Easy Crumble Topping Recipe (Streusel)

Crumble Topping for muffins or fruit crumble desserts. This buttery, golden brown streusel topping adds sweetness and crunch to your bakes.

Homemade blueberry crumble in a baking dish with a portion scooped out of it to show the blueberry filling inside.

This super simple crumble topping has been serving me well for over a decade. It is an incredibly easy way to throw together a last minute dessert (like Blueberry Crumble) or to take any muffin recipe to the next level with an irresistible streusel topping (like my Raspberry Crumble Muffins!)

The best part is that even though it tastes incredible, it only requires a few ingredients and takes less than two minutes to prepare. My crumble topping uses melted butter, so there is no need for a food processor or pastry cutter - you just need a bowl and a fork!

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Why You'll Love This Recipe
Ingredients
Instructions
How To Use Crumble Topping
Variations
Storage
Crumble Topped Treats
Recipe

Why You'll Love This Recipe

It's super quick and super easy.
You can put your own spin on it with different spices and additions.
It can be used to add an extra crunch to any sweet treats.

Ingredients

The beauty of this streusel recipe is its simplicity - you'll need just four basic ingredients, which you will most likely already have at home.

Flour - All-purpose flour works best. Gluten-free flour can be a great substitute if you'd prefer.
Sugar - Regular white granulated sugar works perfectly, or you can choose to use light brown sugar for a deeper colour and caramel flavour.
Butter - Use unsalted butter so you can control the amount of salt in the crumble. It doesn't matter if you have room temperature or cold butter, as we will be melting it.
Salt - A pinch of salt will help bring out the buttery taste of the crunchy topping.

See the recipe card for quantities.

Instructions

Streusel topping couldn't be easier. Get ready for the quickest baking session of your life - 3, 2, 1, go!

Pouring melted butter into flour and sugar to make crumble topping.

Prepare ingredients

Melt the butter and set aside. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, sugar, and salt and mix together.

Crumble topping in a glass bowl being stirred with a fork.

Stir in the butter

Pour the melted butter into the dry ingredients. Use a fork to mix together until the butter is evenly combined with the flour mixture and makes a crumbly mixture with large, moist clumps.

sprinkling crumb topping on top of raspberry muffins.

Assemble

Sprinkle your crumb topping generously over your chosen fresh fruit or muffins, and bake as advised by the recipe.

Blueberry crumble on a plate with big juice blueberries and sweet crumble topping.

How To Use Crumble Topping

This recipe makes enough streusel for topping 24 muffins, or one 8x8-inch fruit crumble.

Fruit Crumble
If it ain't broke...! A traditional crumble is the ultimate contender of fruit desserts. You can bake your fruit crumble in a large dish or in individual ramekins to change things up a bit (best served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream!). Make a classic apple crumble or try my tasty blueberry crumble recipe.
Crumb Topping for Muffins
To add some crunch and extra sweetness, dust your buttery crumble mix on top of muffins for a delicious dessert or afternoon snack. These tasty Raspberry Muffins and my Blueberry Muffins with Cheesecake filling both use the same crumb as this recipe.
Breakfast Bite
Sweeten up your morning by sprinkling your crumbly topping over a breakfast bowl of your choice! Simply spread your crumble topping on a baking tray and bake for 15 minutes until it is golden brown and crunchy. It works great with a warm bowl of porridge or fresh fruit and yoghurt, like a sweeter granola.
Pies, Tarts, and Cakes
Grab your favourite cherry tart, apple pie, or coffee cake recipe and give it some crunch! Streusel is the perfect topping to take a classic bake to the next level.

Basket full of raspberry muffins with crumb topping.

Variations

Oats - Add some rolled oats or chopped nuts to your crumble for extra texture and flavour, similar to an apple crisp.
Spices - For a lovely warm dessert, try adding some spices like ground cinnamon, ginger, or nutmeg. Or just add some yummy pumpkin pie spice!
Nuts - Try replacing some of the flour with ground nuts for a nutty flavor change. I did this in my Pistachio Muffin recipe and they were unbelievable. Or add some chopped nuts into the streusel for extra crunch (I love to do this with pecans).

Storage

Your crumble topping can be refrigerated in an airtight container for up to seven days.

Crumble Topped Treats

Here is some inspiration for baked goods using a crumb topping.

What is crumble topping made of?

This simple crumble topping is made of just four ingredients - flour, sugar, butter, and salt.

It is delicious just like this, but for extra flavor and crunch you can add in oats, chopped nuts or spices.

Is melted or cold butter better for crumble topping?

Many crumble recipes use cold butter that needs to be cut into the dry ingredients with a pastry cutter or food processor. There is nothing wrong with this method, but I much prefer using melted butter for multiple reasons:

Firstly, it is much easier and faster to make crumble topping with melted butter as you just need to melt the butter and stir it in. You also don't need any special equipment or elbow grease.

I also prefer the flavor and texture of a melted butter crumble as the flour can really soak up all that wonderful buttery flavor.

What is the difference between crumble and crisp?

While the terms 'crumble' and 'crisp' are often used interchangeably, technically, a crisp contains oats and a crumble doesn't. A basic crumble is a sweet, buttery topping made with just flour, sugar, and butter.

However, you can add whatever mix-ins you like to your crumble topping, including oats, chopped nuts, and spices.

Recipe