With gentle cooking, fibrous and tart rhubarb becomes lusciously soft and fragrant, especially in warming desserts. Technically a vegetable, the pink-hued, herbaceous perennial that’s in peak season in Australia from late summer all through autumn is best friends with orange, brown sugar and spices, like in classic pies, tarts and crumbles. Simmer it down and spoon it on top of rice puddings, ice cream, pancakes, and waffles.
It also works well in savoury rhubarb dishes, as per our crackling roast pork with rhubarb and rosemary jelly, and O Tama Carey’s recipe for a sweet and spicy rhubarb achcharu from her beloved Sri Lanka.
Here are our best rhubarb dessert recipes to make the most of the pretty-in-pink fruit, or get adventurous and check out our favourite savoury rhubarb recipes.
Rhubarb desserts
Rhubarb and apple pie with warm cinnamon custard
Rhubarb galette
Baked rhubarb with orange and cardamom
Rhubarb and raspberry brownie
Rhubarb, lime and coconut slice
Roasted rhubarb and mandarin frangipane tart with thyme
Rhubarb and yoghurt twists
Sugar-crusted rhubarb hand pies
Rhubarb and apple tarte Tatin with Calvados ice-cream
Rhubarb-strawberry milk bun pudding
Rhubarb millefeuille
Curtis Stone’s Liège-style waffles with rhubarb-vanilla jam
The Agrarian Kitchen’s rhubarb and chamomile tart
Rhubarb and chocolate tart
Sean McConnell’s rhubarb, strawberry and pink peppercorn crumble with chamomile ice-cream
Brigitte Hafner’s rhubarb dumplings
Rhubarb and custard bread pudding
Rhubarb and strawberry tart with candied pistachio and fennel seeds
The Agrarian Kitchen’s rhubarb and strawberry sponge puddings with ricotta gelato
Rhubarb and strawberry lattice pie
Rhubarb, brown sugar and fennel pie
Rhubarb and custard brown-sugar waffles
Rhubarb-hazelnut puddings with brown sugar-brandy custard
Vincent’s bread and butter pudding with rhubarb compote
Rice pudding fritters with rhubarb and winter strawberry jam
Rhubarb and berry Linzertorte
Rhubarb Louise cake
Coconut rice pudding with star anise and rhubarb
Curtis Stone’s rhubarb, pomegranate and hazelnut crumble
Rhubarb and raspberry crostata
Apple, rhubarb and raspberry pie with toasted almond ice-cream
Sharbat-e reevas (rhubarb-rosewater sherbet)
Savoury rhubarb dishes
Bar Rochford’s duck liver pâté with rhubarb compote and fennel salad
Roast pork with rhubarb and rosemary jelly
Persian lamb with rhubarb and chelow
O Tama Carey’s rhubarb achcharu
Roast duck with orange and rhubarb
Three Blue Ducks’ raw fish, buttermilk, ginger, rhubarb and fennel
John Paul Urizar