Blueberry Pie, made with a mountain of fresh flavorful blueberries and the absolute best butter pie crust you'll ever taste, is a classic dessert!
One of the easiest homemade fruit pies you'll ever make will quickly become your favorite. I am a lover of pie, and this was the best pie I've ever made!
She told me she won the fair pie contest with it and now I see why! Each and every blueberry came directly from my yard, which made it even more special!
Blueberry pie is so easy to make!
Think about all the summer fruit pies you've ever made. Strawberry pie, Cherry Pie, Strawberry Rhubarb Pie - you name it. What do all of those fruit pies have in common with each other but not this blueberry pie? Simple. With all of those other fruit pies, the fruit requires some degree of peeling, pitting, or slicing.
It doesn't get any easier than a fresh blueberry pie.
Why this is the best blueberry pie filling:
If you search blueberry pie recipe, you're going to find a lot to choose from. My goal is to try and convince you that this is the best blueberry pie recipe out there. I will admit that it is equally due to both the filling and the crust, but I'll start by talking about the filling.
Fresh blueberries are best. I suppose you can use frozen, but if you do that, you'll either have to cook frozen berries which will increase your cooking time and over cook your crust. Or, you can thaw the frozen berries but then they'll be sitting in a pool of juice. Fresh berries are so forgiving.
I was fortunate enough to have producing blueberry bushes that gave me more blueberries than I know what to do with. Fresh blueberries aren't cheap, especially when they're out of season, so I highly recommend making this as a summer pie only. If you've got the freezer space, go ahead and prepare the entire pie on a metal pie dish and freeze it raw. Can you imagine a better treat in the middle of the winter?
If you're looking for a blueberry pie filling without cornstarch, this is your recipe. What? No cornstarch? How?
To make the filling, simply give the fresh blueberries a rinse (or not, no judgement here), toss with some sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and tapioca flour. If you don't have tapioca flour and don't care about using corn starch or flour, you can use either of those to save you a trip to the store. Then dump it in the shell!
The most amazing pie crust!
Jennifer, the lovely lady who gave me this recipe, basically changed my life. She gave me a pie crust tip that I had never heard of, but the results were so amazing that I shall never deviate from this new process again.
This pie crust was seriously better than any pie crust I've ever had. We're talking better than the Flying Star pie crust in Albuquerque. Better than any pie crust my mom has ever made. Sorry, mom. Yours was the best up until this moment.
Want to know what the secret ingredient was? Vodka!
Jennifer told me to add equal parts vodka and water instead of just using water. Now, I've heard of using apple cider vinegar, which I've tried and wasn't really impressed, but vodka? This was new to me!
The cooked crust was so flaky. So delicious. It far exceeded any pie crust expectations I've ever had!
Blueberry Pie
Ingredients
pie crusts:
- 2 cups all-purpose flour (plus more for rolling)
- 1 cup unsalted butter (2 cubes, chilled)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 tablespoon vodka (chilled, more may be needed)
- 4 tablespoon water (ice cold, more may be needed)
blueberry filling:
- 5 cups blueberries (fresh, washed and patted dry)
- 1 cup sugar
- ¼ cup tapioca flour (see note)
- 2 tablespoon lemon juice
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- pinch salt
on top of pie:
- 1 egg (slightly beaten)
- 1 tablespoon decoraters sugar
Instructions
to make the crusts:
- You will be making two whole 9-inch pie crusts, one at a time. Make sure all of your ingredients are chilled for the best results. Combine 1 cup flour with ½ cup (1 cube) and ½ teaspoon kosher salt using a pastry blender. Cut through the butter until you end up with pieces about the size of a pea, or smaller. Adding one tablespoon at a time of each, add vodka and water. Use your hands to toss the pastry dough. Continue adding more liquid just until the mixture can hold its shape when pressed together. Shape into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for at least an hour. Repeat with second pie crust so that you have two.
to make the filling:
- Combine all of the filling ingredients in a large bowl. Use a masher to gently mash the mixture to break open only a few of the blueberries. You want most of them whole, but a few of the broken ones will really release their juice.
to assemble the pie:
- Roll out the first pie crust on a floured surface and transfer to a 9-inch pie dish. Add blueberry filling.
- Roll out second pie crust and cut into 1-inch thick strips. Add alternating strips to the top of the pie leaving a 1-inch gap in between strips. Rotate the pie 90 degrees, and weave remaining strips in an alternating pattern to create a basket weave. Cut any excess crust away and crimp edges together.
- Cover top of pie with egg wash, discarding any excess egg that doesn't cover surface of pie. Sprinkle decorator's sugar on top of the egg wash while it is still wet.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cover the edge of the crust with a pie ring or foil to keep it from overly browning. You may want to place a baking sheet on the bottom rack to catch any butter that drips. Bake in preheated oven for 15 minutes. Without opening the oven, reduce cooking temperature to 350 degrees F and continue cooking for an additional 40 minutes or until the crust is a golden brown. Be sure to remove pie ring or foil during the last 10 minutes of cooking time.
- Allow pie to fully cool before slicing. There will be a lot of juice in the pie pan (which is how I prefer it). SEE NOTE.
Cynthia
I made 2 of these pies this morning after I picked 10 cups of fresh blueberries. Oh my goodness! This is the best pie crust EVER!! I used 1/4 stick of butter but the rest was 100% organic shortening. Couldn't have been better. Thank you so much for the recipe!
Donna L. Kulow
Can I replace with regular sugar instead of decorators sugar ?
Krissy
I've never tried but I don't see why that wouldn't work
Beth
The colors and flavors of this pie are blowing my mind!! I will be dreaming about this dessert tonight! YUM!
Sylvie
I think blueberry may be my favourite pie filling ever so your recipe is seriously calling my name! I love the tip of using vodka to make the pie crust - so fun!! Cannont wait to give it a go 🙂
Beth Pierce
I know what I will be having for dessert tonight! This looks amazing and easy too!
Chris Collins
This has to be one of the most beautiful blueberry pies I've ever seen! Can't wait to try it 🙂
Eden
Omg these photos are so gorgeous! I literally just scribbled in 'blueberry pie' on my fourth of july week meal plan because of this lol. Going grocery shopping right now and I'm using your recipe!