50+ Rhubarb Recipes ~ Sweet & Savory (2024)

Creative rhubarb recipes can be hard to find, and you really only need so many strawberry rhubarb pies in a season. We harvest it by the wheelbarrow load each spring, and we’re always on the lookout for new ways to use rhubarb.

These rhubarb recipes are some of the best the internet has to offer, both savory and sweet.

A spring staple for northern gardeners everywhere, rhubarb is one of the very first plants to bear after the snow melts. While strawberry rhubarb pie is the most well-known way to cook rhubarb, the sky is the limit.

Rhubarb has an acidic, tart flavor with just a hint of sweetness. That high acid content is what makes it great for desserts, but it also means that rhubarb complements meats and savory dishes.

Rhubarb is pretty forgiving…

Chopped into chunks, it can hold its shape in muffins and remain firm in pies.

Cooked in a pan with a bit of gentle stirring and it’ll disintegrate into an easy stewed rhubarb to top ice cream.

Roasted in whole stalks on a sheet pan, rhubarb makes a particularly dramatic presentation and the roasting brings out its sweetness.

Easy Rhubarb Recipes

Spring is a busy time of year, and you may not have time for big kitchen projects with all that’s going on in the garden. These easy rhubarb recipes give you a delicious treat without all the fuss.

For the absolute simplest use, try rhubarb compote, which goes wonderfully over just about anything!

Baked Rhubarb with Whipped Cream from Christina’s Cucina

Rhubarb Breakfast Recipes

Breakfast is the perfect time for rhubarb and the sweet/tart flavor works wonderfully in all manner of baked goods.

Personally, I’m a fan of a scoop of rhubarb jam on top of a bowl of plain yogurt, with gives you a way to enjoy rhubarb for breakfast without turning on the oven. But that’s not nearly as decadent as these tasty rhubarb recipes…

Sweet Rhubarb Recipes

Even though rhubarb is technically a vegetable, most people cook it as a fruit. When you add sugar to balance the tart flavor it can work wonderfully anywhere you’d use fruit in a dessert.

The colors in the stalks allow you to really play with designs, provided you have the patience. Try a geometric design as I do in this rhubarb upside-down cake.

Rhubarb Upside Down Cake from Adamant Kitchen

Of course, you can always just chop the rhubarb without fussing with intricate designs.

I promise it tastes just as good!

Rhubarb Meringue Cups from A Beautiful Plate

Old Fashioned Rhubarb Recipes

These days, we have all manner of cakes and pies, but a few decades ago other specific types of desserts were well known.

Custard pies were a lot more common than they are today, and everyone would know what you meant if you said you were making a “Grunt” or “Buckle” for the church supper.

Don’t let the strange names fool you, they really are good!

Savory Rhubarb Recipes

In the US, we almost always treat rhubarb as a fruit and use it in sweet recipes. It’s more commonly used as a vegetable in the east and middle east, and there are plenty of exotic savory rhubarb recipes.

My favorite is Khoresht Rivas or Persian rhubarb stew. It mixes savory herbs and lamb with the bright crunchy flavor of rhubarb. The rhubarb is left in large chunks, and just barely cooked so it doesn’t fall apart.

Persian Rhubarb Stew from Adamant Kitchen

Cooks have begun to come around to savory uses, and you’ll sometimes see it used as a sauce for chicken, in a salsa, or in a crunchy relish on top of tacos.

I really love the idea of adding rhubarb to coleslaw, both to add crunch and incredible fresh flavor.

Rhubarb Baked Beans from Curious Cuisiniere

Rhubarb Preserves

Homemade jams and jellies are a great way to preserve the flavors of the season for year-round enjoyment. I’ll often freeze rhubarb for wintertime pies, but I love the convenience of a ready-made rhubarb jam.

No need to bake a pie or do anything fancy, just spoon out a bit of rhubarb preserve onto toast or yogurt and you’re magically transported back to spring.

It’s perfectly fine to make jam as a refrigerator jam, where it’ll keep for 3-4 weeks. Make a freezer jam and it’ll keep around 6 months. For longer than that, you’ll need to learn the basics of water bath canning, and then you can store rhubarb jam on the pantry shelf.

Rhubarb Curd from Vikalinka

Healthy Rhubarb Recipes

Sweet or savory rhubarb recipes aside, this vegetable is healthy fresh from the garden. It’s everything we choose to do with it once it’s in our kitchen that turns it into a dessert or a heavy fatty savory dish.

Keep it light this spring with these healthy rhubarb recipes!

Rhubarb Coconut Milk Popsicles from Veggie Inspired

Rhubarb Drink Recipes

With all the beautiful spring weather that comes during rhubarb season, there’s no reason not to enjoy a rhubarb drink in the yard as the bees buzz around spring flowers.

Most rhubarb drink recipes play on its natural tart flavor and use it as you would lemon in co*cktails. The bright pink color that comes from the rhubarb peels keeps things visually interesting too.

Rhubarb Cordials and Wine

These are technically rhubarb drinks too…but they require a bit more commitment than just mixing up a quick co*cktail.

Rhubarb wine is a lovely way to preserve rhubarb in a bottle, and it’s wonderfully refreshing at the picnic table all summer long. You’ll need a bit of equipment for making homemade wine, but don’t let that stop you, it’s actually a lot easier than you think.

For something simpler though, stick with a rhubarb-infused cordial, which just takes rhubarb and infuses the flavor into existing alcohol like vodka.

Rhubarb Wine
Rhubarb Mead (Honey Wine)
Rhubarb Cordial

Making homemade rhubarb wine

What’s your favorite way to cook rhubarb? Have I missed any great rhubarb recipes?

Garden Fresh Recipes

Looking for more garden-fresh recipe ideas?

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30+ Strawberry Canning Recipes
20+ Ways to Preserve Lemons