Vegan Pear and Almond Crumble (Gluten-Free)
This vegan pear crumble would have to be my best crumble yet. It’s not only easy to make but takes only one bowl and one baking dish to get it done.
You can have it for breakfast, afternoon tea, or dessert. Serves beautifully with a vegan vanilla ice cream, a whipped coconut cream, yoghurt, or some custard. On its own is perfect, too!
Which variety of pear is best to use for a vegan pear crumble?
I find that the Bosc variety is the best for a crumble. It holds its shape well and doesn’t go too mushy and soft. They’re also not too sweet, unlike some of the other varieties.
They also make the perfect snack as you won’t get that dripping down the hand effect with them.
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I used them when they were almost ripe so that they were not too sweet for the crumble. I’m lucky to get them fresh from the tree, so I would wait until they’ve dropped from the tree and pick them then. When they still have a tinge of green on them but have become sweeter.
You’ll notice that a Bosc pear is ripe when it has that yellow undertone. The sweetness of this crumble will depend on the type of pear you use and how ripe the pears are.
A perfect balance of flavours
Making a vegan pear and almond crumble is my favourite way to use pears when they are abundant.
This crumble has a soft and gooey inside and a crunchy, melt in your mouth topping. There is a great balance of flavours with the beautiful spices used, with hints of ginger, mixed spice, cinnamon, vanilla, and almond.
This crumble is loosely inspired by my apple crumble recipe that was such a big hit! I wanted to keep a similar basic premise for it but still, give it its own personality.
My husband Michael loved the apple crumble, but this one, he thinks, is the best one he’s ever had!
Other great vegan and gluten-free dessert recipes:
- Vegan Apple Crumble (Gluten-Free)
- Easy Vegan Paleo Pancakes (Grain-Free)
- Nut and Date Stuffed Apples
- Vegan Chocolate and Pear Loaf Cake
- Vegan Semolina Cake with Lemon Syrup
- No-Bake Ginger Slice (GF and Vegan)
If you try this recipe, let me know! We’d love for you to leave a comment and rating below. If you want to go that extra mile, tag us on Instagram, or share your photo of the recipe on Pinterest. Or pin it to make later!
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Vegan Pear and Almond Crumble (Gluten-Free)
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Yield: Serves 6
Description
This gluten-free, vegan pear and almond crumble is a wonderful treat to share with friends and family. There’s an aroma of spices balanced well with the sweetness of pears and the nuttiness of the almonds.
Ingredients
Filling:
- 6 large Bosc pears (around 1 kilo / 2.2 pounds), peeled, cored and chopped into cubes
- 1 cup / 150g pitted dated, chopped
- ¼ cup / 80ml maple syrup
- ¼ cup / 30g arrowroot powder
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon mixed spice
- ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Crumble:
- 1 cup / 100g almond meal
- 1 cup / 140g all-purpose gluten-free flour
- ½ cup / 50g flaked almonds
- ½ cup / 80g coconut sugar
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup / 150g coconut oil, melted (measured while solid)
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit).
- For the filling: In a large bowl, combine all the filling ingredients and ¼ cup / 60 ml water, making sure that all the pears and dates are coated well.
- Spread the filling mix evenly in a pie dish and set aside.
- For the crumble topping: Reusing the bowl from the filling, combine all the crumble ingredients and 3 tablespoons of water, mixing well with a spatula. You can use your hands to make sure that the coconut oil and water have helped to form a crumb.Â
- Crumb the topping over the pears evenly and put in the oven to bake for around 45-50 minutes.
- Serve warm with some vegan ice cream, whipped coconut cream, yoghurt or cold with custard.
- Diet: Vegan
Hi lovely lady 🙂 I’ve now spotted this and can’t choose between the apple crumble and pear crumble. Do you have a favourite? And, if I was going to go for the pear, would it be possible to swap dried dates for fresh? If so, would I need to soak them first and do you have any idea as to what sort of weight/amount I should use?
Hi Sarah! You should be able to swap dried for fresh and yes, soaking them would do the trick. You’d use the same amount 🙂 I actually love them both so it’s hard to choose, but I do really like the flavours of this pear one (they’re a bit more intense). For me it depends on what mood I’m in haha. Let me know how you go!
This is a really excellent, delicious crumble that is easy to make and impressed my dinner guests.
I’m so glad it was a hit! Thank you for the review x
Hi Masa,
Great recipe!
I wanted to ask about the calories. I don’t see them listed anywhere in the recipe, but I see another comment mentioning 750 calories. Is that for one serving (you indicate that the whole cake has 6 servings) or for the whole cake? Did you calculate other things that go with it too, like ice cream? One way to reduce that number is to reduce the oil amount, I reduced it to 1/2 cup and it was enough.
Hi Julia,
Thanks for your comment. As I mentioned to Dianne, the calculator was incorrect, so the 750 calories for one serving was missleading. This is why the calorie counter is no longer on this recipe and won’t be on any of them moving forward.
Glad that you enjoyed it! And thanks for letting me know about reducing the oil 🙂
750 calories PER SERVING? YIKES! 😱😳
Hi Dianne, I’m currently going through and updating all my recipe cards and have realised that the automated calculator has the information wrong on most of them. So sorry about that! So yes, 750 calories is a lot!
Thank you for sharing this recipe. I had never used a combination of pears and dates. What can I say, this crumble was just delicious and, I am so grateful to have a crumble that uses such little sugar and yet has all the sweetness and yumminess that you want from a dessert.
So sorry I missed your comment, Myra! So happy to hear that you enjoyed it, and yes, that’s always a winner 😉
I made this with pears from our tree – it turned out AMAZING!!! I’ve never used dates before, and they really make this recipe 🙂 Would you recommend keeping leftovers in the fridge for the next day or would they be ok left out? Thanks so much!
So happy to see you enjoyed it! 🙂 I find it okay left out for a day, but it depends on the room temperature. To be on the safe side, pop it in the fridge if you live in a warmer climate.
Hi:
The recipe looks delicious! I want to try it but have no idea what mixed spice is?. Do you make your own blend of what you think would taste good?
Thanks,
Mel
Hi Mel, it’s a blend of spices that you can buy pre-mixed. Alternatively, you can leave it out. Won’t make too much difference, just not another layer of flavour. You can make it at home yourself and have on hand. Just look up “homemade mixed spice recipe” in Google. Hope that helps!
Hi
3/4 cup melted what?? Also how much is a cup in grams? Also what is almond meal, where can you get it (UK) or could you use something instead?
Thanks Helen
Hi Helen, sorry I missed that, it’s melted coconut oil. I currently don’t have access to scales, but it would be around 120-130 grams. Almond meal is purely finely ground up almonds. You can make your own at home or get some at the health food store, bulk shop or I imagine most supermarkets would have it too. We have access to it everywhere now here in Australia. If you can’t find it, buy some almonds and process them until you get a fine meal out of it. Hope that helps! 🙂