The Best Plum and Blueberry Crumble Recipe with a Golden Oat Topping

Juicy baked plums and blueberries under a golden, buttery oat topping, ready for the oven in under 20 minutes. This warm plum and blueberry crumble turns two summer fruits into a comforting pudding with barely any effort.

Plum and blueberry crumble bakes soft, jammy plums and bursting blueberries beneath a crisp oat topping spiced with cinnamon and allspice. The fruit is tossed raw with a little sugar and cornflour, the oaty crumble comes together in one bowl, and the whole thing bakes to a golden finish. It uses simple storecupboard ingredients and works right through the summer when plums and blueberries are cheap and plentiful. Warm, filling and easy to adapt, it's a pudding that suits both a quiet weeknight and a table full of guests.

Ingredients You Need for This Plum and Blueberry Crumble

• Fresh plums – Ripe plums turn soft and jammy in the oven and bring a tart edge that balances the sweet oat topping.
• Blueberries – They burst as they bake, releasing a deep, syrupy juice that runs through the plums.
• Golden Caster sugar – A small amount sweetens the fruit; taste first and add more only if the plums are sharp.
• Vanilla sugar – Adds a gentle rounded warmth to the fruit filling without overpowering it.
• Lemon juice – A squeeze lifts the fruit and keeps the flavours fresh and bright.
• Cornflour – Thickens the juices released by the plums and blueberries so the filling stays glossy, not watery.
• Ground allspice – A quarter teaspoon adds a warm, faintly peppery note that suits baked stone fruit.
• Ground cinnamon – The classic partner to baked fruit, warm and comforting through both filling and topping.
• Cold unsalted butter – Dotted over the fruit, it melts into the juices and enriches the base.
• Old-fashioned oats – Jumbo oats give the topping proper structure and a hearty, crumbly bite.
• Plain flour – Binds the oat topping together and helps it crisp as it bakes.
• Baking powder – A small lift keeps the topping light rather than dense.
• Lemon zest – Stirred through the crumble, it brings a fragrant citrus note to the buttery oats.
• Demerara sugar – Its coarse crystals give the topping a sweet, golden crunch.
• Melted unsalted butter – Coats the oats and flour so the crumble bakes crisp and holds together in clusters.
• Vanilla ice cream – Served on top, it melts into the warm crumble and makes its own sauce.

This crumble uses two sugars, and neither is there by accident. Golden caster sugar sweetens the fruit filling - its fine grains dissolve quickly into the plum and blueberry juices, but unlike plain white sugar it's unrefined, so it carries a light caramel note that deepens the flavour of the baked fruit rather than just making it sweet. Demerara sugar is used for the topping. Its large, coarse crystals hold their shape in the oven instead of melting away, which is exactly what gives the oats that sweet, golden crunch - plain white sugar would simply dissolve into the butter and leave the topping softer, flatter and one-note. White sugar sweetens; golden caster and demerara sweeten and add toasty, caramelised depth, which is what a good hearty crumble deserves.

How to Make Plum and Blueberry Crumble Step by Step

This is an easy plum and blueberry crumble made in three simple steps. You mix the fruit filling, make the oaty crumble, then bake until golden.

1. Step 1: Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Make the fruit filling first. In a baking dish, combine the blueberries, chopped plums, caster sugar, vanilla sugar, cornflour, lemon juice, allspice, cinnamon and a small sprinkle of salt. Mix everything together well, then dot the cold cubed butter over the top. Put the dish in the fridge while you make the crumble.

2. Step 2: For the crumble, melt the butter in the microwave. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, demerara sugar and a pinch of salt. Pour in the melted butter, then add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until the mixture turns crumbly. Depending on the texture you want, you may need a little more or less oats and flour, so adjust it to your taste.

3. Step 3: Spread the crumble evenly over the fruit. Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, then cover loosely with foil to stop the topping browning too fast, and bake for another 10 minutes.

4. Step 4: Remove from the oven and let it cool for 5–10 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream. Any leftovers are lovely with yoghurt, or on their own with a nice cup of tea.

How to Serve and Store Plum and Blueberry Crumble

Plum and blueberry crumble is best served warm, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream that melts into the fruit and turns into a sauce. A jug of custard, a dollop of crème fraîche or a splash of double cream all work just as well, and Greek yoghurt makes a lighter option if you want one. The contrast of the warm, syrupy fruit against something cool is what makes it.

To store, let the crumble cool completely, then cover the dish and keep it in the fridge for up to 4 days. Reheat in the oven at 160°C (320°F) until warmed through, or microwave a portion for about a minute. It freezes well in portions too, and you can reheat it straight from frozen. Cold leftovers are surprisingly good stirred through morning yoghurt or porridge.

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How Much Does This Plum and Blueberry Crumble Cost to Make Around the World

This plum and blueberry crumble stays a budget-friendly pudding, with the cost swinging mostly on the two fruits.

• In the UK, plums run around £2.50–4.20 per kg (cheaper on seasonal promotion) and a 500g pack of blueberries sits near £4.55, so a full dish plus storecupboard oats, flour, butter and sugar comes to roughly £6–7, or around £1–1.15 per serving across six. Buy your plums loose and your blueberries in the larger 500g packs at Tesco, Sainsbury's or Aldi, where they're cheapest.
• In Ireland, plums sit at about €3.50–4.50 per kg and blueberries near €3 a punnet in Dunnes, Tesco or SuperValu, putting the whole crumble around €7.50–8.50, roughly €1.30 a serving.
• In the USA, plums cost about $2.50–3.50 per pound and blueberries $3–4 a pint at Kroger, Walmart or a farmers' market, so the dish lands near $9–10 total, or about $1.50 per serving.
• In Australia, plums run roughly AU$5–7 per kg and blueberries AU$3–4 a punnet at Woolworths or Coles, bringing the whole crumble to about AU$11–13, near AU$2 a serving.
• And in Serbia - one of Europe's great plum and blueberry growers - both fruits are cheapest of all at local green markets (pijaca), often well under €2 per kg in season, so the entire dish can come in around €4, making this one of the most affordable warm puddings you can bake.

Tips and Notes for the Best Plum and Blueberry Crumble

• Taste your plums before you decide on the sugar, because ripeness varies enormously between varieties and even between individual fruits in the same punnet. Sweet, in-season plums may need only the tablespoon of caster sugar in the recipe, while sharp, underripe ones can take a little more. The blueberries add their own sweetness as they burst, so factor that in too. Balancing the fruit's natural sugar against the sweet oat topping is what keeps the crumble moreish rather than sickly.
• Use jumbo old-fashioned oats rather than the fast-cooking or instant kind, as they make a real difference to the finished texture. Larger oats hold their shape through baking and give you those hearty, crunchy clusters that a good crumble needs. Quick oats turn soft and almost pasty in the oven, losing the bite that contrasts so well with the soft fruit. If jumbo oats are all you buy for crumbles, this is the recipe that shows why.
• The cornflour is doing important work, so don't be tempted to leave it out. Plums and blueberries both release a lot of liquid as they bake, and without a thickener that juice stays thin and runs across the plate. A tablespoon of cornflour tossed through the fruit soaks up the excess and turns those juices glossy and spoonable. You'll notice the difference the moment you serve it, as the filling holds together instead of flooding the dish.
• Peel your plums only if they're large and ripe, when the skins slip off easily after cutting into wedges. Larger ripe plums have looser skins that can be removed with barely any effort and give a smoother filling. Smaller plums cling to their skins, and there's no need to fight them - the skins soften in the oven and add colour and a pleasant tartness. Either way, the crumble works, so let the fruit decide.
• Dot the cold butter over the fruit rather than the topping, as this small step enriches the filling from below. As the plum and blueberry crumble bakes, those little cubes melt down into the plums and blueberries, adding richness and helping the juices turn silky. It's a trick that separates a good crumble from a great one, giving the fruit layer a rounder, more indulgent flavour. Keep the butter cold until the moment it goes in so it melts slowly and evenly.
• Cover the dish with foil for the final ten minutes rather than the start, which is the reverse of some crumble recipes. This version bakes uncovered first so the topping sets and starts to crisp, then the foil goes on to stop it browning too far while the fruit finishes cooking through. It's a neat way to get a golden top without any risk of a burnt, bitter edge. Keep the foil loose so steam can still escape.
• Reserve the lemon peel before you juice the lemon, because you need the zest for the crumble and the juice split between the fruit and the topping. Zest the lemon first while it's whole and firm, as it's far easier than trying to zest a squeezed half. Use half the juice in the fruit filling and half in the crumble mixture. This way one lemon does two jobs and nothing goes to waste.
• Adjust the oats and flour to suit the texture you're after, as this recipe is genuinely flexible. More oats give you a coarser, chunkier, more rustic topping with bigger clusters, while a touch more flour makes it finer and smoother. There's no single correct ratio, so trust your eye and your preference. If the mixture looks too wet and pasty, add a spoon more oats; if it's too dry and sandy, a little more melted butter brings it together.
• Spread the fruit in a fairly even layer so it cooks at the same rate across the dish. Piling the plums and blueberries deep in the centre leaves the middle underdone while the edges overcook and dry out. A wide, shallow baking dish gives more surface for the crumble to crisp and helps the fruit soften evenly. An oval or rectangular dish works better here than a tall, narrow one.
• Let the plum and blueberry crumble rest for the full 5–10 minutes after baking, however tempting it is to dig straight in. Fresh from the oven the fruit is molten and the juices are loose, so it slides around the plate and can scald your mouth. A short rest lets the cornflour-thickened filling settle and firm up slightly, making it much easier to serve in neat spoonfuls. It'll still be beautifully warm when the ice cream goes on top.
• Make the crumble topping ahead if you're short on time, as it keeps well and saves a step later. The dry oat mixture can be prepared and stored in an airtight container in the fridge for a couple of days, or frozen for longer. When you're ready to bake, prepare the fruit, scatter the chilled crumble over and bake as normal. It's a handy way to have a warm pudding ready with only a few minutes of active work.
  

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Plum and Blueberry Crumble Recipe

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Plum and blueberry crumble is an easy summer pudding of juicy baked plums and bursting blueberries under a golden, buttery oat topping. Spiced with cinnamon and allspice and finished with lemon zest, this crumble is warm, crunchy and comforting, ready for the oven in under 20 minutes and lovely served with vanilla ice cream.

Prep Time 10 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 40 minutes

Ingredients

For the fruit filling:

• 8 large plums, pitted and coarsely chopped (about 800g / 1¾ lb)
• 300g (about 2 cups) fresh blueberries
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar (add more if the fruit is sharp)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• Juice of ½ lemon (reserve the other half for the topping)
• 1 tablespoon cornflour (cornstarch)
• ¼ teaspoon ground allspice
• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• Sprinkle of salt
• 1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter, cubed

For the crumble topping:

• 200g (2 cups) old-fashioned jumbo oats
• 125g (1 cup) plain flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 45g (3 tbsp) demerara sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 100g (½ cup) unsalted butter, melted
• Juice of ½ lemon
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• Vanilla ice cream, to serve

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F). In a baking dish, combine the blueberries, chopped plums, caster sugar, vanilla sugar, cornflour, lemon juice, allspice, cinnamon and a sprinkle of salt. Mix well and dot the cold cubed butter over the top. Chill in the fridge while you make the crumble.
2. Melt the butter in the microwave. In a large bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, baking powder, demerara sugar and a pinch of salt. Pour in the melted butter, then add the lemon juice and lemon zest. Stir until crumbly, adjusting with a little more oats or flour to reach the texture you want.
3. Spread the crumble evenly over the fruit. Bake for 20 minutes, then cover loosely with foil and bake for a further 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and rest for 5–10 minutes before serving warm with vanilla ice cream.

Notes

Taste your plums before adding sugar. Sweet, ripe fruit needs less; sharp, underripe plums can take a little more.

Use jumbo old-fashioned oats, not quick-cooking oats, for a topping with proper crunch and structure.

The cornflour thickens the fruit juices, so don't leave it out — add an extra teaspoon if using frozen fruit.

One lemon does two jobs: zest it whole first, then split the juice between the fruit filling and the crumble.

Store leftovers covered in the fridge for up to 4 days, or freeze in portions and reheat from frozen.