Easy Pear and Blueberry Crumble Recipe

Name: Easy Pear and Blueberry Crumble Recipe
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 40 min
Total time: 60 min
Ingredients: 400 g Frozen blueberries (2 cups); 5 Pears (670g/1.5lb) (Peeled, cored and chopped); 3 tbsp All Purpose Flour/Plain; 1/4 cup White granulated sugar (55g); 1 tsp Cinnamon; 1 tbsp Lemon juice; 1/2 cup Caster sugar (115g); 1.5 cups All Purpose Flour (220g); 1 cup Porridge oats (120g) ((3 x Quaker Oats So Simple sachets)); 1/2 cup Spreadable butter (125g); 1/4 cup Pecans (broken after measuring)

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This easy pear and blueberry crumble recipe is a family favourite! Using fresh pears with frozen blueberries in a luscious cinnamon-spiced syrup, then topped with a crispy, crunchy oaty, and toasted pecan crumble.

Close up of pear blueberry crisp in a baking dish with toasted pecans

If you've been a reader of my food blog for a while, you might also agree that I completely love baking fruit crumbles and crisps.

They're cheap, easy, perfect for using less appealing fruits, and don't require fine Masterchef presentation skills.

I think the other thing I love so much about baking them is that each flavor combination is almost always a delicious surprise. Especially with a pinch of cinnamon!

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✔️ Why You'll Love This Recipe
🛒 Ingredient Notes
📋 Instructions
👩‍🍳 Substitutions
⚖️ Variations
🔪 Equipment
❄️ Storage
💡Pro Tips
🍽️ Serving Suggestions
❓ FAQ
➕ More Fruit Crumble Recipes
📖 Recipe
💬 Comments

✔️ Why You'll Love This Recipe

Here are a few reasons why we think you'll love this crumble dessert:

Uses simple ingredients
Full of antioxidants and fiber
No need for a food processor
Perfect to enjoy any time of the year
An easy simple fruit-based dessert recipe
A great way to use up fresh fruit that's going soft
No need to rub the butter into the dry ingredients
Quicker to make than pie crust for a fruit pie

🛒 Ingredient Notes

Please see the printable recipe card with exact ingredient quantities, preparation instructions and daily values at the bottom of this post.

Pears - this recipe uses very accessible conference pears that are peeled, quartered and any tough cores/seeds cut out, then chopped into small bite size chunks.

Blueberries - you can use fresh blueberries, but I prefer frozen blueberries as they keep for longer. There's no need to defrost - just mix them in with the fruit filling straight in the baking dish to add a hint of tartness to the sweetness of the pears.

All-Purpose Flour/Plain Flour - flour has two uses in this recipe. One is to thicken the fruit juices that ooze out of the blueberries and the 2nd is to create a yummy crunchy cookie crumb top. This can be replaced easily for gluten-free flour.

Oats - quick-cook oats is just fine, or you can use old fashioned oats or 3 sachets of Quaker Oat So Simple Golden Syrup Porridge. This is for a crunchy oat topping, or you can skip.

Sugar - for the base, this recipe uses granulated sugar because it's more wasteful to use baking sugar when it is purely used to sweeten tart blueberries. As for baking sugar, it is used for the cookie dough topping for a more even flavour.

Lemon juice - this really intensifies the flavour of the fruit and sugar in the fruit filling.

Salted butter (melted) - or unsalted butter, spread, etc if preferred. Not only does salted butter enhance the flavour of the crumble top, but mixing it into the pastry mixture really does level up your crunch.

Cinnamon - I almost always add cinnamon to cooked fruit desserts as it really adds a warming and soothing taste!

Pecans - these are optional, but by adding pecans on top, they will toast in the oven and add even more crunch to the dish!

📋 Instructions

First, preheat your oven to 190 degrees celcius fan / 210 conventional / gas mark 5 / 375F and have a pie dish ready.

1. Add all of the fruit-filling ingredients straight into your baking dish.

Then mix the fruit mixture until everything looks evenly coated.

2. Add all of the dry crumble topping mixture in a large mixing bowl (except the pecans).

Now pour in the melted butter.

3. Gently mix with a fork until you get a mix of pebble sizes from large to small and set aside.

4. Now sprinkle over the crumble mixture you set aside, and spread evenly, then top with the pecans.

Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 minutes untiul golden brown and enjoy hot with custard, cream, or ice cream if you wish!

Tip: if preferred, you can use cold butter and rub together with your fingers, then add the oats after.

pear blueberry cobber on a black and white Denby Halo plate with gold spoon

👩‍🍳 Substitutions

Depending on your dietary needs, here are a few simple swaps you can make:

Pears - if you have a lot of apples, simply swap to make this apple blueberry crisp
Butter - use plant based butter, or melted coconut oil for a vegan dessert
Flour - use gluten free flour as I do here in my apple blackberry crumble
Caster sugar - make a brown sugar crumble for a more golden colour with soft light brown sugar
Granulated sugar - a great alternative is honey, maple syrup, agave syrup, molasses, etc

baked pear with blueberries in a Falcon enamel baking dish

⚖️ Variations

Here are some excellent choices you can use to enhance and truly personalise this recipe:

Festive - instead of fresh berries, why not use homemade Christmas mincemeat for this Chrismas apple crumble recipe?
Deluxe - add lemon zest, crushed cardamon seeds, or the best pears you can find
Pear and ginger - add grated ginger stem balls and replace the granulated sugar with ginger syrup

See this apple and blueberry recipe version on my website!

Pear crumble tart in a large white baking dish topped with toasted pecans with a spoonful missing

🔪 Equipment

Please note that as an Amazon Associate, I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases made through affiliate links.

Measurements have been offered in cups and grams, so you'll only need some of the following things to make a blueberry and pear crumble recipe!

*This is a large, deep baking dish ready that's roughly the same size as a sheet of A4 paper/US letter - or a round pie dish is fine!

Close up of sweet cinnamon pear and blueberry syrup and gold spoon at the bottom of a baking dish.

❄️ Storage

Storing - I always leave hot food like this fresh blueberry crumble to reach room temperature first before placing it in the fridge. This prevents raising my fridge's temperature, which may encourage harmful bacteria on the rest of my food.

As much as I'd love to place my pear crunch recipe in an airtight container, 99% of the time I will leave it in the baking dish and cover it with tin foil or clingfilm (plastic wrap). I then keep it in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Freezing - To ensure this fruity crumble recipe still looks appetizing, I recommend baking it in a dish that's also suitable for freezing for up to 3 months - although I have been known to leave up to 6.

Reheating

Microwave: In all honesty, we commonly spoon a refrigerated portion into a microwaveable, lidded container and cook for 2-3 minutes. It's the quickest and cheapest way, but if you don't want a soggy crumble, I recommend reheating it in the oven:

Oven: Sometimes, we'll place the dish back in the oven. Initially, I preheat the oven to 170c fan/190c/375F/Gas Mark 5 and bake while covered with tin foil* for 20 minutes, then remove the cover and give it a final 15 minutes. *This prevents it from drying out and burning

Oven from Frozen: If I'm able to plan ahead, I'll defrost my pear blueberry betty crumble in the fridge for 24 hours, although often it needs longer to fully defrost.

Otherwise, some ovens have a defrost setting which I often use - which works at a very low temperature.

Microwave from frozen: If I have portions of pear berry crumble in the freezer, I also sometimes use the defrost setting on my microwave.

💡Pro Tips

By pouring melted butter into your dry mixed crumble mixture, when you mix it gently together, you'll be able to achieve the most delicious golden and crunchy nuggets/lumps. No more rubbing together with your fingertips into fine crumbs!
You could swap the butter for an oil like rapeseed oil for ease, but it doesn't take quite as yummy!
The flour is important with the fruit filling as it thickens the runny juices from the blueberries. Without it, it would be very watery (but still just as delicious!)

🍽️ Serving Suggestions

Here are some serving suggestions you might like to enjoy with this simple dessert:

Ice cream or custard - whether it is Summer or Winter, we love eating fruit crumbles with a scoop of vanilla ice cream in the Summer to melt into the crunchy topping. Or hot custard in the Winter

Fresh fruit - enjoy with extra fruit or your choice on the side or compote

A good cup of tea - it's the perfect cake to enjoy for a coffee morning where you can wash down the sugar with a brew. If you have a large amount of pears, you may like to enjoy with homemade pear cider

❓ FAQ

How can I make it Gluten Free?

Yes, absolutely! I've often baked with Dove's Farm Gluten Free with Freee and it works the same! Just use the same weight of flour

Could I use plant-based butter to make it vegan?

Yes, plant based butter works perfectly with this recipe.

Could I make it an apple blueberry crumble?

With apples it's actually easier. I use the exact same quantity, but core them with an OXO apple corer and slicer all in one.

➕ More Fruit Crumble Recipes

Looking for more great recipes with seasonal fruit like this? Try these:

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