Skip to Content
Menu
  • Save
  • Pinterest
  • Email
  • Facebook

What to Make with All That Rhubarb

By Betty Crocker Kitchens
Created July 19, 2021
Five Ingredient Rhubarb Squares
Whether you’ve got a handful of stalks or a garden patch gone wild, Betty’s got loads of scrumptious ideas for taming rhubarb’s tang!

With Betty’s best rhubarb recipes in hand, you’re nearly ready to roll up your sleeves. But first, read up on buying, storing and baking with rhubarb to ensure your recipes turn out perfectly – even on the first try!

Though technically a vegetable, rhubarb is often treated more like a fruit, as is made clear by the sweet treat recipes above. Tart rhubarb often needs quite a lot of sugar, but you can decrease the amount of sugar used, if you’re able to find young, thin stalks.

Depending on where you live, this young, thin rhubarb is abundant from early spring to early summer. If you’re lucky enough to have rhubarb in your backyard, we recommend harvesting the stalks when they are young and freezing them for later use. To freeze, simply wash, dry, chop into pieces and store in a plastic, zip-top bag.

If you’re not lucky enough to have a rhubarb patch in your yard, you can find it at most grocery stores and farmers markets. When shopping for rhubarb, look for fresh, firm, watermelon-colored stalks without bruises or blemishes. Rhubarb is best used within three days. It should be stored in the fridge, wrapped in plastic, until used.

When you need a fresh springy dessert in a hurry, swap rhubarb for apples in Betty’s classic Apple Crisp recipe. To make rhubarb crisp, substitute 6 cups of chopped fresh or frozen rhubarb. If using frozen, thaw and drain before measuring. As rhubarb is very tart, you’ll want to sprinkle ½ cup of granulated sugar over the rhubarb and stir to combine. Then, you can continue on as directed in step 2 of the recipe.

Though we think rhubarb deserves to be the star of the show, it’s also classically combined with strawberries, like in the not-to-be-missed Strawberry-Rhubarb Angel Cake and Strawberry-Rhubarb Upside-Down Cake. Partly, because they’re in season at the same time but also because strawberries and rhubarb are absolutely delicious together – so much sweet, jammy goodness! If you want to try something new, consider the classic British combo of rhubarb and ginger. Give it a try in our recipe for Rhubarb Ginger Plum Cobbler.

If, like us, you’re head over heels for all things rhubarb, Betty’s library of rhubarb recipes will leave you feeling giddy.