This easy Pear Crumble is made with fresh juicy pears, warm spices, and an oat flour crumble topping. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream! Gluten-free and vegan.
This easy-baked pear recipe is the perfect fall dessert. With warm cinnamon and ginger pears and sweet, warm crumbles, this will become one of your favorite desserts for the season.
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Why you'll love this recipe
- Easy dessert
- Simple ingredients
- Gluten-free and dairy-free
Ingredients and substitutions
Here are a few quick notes about the main ingredients in this recipe. You can see a complete list of ingredients and instructions in the recipe card below.
Gluten-free oat flour - This whole-grain flour makes up the base of the vegan crumble topping. You can easily make your own oat flour with a food processor. If you have oats in the pantry, do this instead of using store-bought.
Arrowroot starch - This starch helps bind our gluten-free crumble topping together. Corn starch is a great substitute.
Fresh pears - Bartlett pears are the best pears for this recipe due to their natural sweetness. But other kind of pears like Bosc pears, Anjou, and Comice pears will work as well (and are so good in a pear salad!)
Maple syrup - This natural unrefined sweetener makes for a deliciously syrupy pear filling. Pure maple syrup adds caramel-like notes similar to brown sugar or coconut sugar.
Vegan butter - This vegan option helps to replicate the true buttery crumble of a traditional fruit crumble.
Cinnamon, Ginger, and Vanilla extract - Little but mighty, these ingredients tie everything together!
How to make pear crumble
Before you start: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 1.5-2 quart baking dish with cooking spray or extra vegan butter.
Step 1: Place pears into a large mixing bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch, ¼ teaspoon salt, and ground cinnamon. Add maple syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir to coat.
Step 2: Transfer pear mixture to prepared baking dish.
Step 3: In the large bowl add organic cane sugar and vegan butter. Cream the mixture. Cut in remaining vanilla, oat flour, ¼ cup arrowroot starch, and a ¼ teaspoon salt until the oat mixture has pea-sized coarse crumbs.
Step 4: Cover the top of the pears in an even layer with the crumble mixture. Bake for 45-50 minutes until golden brown and bubbly.
Recipe tips
- When baking or cooking pears, an underripe pear works best. I like to use pears that have just started to ripen for this fruit crumble. This allows them to hold their shape when baked.
- Like my peach oat crumble, apple crumble, and vegan blackberry crumble, this easy pear crumble recipe is delicious when served with vanilla ice cream or dairy-free whipped cream.
Storage and reheating
Store this pear dessert by wrapping foil or plastic wrap over the baking dish or keep in an airtight container in the refrigerator. To reheat portions, place an individual portion in a microwave-safe bowl and heat for 30-second intervals until warm.
To reheat the whole dish, heat it in a 300-degree Fahrenheit oven until warm. Tent the baking dish with foil so that the topping does not brown too much.
FAQs
For crumble recipes, pears don't have to be peeled. I prefer to peel them but it is up to personal preference.
The primary difference between a crumble and a crisp is the topping texture. A crumble has a crumbly, streusel-like topping, while a crisp topping includes oats, giving it a granola-like texture.
More fruit desserts
Love this recipe? Please consider leaving a 5-star 🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟rating on the recipe card below and let me know what you think in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Easy Pear Crumble
Ingredients
- 5 medium Bartlett pears peeled, cored and sliced into ½ inch slices (about 5 cups sliced)
- 1 tablespoon + ¼ cup arrowroot starch, divided
- ½ teaspoon salt, divided
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ cup (65ml) maple syrup
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract, divided
- ½ cup (118g) organic cane sugar
- ½ cup (113.3g) cold vegan butter
- 1 cup (106g) gluten-free oat flour
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 1.5-2 quart baking dish with cooking spray or extra vegan butter.
- Place pears into a large mixing bowl and toss with 1 tablespoon arrowroot starch, ¼ teaspoon salt, the cinnamon, and the ginger. Add maple syrup and 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir to coat.
- Transfer pear mixture to prepared baking dish. Smooth pears into an even layer.
- Clean out the mixing bowl and add organic cane sugar and vegan butter. Cream with an electric mixer. Then, with a couple forks or a pastry cutter, blend in remaining vanilla, oat flour, ¼ cup arrowroot starch, and ¼ teaspoon salt until the mixture has pea-sized coarse crumbs.
- Once the flour and starch are thoroughly integrated, use your hands to form smaller crumbles and then cover the pears evenly with the crumble mixture.
- Bake for 45-50 minutes until the top is starting to turn golden brown and filling is bubbly. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
Coley | Coley Cooks
well, these are genius! They look so luxurious and warm and satisfying. A perfect lightened up dessert for this time of year.
Tessa
Thanks, Coley! They certainly do satisfy that dessert craving while keeping a bit more healthy. I love it when that happens. :)
traci | VanillaAndBean
No Fuss Indeed, Tessa! These are so elegant, simple and decadent.. you got the trifecta of pastry; warm/cold, creamy/crunchy, sweet/spicy. There's SO much I love about these... They are on the list my dear! xo
Tessa
Ohh, thank you, Traci! I do like that pastry trifecta!! Hope you had a wonderful weekend, my friend! xoxo
Rony Jahid
Firstly I thought this was chicken after seeing this photo. This is a brilliant idea to made this way in these pears! Really love this different thought, thanks for sharing.
Lee
These look awesome. I might have to change my plan - I was going to do a chai poached pear dessert for Thanksgiving, but now I think I will do this one.
Tessa
Thanks, Lee! Ohh, poached pears are so good too. I hope you enjoy this! xoxo
Kelsey @ Appeasing a Food Geek
These are so pretty, and I can't even deal right now. And the colors! Drooling. Also, I'm dying over this idea. I'm going to do this as soon as humanly possible. xoxo
Tessa
Oh, thank you, Kelsey! I hope you do, it's kind of like the best part of pie without the crust! <3 <3 <3
Joyce @ Sun Diego Eats
Oooh love the idea of Hasselback pears, such a clever presentation !!
Tessa
Thanks, Joyce!! Getting fancy without being fancy is the way to go! ;)
Abby @ Heart of a Baker
Hasselback pears? This is brilliant! I kind of forgot about pears, so I need to put them into my rotation this season! xoxo
Tessa
Get them in the rotation! I've been dreaming of what else to put them in. The list is getting long. Ha! Thanks, girl! <3
Rebecca @ Strength and Sunshine
What a beautiful dessert! I am all about pear season...and apples...I love them both, haha but pears are always so lovely in treats like this! So cozy!
Tessa
Haha, apples and pears, and so many things to make them with! I need more days in the week. ;)
Tori//Gringalicious
This looks great! I have to try pears like this, thanks!
Tessa
Yay! I hope you do - pears in baked form are just so good. <3
Rachel @ Baking Up Bliss
These look so delicious! I'm always on the lookout for cozy, quick desserts. I think I can sometimes get a bit over zealous when it comes to desserts, so it's always so relaxing to return to comforting simplicity :)
Tessa
I totally know what you mean - and it always seems like I get overzealous during the holidays when there is NO time. Haha. Thanks, Rachel!
Mary Ann |The Beach House Kitchen
Wow Tessa, what a faulous fall dessert! I wish I could grab one of those luscious pears right off my screen!! A nice change from the usual fall apples. Thanks for sharing. Happy weekend!
Tessa
Hehe, I've been eating pears like it's going out of style. ;) Thank you so much, Mary Ann! <3
Emily | Gather & Dine
I'm looking at that last picture of the melty ice cream oozing into the pear.....DIVINE! Such a fun idea, Tessa. Such fancy presentation, but relatively simple in preparation. Love it.
Tessa
Ice cream and this recipe were made for each other! :) Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! xoxo