This blueberry crumble recipe is a favorite! The nostalgic summer dessert stars a sweet tart fruit filling topped with buttery crumbles.
Looking for a blueberry dessert that’s as perfect as they come? This Blueberry Crumble recipe is the ideal nostalgic treat for ending a meal. It’s got a juicy, fruity berry filling seasoned with cinnamon, allspice and lemon zest, topped with buttery, crispy crumbles. Add melty vanilla ice cream and it’s truly a sublime treat. In fact, we’ve stopped making blueberry crisp all together because this crumble is next level.
Ingredients in this blueberry crumble recipe
This blueberry crumble recipe is our favorite alternative to a crisp, though we love both nearly equally. The difference between a crumble and a crisp? Technically, a crisp has oats or nuts in the topping and a crumble does not: it’s essentially butter, flour and sugar. The lines have blurred in modern definitions of these recipes, so often you’ll see crumbles with oats. As much as we love oats, we went with the classic definition of a crumble here: and it was well worth it. Here’s what you’ll need for this blueberry crumble:
- Blueberries
- Granulated sugar
- Cornstarch
- Lemon zest
- Unsalted butter
- All purpose flour
- Cinnamon and allspice
- Baking powder
- Salt
Use fresh or frozen blueberries
Don’t feel like you have to have a load of fresh blueberries for this one! This recipe calls for 4 cups fresh blueberries: which we had on hand from blueberry picking in Michigan. Don’t have access to that many blueberries? You can use frozen too! Add them to the recipe frozen: no need to defrost. Keep in mind that store-bought frozen berries can be a little more tart than fresh berries, so you may want to add a hint more sugar to the filling.
There are special precautions to take for baking with blueberries in cobbler, muffins and scones (the berries can bleed and dye the baked goods purple!). But with a crumble, there’s no risk: the berries don’t mix with the dry goods. This crumble is also a great place to use fresh blueberries that you froze to preserve them: just throw them into the pan frozen.
A note on the butter
This recipe calls for 7 tablespoons butter: which is an odd number. If you bake a lot, you’ll notice most crumble and crisp recipes call for either 6 tablespoons of butter or 8 tablespoons. But trust us! Seven is the magic number here, and it makes for absolutely perfect crumbles.
Want to make this blueberry crumble vegan? Just use vegan butter in place of standard butter: it works like a charm.
How to serve blueberry crumble
Once you’ve got your beautiful blueberry crumble, you’ll find it tastes great right out of the pan. But like most crumble recipes, it tastes even better topped with vanilla ice cream! The contrast of rich cream against the tart berries is perfection. Here are a few of our favorite toppings for this stunning dessert:
- Vanilla ice cream: purchased or homemade
- Whipped cream: homemade or yogurt whipped cream (or vegan whipped cream)
- Creme fraiche: purchased or homemade
- Cream sauce: try Creme Anglaise for an interesting twist!
Leftover storage info
Want to save this blueberry crumble? This dessert saves well at room temperature, refrigerated or frozen.
- Keep the crumble for 1 day loosely covered at room temperature. This helps to maintain the crumble texture.
- Refrigerate for up to 3 days. It holds up pretty well in the fridge, and tastes even better when reheated.
- Freeze up to 3 months. Freeze for up to 3 months in a sealed container. Reheat it in a 350 degree oven until bubbly.
More blueberry desserts
This blueberry crumble is a favorite of our top blueberry desserts. Here are a few more to try:
- Try a stunning Blueberry Pie, or simple Blueberry Galette
- Go classic with Blueberry Cobbler
- Mix up a pan of Blueberry Pie Bars
- Go for Easy Blueberry Cake
- Opt for Blueberry Crisp
This blueberry crumble recipe is…
Vegetarian. For vegan and plant-based, use vegan butter.
Print
Perfect Blueberry Crumble
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Description
This blueberry crumble recipe is a favorite! The nostalgic summer dessert stars a sweet tart fruit filling topped with buttery crumbles.
Ingredients
- 4 cups blueberries (fresh or frozen*)
- 1 cup granulated sugar, divided
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon, divided
- ¼ teaspoon allspice
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 7 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (or vegan butter)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl, mix the blueberries, ½ cup sugar, cornstarch, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, allspice, and lemon zest. Pour into a round 9-inch pie pan, 9 x 9 inch baking dish or 7 x 11 baking dish.
- Make the topping: In a medium bowl, add the remaining ½ cup sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, flour, baking powder and kosher salt. Mix together with a fork. Pour in the melted butter while mixing with the fork until a crumbly mixture forms. Use your fingers to sprinkle the crumbles evenly over the filling.
- Bake: Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top is evenly golden brown and the filling is bubbly. Cool for 1 hour, then serve. You can leave it out on the counter for up to 1 day (covered, at night) so the topping can stay crisp. After 1 day, refrigerate any leftovers. It also freezes well for several months in a sealed container; reheat it in a 350 degree oven until bubbly.
Notes
*No need to defrost frozen berries before using. Note that storebought frozen berries can be a little more tart than fresh berries; if desired, add a hint more sugar to the filling (to taste).
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: Dessert
- Diet: Vegetarian
Keywords: Blueberry crumble, blueberry crumble recipe
So glad to read you can use the frozen blueberries! It’s so handy! Love it
★★★★★
Delicious! Easy, quick, and no mess. Will be making again
★★★★★
Forgive me!! I think the BB Crunch must be delicious. However the combined recipe is too hard to separate topping and berries. So much easier to have two parts. I keep going back and forth and still unsure I’ve got them right. But I’ll keep trying. I wrote a cookbook “Recipes of Mother’s and Others” quite a few years ago. Still cooking @ 90yo. Keep up the good work.