Best Blueberry Pie Recipe
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4.8
39 reviews
Excellent
Best Blueberry Pie Recipe
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Blueberry Pie used to be at the BOTTOM of my favorite pies list. But since discovering this recipe, all that has changed! Once you know how to balance the sweet blueberries in your pie (with plenty of tang, hello cream cheese!) you will have, seriously, the best Blueberry Pie of your life.
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Ingredients
For the cornmeal crust
- 3/4 cup cornmeal
- 1 & 3/4 cup all-purpose flour spooned and leveled
- 2 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 ounces butter cold (this is 3/4 cup, or 1 and 1/2 sticks)
- 4 ounces cream cheese cold (half of an 8-ounce package)
- 2 tablespoons beaten egg half of one egg
- 1/4 cup ice water
For the filling
- 2 and 1/2 cups fresh blueberries to puree (see note for frozen blueberries)
- 5 cups fresh blueberries to leave whole (see note for frozen blueberries)
- 1 cup granulated sugar packed
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablepoon lemon zest from about 2 lemons
- 3 tablespoons lemon juice
- 1 tablespoon milk for brushing on pie
- 1 tablespoon raw sugar for sprinkling on top crust
- vanilla ice cream, or whipped cream for serving, not optional ;)
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Instructions
- Make the pie dough. If you have never made pie dough, read through my Flaky Pie Crust post. Lots of helpful photos for beginners!*
- In a large bowl, whisk together 3/4 cup cornmeal, 1 and 3/4 cup flour (spooned and leveled), 2 tablespoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon kosher salt.
- Use a knife to slice 6 ounces (this is 3/4 cup, or 1 and 1/2 sticks) of COLD butter into pats. Chop 4 ounces (half a package) of COLD cream cheese into chunks. Add the cold butter and the cream cheese to the bowl with the flour.**
- Use a pastry cutter to cut the butter and cream cheese into the flour, pressing down firmly with the pastry cutter. There should be pea-sized bits of butter /cream cheese. Various sizes of fat is what you are looking for. See photos on my pie crust post.
- Beat an egg in a small bowl. Pour half of it into another small bowl, leaving about 2 tablespoons. (Save the other half of the beaten egg for brushing the finished pie, if you want.)
- Add 1/4 cup ice water to 2 tablespoons beaten egg. Mix it together.Add the egg mixture to the bowl with the flour. Use a rubber spatula to mix it together, hydrating the flour as much as you can.
- Cover your hands with flour and use your hands to knead the dough, still in the bowl. Press the dough together and keep gathering up the dry bits to incorporate it into the mass. If the dough is not coming together, add ice water sparingly, 1 teaspoon at a time to moisten it. Stop kneading the moment that it has come together and is able to be shaped into a ball. Over-working your dough results in a tough pie crust.
- Split your ball of dough in half and shape each into a disc. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes (or up to 24 hours).
- Make the filling. (See notes for frozen blueberry instructions) Add 2 cups of fresh blueberries to a blender. Blend until liquified. You should end up with about 1 and 3/4 cup blueberry pulp. Add a few more blueberries and blend again if it's not enough. (If you don't have a blender, add 2 cups blueberries to a large glass measuring cup. Use a potato masher to crush the berries into a pulp.)
- Add 1 and 3/4 cup pureed blueberries to a 3 quart saucepan. Add 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup cornstarch, 2 tablespoons flour, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt. Whisk together until thoroughly combined, making sure there are no lumps of powder.
- Turn the heat to medium. Whisk the mixture occasionally for about 3-5 minutes until it comes to a very light boil. As soon as the mixture has thickened (you may not even see bubbles), remove the pan from the burner.
- Add 5 cups whole blueberries to the mixture in the pot. Add 1 tablespoon lemon zest and 3 tablespoons lemon juice. Stir it all together. Give it a taste! If it's too sweet, add a few more blueberries, if you have them. If it's very tart, add in an extra tablespoon or two of sugar.
- Chill. This is very important: let the blueberry mixture cool completely. I like to stick it in the fridge to speed this up. If you dump hot hot pie filling into your pie crust, it will end up gummy on the bottom and won't be flaky.
- Roll out the pie crust. On a well-floured work surface or pastry cloth, roll out one disc of the pie dough, keeping the other one chilled. Place the rolled out pie crust into a 9 inch pie pan, letting the edges hang over the sides. If the pie dough has warmed, place the whole pie pan into the fridge or freezer for about 15 minutes. Cold pie dough is essential.
- Add the chilled blueberry filling. Pour the cold blueberry pie filling into the rolled out crust, leaving it mounded in the middle.
- Roll out the second pie crust. Make it into a lattice crust if you like, here is my Lattice Pie Crust tutorial. Or you can place the pie crust on top as one whole piece. (If you do this, be sure to use a sharp knife to make a few cuts into the top pie crust. This vents the pie and allows steam to escape.)
- Trim excess pie dough so there is only about an inch of the top and bottom hanging over the edges. Fold the overlapping pie dough underneath on the edges, and crimp the edges with your thumb and fingers, sealing the edges.
- Preheat. Place a baking sheet in the center rack of your oven and preheat to 425 degrees F. Let it heat up for at least 20-25 minutes to make sure it’s really hot.
- Freeze the pie. While the oven heats, place the entire pie in the freezer for 20 minutes, or the fridge for 30 minutes if you don't have freezer space. Chilling makes your crust SUPER flaky.
- Brush the top of the pie. Right before putting your pie in the oven, brush the crust of your pie all over with about a tablespoon of milk. Sometimes I like to use 1 tablespoon milk beat together with 1 tablespoon beaten egg that I have leftover from making the crust. Milk will help your pie crust brown but will stay matte; egg will add gloss and shine to your pie crust.
- Sprinkle the whole pie with 1 tablespoon raw sugar, or regular sugar is also great. My mom always sprinkles her pie with cinnamon-sugar, I love that too!
- Bake. Place the chilled pie onto the baking sheet*** in the oven and let bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. The crust on the edge should be turning light brown.
- Meanwhile, get a square of tin foil that is the same size as your pie. Fold it in half, then in half again. Cut out the center. Open it up again. You should have a square of foil with a circle cut out of the center. See pie crust post for photos.
- Reduce the heat to 350 degrees F. Remove the pie from the oven (shut the door!) and place the foil on top. Loosely crimp it around the crust on the edge, making sure it's all covered but the center of the pie crust is exposed. This will protect the edges from burning.
- Don’t forget to lower the oven temperature to 350. Place the pie back on the baking sheet in the oven and bake at 350 for 40-50 more minutes. You will know the pie is done when the edges are brown and the center of the crust is light golden brown.
- Let the pie cool on a wire rack for about 4 hours. I know, this is killer. But if you cut into it now, the juices will be lava hot and way too liquid-y. You have to wait for it to cool to room temperature to get the right texture for the filling. Pie! A lesson in patience indeed.
- Once the pie is completely cool, slice and serve! A word to the wise: Blueberry Pie is nothing, NOTHING, without a scoop of vanilla ice cream. Or at least some whipped cream. Treat yoself right.
- Store the pie on the counter for up to 2 days, covered with plastic wrap. After that transfer it to the fridge.
Notes
- UPDATE 2025: This recipe was updated in May 2025! I decided to change the filling after years of testing, and once I (re)discovered my grandma's secret of cooking the berry filling before it goes into the crust (like she does for her Blackberry Pie), there was no going back. The photos have been changed completely! You are not crazy. 😂
- *PIE CRUST OPTIONS: My Flaky Pie Crust is not the same as today's recipe, but the method is the same, so the photos are helpful. Also, if today's cornmeal crust doesn't sound like your jam, follow the Flaky Pie Crust post for a traditional pie crust!
- *PIE CRUST OPTIONS: My Flaky Pie Crust is not the same as today's recipe, but the method is the same, so the photos are helpful. Also, if today's cornmeal crust doesn't sound like your jam, follow the Flaky Pie Crust post for a traditional pie crust!
- **FROZEN BLUEBERRIES: This pie is super easy to make using frozen blueberries. You DO need to change just one thing in the recipe:
- Remember also that the goal is to have about 1 and 3/4 cup pureed or liquid blueberry, and about 5 cups of whole blueberries.
- Method: Add about 7 cups of frozen blueberries to a large bowl and microwave on 50% power for a few minutes, until the blueberries are not-quite-thawed. They should still be holding their shape. Strain the blueberries through a colander, keeping the liquid. Add the liquid to a blender. Add more thawed blueberries to the blender so that after you blend it, you have about 1 and 3/4 cup.
- Continue with the recipe exactly as instructed, making one change: increase the cornstarch amount to 6 tablespoons total. Add the pureed blueberries to the dry ingredients (including the flour!) on the stovetop and cook to a boil, to thicken. Then stir in about 5 cups of whole thawed blueberries. Blueberries that have been defrosted deflate a LOT, so you might need to add in a few more blueberries (slightly thawed) to get to 5 cups, otherwise you won't have enough filling to hold up your pie crust, it will sink down.
- Continue with the recipe exactly as instructed!
- ***PIE PLATE: Use a ceramic pie pan or a glass pie pan with borosilicate glass construction to avoid having your pie pan shatter from such an abrupt temperature change. I've never had this happen to me (even when I use low quality glass pans) but it is always a risk if you aren't using the right kind of glass.
- See post for instructions on how to freeze an entire blueberry pie.
- Use 6 tablespoons cornstarch when making this pie with frozen berries.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Calories
465kcal
(23%)
Carbohydrates
70g
(23%)
Protein
6g
(12%)
Fat
19g
(29%)
Saturated Fat
11g
(55%)
Polyunsaturated Fat
1g
Monounsaturated Fat
5g
Trans Fat
1g
Cholesterol
59mg
(20%)
Potassium
180mg
(5%)
Fiber
5g
(20%)
Sugar
35g
(70%)
Vitamin A
656IU
(13%)
Vitamin C
13mg
(14%)
Calcium
32mg
(3%)
Iron
2mg
(11%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 10Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 465 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Calories | 465kcal | 23% |
| Carbohydrates | 70g | 23% |
| Protein | 6g | 12% |
| Fat | 19g | 29% |
| Saturated Fat | 11g | 55% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 1g | 6% |
| Monounsaturated Fat | 5g | 25% |
| Trans Fat | 1g | 50% |
| Cholesterol | 59mg | 20% |
| Potassium | 180mg | 4% |
| Fiber | 5g | 20% |
| Sugar | 35g | 70% |
| Vitamin A | 656IU | 13% |
| Vitamin C | 13mg | 14% |
| Calcium | 32mg | 3% |
| Iron | 2mg | 11% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Genuine Reviews
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Overall Rating
4.8
39 reviews
Excellent
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