Summer Fruit Crisp

Here’s a versatile and homey dessert that everyone loves. Chunks of fresh fruit are topped with a glorious brown-sugary oatmeal topping. Wonderful with some vanilla ice cream!

Jump to:

• Why You’ll Love This Recipe
• Ingredients You’ll Need
• Step-By-Step Instructions
• Tips for Selecting Fruit
• Expert Tips and Serving Ideas
• Frequently Asked Questions
• More Recipes to Try:
• Summer Fruit Crisp
• Subscribe

Why You’ll Love This Recipe

Pretty soon we’ll have more summer fruits than we can handle, and a fruit crisp recipe is the perfect way to eat them, preferably with an oat crumble topping.

So when the weather heats up and you find yourself with a couple of apricots, some leftover cherries, a couple of nectarines or peaches and maybe a few berries on the bottom of the basket, take it as a sign it’s the time of year to make this recipe! Grab your favorite fruits and make the perfect summer dessert, and just a delicious recipe!

Fruit desserts – especially a warm fruit crumble – is my very favorite, and here’s why:

• Warm fruit desserts taste magical in summer, especially with a scoop of ice cream.
• The sweet, crumbly oat topping is a perfect match for seasonal fruits like berries and stone fruits like peaches, nectarines and apricots.
• My personal opinion is that dessert is practically mandatory every weekend in summer, because it’s the perfect summer dessert! Especially good with dinners that are lighter like best Rotisserie Chicken Salad, Simple Chickpea Salad, Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad, or maybe a fun sandwich like Naan BLT with Sun Dried Tomato Mayo.

Ingredients You’ll Need

For the full recipe instructions and ingredient list for this easy fruit crisp, please scroll to the recipe card below.

• Fresh Fruit: A combination of different stone fruits and berries, about six cups of good fruit
• Vanilla:  Just a touch of pure vanilla extract to give depth of flavor to the fruit mixture before baking
• Flour: All-purpose flour is insurance that our baked fruit filling won’t be soupy
• Sugar: Golden brown (light brown) sugar and just a 1/4 cup sugar are needed for the fruit and the crumble mixture
• Lemon: Fresh lemon zest and lemon juice helps balance the fresh flavors
• Crumb Topping: You’ll need flour, regular and brown sugar, a little cinnamon, salt, oatmeal (not instant) and cubed (not melted) butter.

Step-By-Step Instructions

For the recipe and instructions, please scroll below. 

1. Prep a glass baking dish by smearing the bottom with a little butter or olive oil and set it on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
2. Combine fruit…the peaches, cups of blackberries and other fresh summer fruits in a separate large bowl with the vanilla extract, flour, sugar, lemon zest & juice. Stir to combine fruits.
3. Pour into the prepared dish, fruit juices and all in an even layer.
4. Make the flour mixture/oat topping by mixing a in a food processor or use your fingers in a medium bowl until it’s combined and clumps together
5. Sprinkle half of the oat mixture on the fruits, set the dish on a baking sheet in case it bubbles over a little and bake until golden brown, about 45 minutes
6. Let it cool on a wire rack for 15-20 minutes before serving
7. Serve warm or room temperature with vanilla ice cream!

Tips for Selecting Fruit

This is about using the fruit you have on hand, so don’t stress about the quantities of one fruit over the other!

• Use a combination of stone fruits like nectarines, peaches, apricots and cherries for the majority of fruit you’ll need, and cut them into rough-sized two-inch chunks.
• You’ll need six cups of fruit total, so shoot for 4 1/2 cups stone fruits, 1 1/2 cups fresh berries like blueberries, strawberries and raspberries or a combination of all three.
• Strawberries will release water with baking, so don’t use more than a cup total in this recipe.
• Stone fruits and berries are the best bet for this recipe.  Melons, kiwi or other soft, high water content fruits definitely won’t work for this baked dessert!

Expert Tips and Serving Ideas

This is an easy dessert that everyone loves!  Here’s some extra tips for success:

• Frozen, pitted, defrosted cherries are great to use if you can’t find fresh. (Or you don’t feel like pitting fresh cherries, which admittedly does take a few extra minutes, but it’s totally worth it).
• The oat topping portion of this recipe will make more than you need, (you’ll use half) and this is not a bad thing. I consider this topping a year-round staple and always have some in my freezer. Just store the other half in a freezer-safe container or bag for up to 90 days. So exciting, right?
• If you don’ t have a food processor to make the oat topping, use a pastry cutter or your hands to combine the ingredients, pressing and smearing the butter pieces with your fingers into the dry ingredients until crumbly and completely combined.
• It goes without saying that a warm, delicious fruit dessert NEEDS vanilla ice cream, vanilla almond milk ice cream, or even whipped cream.  I believe it’s against the law to not serve at least one of these, but I’m not sure.
• This recipe is easy to double for a crowd (use two 9″ glass pie plates, or a 9 x 13″ oven-safe baking dish).  That said, you can also make this dessert in small ramekins.
• This recipe is super portable for outdoor cookouts no matter what’s for dinner, (hello Summer Pasta), and some other ideas to consider are these easy shredded chicken burrito bowls (made with a rotisserie chicken), these juicy citrus chicken thighs, or even a big salad like this Blackberry Goat Cheese Salad which really hits the spot if the weather’s warm.

Frequently Asked Questions

More Recipes to Try:

• Raspberry Rhubarb Crisp:  Tastes like summer.
• Melon with Ice Cream & Caramel Sauce If you’ve never had melon with ice cream, please make this.
• Ice Cream Cake with Peanut Butter Ganache Lots of store-bought short-cuts for this showstopper.
• Fresh Banana Cake So homey and delicious, easy too.
• Fresh Tangerine Sorbet Fresh and juicy, tastes just like an icy tangerine.
• Strawberry Cheesecake in a Jar A fan favorite, easy and so pretty to serve on a tray.
• Boozy Fresh Cherry Blackbottom Milkshakes With or without booze, this cherry shake tastes creamy and amazing.
• Nectarine Toast with Honey Goat Cheese Juicy, sweet and savory, this is a fabulous breakfast or snack.

If you’ve tried Summer Fruit Crisp or any other recipe on Studio Delicious, please rate the recipe & I’d love to hear from you in the comments below!

Looking for more tips and fresh, homemade recipes?  Join my email list, tag and follow me on Instagram using #studiodeliciouseats, follow my boards on Pinterest, and see what I’m up to on Facebook and Twitter!

This recipe was originally published July, 2018 and was updated with new content, photos and instructions May 2021.  Topping for this recipe was adapted by Ina’s for old-fashioned apple crisp