This classic cherry crisp is irresistibly delicious and easy to make! A sweet gooey cherry filling is topped with a toasty crumble for a summer dessert that will make everyone come back for seconds. It’s paleo, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar free.
I’ve always had a total weak spot for cherries. As in, I literally cannot go to the grocery store during cherry season without buying way more than I need – it’s a legitimate problem, I’m not kidding.
Trust me – even after making this cherry crisp I still have 1 and a half bags of fresh cherries in my fridge, and the pressure is on – too many cherries and not enough time to eat them/bake with them!
Cherries have just always been my ultimate “signal” that summer is ON, beginning from about the age of 4 or 5 when I was finally allowed to eat cherries (darn pits!) I remember thinking they were the most delicious fruit I’d ever eaten.
Fast forward over 30 years and I still get excited the first time I see them in the stores – they are STILL my favorite fruit, I can say with confidence.
But let’s talk specifically about this cherry crisp now. It’s super simple to put together yet it’s dreamy and delicious in all the best ways a fruit dessert can be.
First, the filling. I highly recommend grabbing a cherry pitter on Amazon to make all your cherry-baking experiences way more pleasant and less messy. If you don’t have one though, a chopstick or straw works well too to get those pits out!
Once your cherries are pitted and cut in half, you toss them with some arrowroot starch, maple sugar to sweeten (you can also use coconut sugar), vanilla and lemon juice. Simple and so tasty after baking!
The topping is also a breeze to prepare. You can either use a food processor or simply a chefs knife to chop up your almonds to a fine texture. I like some larger pieces in there too for crunch!
The almonds are mixed with almond flour, shredded coconut, maple or coconut sugar, coconut oil, vanilla, and cinnamon.
Then, the mixture is chilled for a little while so it crumbles well over the cherries and retains great texture when baking (no melty crumb topping!).
This topping is really similar to the one used for my strawberry crumble which I also highly recommend you try out if you’re craving tasty fruit desserts!
Once the topping is crumbled all over, the crisp needs to bake for about 45 minutes. I took mine out once the cherry filling was bubbling and the topping was nearly a deep golden brown.
Remember that if you use coconut sugar instead of maple, your topping will appear darker even when it’s not quite done. This doesn’t mean it will burn, but rather appear brown due to the color of the coconut sugar.
Once done, I recommend letting it cool at least 20 minutes or so before serving. You can serve it warm or room temp, and it’s amazing with a scoop of coconut ice cream on top! Remember not to top with ice cream until you serve, as the leftovers won’t save well with the ice cream.
So, if you’re like me and can’t resist buying way more cherries than you actually need – you’re definitely in the right place!
This cherry crisp will make everyone in the family happy, PLUS you can actually make 2 and freeze one to have at a later date – a bonus when you have lots of fresh cherries to work your way through 🙂
Okay, we’re getting to that time! I know you’re going to love this classic summer treat – get your aprons on (cherries stain!) because we’re ready to go – let’s bake!
Cherry Crisp {Paleo, Vegan, GF}
Cherry Crisp {Paleo, Vegan, GF}
This classic cherry crisp is irresistibly delicious and easy to make! A sweet gooey cherry filling is topped with a toasty crumble for a summer dessert that will make everyone come back for seconds. It's paleo, vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free and refined sugar free.
Ingredients
Filling:
- 1 1/2 lbs cherries pitted and halved (I used dark sweet cherries)
- 1/4 cup maple sugar or coconut sugar
- 2 Tbsp + 1 tsp arrowroot starch or tapioca
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Topping:
- 1/4 cup maple sugar or coconut sugar*
- 1 cup blanched almond flour
- 2/3 cup almonds raw
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut unsweetened
- 1/4 cup + 2 Tbsp coconut oil soft but solid
- 1 tsp pure vanila extract
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp sea salt
Instructions
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Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. You’ll need a 9” pie or baking dish for the crisp (8” should be fine too, or you can also use 2 small 5” dishes.)
Make the topping first:
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You can either mix the topping by hand or use a food processor to make it a bit easier.
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Chop or process the almonds until they resemble crumbs with larger pieces.
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Add in the almond flour, maple or coconut sugar, unsweetened coconut, vanilla, cinnamon and sea salt.
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Stir or pulse in the coconut oil until the mixture is crumbly/slightly pasty but don’t overmix. Place the topping mixture in the refrigerator while you prep the filling.
Filling:
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Place the prepared cherries in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, vanilla, maple or coconut sugar, arrowroot starch and stir to fully combine.
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Transfer the cherry mixture to your 9” baking dish or pie dish. Remove topping from fridge and crumble all over the cherries, then bake in the preheated over for about 45 minutes or until topping is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Check at 40 minutes since oven temps vary!
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Serve warm or at room temp topped with coconut vanilla ice cream if desired. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator (without ice cream) and reheat slightly in the oven to warm before serving again. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
*Coconut sugar will work well but will cause the topping to appear darker than pictured.
Nutrition
Nutrition facts per serving (0 g)Shop Products and Ingredients:
Want More Paleo and Vegan Summer Desserts? Try One of These!
Strawberry Cheesecake Ice Cream
Salted Caramel Swirl Ice Cream
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Sounds delicious, definitely making this! Would you freeze before baking or after? Thanks!
This sounds delicious! If I don’t have almond flour…would anything else work? Thanks!
Hey Lindsay!…If you have hazelnuts in the house…by ALL means use those with cherries…perfect flavour profile/marriage!!! I’m going to give this a shot myself!!!
Another homerun!!! Made this cherry crisp for our 4th of July celebration and it was a huge hit!!! Your recipes never disappoint! So easy to make and next time I make it, I will heed your advice and bake in smaller pie dishes and freeze one. I cannot tell a lie…I had some for breakfast! ?
Yay! Thrilled you all loved this one 🙂
Hi! I know this is an old recipe, and I’ve made it several times- it is DELICIOUS! My husband loves blackberries, and I would love to make this crisp for Father’s Day tomorrow using blackberries instead of cherries. Do you think that would work? Is there anything I would need to change in the recipe?
Have you ever made this with frozen cherries
I have only made it with frozen cherries because I’ve been making it in the fall and I had a 4 lb bag of frozen cherries already. Next time I’ll try it with apples since they are in season.
That’s what I’m wondering. I have a big bag of organic frozen cherries.
About how many cups does the almonds make after being chopped?
This is perfect for the 4th of July!! Thank you for sharing, I’m trying it this week.
Tastes amazing with vanilla coconut ice cream. I loved finding this recipe to utilize our spring cherry harvest.
Hello! Do you think defrosting frozen cherries would work? Unfortunately cherries are not in season at the moment. Thank you!
This was a popular dessert at a fancy birthday dinner I attended recently. The birthday person requested something gluten, dairy and sugar free. Tall order for dessert. But wtf, it’s grain free too. Every morsel was consumed or went home with our friends. I wondered what she meant by “sugar free”. Refined sugar? What sweetener was OK? I asked if a little raw coconut sugar was OK and was told it was. I used about half of what the recipe called for.
The second time I made this I used a pastry blender to mix the dry ingredients because I didn’t want to break up the chopped nuts. (I used some walnuts and some almonds.) I ran low on coconut oil so I used mostly ghee and a little coconut oil. Very yummy. I used frozen pitted sweet dark cherries both times. I used vanilla bean powder since it’s easier to mix with these ingredients.
Delicious recipe, and easy to make. Thank you.
This crisp was so delicious! I had blueberries and nectarines, but the thickening of the fruit and the texture of the topping still worked really well. I also slightly adjusted the flavor profile by adding 1/2 tsp of mace in the topping instead of vanilla (and no vanilla in the fruit) – it added a nice brightness to the fruits I had. My mom who is a is a non-paleo, crisp-lover thought it was great. Thank you for sharing!
Made this for the first time tonight. Another homerun!! I was a little short on cherries but I had blackberries on hand so I added those. It was amazing. I will definitely bring this the next time I’m asked to bring a dessert to a gathering!
Love this recipe. I can’t do almonds so substituted pumpkin seeds, and oatmeal instead of almond flour. I also cut the sugar down by a 1/3.
Would definitely make again. Very tasty even without ice cream.
Wonderful recipe! Made it pretty much the way it was written and it was delicious!
Trying this today, but will use frozen and drain them well, fingers crossed!
I don’t usually leave reviews, but I had to on this one. This is my absolute favorite dessert recipe! After cherry picking on vacation we had way more than we could eat so I found your recipe, followed it exactly (except for baking time—I have found around 34 minutes to be the perfect time) and omg it was fabulous. My husband even said it’s better than his mom’s traditional homemade cherry pie. Have now made it several times and add a bit of coconut milk ice cream and it never disappoints. Thank you for this, and all your awesome recipes!
I prepared this recipe today and it is truly scrumptious. Due to the fact that it’s January, frozen dark sweet cherries did the trick. Thanks for the recipe. CB from Woodland Park, CO