A balance of tangy and sweet this rhubarb curd recipe will have you skipping the pie. Rhubarb is meant to be used in more than strawberry pie recipes.
This silky curd recipe is delightful with meringue, scones or straight off the spoon! Once you try this recipe you will want to make rhubarb dump cake, lemon curd, pomegranate curd and blood orange curd.
I grow rhubarb in my garden. When you find rhubarb in the grocery store, chances are it will not have the green leaves attached. This is what it looks like when it is cut fresh from the garden.
Do you want to grow your own rhubarb? Did you know it keeps producing for 20 years!?
Rhubarb Curd Ingredients:
- Rhubarb, fresh (4-6 stalks), cut into 1-inch chunks
- sugar, divided
- egg yolks
- butter, cut into chunks
- lemon zest
- lemon juice
- vanilla bean, split and scraped (optional but awesome)
How to make rhubarb curd:
- Remove the large leaves, wash the rhubarb and chop the rhubarb into 1" pieces.
- Place the cut rhubarb in a saucepot with ¼ cup sugar, and 4 tablespoons water over medium heat. Cook until the rhubarb falls apart, adding water by the tablespoon if the rhubarb sticks to the bottom of the pan. After a few minutes, the rhubarb has broken down and is pretty mushy.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the rhubarb, if you don't have an immersion blender, a food processor or blender will work. The rhubarb should be pretty smooth.
- Crack 4 eggs and place just the egg yolks in a bowl.
- Slice a whole vanilla bean in half, lengthwise, and scrape out the tiny vanilla seeds.
- Over a double boiler, on medium heat, whisk the egg yolks, the remaining ⅓ cup plus ⅛ cup sugar, the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla bean seeds until the sugar is dissolved. Keep in mind that heat plus eggs equal scrambled eggs. That is why we are doing this over a double boiler. It will be a gentle warming of the eggs to dissolve the sugar.
- Once the eggs have been warmed and sugars have been dissolved, SLOWLY pour the warm rhubarb puree into the egg mixture WHILE WHISKING VIGOROUSLY.
- Continue to whisk for 5 minutes until the curd has thickened slightly.
- This is my secret to cooling rhubarb curd. Pour the rhubarb curd into a shallow pan and cover with plastic wrap with the wrap TOUCHING the curd. This will help the curd cool faster.
- Store in the refrigerator and enjoy within 2 weeks.
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🗒️ Frequently asked questions and tips:
Keep in mind that heat plus eggs equals scrambled eggs. That is why we are doing this over a double boiler. It will be a gentle warming of the eggs to dissolve the sugar.
If you don't have a vanilla bean, don't worry, you can skip this step. The vanilla bean adds one more layer of flavor to the rhubarb curd but the rhubarb curd is just as yummy without it.
If you have THICK rhubarb, like pictured here.... use 4 12" stalks. If it is thinner.... use 6 stalks.
Even though you whisked like a mad person you should strain the curd.
This will remove all particles of eggs that might have cooked and any bits of rhubarb that didn't puree all the way.
Your rhubarb curd will now be extra silky smooth.
Rhubarb Curd
Ingredients
- ¾ pound rhubarb about 6 stalks, cut into 1-inch chunks
- ¼ cup plus ⅓ cup plus ⅛ cup sugar divided
- 4 egg yolks
- 3 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into chunks
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
- 2 teaspoons lemon juice
Instructions
- Remove the large leaves, wash the rhubarb and chop the rhubarb into 1" pieces.
- Place the cut rhubarb in a saucepot with ¼ cup sugar, and 4 tablespoons water over medium heat. Cook until the rhubarb falls apart, adding water by the tablespoon if the rhubarb sticks to the bottom of the pan. After a few minutes, the rhubarb has broken down and is pretty mushy.
- Use an immersion blender to puree the rhubarb, if you don't have an immersion blender, a food processor or blender will work. The rhubarb should be pretty smooth.
- Crack 4 eggs and place just the egg yolks in a bowl.
- Slice a whole vanilla bean in half, lengthwise, and scrape out the tiny vanilla seeds.
- Over a double boiler, on medium heat, whisk the egg yolks, the remaining ⅓ cup plus ⅛ cup sugar, the butter, lemon zest, lemon juice, and vanilla bean seeds until the sugar is dissolved. Keep in mind that heat plus eggs equal scrambled eggs. That is why we are doing this over a double boiler. It will be a gentle warming of the eggs to dissolve the sugar.
- Once the eggs have been warmed and sugars have been dissolved, SLOWLY pour the warm rhubarb puree into the egg mixture WHILE WHISKING VIGOROUSLY.
- Continue to whisk for 5 minutes until the curd has thickened slightly.
- This is my secret to cooling rhubarb curd. Pour the rhubarb curd into a shallow pan and cover with plastic wrap with the wrap TOUCHING the curd. This will help the curd cool faster.
- Store in the refrigerator and enjoy within 2 weeks.
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