugar
• ○ X cinnamon
• ○ X salt
• ○ X butter, cold and cubed

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to a standard baking temperature for fruit crisps (e.g., 375°F/190°C).
2. Let the strawberries sit in a bowl or on a paper towel for 5 minutes after rinsing them Any water you used to wash them – or berry juice sitting on top – will fall to the bottom. At this point, you can either: Pour off the excess liquid after 5 minutes. Just cook like normal. Since the liquid is at the bottom, when you add your crumble topping, it won’t automatically soak up the whole lot. As such, the moisture in the topping comes from the butter rather than the juice.
3. In a large bowl, combine X strawberries, X white sugar, and X cornstarch.

4. Pour the strawberry mixture into a baking dish.
5. In another bowl, combine X all purpose flour, X old fashioned rolled oats, X brown sugar, X cinnamon, and X salt. Cut in X butter until crumbly.
6. Sprinkle the topping evenly over the strawberry mixture.
7. Bake for a standard baking time for fruit crisps (e.g., 30-40 minutes) or until golden brown and bubbly.
8. Serve warm.

Strawberries that are fresh vs. frozen

I personally love a good fresh strawberry crisp, so if you have the choice, go with fresh.The best results come from ripe berries that you picked yourself or bought. But strawberry season is so short that it’s fine to use frozen strawberries when they’re not quite in season.

Sometimes it’s hard to keep fresh fruit around the house. Especially if you’re in charge of planning meals for your family. Someone either eats it or it sits around for too long and gets moldy and gross.

There’s no shame in using frozen strawberries. Plus, if you keep a handful around, you can whip up this strawberry crisp dessert in a snap if you need an impromptu dessert!

But is there a technical reason to choose fresh over frozen, or vice versa? Besides preference?

Sure.
A lot of juice is inside berries. This is why they are great for cooking, but it also makes them hard to freeze and thaw correctly. You know how ice takes up more space than water? So, when the juice in the berries expands, it sort of “pops” them during the baking process.

For a compromise, I recommend adding extra cornstarch to help absorb the additional water and juice that frozen berries produce.

Can you use frozen strawberries in crisp?

Yes, you can definitely use frozen strawberries for this recipe. If you only have access to frozen strawberries, no worries they will work just as great. Just add in a little extra corn starch to absorb the extra water that comes with frozen strawberries.

How to You Keep a Crisp from Getting Soggy?

Less moisture! However, that’s hard to tell how much is ‘too much’ when you’re in the creation process. Baking can depend heavily on your environment. Sometimes the air is too humid, or your strawberries are so ripe they are extra juicy.

Knowing if your crisp needs more or less moisture often comes from experience. But this simple strawberry crisp recipe will help you figure out if you need to add more cornstarch (a thickening agent) to your crisp.If your berries are frozen or VERY ripe, then add a Tablespoon or two of extra cornstarch. If your berries are out of season ripe, then leave the recipe alone.

If you are really worried about it (which you shouldn’t be and are probably overthinking all this) I will give you one good tip: Let the strawberries sit in a bowl or on a paper towel for 5 minutes after rinsing them Any water you used to wash them – or berry juice sitting on top – will fall to the bottom. At this point, you can either:

• Pour off the excess liquid after 5 minutes.
• Just cook like normal. Since the liquid is at the bottom, when you add your crumble topping, it won’t automatically soak up the whole lot. As such, the moisture in the topping comes from the butter rather than the juice.

Overall, don’t worry about the moisture. Bake your frozen strawberries frozen and your fresh strawberries fresh and all will be ok. Your topping shouldn’t get soggy and if it does, I’d be shocked. I’ve made this so many times that a soggy crisp isn’t something I’ve ever had to deal with.

Why Are My Strawberries Turning Mushy?

When it comes to this fresh strawberry crisp recipe, you don’t have to worry about mushy strawberries. You want soft cooked berries with a crunchy crisp topping. This is 100% expected and normal.

However if your fresh berries are mushy before you even cook with them, it’s a sign that they are starting to decompose. Hurry and freeze them, eat them or bake with them!

What’s the Difference Between a Crisp and a Crumble?

This is a tricky one, and I’m sure I’ll get it wrong, too! There have always been hot debates about what separates a crumble from a crisp. Even the best answers still aren’t able to give definitive answers!

The way I see it, a fresh strawberry crisp is meant to be light and crunchy. This is why fruit crisps often include oats and nuts. A fresh strawberry crumble is a bit more like pie with a crumble topping, There are no oats in a crumble making it less crispy.

This strawberry oatmeal dessert is DEFINITELY a crisp. It is light, crispy, and would be hard to mix up with even the best strawberry crumble or crisp.

Can You Make a Crisp Ahead of Time?

Yes? No? Kind of?
Crisps shouldn’t sit around for too long. If you want to assemble it in the morning, so you can bake it fresh in the evening for a warm strawberry dessert, sure! Make it ahead of time.

If you want to make and freeze it to save for a week later, I’d suggest against that. Have you ever tried to microwave pizza? Like the kind that’s been out on the table for an hour, got cold, and you want to speed heat it? The edges that were previously nice and crispy with a good crunch… Yeah, say goodbye to that!

It’s all going to depend on time and moisture. If you leave something to sit out too long with wet and dry ingredients interacting, even if the dry is sitting on top of the wet, it’s going to soak up moisture. As such, it’ll come out soggy when you bake it.

If you freeze it, the topping won’t stay “crisp” and the fruit at the bottom can grow syrupy as it thaws.
So I suggest making it as you need it, or if using fresh berries, making it the morning of and baking it that afternoon. However if you use frozen berries, you’ll have to make it when you need it or the berries will be quite soggy tasting.

Does strawberry crisp need to be refrigerated?

You only need to refrigerate your strawberry crisp if you weren’t able to eat it all in one serving! You can also prepare your crisp the night before and keep it in the fridge to keep it fresh for the next day. If you are storing your leftovers in the fridge, it will last about 5 days.

If you are making your strawberry crisp the day before you are going to eat it, make sure you let your crisp completely cool after being in the oven before you stick it in the fridge. You can also make the crisp ahead of time and cook it later for a fresher option.

Can I freeze strawberry crisp?

It never goes as well as you want when you freeze berries and then thaw them out again. When berries freeze, they expand like ice because they have a lot of juice in them. This makes it hard to freeze fruit desserts.

If you freeze your strawberry crisp, the crispy part will be gone. It’s like putting pizza in the microwave to heat it up again, but not quite the same. So, I wouldn’t freeze your strawberry crisp.