Fruit crisp, or fruit crumble, makes a delightful dessert or breakfast. In this four ingredient fruit crisp recipe I’ll show you how to use whatever fruit you have on hand – fresh, frozen, dehydrated, or canned.

For years we picked peaches for my Mother’s Day gift. We didn’t always go on Mother’s Day, but that was my gift. The orchard was about 45 minutes away from our home and it made for such a fun day.

We loved going out there and picking peaches, chatting with the owner and playing with his dog. It was a day we looked forward to all year long.

The owner of the orchard passed away has since passed away and the orchard closed. We have often wished that someone would purchase the orchard and re-open it. 

This fruit crisp recipe is adapted from their peach crisp recipe. I’ve cut the sugar some, added more oats, and use whatever fruit I happen to have on hand.

Using fresh fruit

Fresh fruit works great for fruit crisp. What I’ve found is that the juicer the fruit the better the crisp. We enjoy using in season fruits such as peaches, nectarines, mulberries, and dewberries (wild blackberries) the best. If we were able to grow strawberries, I bet we’d like those too.

Sometimes I’ll cut up fresh apples for fruit crisp and add frozen cranberries. It’s good but a little drier than when we use peaches or berries.

Using frozen fruit

Frozen fruit and fresh fruit are the most interchangeable when it comes to fruit crisp. We like to use the same frozen fruits as we do fresh fruits because of their higher water content – peaches, nectarines, mulberries, and dewberries. We also like to freeze cranberries when they’re in season in the fall and use them when we make apple or pear fruit crisp.

Using canned fruit

Most canned fruit will work for fruit crisp. You do have to be careful that you don’t include too much of the liquid or else you’ll end up with soggy fruit crisp – and no one wants that!

We can pears each summer and I mainly use them to make fruit crisp. Pears are a little plain so I’ll sprinkle in some Meyer lemon juice and frozen cranberries to give it a nice sweet/tart flavor.

Using dehydrated

Dehydrated fruit, like dried apple rings, will need to be reconstituted before using them in fruit crisp. To reconstitute the fruit, put it in a bowl and just barely cover with water. If you use hot water, they will reconstitute quicker.

You can also use apple juice or other canned juice to add various flavors to the fruit crisp. I like to add a little lemon juice to the water when I reconstitute dried apple rings for fruit crisp.

Other dehydrated fruits that would work well are apricots, peaches, pears, and figs.

Where to get fruit

Most of the time, our fruit crisp is made using fruit we’ve grown ourselves or foraged. Fruit can be expensive so growing your own fruit can be a great way to cut your grocery budget. Learn how to plan a fruit garden and soon you’ll be harvesting from your own fruit trees.

Thanks for sharing with your friends!