Apricot Crumble Bars

These vegan and gluten free apricot crumble bars are a healthier take on one of our all-time favorite family recipes. They're buttery, slightly tart, just sweet enough, and they're also nut free.

Jump to:

• 🥧 Why We Love This Recipe
• 🥗 Ingredients
• 📋 Ingredient Notes
• 🔪 Step-by-step Instructions
• 💭 Expert Tips and FAQs
• 🍽 Related Recipes
• 📖 Recipe
• 💬 Reviews

🥧 Why We Love This Recipe

• The perfect dessert: These crumble bars + vanilla ice cream = perfect summertime dessert. They're buttery, tart, and absolutely delicious.
• Super simple recipe: Our filling is just 3 ingredients, and there are no advanced techniques necessary. Just boil, mix, and bake.
• Nut free: most gluten free or vegan crusts/crumbles will add nuts to provide extra moisture and texture. Our recipe, on the other hand, is totally nut free.

🥗 Ingredients

Here's everything you'll need to make these apricot crumble bars:

📋 Ingredient Notes

• Dried apricots: We opted for these over fresh apricots because it makes for an easier recipe. No chopping or pitting required. We found these at our local Kroger in 8 oz containers, so get two of them for the 1 lb. required by this recipe.
• Quick oats: We used quick oats in this recipe because they have a tender, already broken-down texture. We wouldn't recommend using other oat varieties here.
• Gluten free flour: We used gluten free AP flour, but we'd imagine other varieties like oat flour would also work well. And of course, you can sub for non GF flour.

🔪 Step-by-step Instructions

PREP: Preheat oven to 375F / 190 C.

(1) Add dried apricots, water, and brown sugar to a pan and bring to a boil. Once at a boil, stir well and then lower heat to medium and simmer for 15-20 minutes.

(2) Add mixture to a blender and pulse until mostly smooth, but leave some texture.

(3) Mix crust ingredients with your hands until it forms a crumbly mixture.

(4) Spray a 9 x 13 pan well with cooking spray or line with parchment paper. Press ⅔ of the crust mixture into the pan. Pour apricot mixture over the top of the crust and spread evenly, then sprinkle with the remaining ⅓ of the crust mixture onto on the top.

(5) Bake 32-36 minutes and let cool completely at room temperature. Slice and enjoy!

💭 Expert Tips and FAQs

• Don't forget to spray your pan or lay down parchment paper inside of it.
• Let the bars cool before cutting into them. The apricot filling needs some time to set after coming out of the oven, so tough as it may be, wait for 30 minutes before cutting into them.
• Serving suggestion: We highly recommend serving these with a heaping scoop of your favorite vanilla ice cream.
• Finding dried apricots: You may have never seen these at the store, but at our Kroger, they're located near the produce section. If your grocery store has a bulk section, try that. If all else fails, they'll be with other dried fruits, like mango and pineapple.
• Use your hands: The best way to mix up the crumble is with your hands, which will do a better job at creating a crumbly texture than a food processor ever could.

🍽 Related Recipes

Tried this recipe? Please leave a star ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ rating below and/or a review in the comments section further down the page. You can also stay in touch with us through social media by following us on Instagram, Pinterest, and Facebook or by subscribing to our newsletter.

Print

📖 Recipe