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I have made this recipe 3 times now and this last time I used raspberries, blueberries and bananas! They were amazing!!!!
Sweet, soft, wonderfully juicy raspberry crumble bars.
With a soft oat-brown-sugar-butter cookie-like base, and a thick, sweet, and tart but not overwhelming layer of raspberries in the middle, tucked in by a light dusting of those subtle streusel-like crumbs on top.
You’re gonna need to be making these.
I have strong opinions about fruit bars. I like them to be soft, not crunchy. I like them to be fruity, but not overloaded with fruit. I like them to taste kind of like cookies, but not a crunchy cookie and definitely not anything resembling the flavor of almond extract. I just… that’s not for me. I’ve eaten enough bars in church basements in my life to know what I like.
And what I like is THIS ONE.
The crust is soft and delicious and mostly made from our four usual suspects:
- oats
- flour
- brown sugar
- butter
And yes, you will want to eat it. I know you’re not supposed to eat raw flour and all that, but really? Not even a few little crumble chunks? I mean, good luck with that.
On to the raspberry filling. This is also eat-with-a-spoon-able delicious. I like this real raspberry filling better than a jam filling layer because the jam ones just get so sweet sometimes, know what I mean?
We’re talking about primarily:
- Raspberries
- Lemon juice
- Sugar
There’s also a little flour and cornstarch ditty going on in there to help this not become a total puddle.
The goal here is that you will pull the bars out of the oven and see the jam filling looking like a barely-bubbling hot lava. That’s your ticket. That’s when you know it’s going to hold and you’re about to slice into some REAL NICE BARS.
When they cool, you have the big decision to make about whether to cut them in reasonably sized bars or extra large bars. I always vote extra large.
Okay, let’s brainstorm a list of reasons (excuses) to make these.
- You have friends coming over to watch the Bachelorette.
- You love raspberries.
- You had a bad day.
- You had a good day.
- Your neighbors are craving treats.
- You need to win someone over at work.
- You’re hosting a dinner party.
- It’s summer / Tuesday / rainy / sunny / YOUR LIFE.
- You love yourself.
Does that help?
How To Make Our Raspberry Crumble Bars (1 Min):
More Summery Desserts
- Best Peach Cobbler (seriously the best)
- Mocha Peanut Butter Pie (chocolate lovers, unite!)
- Fruit Pizza (a Midwestern retro favorite)
Raspberry Crumble Bars
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 12–18 bars 1x
Description
These Raspberry Crumble Bars are THE BEST! So soft, buttery, and delicious. My favorite summer dessert.
Ingredients
Raspberry Filling
- two 12-ounce bags of frozen raspberries (see notes)
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (more depending on tartness of your berries)
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- juice of one lemon
Crumble Layer
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 3 cups flour
- 2 cups brown sugar (loosely packed)
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 1/2 cups melted butter (I prefer salted)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Prep Raspberries: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place raspberries in a large colander. Run warm water over them for a minute, and then let the liquid drain out for about an hour until softened and thoroughly drained (see notes). Mix raspberries with sugar, flour, cornstarch, and lemon juice.
- Soft Delicious Crust: Mix the oats, flour, sugar, baking powder, butter, and salt together into a crumble-like mixture. Press two thirds of the crumble into the bottom of a 9×13 pan lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 minutes.
- Bake: Arrange the raspberry layer on top of the baked bottom layer. Sprinkle with remaining crumble. Bake for another 25-30 minutes.
- Finish: Remove from oven. They will need a little time to set up into “bar” formation, so chill them for a few hours to get them really solid. Orrrr… cut into it right away and eat it like a soft fruit crisp! You should be able to remove them from the pan easily by pulling up on the edges of the parchment paper.
Notes
Thawing and draining the raspberries is important for getting the bars to firm up. When thawing the raspberries in the colander, you can gently squeeze them with your hands or press lightly with a spoon to get more liquid out. They will probably still be a little wet and mushy, which is fine. You just don’t want to have tons of excess water seeping out.
If you’d rather not mess with thawing, you can also use fresh raspberries! However, this is usually more expensive because it requires A LOT of fresh raspberries. And I found my fresh raspberry version to be very, very juicy. Like, kind of hard to eat.
I highly recommend the chill time! It helps them set up into bars that hold their shape really well. Also because I am weirdly obsessed with cold dessert bars and I think they taste so good.
Also, nothing against raspberries, but I’m inclined to believe that you could kinda put anything in between two layers of that crumbly cookie-like crust and be very happy with yourself.
I recommend using old fashioned rolled oats, not quick oats.
- Prep Time: 1 hour
- Cook Time: 30 minutes
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: raspberry crumble bars, raspberry bars, berry bars
One More Thing!
This recipe is part of our collection of easy dessert recipes. Check it out!
I recommend making this recipe just the way it’s stated here, then you can adjust it to your liking. The basic recipe was fine but needed more filling. Next time I make this I’ll try doubling the filing, then scaling it back in the future if it’s too much.
I have made this recipe so many times. Halved, doubled, gluten free, dairy free…any way you make it , it turns out delicious. I typically use fresh berries when they’re $2 at Costco and agree sometimes fresh can be a little too juicy, but always still tasty.
My Gf/Df version. Was made with 1:1 flour until I ran out then subbed in with oat flour, and coconut oil for the butter. While I prefer the butter flavor this version was still great and was friendly to all at a cook out.
We picked raspberries and then made these bars. We drained the berries, and they were perfect. Among the best desserts ever made.
I make these multiple times in the summer when our raspberry bushes produce more than we can eat. They have become a family favorite for three years. To use fresh raspberries, I double the cornstarch and they turn out perfectly. I just picked 5lbs and am making two batches to take to family for the Fourth of July. Thanks for a great recipe.
Hello, can we use pure raspberry jam for these squares?
We haven’t tested that!
I am wondering if I could make these with a shortbread crust? What do you think ?
These are great! I cut them into 24 pieces, or you can cut them even smaller than that for a crowd. ☺️
Can you use rhubarb with this recipe?
I’ve made these numerous times and everybody loves them. My question is whether anyone has tried them with rhubarb or a combo of raspberry and rhubarb?
Will you give suggestions for how to use freeze dried raspberries in this recipe? Thank you!
this is a great recipe. I use whatever fruit I have in the freezer and mix it all up. always turns out great. I do not bother pre baking the oats or letting the fruit thaw and it still turns out good every time
I’ve made this recipe twice already, we are officially obsessed. 😍 I did use fresh raspberries both times, but they were on sale. 😜
The conversion imperial system to metric needs an update.
Great recipe!
I tried it with strawberries and rhubarb and it’s delicious. I also made it with half rolled oats and half quick oats and it’s perfect. Next time though I will add a little bit more fruits.
This recipe looks delicious! Have you ever made a half recipe? What size pan would you use? Wondering if it would work in an 8X8 brownie pan.
DONT substitute in steal cut oats here, I thought I had regular and they ended up being steal cut but I just went for it. lesson learned 🙁 I was very excited for these, I cant wait to try again and get that chewy buttery result everyone is talking about!!!!
How many days ahead can I make these?
One day!
Hi! Love your website.
I’ve made these raspberry bars once and now am making them again. Delicious and a real crowd pleaser! People couldn’t keep their hands off them… They kind of hovered around them hoping there would be more crumbs to dip their fingers in.
Can I make the raspberry bars with frozen raspberries?Thanks!
Can these be made with chopped cranberries instead of raspberries? If so, do you think cooking the cranberries first would be best? Just thought it would make for a nice holiday treat.
I made these bars last week with fresh raspberries. My family LOVED them. Thanks for the recipe.
Oh, fantastic!
These are so good! I’ve made them with cranberries and orange for Thanksgiving and Christmas and they slap!! They are the party favorite whereever I take them!
These look awesome! If i use fresh raspberries, how much do i need? Thanks!
24 ounces!
These bars are divine! I didn’t make the raspberry filling listed in the recipe, but used a different cherry filling. What was outstanding, though, was the crumble itself. So buttery and so good! My bars looked and tasted great, and I got a lot of oohs and ahs from my coworkers. I agree that most any fruit flavor would be wonderful in this crumble. The important step is to chill the bars before cutting. Makes things a lot cleaner. Thanks for the great recipe!
Just made these but with mixed frozen berries (blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries) since my grocery store was out of just raspberries. SO good! Super easy and pretty quick…I do think the mixed berries had more juice, so maybe could have drained longer.