Here we are in high summer, and it seems to be going just right. Slow. Lazy. Everyone’s out of town. My hot yoga class is empty (because only crazy people like me want to do hot yoga on a hot day). I’m nursing a sunburn and rocking some uneven tan lines. Finished Lena’s book last week. The locusts outside are screeching in unison every evening. Everything is as is should be.
Blueberries won’t be here much longer, so I had to make a blueberry crisp before they go. I found a hefty two-pound container of them at Trader Joe’s and baked them up into a brilliantly purple dessert with a gluten-free almond and oat topping.
I’m going to enjoy this crisp for breakfast with yogurt and later, as dessert with ice cream. Repeat every day, all week. It’s summertime!
Gluten-Free Blueberry Crisp
My original concept for the topping included cornmeal, not almond meal, but my medium-grind cornmeal didn’t soften up enough during baking. Hence, the crisp turned out to be a “crunch,” which wasn’t my intention.
My runner-up idea was a blueberry and almond crisp, with both almond meal and sliced almonds, and it turned out just right. Tons of blueberries, some maple syrup, bright lemon flavor, oats and almonds—you can’t go wrong there.
My favorite part about making this crisp? Unlike all my other crisp recipes (and I have more than a few!), this crisp recipe doesn’t require any chopping of the fruit. Just rinse off those blueberries and you’re good to go!
This is simple summer dessert at its finest.
Please let me know how this crisp turns out for you in the comments! If you’re craving more summertime crisp recipes, don’t miss my gluten-free peach crisp, plum crisp or strawberry rhubarb crisp (if you can’t find rhubarb, replace it with an equal amount of additional strawberries). View all desserts here.
Blueberry Almond Crisp
- Author:
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 45 mins
- Total Time: 55 minutes
- Yield: 8 servings 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
- Diet: Gluten Free
This amazing blueberry crisp recipe is the perfect summertime dessert! It’s easy to make with blueberries, maple syrup, lemon, oats and almonds. It’s gluten free, too! Recipe yields 6 to 8 servings (a lot!).
Ingredients
Lemon blueberry filling
- 2 pounds blueberries (that’s 32 ounces, which is about 5 cups or a little less than 3 pints), fresh or frozen*
- ⅓ cup maple syrup or honey
- 2 tablespoons arrowroot starch or 3 tablespoons cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon lemon zest (less than 1 small lemon, zested—scale back to ¼ teaspoon zest if you don’t love lemon)
- 2 tablespoons lemon juice (from 1 to 2 lemons)
- ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
Gluten-free oat and almond topping
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats (certified gluten-free for a gluten-free crisp)
- ½ cup packed almond meal or almond flour
- ½ cup sliced almonds
- ⅓ cup lightly packed brown sugar
- ¼ teaspoon fine grain sea salt
- 4 tablespoons butter, melted
- 3 tablespoons plain yogurt (Greek or regular), or additional melted butter
Don’t forget vanilla ice cream, for serving!
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Rinse and drain the blueberries and pick through them to remove any stems still attached. In a 9 by 9-inch baking dish, mix together the blueberries, maple syrup or honey, arrowroot or cornstarch, lemon zest, lemon juice and cinnamon.
- In a medium mixing bowl, stir together the oats, almond meal/flour, sliced almonds, brown sugar and salt. Mix in the butter and yogurt. Stir until all of the flour is incorporated and the mixture is moistened throughout.
- Dollop spoonfuls of the oat mixture over the filling and use your fingers to break up the mixture until it is evenly distributed (no need to pack it down).
- Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the filling is actively bubbling around the edges and the top is lightly golden. Let the crisp rest for 5 to 10 minutes before serving. Serve with vanilla ice cream (I insist!).
Notes
Recipe adapted from my pear cranberry crisp.
*How to use frozen blueberries: Defrost the blueberries in the refrigerator overnight or at room temperature for about 2 hours (no need to drain off excess juices). Or, while the oven is preheating, place the frozen blueberries in your square baker. Warm them up in the oven, stirring every 10 minutes or so, until they have defrosted to the point that they are cool to the touch but no longer frozen. Then add the maple syrup, etc. and proceed with the recipe as written.
Make it nut free: Omit the sliced almonds and use ¾ cup whole wheat flour and ¾ cup oats instead of the almond meal and oats specified above. It will no longer be gluten free. If you want to keep it gluten free, I suspect that you could replace the almond meal with oat flour or more oats (haven’t tried that, please comment if you do!).
Make it vegan: I believe you could use melted coconut oil in place of the browned butter/yogurt (use 4 tablespoons coconut oil and add up to 3 more, until the topping mixture is moistened throughout) and maple syrup instead of the honey. I haven’t tried it, though.
What’s arrowroot starch? Arrowroot starch is a great thickener to use in place of corn starch, which is often genetically modified. It’s gluten free, too. Look for it in the baking section of well-stocked grocery stores or buy it online (affiliate link).
Vegetable enthusiast. Dog lover. I'm probably making a big mess in my Kansas City kitchen right now. 
Kelly
Would coconut sugar be a fine substitute for the brown sugar?
Tricia
I veganized this with about 1/2 c. coconut oil in place of butter for the topping, and 1/3 c. maple syrup instead of honey. It was fantastic! I also used frozen blueberries, as recommended. I would absolutely make it again. Thank you, Kate! (Kiss to Cookie)
★★★★★
Courtney R
This is a go-to recipe for me and always delicious!
★★★★★
Kate
Thank you for sharing, Courtney!
Marno Simon
First time on your site and made the GF blueberry lemon crisp. It was amazing!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m happy to hear that, Marno!
Matt
I’ve made this with all kinds of fruit – it’s always a hit. I do the greek yogurt instead of the extra butter. Also, I adjust the sweeteners based on the fruit being used. And sometimes different flavors, again based on fruit. The topping never fails to have just the right crunch, sweetness and color. Great GF recipe, thanks!
★★★★★
Kate
I’m glad it is a hit for you, Matt! Thanks for taking the time to comment and review.
Claudia
I made this tonight, but I used frozen berries and it is delicious! I served it with vanilla ice cream and I can’t wait for breakfast to serve it with yogurt! Thanks Kate!
★★★★★
Laz
This was delicious! The lemon zest gave it a nice kick! And the vanilla ice cream was an excellent suggestion!
★★★★★
Marisela duran
Hi.
I want to to this recepi, but I can’t have oatmeal. Do you have a substitute for it?
Kate
Hi there! I’m sorry, I don’t have a recipe for a crisp without oats, so I’m not sure what to suggest. You could perhaps try about 3/4 cup flour in its place, but I’m really not sure how it’ll turn out. At that point it would be more like a crumble than a crisp, but it might be good.
Julie Lachance
THIS WAS SO GOOD!!!!
I used a bit of coconut sugar and it a little less brown sugar and it was just delicious. Thank you!!!!
TJ
Wow! Loved it and so easy to make.Thank you for sharing.
★★★★★
Ruth
I made this last night as blueberries are in season- I was skeptical about the greek yogurt- but it turned out so delicious, I will be making again!!!
★★★★★
Tiferet S.
For the almond topping, can I subsistute coconut oil for Greek yogurt?
Kate
I believe you could use melted coconut oil in place of the browned butter/yogurt (use 4 tablespoons coconut oil and add up to 3 more, until the topping mixture is moistened throughout) and maple syrup instead of the honey. I haven’t tried it, though.
Anne Saplin
Easy, healthy-ish dessert. Used frozen berries, maple syrup; yougurt added a nice tang to the topping. Looking forward to making it again with my own blueberry crop, several plants on the verge now!
★★★★
Pat
I am dairy free and gluten free. How can i adjust to be dairy free? Thank you!
Kate
I believe you could use melted coconut oil in place of the browned butter/yogurt (use 4 tablespoons coconut oil and add up to 3 more, until the topping mixture is moistened throughout) and maple syrup instead of the honey. I haven’t tried it, though.
Angela
I made this to celebrate blueberries coming back in season and am so happy I did! It’s delicious and not too sweet, and the topping is super satisfying. I think it’d be perfect with ice cream but I don’t have any and am still very pleased. :)
★★★★★
Joules
Peaches with blueberries makes an amazing combination of flavour.
I add sliced fresh or canned peaches without syrup to the berries.
Rina
Delicious! I followed one poster’s suggestion and used 1/2 cup coconut oil instead of the butter and yogurt. I also doubled the topping because … well, just because i love the topping!
★★★★★
Nina in CLE
I just made this tonight and am actually sitting in the kitchen waiting for my beautiful, just-out-of-the-oven blueberry-nut crisp to cool down- talk about ANTICIPATION!! I KNOW it’ll be first rate already, I taste-tested both parts before mixing up the crisp in the pan and they were fabulous seperately. Used fresh blueberries (on sale!!), of course- it’s summer and blueberries are IN SEASON!For the topping: didn’t have almonds so I used the “pistachio option”- which I was indeed very skeptical about,am not a big fan of these guys,- also added about a tablespoon or two of wheat flour for texture(?), and just a pinch of nutmeg. It smells WONDERFUL in my kitchen, cannot wait to try it! Thanks so much for sharing this, Kate- and, too, for ALL of your terrific crisp recipes- (Next on my list is the strawberry-rhubarb one…)
★★★★★
Neil R
We hav been making this for years, and the whole family loves it. Easy and delicious. Thank you!
★★★★★
Tania
I used frozen berries and didn’t even defrost (notwithstanding the ten minutes they sat out while I prepared everything in the nearly 90 heat in my NYC kitchen :) We ate it with plain Greek yogurt and it was delish! Pleasingly tart, sweet, and nutty. A keeper!
★★★★★
Ghazala
This was a breeze to make, I used cherries instead and it came out perfect.
Enjoying this guilt free dessert a whole lot!!
Thank you so much Kate.
★★★★★
tammy
This recipe turned out very yummy. I did all blueberries (a first for me with cobbler) and all butter for the topping since we try to minimize dairy (used Earth Balance). Hubby loved it, might use more oats for crumble next time and probably mixed berries just for personal preference. Thank you for sharing!!
★★★★★
Nina in CLE
Psyched to make this today! Just a question- I’ve never seen a crisp recipe with yogurt as part of the topping (or any other dairy prod. except butter) Hoping to share it with a friend who’s lactose intolerant (tho I know often yogurt has little to no lactose in it, but just being safte anyway). I’m swapping soy butter( natural balance) for the reg. butter– is it okay to just use more of that rather than the yogurt called for? Also, just wondering, what’s intent for the yogurt in recipe? I love the idea of it, but am really curious what it DOES here? thanks.
★★★★
Kate
Hi Nina! Sorry for my delay. How did you like it? I would suggest using the vegan substitution at the bottom of the recipe in the notes.
Nina
It was very tasty & the sweetnfss was just right!(i was skeptical about the maple syrup but it worked out great).The only small issue was one that was ‘on me’: i wasn’t attending to the time (went over) so sadly that amazing crisp topping dried out & so became a ‘crunch’ instead of a crisp! Even with that, the dessert was fabulous& will get on my baking collection! Thanks!
★★★★★
Kalypso
I tried making a grain free version of this recipe and it came out so good! I just replaced the 1 cup of oats with 1/2 cup additonal almond meal and 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut. I also replaced all the butter with coconut oil. It was devine. I will definitely make it.
★★★★★
Linda Ann
One word”Amazing”. It’s so delicious! Love this recipe!
★★★★★
Mary Rose
LOVVVVVE this recipe Decided to mix it up with some added cranberries, sliced apples and blueberries, it was DELICIOUS and gorgeous! The reason I chose YOUR recipe was the incredible oatmeal almond crisp topping My Beau loved it, too
HIGHLY RECOMMEND!!
★★★★★
Michael Cusumano
Hello,
Made this dessert last night and it was absolutely delicious! Love the honey substitute for processed sugar, much better for all of us! Increased the lemon zest and juice for my own taste.
Kathy
I made this the other night and my husband loved it! I used maple syrup in the blueberries (fresh berries) and coconut sugar for the topping. It was plenty sweet enough. This recipe is very easy, and I will definitely be making it again!
★★★★★
Carly Anderson
It turned out incredible!!! I had swerve brown sugar substitute that I used instead and it worked great. Went perfectly with some vanilla ice cream on the side!
★★★★★
Tara
So can I substitute coconut sugar instead of brown sugar? Thanks!!
Kate
Hi Tara! I haven’t tried it, but it does tend to work well as a substitute. It looks like others have tried it and it’s worked! Let me know what you think.
Stella
Hi Kate I would love to try this recipe for thanksgiving! Unfortunately my family member doesn’t do well with lemon or any type of acids. Will the recipe be okay without the lemon zest/juice? Thank you for your time !
Kate
Hi! You can omit, but you will miss some of the delicious flavor it provides. Let me know what you think!
Cooks A lot
Sooo good. I’ve made it 3 times and it’s fantastic every time.
Nydia
The best ever!! Thanks for the recipe. Delicious!!! I silll try today with frozen blueberries
★★★★★
Janine Dolen
I used the crisp part of the recipe on some fresh apples I had . I happened to have some Almond flour on hand and decided to go the GF route. Instead of almonds I used chopped pecans. The crisp came out perfect ! In fact I made a second batch and toasted the crisp on a baking sheet and stored it to eat with my home made yogurt for breakfast.