Mixed Berry Cobbler

This easy Mixed Berry Cobbler is comfort food at its best! Use any combination of your favorite berries to make this cobbler recipe, and in under an hour you’ll have a bubbling, juicy cobbler with a sweet biscuit crust on top. Don’t forget the whipped cream or ice cream!

🍓 Easy Berry Cobbler Recipe

This Mixed Berry Cobbler is the answer to any summertime dessert dilemma you might have. Bought too many berries at the farmers market? Cobbler. Want to enjoy juicy, bubbling fruit and buttery sugar-topped crust but don’t want to make a pie? Cobbler. Need to make something easy for a BBQ, potluck or picnic? Cobbler, cobbler, cobbler baby! Fruit cobbler is a 10-minute marvel that’s easy to throw together, and it’s so delicious, people will be begging you for the recipe.

Cobbler vs crisp vs crumble

Let’s answer the age-old question, what the heck IS a cobbler, and how is it different from a crisp or a crumble?

If we were to make a dessert family tree, I would say that cobblers, crisps, and crumbles belong to the PIE branch of the family. They all share a common DNA–they all involve a fresh fruit base and some kind of buttery, carb-based topping–but they’re significantly faster and easier than most pie recipes. In addition to the similarity of ingredients, these 3 desserts are often made in a casserole pan so they can be dished out family style–perfect for feeding a crowd on a lazy Sunday.

So that’s what they have in common. As to the differences? It’s all in how you top the fruit.

Cobblers are traditionally made with a biscuit topping. Now, that can be very literal (think round biscuits cut out and placed precisely on the fruit) or a more casual interpretation, like this recipe–a buttermilk biscuit-inspired topping that’s plopped willy-nilly on top…or, some might say, cobbled together. (theatrical wink) Cobblers can also be made with a softer, more cake-like topping–some recipes even use a cake mix!

Crisps are made with an oat-based streusel. It’s typically scattered on top of the fruit in clumps, and bakes up buttery and crisp–hence the name. If you’re looking for a killer crisp recipe, this Brown Butter Skillet Peach Crisp is a must-make for my family every year!

Crumbles are also made with a streusel topping, but without the oats. In this case, the topping is usually a combination of butter, sugar, flour, and spices like cinnamon. My favorite Blueberry Crumble Pie recipe includes almonds in the streusel topping to provide a nice crunch.

And if this whole discussion has left you craving a good old fashioned pie, don’t miss our Strawberry Rhubarb Pie, Blueberry Coconut Tart, or Salted Caramel Apple Pie.

🧾 What You’ll Need

Ingredients

One of the huge benefits of making a crumble is that the ingredient list is very basic. You probably have most, if not all, of these ingredients on hand already! Here are a few tips as you gather supplies:

• Berries: Use whatever looks freshest when you’re at the market! I love a mix of berries, because mixing a few different types provides a lot of different textures and flavors in the dessert, but definitely go for quality and freshness over variety for the sake of variety. Want to use frozen berries? I’ve got you covered in the Tips down below!
• Lemon juice: The lemon juice helps keep the filling from being too sweet. I always use freshly squeezed if possible, but bottled lemon juice works as well.
• Corn starch: Corn starch helps the fruit filling “gel” and binds some of the fruit juices as the cobbler cooks. Without it, you would probably find the cobbler too soggy. If you don’t have corn starch, you can use flour, ground tapioca, or a gelling product like Clear Jel.
• Butter: It’s very important that the butter be COLD when you make the biscuit topping. Keep it in the refrigerator until you’re ready to use it–this will get you the best biscuit texture.
• Buttermilk: Buttermilk is what gives the biscuit topping their traditional slightly tangy flavor. See the Tips section if you want to make your own buttermilk instead.

🥄 Equipment

There’s a reason everyone loves cobblers: no special equipment required! All you really need is a baking pan and your own two hands. I’ve included a few tools if you want to make the process easier, however. (Links are affiliate links and I earn a small commission from qualifying purchases.)

• 9×13 baking dish: I love to bake my cobblers in a ceramic baking dish, so the dish looks as pretty as the dessert!
• Pastry cutter: If you don’t want to make the biscuit dough by hand, you can pick up an inexpensive pastry cutter to get the job done faster.
• Food processor: For maximum efficiency, a food processor makes a killer biscuit dough!

📋 Instructions

Time to get our hands dirty. Here are the basics for making this mixed berry cobbler. Full printable instructions are included in the recipe card down below!

How to prepare the berries

1. Combine the berries, sugar, corn starch, vanilla, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Stir gently to coat the berries.
2. Spread the berry mixture evenly in a 9×13-inch baking dish.

Make the biscuit topping

1. Whisk together the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl, and mix well. Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add them to the flour bowl.
2. Rub the butter into the flour using your hands, until it looks like fine bread crumbs. I like to use a “money money” motion and use just my fingertips to work the butter into the flour. Don’t spend too long on this step–you don’t want the heat of your hands to start warming up the butter.

3. Add buttermilk to this mixture and stir just until incorporated. Don’t overmix! The dough will be somewhat wet.
4. Shape the dough into roughly palm-sized balls, and flatten them into discs.

5. Place the dough on top of the berries. Don’t worry if it doesn’t cover the whole surface–it’s best to have some fruit peeking through. Brush the top with a little more buttermilk, and sprinkle liberally with sugar.
6. Bake for about 45 minutes, until the crust is dark golden brown and the fruit is bubbling around the edges. Let it cool just a bit (so it won’t burn your tongue!) then scoop up a big serving and top with ice cream or whipped cream.

💭 Variations

You don’t have to use berries — cobblers are great with stone fruit, too! Use about 8 cups of sliced peaches, nectarines, plums, or apricots in this recipe. You can peel the fruit, but it’s not necessary (skin just adds to the rustic appeal.) Keep in mind that if your fruit is very sweet, or very sour, you will want to adjust the sugar amount in the filling to compensate.

If you want to turn this into a crisp or crumble, skip the biscuit topping and swap in this crisp topping recipe or this crumble topping. Double each of those recipes to be sure you have enough for this pan.

💡 Tips and FAQs  

How to use frozen berries in a berry cobbler

YES you can use frozen berries in this recipe! In fact, frozen berries are sometimes preferable if fresh berries are out of season–frozen ones are likely to be more sweet and juicy.

To use frozen berries, you can use them as-is–no need to defrost. The exception is if you have whole frozen strawberries–you will want to defrost them so you can cut them into smaller pieces. Increase the corn starch by 1 TBSP to account for the extra liquid the frozen berries will release. The baking time might also need to be adjusted, so be flexible with the time and keep a good eye on the cobbler while it bakes.

Make your own buttermilk

If you don’t have buttermilk, make your own by mixing together 1 cup of milk and 1 tsp lemon juice. Let it sit for 5 minutes before using it in the recipe (and only use as much as the recipe specifies.)

Storage Instructions

This is not a good make-ahead recipe. The biscuit topping isn’t meant to be frozen, and if you try, you will find it doesn’t rise well and has a tough texture.

On the bright side, leftovers DO keep well, and this cobbler is just as delicious several days after it’s made! Wrap any leftovers well, and store them in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.

🍓 More Fabulous Fruit Recipes

• Berry Shortcake in a Jar
• Grilled Pound Cake and Peaches
• Lemon Blackberry Trifle
• Doughnut Trifles
• Strawberry Rhubarb Shortcake
• Strawberry Shortcake
• Chocolate-Dipped Frozen Bananas

Don’t miss the step-by-step tutorial showing how to make Mixed Berry Cobbler – check out the web story here!