5-Ingredient Raspberry Crumb Bars (Gluten-Free, Vegan) (2024)

5-Ingredient Raspberry Crumb Bars made gluten-free, dairy-free and vegan. These easy raspberry oatmeal bars are a phenomenal summer treat that the whole family will love! You’ll want to put them on repeat with different fruit over and over!

If you’ve tuned into my site for a while, you’ve likely come across my Strawberry Oatmeal Bars, 5-Ingredient Blackberry Pie Bars, and my Paleo Blueberry Crumb Bars.

These fruity desserts are so well-loved by readers, friends, and family, and my own household that I return to them over and over using different kinds of fruit.

Is it just me, or are raspberries one of the most underrated fruit? I love the sweet tang and fun texture from the seeds.

For me, raspberries are amazing in everything from baked goods to green salads, and even make an amazing salad dressing, marinade or reduction sauce.

And that brings us to these magical fresh raspberry oat bars.

They feature a thick oatmeal shortbread crust with a jammy tangy raspberry filling, and a delightful crumb topping.

The flavors and textures come together magically for a fruit lover’s paradise.

I make the bars gluten-free and dairy-free but I have included an option for those who use butter in their baking.

I will say, I personally prefer the flavor of the butter version, so if you don’t need to make the bars dairy-free, I recommend using butter.

The best part is this simple recipe only requires 5 basic ingredients. Not too shabby for a decadent treat!

While the glaze is entirely optional, I recommend it for an amazing raspberry danish vibe.

Let’s discuss those 5 ingredients for raspberry crumb bars! They can be found at just about any grocery store!

Ingredients For Raspberry Crumb Bars:

Fresh Raspberries: The star of the show here, ripe, juicy raspberries create a fruit-forward, tangy experience! Imagine spreading delicious raspberry jam on the best shortbread cookie, or raspberry Linzer cookies. That’s what we’re getting into here!

The raspberries get lightly cooked on the stove top for a few minutes just until they reach a gentle boil so that the filling is thick and chewy.

Sweetener: Pick your favorite sweetener to sweeten the bars. Cane sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple sugar, pure maple syrup, or sugar-free sweetener are all great options.

This sweetener gets used for both the crust and the fresh raspberry filling to make the bars taste nice and sweet without being overly sugary.

For pure maple syrup you will add a few extra tablespoons of flour to the crumble mixture, but aside from that, everything stays the same.

Gluten-Free All-Purpose Flour: The base of the shortbread crust and crumble topping is gluten-free all-purpose flour. Pick your favorite gluten-free blend for this recipe.

I like using Bob’s Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour or Pamela’s Artisan Blend Gluten-Free Flour.

Whatever brand you choose, just be sure it is designed to be a 1:1 replacement for regular all-purpose flour.

The gluten-free flour is also used to thicken the raspberry mixture.

Gluten-Free Rolled Oats: Old-fashioned oats or quick oats get mixed into the crumble topping for some fun flavor and texture.

Be sure to use certified gluten free oats if need be. I use sprouted gluten-free oats in all of my oatmeal treats.

If you aren’t gluten free, use any type of oats you like except for steel cut oats.

Melted Coconut Oil, Butter, or Avocado Oil: We need some form of fat to make the shortbread crust nice and rich.

Choose your favorite: coconut oil, butter, or avocado oil. The coconut oil or butter options will both need to be melted, whereas the avocado oil is liquid at room temperature and can go right in.

My personal favorite flavor-wise is butter, but all three options end up with a great tasting result.

Sea Salt: A pinch of sea salt goes into the cookie dough mixture and the raspberry mixture to level up the flavors. This makes the bars taste out of this world flavorful! Without salt, baked recipes taste a little flat.

Optional Glaze: For a decadent treat with a glazed donut vibe, whip up a basic powdered sugar glaze.

We need one cup of powdered sugar and a little water or lemon juice. Go with the lemon juice if you love the combination of lemon and berries.

There are many ways you can customize these bars for the absolute best results. Here are some options.

Recipe Adaptations:

• You can use any granulated sweetener you like for these bars, including white sugar, brown sugar, coconut sugar, maple sugar, or sugar-free sweetener. For pure maple syrup, follow the instructions in the recipe card.
• Replace the raspberry mixture in this recipe with sweet raspberry jam or well-stirred fruit preserves of choice. You will need about 1.5 to 2 cups of jam. Seedless raspberry jam is my recommendation for this route!
• For a lower sugar option, use sugar-free powdered sweetener for the glaze and any granulated sugar-free sweetener for the crust and raspberry filling.
• Chocolate lovers, top the bars with chocolate chips if you love chocolate in fruity bars.
• For a low-carb option, make my Low-Carb Blueberry Crumb Bars. You can make this recipe using fresh raspberries too if you’d like.
• Make raspberry lemon bars by adding 1 tablespoon of lemon zest to the crust mixture.
• If you have vanilla extract on hand, add 1.5 teaspoons to the buttery shortbread mixture for warm flavor.
• Add 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the crumbly crust mixture if you love almond flavored treats.

Now that we’re experts on the five simple ingredients, let’s bake some delicious raspberry bars!

How to Make Raspberry Oatmeal Crumble Bars:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line an 8” x 8” square pan with parchment paper.

If you don’t have parchment paper on hand, you can spray the square baking pan with cooking oil, but the parchment paper makes for very easy removal of the bars from the pan post-baking.

In a large bowl, stir together the dry ingredients for the shortbread crust and topping (gluten-free all-purpose flour, oats, granulated cane sugar, and sea salt) until combined.

Pour in the melted coconut oil (or avocado oil or melted butter) and stir the crumb mixture until a thick dough forms. Note: if you prefer using your food processor or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment instead of a mixing bowl, feel free to do so!

Reserve ½ cup of this crumble mixture to use as topping. Transfer the rest of the dough to the prepared baking dish and press it into an even layer using your hands or the back of a wooden spoon.

You want the crust to be firmly pressed into the bottom of the pan so that it holds together nicely when sliced into bars. Poke the crust several times with a fork.

Bake the crust on the center rack of the preheated oven for 15 to 18 minutes, or until it is just slightly golden brown.

While the crust is baking, prepare the raspberry filling mixture.

Transfer the raspberries and sugar to a saucepan and cover it with a lid. Heat over medium heat on the stovetop until the raspberry juices begin boiling.

Use a fork to mash the raspberries, then stir in the gluten-free all-purpose flour until it is completely dissolved.

Remove the raspberry filling from the heat. Set it aside until ready to use. The raspberry filling should resemble a thick fruit filling, similar to the consistency of stirred raspberry jam, yet not as thick as raspberry preserves.

Once the crust has finished pre-baking, remove it from the oven and pour all of the raspberry filling mixture over it, spreading it into an even layer.

Crumble the remaining dough over the raspberry layer. Bake the raspberry bars for 22 to 30 minutes, or until the crumble topping begins to show a little color.

Remove the bars from the oven and allow them to cool to room temperature. Store the bars covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator until you’re ready to serve them.

This refrigeration helps the bars to set up so that they slice nicely.

Transfer the raspberry oatmeal bars to a cutting board and use a sharp knife to slice them into squares. You can enjoy the bars at this point or whip up the optional glaze to drizzle on top.

To prepare the glaze, stir 1 cup of powdered sugar with 2 tablespoons of water or lemon juice in a small bowl until the sweetener is dissolved and a creamy glaze results.

Drizzle the glaze over the bars, and enjoy!

Store leftover crumb bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. These bars freeze very well! Simply transfer them to a freezer bag and freeze for up to 3 months.

And there you have it! The only difficult part about this recipe is having the self control to not eat more than one bar at a time.

Take advantage of berry season with these delicious fresh berry bars.

Whip up this tasty raspberry dessert the next time you’re craving a fruity treat. A warmed slice of raspberry crumb bar paired with a cup of coffee or mug of hot tea is my idea of the perfect snack!

If you love fruit desserts or fruit crumb bars, also try out these favorites!

More Fruit Crumble Bars:

• Vegan Peach Pie Bars
• Healthy Pear Oatmeal Crumb Bars
• Creamy Lemon Oatmeal Crumb Bars
• 5-Ingredient Low-Carb Cherry Pie Bars
• 4-Ingredient Banana Oatmeal Bars
• Keto Lemon Bars
• Paleo Vegan Strawberry Crumb Bars

Raspberry crumble bars for breakfast!

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