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It's no secret that rhubarb season is one of my favorite times of the year. In the past, I've mostly paired rhubarb with strawberries, making everything from strawberry rhubarb butter to strawberry rhubarb ice cream. The combination of rhubarb and strawberries is a classic, but I knew there were other pairings out there to explore.
Luckily for me, my Farm Fresh To You (affiliate link) produce box was overflowing with sweet, firm apples the same week I'd ordered rhubarb. I grabbed a frozen gluten-free pie crust from the freezer, and got started.
Picking the Right Apples for Gluten-free Apple Rhubarb Pie
When you are making a pie that doesn't have a significant amount of added sugar, you want to pick a sweet, flavorful apple that you enjoy eating on its own, such as a Honeycrisp, Fuji, or Pink Lady apple (these are the ones I always have in my fruit bowl). It should also be a firm apple that combines well with other fruit, like a Braeburn. While Granny Smith apples are often popular for pie, it's likely more tart than you'd want for this recipe.
The pie gets its only added sweetness from the brown sugar crumble on top, making it the perfect dessert for those guests or family members who crave a not-so-sweet dessert.
Tips for Baking a Perfect Gluten-free Apple Rhubarb Pie
The key to a perfect apple rhubarb pie starts with the crust. You'll want to make sure to follow the instructions on your premade pie shell; some frozen crusts call for you to keep frozen right until filling while others suggest a 30-45 minute counter defrost. I primarily use the Wholly Wholesome pie crusts (affiliate link) from Whole Foods which require you to defrost before baking; they are generally ready to fill and bake by the time I've prepped my pie filling.
To get the most consistent apple slices for my pie fillings, I use the Oxo Good Grips Apple Slicer, Corer, and Divider (affiliate link). It gives you those perfectly identical apple slices you get from those pre-cut bags of apples at the store. And after you use it for a couple of pies and a few day's worths of snacks, you'll make back its cost in what you save by not purchasing those pre-cut slices.
For the crumble, you'll want to use cold butter cut into TBSP-sized wedges. You can use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour and brown sugar, but I prefer to thumb it in to have more control over the size of the crumble pieces.
Here are all the apple rhubarb pie prep steps at-a-glance, with photos:
Serve the pie with a scoop of ice cream, or some whipped cream on top. If you make this pie, let me know what you think! Tag me @ErikaGlutenFree and use the #ErikasGlutenFreeKitchen hashtag.
Happy baking!
P.S. Pin this recipe to add it to your recipe collection:
Gluten-free Apple Rhubarb Pie
Ingredients
- 1 gluten-free pie crust I use Wholly Wholesome frozen pie crust
Pie Filling
- 12 oz rhubarb cut into bite-sized chunks
- 4 apples cut into slices
- 1 orange navel oranges are best for juicing
- 1 teaspoom corn starch
Crumble
- ½ cup dark brown sugar I use Muscovado brown sugar, but any dark brown sugar is fine
- ½ cup King Arthur Cup for Cup gluten-free flour
- 3 ½ tablespoon unsalted butter cut into 1 tablespoon slices
Instructions
- Prepare pie crust according to its directions, and set aside.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In a large bowl, combine your sliced fruit with the juice of one orange and the cornstarch. Set aside.
- In another large bowl, combine the crumble ingredients. You can use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut the butter into the flour and brown sugar, or you can thumb it in. Finished crumble should look like small pebbles or a coarsely ground nut meal.
- Arrange fruit in the prepared pie shell.
- Sprinkle crumble over the top of the pie, fully covering the fruit.
- Place pie on a baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes or until crust and topping/fruit starts to brown. Let sit for 30 minutes before serving. Top with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.
Shar Kuhl says
My daughter made this for our dessert on Mother's Day and it was wonderful. I am on a Weight Watcher plan and the fact there was no sugar in the pie was a big plus for me! Has anyone ever tried this as a crisp? Just skipping the crust and putting it all in a lightly sprayed casserole? I might try that for myself and skip the crust calories, too! Will make over and over; great recipe!
Erika says
I'm so glad you enjoyed the recipe! I find that fresh apples have enough sweetness for me, even when paired with the rhubarb. Too often desserts are a little too sweet for my taste due to added sugar in the filling.