This Strawberry Crisp tastes great and is easy to make with either fresh or frozen strawberries. This is a simple summer treat that you can make all year long!

Introduction to Summer Berries and Strawberry Crisp

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

Strawberries are great! They are sweet and juicy, and I think they taste the finest of all the candies. On top of that, they are really good for your heart and health! Strawberries are very summer-y, which is why this classic Strawberry Crisp dish, which is like Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, is one of my favorite summer recipes.

During the summer, I constantly think about how to find easy, simple, kid-friendly snacks. Please, please, please try making a fresh strawberry crisp if you haven’t already! It is definitely a summer must. It will make you love strawberries even more!

Plus, it’s the great meal to present to visitors during dinner! It’s sure to be a treat they’ve never had before.

What ingredients are in a strawberry crisp:

6 cups Strawberries (fresh or frozen), hulled and sliced
1/2 cup White Sugar
2 tablespoons Cornstarch
1 cup All-purpose flour
1 cup Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats
1/2 cup Brown Sugar
1 teaspoon Cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon Salt
1/2 cup Butter (1 stick), cold and cut into pieces

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 375°F (190°C).
In a large bowl, gently combine the strawberries, white sugar, and cornstarch. If using frozen strawberries, add an extra Tablespoon or two of cornstarch as suggested for soaking up extra water. Pour the mixture into an 8×8 or 9×9 inch baking dish.
In a separate bowl, combine the all-purpose flour, old-fashioned rolled oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt.
Add the cold, cut butter pieces to the dry topping ingredients. Use your fingers or a pastry blender to cut the butter into the mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the strawberry mixture in the baking dish.
Bake for 35-45 minutes, or until the topping is golden brown and the strawberry filling is bubbly.

Strawberries that are fresh vs. frozen

If you can choose between fresh and frozen, I personally like a wonderful fresh strawberry crisp.The best results come from ripe berries that you picked yourself or bought. But strawberry season is so brief that it’s safe to use frozen strawberries when they’re not quite in season.

It can be hard to keep fresh fruit around the house all the time. Especially if you’re in charge of planning meals for a family. Either someone chews on it or it hangs around too long, turning unpleasant and moldy.

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

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

Yep.
Berries hold a LOT of liquid in them. This makes them fantastic to cook with, but it also makes them hard to freeze and thaw correctly. You know how ice takes up more space than water? So, when the fluid in the berries swells, it sort of “pops” them throughout the baking process.

To make a compromise, I suggest adding more cornstarch to help soak up the extra water and juice that frozen berries make.

How do you keep a crisp from getting soggy?

Not as much water! But when you’re in the middle of making something, it’s impossible to know how much is “too much.” The weather can have a big effect on baking. Sometimes the air is excessively humid, or your strawberries are so ripe they are unusually juicy.

Knowing if your crisp needs more or less moisture generally comes with experience. However with this easy strawberry crisp recipe, you’ll be able to simply determine if you should add extra cornstarch (a thickening agent) to your crisp or not. If your berries are frozen or VERY ripe, then add a Tablespoon or two with more 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 helpful tip: Let the strawberries lay in a basin 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 moment, you can either:

Pour out the excess liquid after 5 minutes.
Just cook like normal. Since the liquid is in the bottom, when you add your crumble topping, it won’t automatically soak up the whole bunch. 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 go soggy and if it does, I’d be amazed. I’ve cooked this so many times that a soggy crisp isn’t something I’ve ever had to deal with.

Can you use frozen strawberries in crisp?

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

What is the difference between a crumble and a crisp?

This is a hard one, and I’m sure I’ll get it wrong as well! People have always had strong opinions about what makes a crumble different from a crisp. Even the finest responses still aren’t able to deliver clear answers!

The way I view it, a fresh strawberry crisp is designed to be light and crunchy. This is why fruit crisps commonly incorporate 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 treat is DEFINITELY a crisp. It is light, crispy, and would be impossible to mix up with even the greatest strawberry crumble or crisp.

Why Are My Strawberries Turning Mushy?

You don’t have to worry about mushy strawberries when you make this fresh strawberry crisp.You want berries that are soft when cooked and have a crispy coating. This is 100% anticipated and typical.

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

Can You Make a Crisp Ahead of Time?

Yes? No? Kind of?
Crisps shouldn’t sit around for too long. If you want to build 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 counsel 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 lovely and crispy with a decent crunch… Yeah, say goodbye to it!

It’s all going to depend on time and moisture. If you let something to hang out too long with wet and dry ingredients interacting, even if the dry is resting on top of the wet, it’s going to take 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 develop sticky as it thaws.
I recommend making it as you need it, or if you’re using fresh berries, making it in the morning and baking it in the afternoon. But if you use frozen berries, you will have to cook it when you need it else the berries would taste quite soggy.

Should strawberry crisp be kept in the fridge?

If you couldn’t eat all of your strawberry crisp in one sitting, you only need to put it in the fridge. You may also prepare your crisp the night before and store it in the fridge to keep it fresh for the next day. If you are putting your leftovers in the fridge, it will last around 5 days.

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

Can I freeze strawberry crisp?

Freezing berries and thawing them again never really goes as smoothly as you hope. Because berries have a lot of juice in them, when they freeze they expand like ice, which makes freezing dessert with fruit quite challenging.

If you freeze your strawberry crisp, it will take the crunchy part out of the equation. It is like reheating pizza in the microwave… just not the same. So I would advise against freezing your strawberry crisp.