If you're anything like me and basically live for Saskatoon berry season, you're going to love this Saskatoon berry recipe! These Saskatoon Berry Squares have a juicy Saskatoon berry filling, nestled between delicious buttery oat layers. They are easy to make and can be made with either fresh or frozen Saskatoon berries and pantry staples!
These delicious berries (aka Prairie Berries, or Juneberries in the United States, and Service Berries in the UK) are only in season for a short period, anywhere from mid-July to early August, (depending on where you live and the weather that year). If it's really warm and rainy, they ripen early. Where I live in Western Canada, they are typically ready the last week of July and the first week of August. You can pick them yourself at a u-pick farm or buy them fresh at Farmers' markets. If you're lucky, you can often find them frozen any time of year.
This Saskatoon berry bar was inspired by my Saskatoon Berry Pie and my Date Slice (Date Square) on this site, and pairs well with a cup of coffee or tea, or a glass of milk. If you're looking for a Saskatoon berry dessert, this square is the ideal dessert to finish any summer meal!
Jump to:
And if you love Saskatoon berries, check out this collection of The Best Saskatoon Berry recipes!
🥘Ingredient Notes
You will need the following ingredients for this recipe:
- Quick oats. I use quick rolled oats or "quick oats" because they cook faster than regular or old-fashioned rolled oats.. They're partially cooked by steaming and then rolled even thinner than old-fashioned oats. Do NOT use instant oats - they will turn to mush!
- Unsalted butter. I use unsalted butter so I can control how much salt is in the recipe. The salt content in salted butter varies by brand.
- Fesh lemon juice. The fresh lemon juice perfectly balances the sweetness in this recipe!
- Brown sugar. I use brown sugar, which brings a deeper, almost caramel or toffee-like flavor to baked goods.
- Saskatoon berries. You can use fresh or frozen Saskatoon berries, but the amount of water used is different, so be sure to check carefully. You don't have to defrost the frozen berries.
📖 Variations & Substitutions
- Butter - you can use salted butter, but it will cut the sweetness a little.
- Saskatoon Berries -You could substitute blueberries.
- Almond Extract- you could use vanilla extract instead
- Lemon Juice- if you use lemon juice from concentrate instead of fresh lemon juice, only use ½ (half) the amount of concentrated lemon juice (½ tsp), or you can use ½ teaspoon lemon zest instead of juice.
🔪How to Make Saskatoon Berry Squares
Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/176 degrees C and generously spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Step 1: Add Saskatoon berries, water, white granulated sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch together in a saucepan.
- Step 2: Cook and stir over medium heat, until berries and water are absorbed. *This will take about 15- 20 minutes and it will look quite watery at one point. *frozen berries will take longer
- Step 3: Cook until it is very thick (a little thicker than pie filling). Then add almond extract. *If it's not this thick, add another tablespoon of cornstarch and continue to cook until it thickens
- Step 4: Remove from heat, and cool. It should be very thick! *To speed up cooling, I put it in the freezer for a few minutes
- Step 5: In a large mixing bowl, combine dry ingredients (flour, baking soda, brown sugar, and oats).
- Step 6: Cut in butter with a pastry cutter or grate it in with a box grater (a little at a time, mixing between additions) and stir until mixture is combined. (*See Top Tip for an easy way to grate the butter into dry ingredients).
- Step 7: Spread half of the crust mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan and pat down with a spatula.
- Step 8: Cover with cooled Saskatoon berry filling.,
- Step 9: Add the remaining half of the mixture on top of the filling and spread evenly.
- Step 10: Bake for 35-45 minutes in a prepared oven until golden brown on top. Cool, then slice into 12 or 24 slices and garnish with a little whipped cream and cinnamon or vanilla ice cream.
Hint: To avoid getting crumbs in the filling, drop dollops of filling all over the bottom crust with a spatula or spoon. Then very carefully spread it out with a butter knife, avoiding getting the dry mixture on the knife. *You have to be very patient while you are doing this!
Expert Recipe Tips
- Don't thaw frozen Saskatoon berries before using. Adding them frozen helps prevent excess liquid from making the filling too runny. If you are using fresh berries, please see recipe card for additional amount of water you need to add.
- Press the crust mixture firmly and evenly into the pan. This ensures a stable base that holds together when cut.
- Let the squares cool completely before cutting. This gives the filling time to fully set and prevents them from falling apart.
- Taste your Saskatoon berries before baking. Depending on how sweet or tart they are, you may want to adjust the sugar slightly for balance.
- Consider blind baking the crust for 5-7 minutes. Partially baking the crust before adding the filling can help create a firmer, less crumbly base.
- Use cold butter when mixing the crust. Cold butter creates a better crumb texture and prevents the crust from becoming greasy.
- Avoid overbaking the top layer. If it starts to brown too quickly, tent the pan with foil to protect it while the filling finishes baking.
- Add a pinch of cinnamon or lemon zest to the filling. This adds depth and brightness to the flavor without overpowering the berries.
- Cut with a sharp knife and wipe it between slices. This helps create clean, bakery-style edges for a neater presentation.
🌡️Storage
Store Saskatoon berry bars in an airtight container for up to 3 months. These squares freeze well in an airtight container for up to 3 months.
👪 Serving Size
This Saskatoon berry dessert bar recipe makes 12 large squares. However, you can cut them in half and get 24 servings (as in the photos above). You could also half, double, or triple the recipe by clicking on the serving number and selecting the number of servings you'd like. The ingredient quantities will automatically adjust.
Top Tip
I cut my butter into portions (1 cup, ½ cup, and 2 ¼ cups), then keep it frozen in the freezer. It lasts much longer, and I can take out portions as I need it.
Then, when I need to 'cut it' into a recipe, I use a cheese grater to grate frozen butter (or you use very cold butter) into the topping instead of fussing with cubes of butter that are melty. This also distributes the butter more evenly in the topping.
🥗 Meals to eat with Saskatoon Berry Bars
My favorite summer dishes to serve with Saskatoon Berry squares are Cajun Chicken Mango Salad, BBQ Beer Butt Chicken, Bacon Ranch Chicken Pasta Salad (shown), or this Beef on a Bun recipe!
❔ Recipe FAQs
Yes, once cooled and cut, store them in an airtight container in the fridge. This keeps the filling fresh and prevents the crust from becoming too soft.
This could be due to over-measuring the flour or under-mixing the butter into the crust mixture. Be sure to spoon the flour into your measuring cup and level it off, and mix the crust until it reaches a coarse crumb consistency.
Oven temperatures vary, so if the top begins to brown too fast, loosely tent the pan with foil during the last 10-15 minutes of baking to prevent overbrowning while the filling sets.
If your filling is runny, the berries may have released too much juice. This is more common with frozen berries that were thawed before using. Try using them straight from frozen and consider adding an extra teaspoon of flour or cornstarch to thicken the mixture.
If you're looking for Saskatoon recipes, you'll love these Saskatoon Dessert Bars.
More Saskatoon Berry Recipes
Did your family❤️this recipe? Did you know that commenting and⭐rating recipes is one of the best ways to support your favorite recipe creators? If you LOVED this recipe, please comment and rate it in the recipe card or share photos on social media using the hashtag #foodmeanderings or tagging @foodmeanderings !
📋 Saskatoon Berry Squares recipe
Equipment
Ingredients
Filling:
- 6 cups Saskatoon berries *can use frozen or fresh or sub blueberries
- ½ cup +2 tbsps water (for frozen berries) *If using fresh Saskatoon berries, use ¾ cup water
- ⅔ cup white granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- ¾ teaspoon almond extract
Crust:
- 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups quick oats
- 1 ⅓ cup brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup unsalted butter
Instructions
- Prep: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F/176 degrees C) and generously spray a 9x13 pan with non-stick cooking spray.
- Combine Saskatoon berries, water, white granulated sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch together in saucepan. *use ¾ cup water for fresh berries6 cups Saskatoon berries, ½ cup +2 tbsps water (for frozen berries), ⅔ cup white granulated sugar, 4 tablespoons cornstarch, 1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
- Cook and stir over medium heat, until berries and water are absorbed. *This will take about 15-20 minutes and it will look quite watery at one point. *It will take longer if you are using frozen berries.
- Cook, stirring frequently, until it's thicker than pie filling. If not thick enough after 20 minutes, add another tablespoon cornstarch and cook for 5 more minutes.
- Remove from heat, and cool. Add almond extract. * I put it in the freezer for a few minutes to cool it faster.¾ teaspoon almond extract
- in a large mixing bowl combine dry ingredients ( flour, baking soda, brown sugar and quick oats) together.1 ½ cups all-purpose flour, 1 ⅓ cup brown sugar, ½ teaspoon baking soda, 1 ½ cups quick oats
- Cut in butter (a little at a time, mixing between additions) and mix until mixture is combined. (*See Top Tip)1 cup unsalted butter
- Spread half of the crust mixture into the bottom of a greased 9x13 pan and pat down with a spatula.
- Cover with cooled Saskatoon berry filling.
- Hint: To avoid getting crumbs in the filling, drop dollops of filling all over the crust with a spatula or spoon. Then very carefully spread it out with a butter knife or spatula, avoiding getting the dry mixture on the knife or spatula. *You have to be very patient while you are doing this!
- Spread the remaining half on top of the filling and pat down with a spatula.
- Bake for 35-45 minutes or until it's golden brown on top.
Notes
-
- Don't thaw frozen Saskatoon berries before using. Adding them frozen helps prevent excess liquid from making the filling too runny. If you are using fresh berries, please see recipe card for additional amount of water you need to add.
-
- Press the crust mixture firmly and evenly into the pan. This ensures a stable base that holds together when cut.
-
- Let the squares cool completely before cutting. This gives the filling time to fully set and prevents them from falling apart.
-
- Taste your Saskatoon berries before baking. Depending on how sweet or tart they are, you may want to adjust the sugar slightly for balance.
-
- Consider blind baking the crust for 5-7 minutes. Partially baking the crust before adding the filling can help create a firmer, less crumbly base.
-
- Use cold butter when mixing the crust. Cold butter creates a better crumb texture and prevents the crust from becoming greasy.
-
- Avoid overbaking the top layer. If it starts to brown too quickly, tent the pan with foil to protect it while the filling finishes baking.
-
- Add a pinch of cinnamon or lemon zest to the filling. This adds depth and brightness to the flavor without overpowering the berries.
-
- Cut with a sharp knife and wipe it between slices. This helps create clean, bakery-style edges for a neater presentation.
Deanna
I don’t want to rate it till I try it again. I wasn’t happy with the crust and topping. Turned out to flat and kind of gooey. I think I know what the problem was. When you say brown sugar, did you use brown sugar or golden (light brown) sugar? I used brown as listed, but I believe that may be what caused it to be gooey and flat. I cooked it longer than called for, it browned, but lost the nice lumpy texture that date squares have. That said, there was nothing left over at the Canadian club potluck here in AZ.
Terri Gilson
Hi Deanna,
I honestly use any brown sugar I have on hand - I buy whatever is the cheapest (dark brown, light brown or golden) and I use them interchangeably. Maybe there is a big difference between the sugars in the US, but I haven't found using one over the other affects my baking at all here in Canada. I did some research and it looks like the core issue was likely that the crumble (crust and topping) did not have enough structure to support itself, causing it to flatten and turn gooey. This is usually corrected by ensuring the flour/oat measurements are accurate and that the butter is cold enough when incorporated into the dry mix.
Thanks for being willing to give it another go. I hope it works better for you nex time!
Take care,
Terri
Gail Deagle
Excellent tasting squares with just the right amount of sweetness.
Terri Gilson
Hi Gail,
Great to hear you loved them as much as we do!
Terri
Mike Lafleur
I love Saskatoon berries and I love my snacks. These squares check both boxes for me, are full of flavour and easy to make! And at only 200 calories, I have no guilt grabbing a second and maybe third piece!
Monique Castonguay
These bars were so tasty. It's hard to believe they are less than 200 cal! What a great alternative to coffee shop treats at work. I'm definitely going to start briniging these in my lunches.
Edith
These squares are so good. Love them, my new favourite square!!
Terri Gilson
Hi Edith,
So happy to hear that you loved them!Terri