Learn how to make a classic homemade strawberry pie with fresh strawberries and a flaky crust. Made with no jello, low sugar, and natural ingredients, this easy, from-scratch summer pie is a family favorite!
Learn how to make a classic homemade strawberry pie with fresh strawberries and a flaky crust. Made with no jello, low sugar, and natural ingredients, this easy, from-scratch summer pie is a family favorite!
This post contains affiliate links, which means I may make a small commission off items you buy at no extra cost to you. As an Amazon associate, I earn on qualifying purchases. See my full disclosure here.
Pin It For Later!
Strawberry season has begun!
I was so excited last week when a strawberry patch in our area opened up. It was the first one to open and it was opening earlier than normal.
We showed up, kids and all, and got to work. This was the first year my daughter actually picked strawberries since the last couple of years it’s been more of me keeping her occupied while I picked strawberries 🙂 I was so happy!
One of my newest favorite additions to our kitchen has been my grain mill. I just let it live on the countertop since I use it so much. I’ve been converting all my sourdough recipes over to freshly milled whole grain, and loving it!
So today, whole grain pie crust was on the list. And to go with it, a simple, from scratch strawberry pie!
Why We Love This Simple Strawberry Pie Recipe
Perfectly homemade and made with from-scratch ingredients, this will be enjoyed by those looking for a good old-fashioned strawberry pie recipe. There is just a little sugar, plus the natural sweetness of strawberries and maple syrup, to flavor this simple strawberry pie.
Combined with a homemade freshly milled pie crust, this strawberry pie is nothing to feel guilty about. Freshly milled whole grain pie crust contains more vitamins and nutrients than a store-bought, all purpose crust, so you will feel much more energy sustained and blood sugar balanced after eating this pie compared to other desserts!
Thickened with arrowroot powder, this strawberry pie recipe contains no jello. Jello often has artificial colors and ingredients in it, something we avoid in everything I make here at the homestead.
This would be the perfect kid-friendly strawberry pie for Fourth of July! The vibrant natural red from strawberries and crispy, flaky brown pie crust make this healthy homemade strawberry pie something the whole family will love.
Tips for Making the Best Strawberry Pie
Make a homemade pie crust dough. If you have a sourdough starter, you can do a traditional sourdough pie crust, or my freshly milled sourdough pie crust for those who love using their grain mill as much as I do. My advice? Make multiple pie crust doughs at a time and freeze them for later use. Makes pie season much less work when you have fresh berries!
Use freshly picked berries, and a variety of them, if possible. Yes, this recipe will work with store-bought fresh or frozen strawberries. But, there is something extra sweet about freshly picked berries. They don’t last as long in the fridge but their flavor is much richer. And if you can get a variety of types of berries, it will be that much better, I promise!
They key to making this strawberry pie chunky and thick, yet not runny, on the inside is to only boil 2 cups of the strawberries, thickening that up, and then removing it from heat before adding the rest of the berries in. Also, adding arrowroot powder as a thickening agent works wonders. You can even store this pie in the fridge if you want to serve it cold, which would further create that gelatinous, thick pie filling you may be looking for. Personally we like it warmed up a bit which does make it a little more runny, but still not too runny in my opinion.
For this recipe, I also blind bake the pie crust. This is the process of baking just the bottom of the pie crust before adding any filling. It helps to create a crispier, flakier crust bottom instead of a soggy one. Read more about this pie crust in this post.
More Ways to Use Farm Fresh Strawberries
Here are some of our other favorite ways to use up freshly picked strawberries!
Easy Strawberry Jam without Pectin
Sourdough Strawberry Cake
Homemade Pop Tarts with Berry Filling
Homemade Strawberry Popsicles
Strawberry Ice Cream (this is for raspberry but strawberries will also work!)
Tools Needed
Cutting board and chopping knife
Medium stovetop pot
Measuring cups and spoons
9” pie dish
Easy Strawberry Pie Recipe
5 cups chopped strawberries
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
Juice from 1/2 lemon
Pinch of salt
1 tbsp Arrowroot powder + more if necessary for thickening
Other:
1 egg (for pie crust egg wash)
Homemade whipped cream frosting or vanilla ice cream
How to make strawberry pie with fresh strawberries
Make the pie crust dough. We love using a freshly milled sourdough pie crust for this recipe.
To make the strawberry filling, heat a medium-large saucepan on medium heat. Add 2 cups of the strawberries, as well as the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and almond extract, lemon, and salt. Saute on medium for 10-20 minutes, until strawberries are soft. Use a fork or potato masher to help break them up, and stir frequently.
Add the arrowroot powder and stir. Remove from heat and let cool 5-10 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350.
Add the other 3 cups of uncooked strawberries and stir. Let sit 20-30 min to thicken.
Meanwhile, cook the bottom layer of pie crust (this is the blind bake). Fill a 9” pie plate with rolled out dough. Use a fork to poke the bottom with holes and brush it with egg wash. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
Pour the strawberry filling into the pie crust. Now, you can stop here and store the pie in the fridge, let it thicken even more, top it with whipped cream and serve. Or, you can add a top layer pie crust. Personally I love adding a lattice crust on top.
HOW TO MAKE A LATTICE PIE CRUST
One of my favorite pie crust toppings is a lattice pie crust, which looks beautiful and isn’t too hard to pull off.
Simply roll one of the pie crust doughs out into a thick rectangle. Use a knife to trim the sides so you have straight edges.
Use a knife to slice 6-8 long slices of dough. Some slices can be longer than others.
Place slices one by one, in the same direction, over your pie leaving about a 1/2 inch gap between slices.
Be sure to put shorter dough slices on the edge, and save the longer slices for the center of the pie.
Gently peel back every other slice of dough. Then place another slice of dough perpendicular to the ones you already placed, and peel the dough slices back on top of it.
Then peel the other dough slices back, every other one, so that now you’re peeling the slices that you didn’t peel in the last step. Add another perpendicular slice of dough, and return the slices back to their original spot.
Repeat this process until all perpendicular slices have been placed
Brush the lattice crust top with egg wash and bake another 30 minutes.
Top with homemade whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream. Serve warm or cold and enjoy!
Save It For Later!
More From-Scratch Desserts from the Homestead
Freshly Milled Carrot Cake Cupcake
Einkorn Brown Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sourdough Einkorn Peach Cobbler
The Best From-Scratch Strawberry Pie
Learn how to make a classic homemade strawberry pie with fresh strawberries and a flaky crust. Made with no jello, low sugar, and natural ingredients, this easy, from-scratch summer pie is a family favorite!
Ingredients
- 5 cups chopped strawberries
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup maple syrup or honey
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp almond extract (optional)
- Juice from 1/2 lemon
- Pinch of salt
- 1 tbsp Arrowroot powder + more if necessary for thickening
Other
- 1 egg (for pie crust egg wash)
- Homemade whipped cream frosting or vanilla ice cream
Instructions
- Make the pie crust dough. We love using a freshly milled sourdough pie crust for this recipe.
- To make the strawberry filling, heat a medium-large saucepan on medium heat. Add 2 cups of the strawberries, as well as the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla and almond extract, lemon, and salt. Saute on medium for 10-20 minutes, until strawberries are soft. Use a fork or potato masher to help break them up, and stir frequently.
- Add the arrowroot powder and stir. Remove from heat and let cool 5-10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350.
- Add the other 3 cups of uncooked strawberries and stir. Let sit 20-30 min to thicken.
- Meanwhile, cook the bottom layer of pie crust (this is the blind bake). Fill a 9” pie plate with rolled out dough. Use a fork to poke the bottom with holes and brush it with egg wash. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes.
- Pour the strawberry filling into the pie crust. Now, you can stop here and store the pie in the fridge, let it thicken even more, top it with whipped cream and serve. Or, you can add a top layer pie crust and bake for an additional 30 minutes. Personally I love adding a lattice crust on top:
HOW TO MAKE A LATTICE PIE CRUST
One of my favorite pie crust toppings is a lattice pie crust, which looks beautiful and isn’t too hard to pull off.
Simply roll one of the pie crust doughs out into a thick rectangle. Use a knife to trim the sides so you have straight edges.
Use a knife to slice 6-8 long slices of dough. Some slices can be longer than others.
Place slices one by one, in the same direction, over your pie leaving about a 1/2 inch gap between slices.
Be sure to put shorter dough slices on the edge, and save the longer slices for the center of the pie.
Gently peel back every other slice of dough. Then place another slice of dough perpendicular to the ones you already placed, and peel the dough slices back on top of it.
Then peel the other dough slices back, every other one, so that now you’re peeling the slices that you didn’t peel in the last step. Add another perpendicular slice of dough, and return the slices back to their original spot.
Repeat this process until all perpendicular slices have been placed
Brush the lattice crust top with egg wash and bake another 30 minutes.
Top with homemade whipped cream or homemade vanilla ice cream. Serve warm or cold and enjoy!
Leave A Comment