Easy Rhubarb Bars

Name: Easy Rhubarb Bars
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 35 min
Total time: 45 min
Ingredients: 4 rhubarb stalks (with leaves and any tough parts cut off, then chopped into 1-cm pieces); 2 tablespoons brown sugar; 3 tablespoons butter ((3 tbsp butter is about 1.5 ounces)); ¼ cup brown sugar; 3½ tablespoons honey (any kind since you'll be melting it with the butter and sugar); 2½ cups rolled oats (NOT quick-cooking or instant oats); 1 cup almond flour ((sometimes called almond meal)); 1 teaspoon ground ginger ((add more if you like, and/or a little chopped candied/crystallized ginger for a more intense ginger flavor)); ice cream, cream, yogurt or custard

By Helen Schofield

on Apr 24, 2025

86 Comments

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With a zingy layer of rhubarb sandwiched between two soft and chewy layers of oats, these rhubarb bars are like a cross between a fruit crisp or crumble, and a granola bar! With just 7 ingredients, they’re a unique and yet easy spring treat to make use of this sharp and lively seasonal fruit.

A closeup of a stack of 3 rhubarb bars on top of each other on a wooden board, with the rest in the background.

Have you ever had a rhubarb patch in your garden? If so, you’ll know that the long, thick stalks that look like bright red and green celery but taste like a delicious fruit can go crazy in the spring.

Luckily, although it’s very sour when eaten raw, cook it with a little sweetness and it’s perfect in cakes, crisps, crumbles… and these delicious tangy and chewy rhubarb bars!

If you don’t have any rhubarb in your garden, see if your local supermarket or farmer’s market has some. Made with oats, almond flour, brown sugar, honey, and a hint of ginger, this healthy(ish) rhubarb recipe is as delicious as a rhubarb crisp or crumble – but on the healthier side!

Why you’ll love them
About the ingredients
How to make rhubarb bars
Helen’s Top Tips
How to eat them
Recipe FAQs
More easy bars and slices
Easy Rhubarb Bars Recipe

Why you’ll love them

Here’s a summary of what I think you’ll love about these easy rhubarb bars:

Made with just 7 simple ingredients. Apart from the rhubarb, you’ll only need oats, almond flour, brown sugar, honey, butter, and a little ground ginger.
Quick and easy. They take less than 15 minutes to make (and then a swift 30 minutes to bake!). You’ll use the same oat mixture for the bottom and top layers, making this recipe a little easier than others like it.
On the healthier side. Since they’re made with mostly natural ingredients, you can enjoy this easy spring dessert guilt-free.
They’re so delicious! Slightly crunchy on top, chewy on the bottom and fruity and tart in the middle – for the perfect balance between tart and sweet.
Snack or dessert? Serve by themselves as a snack, or as a unique dessert with ice cream or cream on top.

Looking for more fruity desserts on the healthier side? Try these healthy blueberry muffins once and they’ll become your go-to muffin recipe!

About the ingredients

You’ll find a full list of ingredients with amounts in the recipe card below. But here’s a summary of what you need to know.

All ingredients needed to make rhubarb bars labelled, including oats, honey, brown sugar, butter, rhubarb, and ground ginger.

Rhubarb: The star ingredient! You only need about 4 ‘stalks’ of rhubarb. Find out when it’s in season where you live and grab some while you can! Look for medium-thick stalks that are firm, smooth and glossy and a vibrant red, green (or both red and green) color. Cut off the leaves and any tough parts, then chop into small pieces.

Brown sugar: Just a little, to take the edge off the sourness of the rhubarb.

Butter: Both salted and unsalted butter are fine, although a bit of salt always adds balance in a sweet treat.

Brown sugar and honey: You’ll melt these together, so any kind of honey will work. In theory you could skip the sugar and just use honey, but I think the bit of sugar helps the mixture to hold together after cooking. It also adds some flavor and caramelization in the oven.

Feel free to also substitute the honey with maple syrup. One reader even successfully added stem ginger (preserved ginger) and used some of the syrup from the jar instead of brown sugar!

Rolled oats: Make sure that you use rolled oats. Don’t use quick-cooking or instant oats – you really need the coarse chewy-ness of the old-fashioned style ones.

Almond flour: This acts like a regular flour, helping the oat mixture to stay together. This is perfect if you’re looking for a gluten free dessert (just check that the oats you’re using are also gluten free). If you’d rather not use nuts, you can just use all-purpose flour or whole wheat flour.

Ground ginger: For a hint of spicy warmth. I suggest a heaped teaspoon, but you can add even more if you like. For more gingery zing, add a bit of chopped candied ginger, preserved ginger or stem ginger too. Go easy though at first. One or two balls of the ginger is about right for me. You can always add more next time!

Cinnamon and even a pinch of all-spice can be a delicious addition, too.

How to make rhubarb bars

You’ll be amazed how easy these rhubarb bars are to make.

First, prepare the rhubarb! Cook it in a saucepan with a bit of brown sugar. 10 minutes should do it.

A collage of 2 images showing chopped rhubarb on a wooden board, and then with brown sugar on top in a saucepan.

This is what you’ll end up with. See how the rhubarb cooks down so quickly!

To make the oat mixture, you’ll start by melting the butter, a little more brown sugar and plenty of honey together.

A collage of 2 images showing rhubarb mixture cooked down in a saucepan with a wooden spoon, and then butter and sugar mixture in another saucepan.

Stir in the rest of the ingredients – oats, ground almonds and ground ginger.

Now you can begin to assemble the bars. Start by pressing two thirds of the oat mixture into the bottom of a baking pan.

Collage of 2 images showing oat mixture for rhubarb bars in a saucepan with a wooden spoon, and then poured into a baking pan.

Press it down with a silicon spatula or wooden spoon.

Then spread the cooked-down rhubarb all over the top.

A collage of 2 images showing oat mixture for rhubarb bars pressed down into a baking paper lined pan, and then with rhubarb and more oats on top.

Finally, sprinkle the rest of the oat mixture on top, and bake. It’s ready when the top has started to go a deep golden brown in parts.

Just-cooked rhubarb bars with oats and ginger on a baking paper lined sheet pan.

Leave to cool before cutting into slices. Alternatively, you can serve the bars as dessert while still slightly warm!

Helen’s Top Tips

When you spread the final third of the oat mixture over the top, there may be bits of rhubarb still poking through. That’s perfect – just makes the bars look a vibrant pink color when they come out of the oven!
If you find your bars are browning too quickly on top, you can loosely tent the pan with foil for the last 5–10 minutes to prevent over-browning.
Rhubarb freezes well so it would be easy to cook down plenty when it’s available to use in this rhubarb bar recipe throughout the year. You’ll need around a cup and a quarter of the defrosted rhubarb mixture to make one pan of bars.
Not rhubarb season? What a shame! Why not try making the bars with berries, or stone fruit such as nectarines, peaches or plums instead (just don’t cook them first – no need).
You can also try adding a few strawberries to the rhubarb mixture since rhubarb and strawberries are a perfect match! How about a teaspoon of vanilla, too?

A rhubarb bar on a blue-rimmed plate with a fork, with the rest of the pan of bars in the background.

How to eat them

As you take a bite of one of these rhubarb bars, there’s the crumbly, oaty top, then the tangy rhubarb gets your taste buds singing as only rhubarb does. Finally, there’s another slightly chewy oat layer on the bottom.

Here’s how I like to enjoy them:

as dessert with ice cream (or healthy nice cream!) on top
as you would a fruit crisp or crumble, with cream, Greek yogurt or custard on top
completely cooled in a lunch box, at a picnic or BBQ, after school or as a satisfying snack

A rhubarb bar on a blue-rimmed plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top.

Recipe FAQs

The bars are really crumbly. What did I do wrong?

Nothing! These oat slices are on the more crumbly side when they’re warm, almost like a crumble or crisp. Feel free to eat when still warm, but they’re better eaten with a bowl and spoon. If you let them cool completely, or even chill them in the fridge, they’ll hold together better. I like them both ways!

Are these rhubarb bars gluten free?

They are if the oats you use are labelled gluten free. Check the package. If they are in fact gluten free, these rhubarb bars are a great gluten free dessert option!

How long can I store them for?

The rhubarb bars will keep well in an airtight container in the fridge for up to a few days, although they won’t be as crisp on top after the first day. If you’d like to keep them for longer, you can freeze them in freezer bags or an airtight container for up to 3 months. I would suggest reheating them until crisp on top again. You can reheat them straight from frozen for 15 to 20 minutes at 350F/180C or until hot and lightly crisp on top again.

Love the idea of fruit and oats together? Try these easy apple and oat muffins. If you have a little more time, try making this easy apple crumble pie with oats some time as well!