These Strawberry Crumb bars are a sweet, fruity dessert, perfect for sharing! Fresh Strawberries are the star, supported by layers of crunchy, buttery, and sugary oats. Perfect for parties, potlucks, and even breakfast!
Fresh strawberry recipes are amazing to make in the summertime, when strawberries are ripe and locally grown. You can make so many delicious desserts, like this Strawberry Galette, Strawberry Scones, or Strawberry Waffles. Strawberries are available all year round too, so if you feel like making strawberry oatmeal bars in the winter – go for it! You can also use strawberry jam for the filling.
I like to make desserts with strawberries for occasions when I’m sharing with family and friends, because everyone loves them! Make a batch of these strawberry bars to bring to a party, pot-luck, or holiday meal. Or, just make strawberry bars and enjoy them yourself – they store very well and can even be frozen.
This strawberry crumb bar recipe is quite simple, and comes together with just about 15 minutes of prep time. You’ll be amazed at what you can create with some strawberries and a few pantry ingredients.
If you’re looking for more delicious bar recipes, check out my Magic Bars. And if you enjoy oats for breakfast, try Baked Oatmeal Cups filled with yogurt and fresh fruit, or Baked Oatmeal Casserole.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It’s Easy – We are making a simple three layer bar. Two of the layers are a buttery oat crumb mixture and the middle layer is the strawberry filling. Since it’s a bar recipe, everything cooks in one pan and we’ll cut it into single servings later. I love bar recipes for this reason, so much faster than baking cookies! These no-bake Cheerio Bars have been a huge hit at my house lately.
- It’s Yummy – Fresh strawberry recipes are always delicious. I think it’s the contrast of the slightly tart red berries against the sweet, buttery crust. The flavors are just perfect! I’m giving you instructions for an optional (but amazing) sweet glaze that will take these bars to the next level too.
- It’s Flexible – You can easily double or triple this strawberry bar recipe for a crowd, in fact I usually do double mine. Any leftovers can be frozen for popping into school or work lunches later making this a great make ahead recipe too.
Ingredients in Strawberry Crumb Bars
Complete list of ingredients and amounts can be found in the recipe card below.
- Fresh Strawberries: Ripe, sweet strawberries are the star of this recipe. Rinse, remove the hulls and chop them into small pieces as shown.
- Oats: For this recipe, you’ll want old fashioned or rolled oats. The oats add bulk and substance to the bar topping and set this recipe apart from the rest.
- Flour and Salt: A bit of flour brings the topping together and makes it nice and crispy. Salt gives needed seasoning.
- Butter: Melted unsalted or lightly salted butter gives the topping a buttery, crispy top.
- Sugar: I like brown sugar for this strawberry recipe better than white sugar. It gives a caramel flavor to the bars that is just to die for.
- Lemon juice, Granulated Sugar, and Cornstarch: These three ingredients are added to the strawberries to create a sweet, thick strawberry filling.
- Glaze: For the optional glaze you’ll need powdered sugar, milk, and vanilla.
How to Make Strawberry Crumb Bars
- Prep: Line an 8-inch square pan with parchment paper. For easy removal of the bars, make the paper long so that it comes above the sides of the pan. This makes handles of parchment paper that make it super simple to just lift the bars out!
- Preheat: Preheat the oven to 350°F/180°C.
- Make Crumb Mixture: In a large bowl, combine the oats with flour, melted butter, brown sugar, and salt. Stir to combine.
- Make Strawberry Filling: In a separate bowl, combine the strawberries and sugar. Let it sit for 15 minutes to release juices, then drain excess juice. Add lemon juice and cornstarch. Stir well to combine fully.
- Create Crust: In an 8-inch square pan, press half of the flour oat mixture with your hands to coat the bottom.
- Layer: Layer with the strawberry mixture, then crumble the remaining flour oat mixture with your hands and scatter on top of the strawberries layer.
- Bake: Bake in a preheated oven as directed in the recipe card below. Cool completely before cutting into squares.
- Glaze: If you wish to drizzle with a simple glaze, mix together the glaze ingredients and drizzle only after the strawberry crumb bars have cooled completely. You’ll want to do this if you like your crumb bars to be on the sweeter side, but it’s optional.
Tips for Making the Best Strawberry Crumb Bars
- Make This Recipe with Fresh Strawberries – While you could technically try to make this with frozen berries, I really suggest using fresh ones. Buy berries when they are in season where you live, they’re much cheaper that way!
- Add More Flavor – Love cinnamon? Add a sprinkle of cinnamon to the oat mixture. You can also add grated ginger to the strawberry filling, I promise, it will be delicious!
- Pull Moisture out of the Berries – Don’t skip the step above that tells you to let the berries sit with the sugar for 15 minutes. We want to keep all the flavor of the berries, but not all the moisture. If the berries are too wet the bars will get mushy.
- Press the Crust – Make sure to really press the crust layer down and cover the bottom of the pan evenly. This will make certain that your bars hold together well after they’re cut.
- Make the Glaze – if you’re serving these bars as a dessert, definitely make the glaze. It makes them super sweet and delicious.
- Let them Cool – Resist the urge to cut into these strawberry crumb bars before they’ve cooled as they’ll be too tender and can break. I promise, they will be worth the wait!
Frequently Asked Questions
I’m certainly not going to stop you! I’d say that the oats in this recipe make it a perfectly acceptable breakfast treat as well as a dessert.
No. I recommend using old-fashioned oats for these strawberry bars. Using quick oats will result in a different texture.
I haven’t tested this recipe with frozen strawberries, and so I can’t recommend it. If you want to try, make sure you thaw your berries well and remove as much moisture as possible before proceeding.
Yes! Sometimes I make fruit bars with homemade jam, and they always turn out great.
Wrap bars individually in plastic wrap and then place in an airtight container in the freezer for up to three months.
Enjoy your fresh strawberry bars alone or with friends! Make sure to pin this recipe for everyone to see it.
Did you make this? Be sure to leave a review below and tag me on Facebook, Instagram, or Pinterest!
Strawberry Crumb Bars
Equipment
- 8×8 inch pan lined with parchment paper that hands over the pan to create handles on the sides for easy lifting of the bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup old fashioned/rolled oats
- ¾ cup all purpose flour
- ½ cup unsalted butter melted
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups fresh strawberries hulled and chopped
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons cornstarch
For the glaze – optional
- 1 cup powdered sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon milk or half and half
- ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/180°C.
- In a large bowl, combine the oats with flour, melted butter, brown sugar, and salt. Give everything a mix with a spatula.
- In a separate bowl, combine the strawberries with sugar. Let it sit for 15 minutes to release the juices then drain excess liquid. Add lemon juice, and cornstarch. Give it a stir so that the strawberries are well coated.
- In an 8-inch square pan, press half of the oat-flour mixture with your hands. Layer with the strawberry mixture, and then crumble the remaining flour oat mixture with your hands and scatter on top of the strawberries mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes. Cool completely and cut into squares.
- If you wish to drizzle with a simple glaze, mix together the glaze ingredients and drizzle only after the crumb bars have cooled completely. Do this if you like your crumb bars to be on the sweeter side.
Notes:
Nutrition Information
This website provides approximate nutrition information for convenience and as a courtesy only. Nutrition data is gathered primarily from the USDA Food Composition Database, whenever available, or otherwise other online calculators.
© Little Sunny Kitchen
joe says
How can I make these gluten free? Tks
God bless.
Little Sunny Kitchen says
Yes! Use a 1:1 gluten free flour blend, and certified gluten free oats. Enjoy!