This Berry Crisp Recipe is a classic, foolproof EASY mixed berry dessert. Sweet, tart berries are layered underneath a buttery, crunchy topping. Perfect with a scoop of ice cream or all on its own.
Are you ready for your go-to summer dessert recipe? This Berry Crisp is always a crowd pleaser and is perfect when berries are in season, but is also fantastic all year long because you can just as easily use frozen berries! I have some pretty great recipes on my site for berry season, like my Blueberry Muffin Cake and my Berry Ambrosia Salad but Berry Crisp really is a must-make. So many sweet, tart berries topped with a generous portion of buttery, oat crisp!
I’ve worked hard to perfect the oat crisp topping, and it’s amazing! It’s thick, buttery and has the perfect amount of sweetness. You can pair this crumble (streusel) topping with just about any fruit, just like my Apple Crisp!
What Ingredients Do You Need For Berry Crisp?
The best thing about this Berry Crisp Recipe is that it uses simple, everyday ingredients. Here are a few of the main ingredients you will need:
- Oats: I like to use Quick Oats in this recipe, but you can use Old Fashioned or Rolled Oats instead if that’s all you have. Quick Oats are just oats that have been roughly cut, so they cook faster. I prefer the texture in the oat topping, but again, you can use either!
- Brown Sugar: I love using brown sugar in the crisp topping, but you can sub this out for granulated sugar as well. The brown sugar gives the crisp a more golden color and also a richer taste, in my opinion.
- Orange Juice: I squeeze a little fresh orange juice into the berry mixture before it’s baked. The citrus flavor is very subtle, but I think it adds a nice complexity to the berries. You could also use lemon or lime juice!
- Berries: Obviously the berries are the star of the show! I really love the mixture of strawberries, blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries.
Can You Use Frozen Berries?
YES! What makes this recipe so great is that you can make it all year long thanks to frozen berries. Whether they are berries you picked during their season, or packaged frozen berries from the store, they are a great alternative to fresh berries. And a lot of times, they are cheaper.
Can I Use Different Berries Than The Recipe Calls For?
Like I said above I like using 4 different types of berries when I can. I have found that 2 cups of strawberries, 2 cups of blueberries, 1 cup of raspberries and 1 cup of blackberries is my favorite mix. I don’t like adding too many raspberries or blackberries because they have a lot of seeds that get stuck in my teeth! But if you don’t prefer a certain kind of berry in this recipe, so ahead and use what combo you like. Just use a total of 6 cups.
How Do You Make A Fruit Crisp?
What’s so great about any sort of crisp recipe, is that is supposed to be rustic, so there’s no need to worry about it looking “perfect”. The beauty is in the messiness, in my opinion! Here are the simple steps:
- The streusel mixture on the top of the Crisp is so important. You want there to be enough of the mixture that you get streusel in every bite. You also want to make sure it’s buttery enough that it’s no dry, but not too buttery that it’s greasy! My recipe for the crisp topping is totally perfect! Just make sure that when you mix it up it will hold together when squeezed.
- You mix the berries with a little sugar, some citrus juice, and vanilla. You will want to lightly toss the berries with 1/4 cup of flour. This will help thicken up the juices that the berries release while they are baking.
- All you do to assemble this is spread the berries in the bottom of the pan and then spread the crumble mixture evenly on top! That’s it! It’s really a fantastically easy dessert that will impress guests.
Is It A Crisp, A Crumble, a Buckle or a Cobbler? What’s The Difference?
Cobblers, Crisps, or Crumbles are all very similar desserts. They all traditionally have a fruit filling, and some of the small nuances are more regional.
A Crisp or a Crumble are basically the same thing, it just depends on what part of the country you are in! They have a fruit bottom and are topped with a buttery, streusel-type topping that typically includes oats, like today’s Berry Crisp Recipe.
A Cobbler is is similar but instead of the streusel topping it has a cake-like or biscuit-style topping dropped on top of the fruit before it bakes. As it bakes it puffs up to look like cobblestone streets.
Buckles are more cake-like and rise up around a fruity center, which causes it to “buckle” around the fruit. The more you know 🙂
Looking for More Berry Recipes? Try These:
- Blueberry Banana Bread
- Berry Slab Pie
- Blueberry Crumble Bars
- Strawberry Shortcake to feed a crowd!
- Glazed Berry Sugar Cookie Bars
- White Chocolate Raspberry Muffins
Berry Crisp
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour
- Yield: serves 10 1x
- Category: Pie
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: Dessert
Description
This is the best dessert for summer BBQs when berries are in season, or anytime of year if you use frozen berries!
Ingredients
Topping
- 1 1/4 cup quick oats
- 1 1/2 cup flour
- 1 cup light brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup cold butter, diced
Berry Filling
- 2 cups strawberries, cut in half, or quarters if large
- 2 cups blueberries
- 1 cup raspberries
- 1 cup blackberries
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tablespoons orange juice
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/4 cup flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Coat a 9×13 baking dish with nonstick spray, set aside.
- In a large bowl mix together the oats, flour, sugar, and salt. Mix in the butter with your hands or a pastry cutter until mixture form crumbs when squeezed together.
- Place berries in another large bowl. Stir in the sugar, juice, and vanilla into the berries. Sprinkle the flour on top of the berries and toss to coat.
- Place the berry mixture into the prepared pan, and sprinkle with the oat mixture evenly.
- Bake for 45 minutes, until the top is golden and the berries are bubbly.
Notes
You can swap out the types of berries to suit you preference as long as you use 6 cups in total.
You can use frozen berries, just allow them to thaw and drain any excess liquid.
Store airtight in the refrigerator for up to 3 days. Reheat individual servings in the microwave, or the entire pan in a 350°F oven for 20 minutes, or until heated through.
Nutrition
- Serving Size:
- Calories: 396
- Sugar: 25.2 g
- Sodium: 240.9 mg
- Fat: 19.7 g
- Carbohydrates: 52.5 g
- Protein: 4.6 g
- Cholesterol: 48.8 mg
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Haven’t tried it but it spells so good and the berry mix and topping both taste good on their own so I’m sure the finished will be amazing! Unfortunately I goofed the amount of berries and I only used about 4 cups give or take.
Do I adjust the time or temp so I don’t burn it down I add water so it’s not too dry?
What a great recipe! Have made it so far 5 times and each times a winner. Did change the topping a little bit, added 2 cups of flour, 2 cups of oats and 1.5 cups of unsalted butter because I like a little more of the crisp on top and I omitted the orange juice as I thought there was enough liquid in the berry part. Love this recipe!
I have tried many fruit cobblers & crisps.
This is one of my FAVORITES!!!
I skipped the OJ and instead kept & utilized the juice from my frozen mixed fruit!
Love hearing this!! So happy you enjoyed!
Fantastic! I made this, slightly altered. To begin with, I wanted to make this in my Cosori 5.8 air fryer, in a (greased) 6” wilton cake pan ( sides are slightly higher), which keeps it from bubbling over! I halved the berrie mixture(I used thawed, previously frozen three berry mix) and because I wanted a more jammy filling, I added 1T cornstarch to 1T orange juice, mixing with berries and putting in the pan. I began the berries at 350° for 15 min. I made a whole recipe of the crisp topping, splitting it in half and reserving and freezing half for a quick dessert at a later time. I sprinkled half of the topping over the berries, which are bubbling. I reduced the air fryer to 340° and baked 20-25 min more until nicely browned.
Lovely recipe. Thanks.
I was able to use frozen berries in my freezer. This was delicious.
Wow! another delicious smoothie I made it this afternoon for my little brother.
Every person at the party wanted the recipe—it’s outstanding and I can’t wait to make it again!
I have made this recipe several times and it’s always a huge success. Made at my husbands request for Father’s Day dessert and used 2 16oz pkgs of frozen berries mix (strawberry, blueberry, blackberry and cherry). And it was so so good! Your streusel topping really is the best and that is why we keep coming back to this recipe. Thank you for sharing!
This balance was perfect. I only had old fashioned oats on hand so I did a quick whirl in the blender to achieve the smaller texture of quick oats. I didn’t have much energy being that I just had surgery but this came together quickly and was such a comfort. (Especially on a rainy day 🙂 ) Thank you so much.
Can this recipe be halved?