Fresh Cherry Crisp Recipe
Published 6/11/2021 • Updated 6/17/2024
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This incredible cherry crisp recipe is made with fresh cherries and a sweet and buttery oatmeal crisp topping.
You won’t believe how easy it is to throw this cherry crisp together, so the next time cherries are on sale…scoop them up!
Best Cherry Crisp!
Everyone has their favorite fruit crisp recipe. My mom’s honey rhubarb crisp will always be my favorite crisp recipe and our apple crisp is a close second,
What makes a good crisp? A good balance of natural fruit with the crunch of a crumble topping are two of my must-haves in a crisp.
Our cherry crisp recipe is made with delicious fresh cherries and a simple, yet perfect oatmeal crisp topping. And, I am excited to say I just planted a cherry tree in my front yard and this WILL be the recipe I make first with our cherries.
Why Make this cherry crisp the best?
Butter Love
We used butter for our crumble topping. It really gives it the old-fashioned flavor that we are always looking for in a cherry crisp.
Only Fresh Ingredients
We also don’t ever use anything canned for our fruit filling and we stayed away from adding any sweeteners to the cherries themselves (they just didn’t need it).
That’s it. After you pit your cherries, make your crumble, and layer them together. You’re all set! It’s a perfect recipe for those of you looking for a light and easy dessert this summer.
Main Ingredients for Cherry Crisp
- Fresh Cherries – fresh cherries are a must for this recipe! If you don’t have them in your area, look for frozen cherries. Whatever you do, don’t use canned.
- Rolled Oats – rolled oats are the basis of the crisp topping. You can also use quick-cooking if you want.
- Light Brown Sugar – sweeten up the crisp topping with some brown sugar.
- Cinnamon – a pinch of cinnamon helps bring out the sweetness of the cherries.
- Flour – we’re using white whole wheat flour in this cherry crisp recipe, but you can use all-purpose.
- Butter – butter is seriously the way to go when it comes to crisp topping. You won’t be dissapointed!
- Orange Juice – OJ is our secret ingredient and really helps cook the cherries into a perfect filling for this crisp recipe.
Can you use frozen cherries?
Frozen cherries will work just fine for this recipe. We do, however, recommend thawing them first.
Ingredient Swaps
If you’re hoping to swap any of the above ingredients for something less refined, here are some ideas below.
Coconut Sugar – Switch the brown sugar for coconut sugar to use a 100% plant-based sugar that’s not as sweet, but still delish!
Coconut Oil – Hoping to make this recipe vegan? We suggest swapping out the butter for coconut oil and even reducing the amount to only 1/3 cup. This will cut fat and take out any dairy in this recipe.
Oat Flour – keep this recipe 100% gluten-free and use ground oat flour instead of white whole wheat. You can also try an all-purpose gluten-free flour. We suggest subbing 1:1.
Rolled Oats: don’t have rolled oats? Feel free to use quick-cooking. We do NOT suggest swapping for steel-cut.
Can I use a different berry instead of cherries?
You can use 4 cups of any kind of berry. Here are some ideas:
- blueberries
- strawberries
- raspberries
Do you have to refrigerate cherry crisp?
After baking your cherry crisp, we do suggest refrigerating. The reason why is because it will last longer in the fridge!
Storage
Transfer cherry crisp into an airtight container. Refrigerate for up to 3-5 days.
Fresh Cherry Crisp Recipe
Ingredients
Cherry Filling
- 4 cups pitted Bing cherries, halved
- 2 tablespoons white whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup orange juice, option to sub water
Crisp Topping
- 1.5 cups rolled oats
- 1/2 cup white whole wheat flour, any kind of flour will work!
- 1/2 cup light brown sugar, option to use coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (option to use coconut oil or half and half)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 375ºF and spray a cake pan (or any casserole dish) with nonstick cooking spray. We used a casserole dish.
- In a medium-sized bowl, toss cherries with 2 tablespoons of flour and orange juice. Transfer the fruit into the greased casserole dish and set it aside.
- Next, in a separate bowl, mix together all of the crumble ingredients. Use a fork (or your hands) to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until it forms little crumbles. Evenly spread crumble topping over the cherries in the casserole dish.
- Bake at 375ºF for 30 minutes or until the filling begins to bubble and the crumble topping begins to brown.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Delicious
This was delish and so easy. Does not taste like a lightened up version at all! Served with ice cream at dinner and mixed with yogurt in the am – will be keeping this one to make again for sure.
This was delicious and so easy. I’m making it a second time tonight.
Delicious and simple recipe! I used 1-to-1 gluten free flour substitute and it turned out great. No orange juice on hand so used water, and coconut oil instead of butter. Plenty sweet and tasty this way! Our cherry tree fruited for the first time this year since owning our home. I was so excited to pick the cherries and make this!
Delicious 😋
Decadant and delicious! The fresh cherrie took some time to pit but were worth it.