Easy Crock Pot Rhubarb Sauce Recipe

Rhubarb is such an easy and abundant plant to grow that it’s well worth finding more great ways to use it.

What’s even better about rhubarb is that it is a perennial plant. Plant rhubarb once, give it a little annual tender loving care, and you’ll have a source of delicious, nutritious food for life!

Jump to:

• Traditional Rhubarb Sauce Recipe for the Slow Cooker
• EASY Crock Pot Rhubarb Sauce Recipe
• Spice it Up! Good Additions for a Flavor Boost
• Ways to Use and Serve Rhubarb Sauce
• Large Batch Slow Cooker Rhubarb Sauce Recipe
• Options for Saving and Preserving Rhubarb Sauce

Traditional Rhubarb Sauce Recipe for the Slow Cooker

Rhubarb Sauce is an age-old tradition. It is one of the most popular ways to can or preserve rhubarb. Or, you can just whip up a batch in your crockpot and have it fresh whenever you want it!

This recipe needs only three simple ingredients. With the slow cooker, it is as close to hands-off as you can get.

Yield

• Makes about 2 to 2 ½ cups of finished rhubarb sauce
• The yield will depend on how far down you cook your sauce
• This is a versatile recipe that can be left lighter and juicier, or cooked down into more of an applesauce consistency, or a spread, like fruit butter

What You Need: Ingredients

• 4 ½ cups rhubarb*
• ⅔ cups sugar (more or less to taste)
• ½ cup water

*Use fresh rhubarb when it’s in season. You can also use this recipe to preserve your rhubarb harvest. In the off-season, you can use frozen rhubarb. Use the same amount of frozen rhubarb as you would fresh.

How to Make It: Directions (So Simple!)

1. Chop the rhubarb into one-half to one-inch cubes.

2. Put the rhubarb in the crock pot or slow cooker.
3. Measure the sugar over the rhubarb.

4. Pour the water over the rhubarb and sugar.

5. Stir just to mix through.
6. Cover and cook on low in the crock pot for about four hours.*

7. Stir occasionally while cooking the sauce down.

*You can also cook the sauce on high for half the time (two hours). If you want a thicker sauce, cook on low for several more hours. Cook until the sauce has reached the desired consistency.

Why is my rhubarb sauce a different color from others?

Rhubarb stems (the edible portion of rhubarb) range in color from pale green to bright red. The sauce can range in color, too. It all depends on the color of the rhubarb and how long you cook the sauce down.

There is nothing wrong with rhubarb sauce that ranges from light brown (almost like applesauce) to greenish, pale pink, or red. Some recipes even say to add a few drops of red food coloring, but it seems a little silly to make a clean homemade sauce and then add fake colors to it!

It’s all just a result of the plant and variety that you happen to be growing. Rhubarb is ripe, flavorful, and ready to eat in any of these color variations! The flavor or quality of the rhubarb or the sauce you make from it is not impacted at all by the color.

Spice it Up! Good Additions for a Flavor Boost

Rhubarb is simple and flavorful on its own, but if you like things a little spicier or more savory, try adding one or more (or all) of the following:

• 2 teaspoons fresh lemon zest
• Splash of lemon juice
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• Splash of vanilla extract or
• 1 vanilla bean, split (remove after cooking down)

Ways to Use and Serve Rhubarb Sauce

This sauce can be used in many ways. This list only scratches the surface, so use your imagination! Use this simple rhubarb sauce as

• Ice cream topping
• Sauce for pancakes or scones
• As a side dish, similar to applesauce
• As a base for cobbler or rhubarb crisp
• Over cake or shortcakes (white cake, butter cake, or pound cake are excellent options!)
• In yogurt
• Cooked down into rhubarb butter and used as a spread for toast, bread, muffins, and more!

Large Batch Slow Cooker Rhubarb Sauce Recipe

Rhubarb is a prolific plant. It is also one of the easiest plants to grow and to preserve. It is known as the “pie plant” and was once a staple in every garden where it could grow.

You can easily make a big batch of this rhubarb sauce to enjoy throughout the year.

You don’t have to do anything special, other than to do the math and scale up the sauce.

Here are ingredient measurements for a large batch of crock pot rhubarb sauce. This will yield about 16 cups of rhubarb sauce (or about one gallon, which is equal to four quarts or eight pints).

For One Gallon of Finished Rhubarb Sauce for preserving:

• 36 cups chopped rhubarb (about 12 pounds)
• 5 ⅓ cups sugar
• 4 cups water

As above, just cook down to the desired consistency and then proceed with your preferred method to preserve the sauce.

Options for Saving and Preserving Rhubarb Sauce

Rhubarb and rhubarb products preserve well. Rhubarb itself can be frozen, canned, or dehydrated. It can also be made into a number of products that can be frozen, canned, or dehydrated.

The following are a few options for preserving this easy rhubarb sauce.

Refrigerate for Short-Term Use

This rhubarb sauce can be put into jars or containers and refrigerated for up to two weeks.

Easy Freezy Preservation

You can easily freeze this rhubarb sauce, too. To freeze, put into either straight-sided freezer-safe mason jars or canning jars or into another freezer-safe container, like plastic deli containers.

You could put the sauce into freezer ziploc-style bags, too, and freeze the bags.

Water Bath Can

For a shelf-stable product, you can easily water bath can the sauce.

To water bath your rhubarb sauce

• Jar hot sauce into pint or quart jars
• Leave one-half inch headspace per jar
• Process for 15 minutes for pints or quarts

And enjoy!