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The coming of spring is a key time in the foodie calendar, where rhubarb is at its best. Throughout April to June, this colorful, deliciously sour ingredient is at its freshest, and perfect for Easter cooking or spring hosting. The season is relatively short, so make sure you’re prepared with the top rhubarb recipes you’d like to try out each year. When selecting your rhubarb, look out for red or dark pink stalks for the best flavor. Read on below for our top five recipes with rhubarb to help provide you with inspiration for both sweet and savory dishes to impress your guests or for elevated family dining at home.
1. Rhubarb tart
Starting with a classic, rhubarb tart is a must for any spring cooking. If you use pre-made pastry, this delightful dessert can be ready in under an hour. Our recipe includes a base made with crème fraîche, cornflour, egg yolk, and sugar, to balance out the tartness of the rhubarb, but some chefs will use other combinations like coconut custard for creamier pairings. For the rhubarb, you can simply chop it and arrange loosely on top of the tart, or for a more polished option, you can arrange into geometric shapes and patterns to bring out the brilliance of the rhubarb stalk colors. There are lots of patterns and examples to follow online. For an alternative to tart, rhubarb is equally delicious as part of a rhubarb pie recipe, with a closed top. But we like ours in this puff pastry tart variation, fresh and warm out of the oven, with a hearty dollop of pistachio ice cream on top. Other cooks will serve rhubarb tart with vanilla custard, or even Greek yogurt, and a dusting of icing sugar on top for added indulgence.
2. Vegan rhubarb crumble
If you’re hosting vegans for Easter, or want to explore the world of plant-based desserts, a vegan rhubarb crumble is a tasty and simple dish to try your hand at. Removing milk and eggs from the recipe, our take on this British classic pudding is made with orange juice, sugar, and cranberries for the filling, still providing that desired sweetness. The topping can be easily made as per original crumble recipes, using rolled oats, flour and vegan margarine. Ready in under an hour, this is another brilliant little recipe to master for quick at-home cooking whilst hosting guests. Strawberries are a mouthwatering pairing with rhubarb, and can be easily added to the base of this dish for an even fruitier flavor. If you like the idea of rhubarb muffins, recipes for these little breakfast treats aren’t so dissimilar to making rhubarb crumble. Featuring similar style ingredients, you can actually make rhubarb crumble muffins instead if you’d prefer to create individual style treats for your guests or family.
3. Rhubarb pudding
A rhubarb pudding is an excellent antidote to rainy springtime days. Our gluten-free version is also a fantastic choice when hosting guests with various dietary requirements, and a crowdpleaser for everyone, gluten-free or not. With a simple swap for gluten-free flour, this pudding is made with a sweet base of flour, sugar, milk, butter, baking powder, salt, and vanilla that’s blended until thick and then heartily spread over the rhubarb in the baking dish. Topped with sugar and cornflour, and boiling water, this pudding takes around one hour in the oven to rise, so it’s a great, easy option to pop into the oven post-dinner whilst hosting to enjoy a break between courses. It’s also really tasty served with custard for that classic rhubarb and custard combination, and most custards can be made or purchased gluten-free. For a final flair, top with sliced almonds for a crunchy texture.
4. Rhubarb lemonade
What’s fantastic about rhubarb is the versatility. Whilst it’s a superb ingredient for classic desserts and puddings, it’s fantastic in drinks too, from cocktails to lemonade. For a refreshing beverage for the warming spring days, you can easily make homemade rhubarb lemonade. You’ll need to whip-up a syrup using your rhubarb of choice, which can be created at home by mixing rhubarb with sugar and water in a saucepan, heating and then straining the final mix. The syrup just needs combining with sparkling water for your lemonade, and we like to serve ours with a sprinkling of mint leaves and lemon slices to really lift the flavors. The rhubarb syrup required for this lemonade recipe is very similar to a rhubarb sauce recipe, perfect for pouring over ice cream, so you can use this syrup or sauce for a few different dishes.
5. Rhubarb chutney
For those of you who have less of a sweet tooth there are many savory recipes to explore with rhubarb. Rhubarb chutney is a good place to start and much more straightforward than you might think to make at home. All you’ll need to do is mix together onions, ginger, pepper, coriander, mustard seeds, a bay leaf, apple vinegar, sultanas and sugar in a saucepan, bring to the boil and then add the rhubarb as per our recipe. The signature sour taste of the rhubarb works spectacularly in a chutney, balancing out the sweetness of the fruit and the savory flavor profiles of the onion and vinegar. We’ve shared a recipe complete with warm goat’s cheese, but you can also simply serve rhubarb chutney in a small glass pot alongside your favorite cheese board for a savory final course for guests.
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