Strawberry Crumb Bars (gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan options)

Strawberry Crumb Bars are a fun way to have a pie-like dessert, with a much easier recipe! With a crispy bottom crust, strawberry jam middle, and crumble topping, these sweet Crumb Bars are a must-bake for the Summer.

Have you ever had a Crumb Bar before?

I went back and forth between calling these a “Crumb Bar” and a “Crumble Bar.” It seems like there’s two different names here, even though they are the same dessert. Crumb Bar seemed more popular though, even though Crumble Bar is more catchy in my opinion. 😉

You see, I didn’t grow up eating these scrumptious bars. My mom always made chocolate-themed desserts for us chocoholics.

But, a couple months ago I had a gluten-free Blueberry Crumb Bar at a hotel and I knew I had to recreate one soon after.

But, the one at the hotel was pretty thin, very buttery, and probably had a ton of butter and sugar.

I tried several different Crumb Bar recipes online, and mushed a few together to create these gluten-free (and easily made dairy-free and vegan too) Strawberry Crumb Bars.

They’re nice and thick, with a crispy and lightly buttery crust on the bottom, filled with sweet strawberry jam in the middle, with a crumble topping.

These bars are incredibly easy. You see, the crust and crumble are made of the SAME mixture. And, of course strawberry jam is easy enough to spread in the middle!

If you love fruity pie, but want a more simple recipe, give these Strawberry Crumb Bars a shot. They’re a great Summer dessert, that are very versatile, lightly buttery and sweet.

Let’s talk ingredients.

This recipe is incredibly flexible, so there’s a lot of opportunity here for different diets and flavors.

First, you can use gluten-free all purpose flour (with xantham gum) and oats, or regular flour and rolled oats. Both work great. Please don’t try and go vogue and use any other types of flours in this recipe. 🙂

Next up: Sugar. I try to give options to make my dessert recipes a little healthier, if possible. For your healthier option you can use coconut sugar, and the maple syrup in the recipe.

For the best flavor (think buttery pie crust) I recommend brown sugar, and the maple syrup (or more brown sugar, if you prefer). The choice is yours.

The almond butter in the recipe helps to hold the bars together better, without using even more butter. I would recommend a more natural (drippy and oily) almond butter, or another similar and neutral-flavored nut butter (think cashew, or sunflower if you’re allergic to others).

Last, but most importantly, read the labels for whatever jam you decide to buy. Quite often the cheap jam’s are filled with corn syrup (which if you haven’t heard the warnings lately, it’s not the best thing to be eating!).

I prefer to use my own homemade raspberry jam or even homemade chia jam. Chia Jam is the healthiest option and still works beautifully in these bars, even though it does take a little extra work it’s a great way to help cut back on added sugars and additives.

And hey, feel free to use whatever flavor of jam you like best! Strawberry seems to be the most people-pleasing around here, so that’s what I chose. 🙂

To keep these bars dairy-free (and vegan!) be sure to use a dairy-free butter alternative in place of the stick of butter. Coconut oil should work okay too, but the flavor won’t be the same so I wouldn’t recommend it.

Trust me when I say, these easy Strawberry Crumb Bars are filled with the perfect sweet Summer flavors that anyone would love! I hope you grab a jar of your favorite jam and give these a try. 🙂

In case you need a good summer breakfast too, check out my gluten-free Lemon Loaf, Oatmeal Pancakes, and Peanut Butter Muffins.