Here’s a simple pie recipe using frozen berries. It’s a quick and easy dessert that can be used with all of your favourite frozen fruits or berries.
Have you ever made a berry pie using frozen fruit? This would be my first ever frozen berry pie, and not my last! I’ve always made a pie from fresh fruit and it actually has never occurred to me before that I could make a pie from frozen fruit. I know that seems kind of silly to say but it’s true. Whenever I have an abundance of fresh fruit I can see it piled high in a pie! Never did I think a bag of frozen fruit would go perfectly in a pie!
So this is how it happened.
My mom loves pie and I’ve been teaching her how to work with pastry so I’ve had extra dough in the freezer for a while now. My parents have a big stand-up freezer in the pantry so eventually, food gets lost in there and can never be found again (until it’s time to clean out the freezer). The clean-out day came and in the midst of all the frozen food, there were lots of bags of bits and pieces of frozen fruit. Unfortunately, there was hardly enough to do anything with. And that’s when the light bulb went off. Can I throw all of this into a pie crust and use up these bits of frozen fruit?!
You definitely can, and the results were just as delicious, and frankly kind of fun with all the mixed fruits I had piled into one pie.
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How To Make a Berry Pie Using Frozen Fruit
Using frozen fruit in a pie is great in a pinch and is quick and easy to whip up.
First, wash the fruit to get rid of all of the frozen ice that gathered around the berries. You may end up with less fruit once you wash away the ice. Add chopped Granny Smith apples to help fill the pie. Make sure to cut the pieces into small bite sizes like the size of the berries. That way the apples will bake evenly around the same time as the berries.
Add more flour than you usually do (which I have adjusted in the recipe below), since the berries are frozen they have a lot of extra water and juices. This is just a preference and is different for everyone. I ended up with no juice, which kind of back-fired because I like my pies to be a little runny.
Use any extra pastry scraps to make a lattice top. It doesn’t need to be perfect and is fun to make the strips in different sizes.
Ingredients
It doesn’t get any simpler than this! The best part about using frozen fruit for a pie is anything goes! Empty out that freezer of all those bits and pieces of frozen fruit and add them to a pie!
- Frozen fruit; mixed berries
- Granny Smith apple
- Granulated sugar
- All-purpose flour
- Unsalted butter
- Pie Pastry; flour, salt, unsalted butter, shortening
- Milk for brushing the pie
Berry Pie using Frozen Fruit
Here is a simple pie recipe using frozen berries. This is a quick and easy dessert that can be used with all of your favourite fruits or berries. For a deep-dish pie double the pastry recipe (you may need to add extra fruit too). For a small pie, you can get away with a one pastry recipe.
- Prep Time: 50 mins
- Cook Time: 55 mins
- Total Time: 1 hour 45 mins
- Yield: 9-inch pie 1x
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: Canadian
Ingredients
- 1 pie pastry recipe
- 5–6 cups assorted frozen berries, blackberries, raspberries, and blueberries (I used cranberries too)
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tablespoons flour
- Milk to brush the top of the pie
- Coarse sugar to sprinkle on top of the pastry (optional)
- 2 Tablespoons butter
Instructions
- Make pastry from pastry recipe. Let rest in the fridge for 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, rinse frozen berries (if ice has started to form around berries), drain. Add berries to a large bowl, mix sugar, flour, and berries together. Set aside.
- On a prepared work surface roll the dough out into a circle larger than your pie dish (approx. 13 inches), and 1/4 inch thick. Gently lay the dough into a 9-inch pie dish.
- Trim the edges and reserve the dough to use for your lattice.
- Prick the bottom of the pie several times with a fork.
- With the extra pastry re-roll and cut into strips (you’ll need 9 or 11 strips).
- Fill the pie with the berry mixture and make your lattice on top. Trim the extra edges and press the pastry edges together.
- Brush the top lattice with milk and sprinkle with coarse sugar. Add butter dollops in the holes of the lattice.
- Place in the freezer for 10 minutes. Meanwhile preheat the oven to 450˚F.
- Place the pie in the middle rack, with a baking sheet on the rack below to catch any pie drippings. Bake for 10 minutes at 450˚F. Reduce the heat to 350˚F and continue to bake for another 40-45 minutes until crust is brown and filling is bubbling (check your pie at 30 minutes).
- Let pie cool for 10 -15 minutes before serving.
Notes
I did not have enough frozen fruit in my freezer so I added 2 Granny Smith apples to add as a filler. If doing this make sure to cut your apples into small chunks, around the same size as your berries for even baking.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 of 8 servings
- Calories: 298
- Sugar: 13.5g
- Sodium: 85mg
- Fat: 13.2g
- Saturated Fat: 5.3g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0
- Trans Fat: 0
- Carbohydrates: 41g
- Fiber: 3g
- Protein: 4.8g
- Cholesterol: 7mg
Keywords: berry pie, pie, frozen fruit, pastry, dessert
FAQ’s
There are two ingredients you can use to thicken pie filling if you don’t like it super juicy. Both flour and corn starch work as a thickening agent in baking. Mix an extra tablespoon of either all-purpose flour or corn starch into your fruit mixture with all of the juices. As the pie cools after baking the juices will thicken up.
Yes, frozen fruit works great in a pie and is a great way to use up leftover fruit from the freezer.
You can freeze a berry pie before or after baking. But the best method is to freeze the pie before baking so you have fresh out of the oven pie. Make sure to bake the pie from frozen, do not let the pie come to room temperature or defrost as this will cause a soggy crust.
Place your unbaked pie on a baking sheet and place in the freezer until firm, approx. 3 hours. Next, tightly wrap in plastic wrap and then foil. If you have a round airtight container add the wrapped pie into the container and seal tightly.
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Delicious! I made this using pre-made pastry and frozen mixed berries. I cooked this for almost an hour and the last five minutes I broiled to get the top golden brown. After about 45 minutes I covered the edge of the pie (crust) so it wouldn’t burn. Pie was juicy but not runny as one would think when using frozen fruit. Would definitely make it again!
★★★★★
Love how simple this recipe is, my pie turned out runny and delicious and that pastry is soooo flakey!
★★★★★
Hi Stephanie, I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed it. The baking time may have differed since you used a pre-made crust, it’s a good thing you were on top of it! Happy holidays and happy baking!
Oh, that’s so nice to hear! Glad you were happy with the recipe Jenny! xo
Can i use thawed strawberriesina pie
Hi Ghislanie, I’m sorry I’m not completely sure what you are referring to?