Today I’m going to show you how to make a mega delicious vegan crumble recipe! This chocolate crumble recipe is pretty flexible, and I’ve included notes for you, in case you need them. Also, you can use any fruit for your filling that you enjoy, so long as it pairs well with chocolate. Now, grab your tools and let’s get to work.
Allergic to oats? If you’re unable to consume oats, there are notes on how to convert this oat crumble recipe. Alternatively, use this vegan apple crumble recipe instead. It leans into cassava flour and other grain free ingredients for the crumble mixture.
Allergy Status
Free From: Wheat/Gluten, Dairy, Egg, Soy, Tree Nuts, Peanut, Fish, Shellfish, Sesame, Top 9 Allergens, Alliums, Apple, Avocado, Banana, Beans & Lentils, Berries, Carrot, Celery, Cinnamon, Citrus, Coconut, Cruciferous, Garlic, Latex Cross Reactive Foods (H/M), Legume, Lupin, Mushroom, Mustard, Nightshade, Onion, Pea & Pea Protein, Potato (Nightshade Variety), Poultry, Red Meat, Rice, Seeds*, Squash & Gourd, Strawberry, Sweet Potato & Yam, Tapioca/Cassava/Yuca/Manioc, Tomato, Yeast
Friendly To: EOE, Vegan
Compatible With: Oat Free, Stone Fruit Free, Top 14 Free, FPIES
- Seed Warning: Botanically, buckwheat is made from the seeds of the buckwheat plant. Some people with a seed allergy are able to eat buckwheat whilst others aren’t. If you can’t consume buckwheat, swap it for tiger nut flour (tuber, not a tree nut).
- Oat Free, Top 14 Free, & FPIES: Swap the oat flour for tiger nut flour (tuber, NOT a tree nut). Additionally, swap the rolled oats for sorghum or brown rice flour. This will change the texture a good amount, but you’ll still have a delicious crumble.
- Stone Fruit Free: Swap the cooked cherries for any cooked fruit you enjoy that pairs well with chocolate.
Tools Needed to Make This Vegan Crumble Recipe
- Kitchen Scale
- Pan (for cooking fruit)
- Knife (my current fave knife series)
- Cutting Board
- Food Processor
- Spatula
- Medium or Large Glass Baking Dish (I have a set similar to this one)
Chocolate Vegan Crumble Ingredients
Filling Ingredients
- 112g Dairy Free Butter (4 ounces)
- 1.8KG Organic Cherries (64 ounces/4 lbs) OR Other Fruit (see notes)
- 270g Organic Dark Brown Sugar
- 1 TBSP Organic Vanilla Extract
Filling Slurry Ingredients
- 112mL Milk of Choice (4 ounces)
- 30g Arrowroot
Crumble Topping Ingredients & Bottom Dough Ingredients
- 200g Organic Gluten Free Purity Protocol Oat Flour
- 200g Organic Gluten Free Purity Protocol Rolled Oats
- 80g Organic Buckwheat Flour
- 140g Organic Light Brown Sugar
- 40g Organic Cacao Powder
- 1 tsp Sea Salt
- 225g Dairy Free Butter (8 ounces)
- 2 tsp Organic Vanilla Extract
- Organic Extra Virgin Olive Oil (up to 75mL, see instructions)
Critical Tip: Ingredient measurements are given in grams to ensure you have success at home.
Important Ingredient Notes
Dairy Free Butter: You can use vegan butter, or mammal’s milk butter in this recipe. Coconut oil can also work in this recipe since it’s solid at room temperature. Oils can work, however, if you need to use an oil, manage your expectations.
Cherries: This awesome fruit can be swapped for other fruits that pair well with chocolate such as strawberries, bananas, etc.
Dark Brown Sugar & Light Brown Sugar: These can be swapped for other granulated sweeteners including maple sugar, coconut sugar, date sugar, etc. When swapping, the overall flavour will change some. You cannot swap for a liquid sweetener (maple syrup, agave syrup, date syrup, etc.).
Oats: If you don’t have Celiac Disease, a wheat allergy, manage NCGS, or avoid gluten for any other medical reason, you don’t need to use gluten-free oats. You can use regular rolled oats instead. Steel-cut oats aren’t the same thing as rolled oats (sometimes called old fashioned oats).
Cacao: This is not the same thing as cocoa powder. Cacao is minimally processed and will deliver a rich chocolate flavor. Whilst you can technically make a cocoa crumble dough, it won’t be the same. This is the allergy friendly brand of cacao that I use (top 9 free facility).
Salt: You can make your chocolate crumble more interesting by using smoked salt. A cherry wood salt would be a great choice.
More Vegan Dessert Recipes
- Vegan Apple Crisp Recipe (one of my kids say this is one their all time favorite desserts)
- Grain Free, Vegan Apple Crumble Recipe (one of the best vegan apple crumble recipes for the AIP diet)
- Double Chocolate Muffins (such a crowd-pleasing dessert, and they can totally be eaten for dessert)
- Gluten Free + Vegan Lady Fingers Recipe (Top 9 Free, Top 14 Free)
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Directions
Let’s make your easy vegan crumble with delicious, simple ingredients 🙂
- Prep Time: 5 – 10 Minutes
- Fruit Cooking Time: Up to 60 Minutes
- Oven Temp: 350f/175c
- Crumble Bake Time: 30 – 40 Minutes
- Medium to Large Baking Dish: I use a 7″ x 11″ (17.5 x 27.5cm) Glass Baking Dish
Fruit Filling Instructions
First, thaw your cherries (save the juice). In my opinion, the bonus of using frozen cherries is that they’re already pitted. Once your cherries are mostly thawed, roughly chop. You may find it a bit easier to chop semi-thawed cherries since there’s still some firmness to them.
Heat a large pan on medium heat and add your butter. Once melted, add all of the cherries and any juice from the thawing process. Stir to combine, then allow to cook for up to 45 minutes. Stir from time to time to prevent sticking/burning. You should see a reduction in the amount of liquid in your pan. When the liquid has reduced considerably (more than half), you’re ready to move on to the next step.
Next, add the sugar and vanilla, and mix well. Continue to cook for another 10-15 minutes. Now, in a measuring cup, combine the milk and arrowroot. Use a fork to mix well so the arrowroot is 100% dissolved in the milk.
Turn the heat off and mix your cherries one last time. This is also a good time to preheat your oven to 350f/175c. Finally, whilst rapidly mixing, pour in the slurry. Continue to mix quickly whilst combining everything. The cherry mixture should develop resistance and thicken to a pudding-like consistency.
Crumble Topping & Bottom Dough Instructions
As your cherries cook, you’ll prepare the crumble dough. Put your empty food processor bowl, with the blade in, on your kitchen scale and tare to zero. Add all of the crumble topping ingredients, except for the olive oil. Don’t forget to tare between weighted ingredients.
Pulse to combine. Once the crumb has formed, assess. It’s up to you if you use some, or all of the 75mL of oil to get the desired crumble consistency. If your mix feels too dry, add the oil. If the mix is feeling good and you can pick it up and shape it, don’t add the olive oil.
Press about 2/3 of your crumble dough into the bottom of a medium or large glass baking dish. You don’t need to spray or use parchment paper if you’re using a glass dish. If you’re using a cake pan in a pinch, line the bottom with parchment paper first.
Add the cherry filling, then use the last 1/3 of your crumble mixture dough as the final layer. Grab handfuls and sprinkle/crumble all over the top. I am for a mix of medium crumbs and large crumbs.
Once your crumble assembled, bake at 350f/175c for 30 – 40 minutes. The crumble dough should feel dry to the touch, and resemble a baked cookie or granola bar when done.
As an alternative to using a glass baking dish, you can use individual sized glass containers to bake small crumbles. Once they’ve completely cooled, top with a lid and freeze. This allows you to have an awesome treat whenever you’d like.
Vegan Crumble Storage
After cooling your delicious chocolate crumble, you can store leftovers in the fridge for up to a week in an airtight container. For longer storage, skip the refrigerator and freeze your vegan crumble instead, for several months.
Personally, when the crumble has cooled completely, I transfer portions to containers that are a size that make sense for my household. I almost always go with individual sized containers for desserts so my kids can take whatever they’d like when they’re in the mood. Just be sure to use an airtight container.
To thaw, leave a frozen container on the counter at room temperature for about 90 minutes.
Crumble Serving Ideas
This is already a pretty sweet dessert that can be served stand along. However, if you want to keep things interesting, here are some ideas.
- Serve with vegan vanilla ice cream (this ice cream recipe is one of my all time favorites to make for my kids).
- Top with coconut yogurt & shaved chocolate. Opt for an unsweetened yogurt if you’d like to avoid sweetness overload.
- Add an orange flavored yogurt, sorbet, or ice cream on the side.
- Drizzle melted white chocolate all over the top, along with a little cherry or strawberry fruit powder.
- Add crunch with chopped nuts sprinkled on top, or use other crunchy ingredients such as seeds. Glazed nuts or glazed seeds will be even better.
How to Change Up Your Vegan Crumble Filling
The nice thing about fruit crumbles is that they’re pretty versatile. Here are some ways you can change the fruit filling of this chocolate crumble recipe.
Add lemon juice. orange zest, or lime juice & lime zest to the cherry filling. A little pop of acid in the filling can add a hint of “ohuu that’s lovely”.
Make it a berry crumble instead. If you’re a fan of blackberries or blueberries, you can use those in place of cherries for a vegan blueberry crumble or blackberry fruit crumble. I’d avoid red raspberries because they’re incredibly tart, but golden raspberries could be a nice option (or a mix of red and gold raspberries).
If you enjoy chocolate + peaches, you can swap the cherries for diced peaches. You could also use 1/2 cherry + 1/2 peach in your fruit filling. When swapping the fruit, to get the best flavor, make sure you work with quality fruits that are ripe and ready to go.
Answering Your Vegan Crumble Recipe Questions
Is this a good holiday dessert?
Honestly, I think this could served on special occasions, or be part of your Christmas dessert table. This crumble could also be a lovely homemade gift to give to friends and family during the holidays.
If you want to jazz it up a little and lean into holiday flavors, you can swap the cherry filling for a cranberry orange filling (don’t forget to add orange zest to boost the flavour). This can help the crumble feel a bit more like the holidays.
Would this taste good with an apple filling?
Maybe. If you like chocolate + apple desserts, I think you’d be very happy with that swap. There are a lot of varieties of apples to choose from, so make sure you choose one that pairs well with chocolate. For example, I’d skip sour apples such as Granny Smith apples and stick with sweet apples like Fuji.
Before cooking your apple mixture, you’ll want to remove all of the apple skin, and dice the apples (aim for a medium dice). When it comes to cooking apples for this recipe, I’d use medium heat in a nonstick pan with butter (or dairy free butter) as the base. Also, consider skipping traditional apple pie spices and try something way different.
Something like a teaspoon ground cinnamon + half teaspoon ground cardamom + pinch cloves could be really interesting. You can also go in a completely different direction and make a smoky apple spicy brown sugar filling.
Also, when cooking your apples, you can fortify the apple mixture by cooking it in apple juice alongside the butter. More than anything, just have fun with it and make sure you use an apple variety that will pair really well with chocolate.
Can I use quick oats to make this recipe?
When it comes to making your crumble mix, you’ll want to stick with rolled oats, old fashioned oats, or traditional oats. These are three names for the same thing. Quick oats are pre-cooked, and I don’t suggest using them. Personally, it’s not a product I’ve ever used, so I don’t know how they’d perform in this scenario.
If you want to be brave and give it a go, cut the recipe in half, in case it doesn’t work out, and so you don’t lose loads of expensive ingredients.
Could I use an all purpose gluten-free flour in place of the oat flour?
Yes, a GF all purpose flour can work, but you’ll be changing the taste and texture. So long as you’re OK with that, proceed. I’ll also warn you, it may not be a 1:1 swap, so you’ll need to adjust on the fly as needed.
In terms of which GF all-purpose flour blend to use, I can’t recommend one since I’ve never used them. However, I’ve heard amazing things about Better Batter (and know one of their development chefs). They have an artisanal blend that’s gum free and performs well in a lot of scenarios.
Can I swap the oat flour for almond meal?
Honestly, I couldn’t tell you, but am leaning towards no. This isn’t a swap that I’ve personally tested, however, fruit crumbles are a lot more flexible than free-from cookies or free-from cake recipes. In those types of recipes, almond flour absolutely would not be a suitable substitute.
In fruit crumbles though, especially since the dough is pressed, almond meal could work. In terms of blanched vs whole almond meal, that’s something you should also explore. Here’s what I’d personally do. Cut the recipe in half so you don’t lose loads of expensive ingredients in case it doesn’t work out. Swap the oat flour for blanched almond meal the first time, then next time, use whole almond flour. Compare the two and see if either worked.
I have this almond cookie recipe here on the website that’s held together beautifully by tallow, and that may be the key to your success. Since butter is solid at room temp, it may do a good job holding everything together.
As you make the swap, you’ll need to be flexible, as almond meal isn’t a 1:1 swap for other flours, and can vary based on application. If your crumble is much too loose, use more almond meal and perhaps a little more liquid, or something sticky like dates or a nut/seed butter to hold it all together.
Wishing you all the best on this, and would love to know how it turns out!
Are there any veggies that I can add to this recipe?
With the ingredient combination for this vegan crumble, the top two additions you could make would be shredded zucchini (courgette), or mushroom powder in the crumble dough.
Both options are a great way to add a little nutrition boost to your dessert, which I’m personally a HUGE fan of. To add zucchini, you’ll want to wash, dry, cut the end off, and shred with your box grater. Use a clean tea towel or paper towel(s) to squeeze out all of the extra liquid. Don’t skip this step, as the extra liquid can throw off the ratios. Incorporate the shredded zucchini to your fruit filling half way thru cooking, and follow the rest of the directions as-is.
To use mushroom powder, you’ll want to add it to the food processor when combining the dry ingredients. You can get away with up to 4 TBSP of mushroom powder without it making a huge impact on the overall flavor. Once everything is well pulsed, follow the rest of the directions as-is.
There are loads of mushroom powders you can purchase and use. You can also use a combo of powders, or make your own at home with a spice grinder, which is what I like to do. This saves a little money, but also gives you way more options since you can purchase a plethora of dried mushrooms as local farmer’s markets.
You can use other fruit and veg powders in place of the mushroom powder. The key is to select something that can easily be masked by chocolate, but also something that won’t clash with cacao if it gets a little too loud in the mix. Have fun!
Could I bake this crumble recipe in a pie dish?
Yes! You can absolutely bake this vegan crumble in a pie dish. Essentially, a glass pie dish is just a circular version of a regular pie dish. This recipe makes a good sized crumble, so you’ll either need to bake twice in your one pie dish, use two dishes, or cut the recipe in half.
Should I line my baking dish with parchment paper?
I’ve baked a lootttt of fruit crumbles, and even savory crumbles, and not once have I needed parchment paper. There’s never been an issue with the release or cutting either. So, if you’re using a glass baking dish, I wouldn’t bother with the parchment paper.
If for some reason you’re using a metal baking pan of some sort, I’d encourage you to use parchment paper, just in case. Happy baking!
Can I make this crumble recipe on a baking sheet?
Technically, yes, you could bake your crumble on a baking pan. However, it comes with a caveat. The beauty of a baking dish is the height, which makes shaping and pressing the dough SO much easier.
However, if a baking sheet is all you have, you’ll want to press the bottom dough as best as you can, spread the topping all over, the top with the crumble. Personally, I wouldn’t go to the edges with the filling or crumble since there’s nothing to hold it in place as it bakes.
Also know that when you take your crumble out of the oven, it will be a little harder to cut, and you may have some burning at the edges. Again, technically, you can do this, just make sure you’re going into it eyes wide open and not expecting a perfect baked crumble in the end.
Could I use cornstarch in place of the arrowroot for the slurry?
Yes, you can make a slurry with corn starch instead of the arrowroot. I have a severe corn allergy which is why I don’t call for it. Cornstarch will be a 1:1 swap, and you’ll still want to dissolve it in the milk. The goal is to have zero clumps in the slurry so it fully emulsifies when you mix it in.
