Fresh Strawberry Pie

Fresh Strawberry Pie with homemade pie crust and fresh seasonal berries brightened up with lemon juice is the perfect summer dessert recipe. 

What makes this pie so delicious is that the filling is pure and simple: fresh strawberries two used ways, crushed strawberries to make the strawberry sauce mixed with uncooked fresh berries. It doesn’t use fillers, jello, or junket.

As a result, the strawberry flavor is bold, fresh, and naturally sweet. Use a homemade pie crust for an impressive dessert that’s actually quite easy to make!

Update: Strawberry season is nearly here, so I’ve updated this fresh berry pie with new photos, tips and tricks to help you make and enjoy it!

How to Make Fresh Strawberry Pie

This is a simple pie recipe that’s all about highlighting fresh strawberry flavor. 

Here is how I recommend you make the recipe for success:

1. Make the pie dough and chill pie dough rounds

2. Roll out pie dough and place in pie plate

3. Chill the crust in the refrigerator 

4. Bake crust and cool completely

5. Make crushed strawberry filling, let cool

6. Mix in chopped strawberries

7. Pour into pie crust, chill pie to set the filling

8. Garnish with whipped cream and more berries on top

Homemade Pie Crust

The first step is to make the pie crust. It will need to chill so make sure you account for this in your timing. Click here for a full in-depth pie crust tutorial on how to make the flakiest pie crusts. 

Note: when making pie dough, it is imperative that your fats (butter and shortening) be ice cold. Also, be sure to use ice water.

The easiest way to roll out the pie dough is to place the disc of chilled dough between two pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper. This way you will not have to add additional flour to your dough, which can make it tough. 

Use a heavy rolling pin and roll in all directions to keep the crust in a circle shape. 

When laying the rolled-out pie dough into the pie plate, avoid stretching the dough. This can cause tearing and shrinkage when the crust bakes. And don’t forget to chill the dough when it’s in the pie plate before baking!

Just before you bake the crust, use a fork to poke holes on the bottom and sides of the crust. This ensures that no air bubbles form from trapped air during baking.

Fresh Strawberry Filling

You will want fresh strawberries for this pie recipe. They should be ripe but still firm with no blemishes or bruises on the outside.

I like to crush the strawberries with a potato masher. If you puree them they get foamy and pink. 

When you combine the crushed strawberries with the cornstarch sugar mixture in a saucepan, you’ll cook it until it thickens. This can take around 7 minutes over medium heat. Stir the berries constantly so that the mixture heats evenly and doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan.

If you want your strawberry sauce to be a darker red, you can add a drop or two of red food coloring. 

Once the mixture is cooled, stir in chopped fresh strawberries very gently. You want the chopped strawberries to stay whole for texture in the pie.

Assembling Fresh Strawberry Pie

I like to top this fresh strawberry pie with homemade whipped cream. It perfectly compliments the strawberries. 

To make whipped cream, simply beat 1 cup cold heavy cream and 1 tablespoon confectioners sugar, until soft fluffy whipped cream forms.

To assemble the pie, fill the cooled crust with whipped cream. Finally, top with the fresh strawberry filling. 

Storing and Serving

 This pie is best enjoyed chilled. Keep the pie refrigerated until ready to serve.

To serve, cut slices with a sharp knife. The first slice of pie is the hardest to get out, then the rest will come out easier and cleaner.

Store any leftovers covered and in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days.

Also, if you have extra strawberries, check out these tips on how to wash, store and freeze fresh strawberries.

More Fruity Dessert Recipes

If you love fresh fruit sweetened up for dessert, give these recipes a try next:

• Classic Strawberry Shortcake is everyone’s favorite all-American dessert with fresh berries, light whipped cream, and buttery shortcakes. 
• White Chocolate Raspberry Cheesecake in a Jar is creamy, tangy, and full of seasonal berry flavor. 
• Strawberry Cheesecake Entremet is an elegant and refined homemade cheesecake with fresh berries.
• Layered Instant Pot Strawberry Cheesecake means you can make sweet and stunning layered berry cheesecake right in a pressure cooker! 

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Fresh Strawberry Pie

Fresh strawberry pie is the perfect summer dessert with homemade pie crust, seasonal berries brightened up with lemon juice. 

Course: Pie

Cuisine: American

Servings: 10 Servings

Calories: 387kcal

Author: Barbara Bakes LLC

Equipment

• 1Easylife 18/8 Stainless Steel Measuring Spoons, Set of 6 for Measuring Dry and Liquid Ingredients
• Pyrex Easy Grab Glass Pie Plate (9.5-Inch, 2-Pack)
• OXO Good Grips Silicone Pastry Mat,Tan,One Size

Ingredients

PERFECT PIE CRUST

• 2 ½ c. flour
• 1 t. salt
• ¼ c. unsalted butter chilled
• ⅔ c. shortening chilled (You get the flakiness from the shortening and the great taste from the butter)
• 5 to 6 T. ice water

FRESH STRAWBERRY FILLING

• 3 pints strawberries
• ⅔ c. sugar
• 4 T. cornstarch
• 1 T. lemon juice
• 1 T. butter

Instructions

• Combined flour and salt in a bowl. Cut butter into small cubes. Cut butter and shortening into flour mixture until it resembles very coarse meal. Gradually add water 1 Tablespoon at a time mixing with a fork. Divide in half, form into two round disks, and wrap in plastic. Chill for 30 minutes. Bake unfilled pie crust 15 – 20 min. at 450º.
• Crush 1 pint of berries, add enough water to make 2 cups. Combined sugar and cornstarch, then add to strawberries. Cook in a saucepan over medium heat until thickened. Add lemon juice and butter. Cool. Add remaining pints of strawberries to sauce and place in a baked pie shell (you can leave the strawberries whole, but I prefer them chopped into bite-size pieces). Serve with whipped cream

Notes

HERE ARE MY TIPS FOR PERFECT PIES:

-Fat and water should be ice cold before mixing. If you are making the dough in a food processor you can even freeze the fat before using it. (I rarely use a food processor because I think it processes the fat to small.)

-Measure flour carefully; never scoop the flour with the measuring cup. Add ice water gradually, mix quickly with a fork and try to gather the dough into a disk. If it crumbles and won’t hold together, add more water, a little at a time.

-Chill the dough in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling it out. It will be easier to handle, less likely to shrink and bake up flakier.

-Roll the dough out between two sheets of plastic wrap. (I usually use two on the bottom and two on top–straighten the plastic when necessary.) Roll the dough from the center out using even firm rolls. Turn the dough as you work, about an eighth of a turn for each roll will help to keep it round. (Putting the bottom plastic wrap on a Silpat helps keep it from moving.)

-Peel off the top sheet of plastic and pick up the bottom sheet of plastic/dough and flip it over into your pie plate. Peel the bottom sheet of plastic off after you dough is fitted into the pie plate.

-Don’t stretch the dough when fitting it in the pie plate or it will shrink back as it bakes. Press it gently against the sides and bottom to insure that no air is trapped between the dough and pan to form blisters.

-Once the dough has been rolled out and transferred to the pie plate let it chill in the refrigerator for another 30 minutes before filling or baking.

–Use a hot oven. High heat explodes solid fat particles (you chill dough to harden the fat). The explosions create steam which lightens and crisps the pastry. At lower oven temperatures, the fat just softens and melts; no explosion, no crisping steam.

-Brush the bottom and sides of the unbaked pie crust with lightly beaten egg white. This will help to brown the crust.

-For a browned bottom crust use dark metal or heatproof glass pans. Shiny pans deflect heat away from the pie so the crust doesn’t brown and crisp well. If using shiny or thin pans, place on a cookie sheet.

-When baking a double crust pie, be sure that the top crust has holes cut or poked in it so that steam can escape with baking.

–Crust repairs. It happens to everyone, even professionals. It’s no big deal and patching is easy. Roll a scrap of dough a little larger than the damaged area. Trim the edges, dampen them lightly with water, and place the patch, damp-side-down, over the break. Seal by pressing the edges of the patch gently with your fingers.

Nutrition

Serving: 1g | Calories: 387kcal | Carbohydrates: 49g | Protein: 4g | Fat: 20g | Saturated Fat: 9g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 10g | Cholesterol: 23mg | Sodium: 247mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 19g