Homemade Blueberry Pie

This old-fashioned blueberry pie is made with fresh blueberries and is baked in a flaky pie crust. A homemade blueberry pie with a lattice crust is one of my favorite summer desserts. 

I’m a big believer that pie can solve a multitude of problems. It’s nearly impossible to be upset while eating pie (with a giant scoop of ice cream, of course), and I’m pretty sure it’s the thing I’d want with me most if I was deserted on an island somewhere. 

As the summer season comes upon us, I’m ready to break out all things berry and fruit and pie related. There’s something so summery about ending a long and lazy summer day with a slice of pie and ice cream—it’s practically magic, especially if a cabin, a lake, and a realllllly good book are involved. 

Today, I’m sharing one of my favorite fruit pie flavors in the world in preparation for the summer season: a gorgeous Homemade Blueberry Pie with a Lattice Crust that’s flaky, buttery, and downright irresistible. 

Why Make Blueberry Pie From Scratch:

• Flavor: Honestly, the biggest reason to break out the rolling pins and old fashioned blueberry pie ingredients comes down to one thing—flavor. There is absolutely nothing like a homemade blueberry pie made with fresh ingredients and baked in a buttery pie crust. 
• Simple Ingredients: This recipe uses very simple ingredients. While there are perhaps a couple of surprising ingredients, they’re all easy to find, pantry staples.
• Easy: If you’re not super confident in making a pie from scratch, this is a really good recipe to start with. It’s very difficult to mess up, and pie is usually very forgiving. 

Recipe Ingredients:

Blueberry Pie Crust:

• all purpose flour
• salt
• unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• ice water

Blueberry Pie Filling

• fresh blueberries: You can use frozen, but I highly suggest using fresh if you have them—especially when they’re in season. They will make this pie burst with flavor.
• granulated sugar: I used about 3/4 of a cup in this recipe, but depending upon how sweet your blueberries are, you can use anywhere from 2/3 cup to 1 cup of sugar. It’s a personal preference.
• all purpose flour: This is used as a thickening agent.
• cornstarch: This is also used a thickening agent. Blueberries leak a lot of juice, and the combination of flour and cornstarch will keep the blueberry pie filling thick without turning it into gelatin. 
• orange zest: This is one of my favorite ingredients to pair with blueberries. It’s a perfect citrus flavor because it adds a brightness to the overall flavor of the pie, but it’s also sweet, which enhances the blueberry flavor.
• heavy cream: This adds a richness to the filling of the pie
• almond extract: This is one of my other favorite ingredients! Almond pairs incredibly well with blueberry and a little extract goes a long way to enhancing the overall flavor of this fruit pie.
• vanilla extract: similarly to almond, it just enhances the overall pie flavor without overpowering the fresh blueberries.
• unsalted butter: butter adds richness to any fruit pie filling. 
• egg + water: an egg wash makes your crust nice and golden brown. A little raw sugar sprinkled on top gives it a pretty appearance. 

How to Make Blueberry Pie with Fresh Blueberries:

Crust: Make the pie crust first, because it needs to chill for at least 30 minutes. With a pastry cutter, fork, or standing mixer on low, mix butter, salt, and flour together until coarse crumbs form. Then add in ice water until a dough forms. Cut the dough in half, flatten into a disc shape, and refrigerate in plastic wrap. 

Filling: Mix fresh blueberries, granulated sugar, orange zest, flour, cornstarch, heavy cream, and extracts together. Your filling will look dry and very floury—that’s okay. 

Pie Dough: Roll pie dough out into two circles. Transfer one pie dough to a 9” or 10” deep dish pie plate. Pour the filling over the dough. Put pats of butter around the filling. 

Lattice Crust: Cut the other rolled pie dough into long strips. Weave lattice crust on top of the pie. Tuck the edges underneath the bottom crust and pinch the crust together. 

Egg Wash: Brush crust with egg wash and sprinkle with raw sugar.

Bake: Bake at 400 for 20 minutes. Then reduce the temperature to 375, place a pie shield over the edges of the pie, and continue baking for 45 minutes, or until the pie juices are bubbling.

Cool: Allow the pie to cool for about 3 hours—this pie needs to cool before slicing so it can thicken up properly. Serve with ice cream or whipped cream. 

How To Make a Lattice Crust:

• Cold Dough: When working with pie dough, it’s really important that your dough is cold. Not only does cold dough bake up flakier in the oven, it’s also much easier to work with.
• Strips: Using a knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into long, even strips. You can make the strips as long or as thick as you’d like. I like to have 10 strips total, but you can make more or less depending upon your preference.
• Weave: Lay the first 5 strips on top of your pie. Then, weave the next 5 strips over and under until you have a perfectly woven crust.
• Tuck: I like to tuck the lattice edges underneath the bottom pie crust. This keeps the lattice in place as the pie bakes. 

Frequently Asked Questions:

Can I Use Lemons Instead of Oranges?

• Yes, you can sub lemon zest for orange zest if you prefer. Both work very well with blueberry! Orange is sweeter while lemon will add a hint of tartness.

How Much Sugar Do I Really Need?

• If you’re blueberries are really sweet, you can get away with less sugar in your pie. If you’re blueberries are tart, you will probably want/need more sugar. 
• I used 3/4 cup of sugar in this recipe with fairly sweet blueberries. You can use anywhere from 2/3 cup to 1 1/4 cups. 

Almond Extract:

• If you don’t have almond extract or do not like almond extract, you can omit this entirely. You can either leave it out, or you can add more vanilla extract in its place. 

Can I Use Frozen Blueberries?

• While I highly suggest using fresh blueberries, you can use frozen (and keep them frozen when you mix your pie filling) to make a frozen blueberry pie filling.

Can I Make Blueberry Pie with Store Bought Crust?

• While there is nothing like a homemade pie crust, you can use storebought pie dough in a pinch. 
• Use unbaked pie dough you roll out yourself (like Pillsbury). You can usually find this in the refrigerator section of your grocery store by canned biscuits and butter. 

Lattice Crust Alternatives:

• If you don’t want to make a lattice crust, you can just roll out your second dough and put it on top of your pie. Make sure to cut slits into the dough to vent your pie as it bakes. 
• You can also top the pie with a crumb topping, like the one I use here in this Strawberry Rhubarb Crumb Pie Bars recipe, to make a blueberry pie crumble. 

Storage Tips:

• When making a homemade blueberry pie–or any fruit pie, really–it needs to cool to room temperature for about 3 hours before serving because the blueberry pie filling will be very runny when it’s hot.
• It can be stored at room temperature overnight if your house is relatively cool, but I suggest refrigerating it if you need to store it for any longer.
• You can let it come to room temperature before serving, or serve it chilled.
• I haven’t tested this recipe in the freezer so I don’t know how to freeze blueberry pie. If you try it, let me know how it goes!

Other Recipes To Try Next:

• Peach Slab Pie
• Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
• Strawberry Hand Pies
• Cream Cheese Pie Crust
• Homemade Cherry Pie

Final Tips and Tricks for Baking a Classic Blueberry Pie:

• Make sure your pie dough is cold. It should be chilled for at least 30 minutes before baking, but it can also be made up to 2 days in advance. 
• The orange zest and almond extract really make all of the difference in the flavor of this blueberry pie! Yes, you can omit the almond and sub lemon zest for the orange zest, but if you can, try it the original way first!
• Remember, the pie bakes at 400 for only 20 minutes, then it finishes baking at 375.
• Use a pie shield or foil to cover the edges of the pie to keep them from burning or browning too quickly.
• Make sure your pie filling is bubbling before taking it out of the oven. Bubbling signals the pie filling has reached the proper temperature and is done baking.
• Lastly, the pie needs to be cooled before serving. Fruit pie is very liquidy and it needs time to set up properly before being cut into. If you cut into the pie early, just note the filling will be juicy and fall out of the crust. 

Happy pie baking!

5 from 1 vote

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Homemade Blueberry Pie

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

1 hr

Cooling Time

3 hrs

Total Time

4 hrs 45 mins

 

This old-fashioned blueberry pie is made with fresh blueberries and is baked in a flaky pie crust. A homemade blueberry pie with a lattice crust is one of my favorite summer desserts.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: homemade blueberry pie

Servings: 10 slices

Author: Michelle

Ingredients

Blueberry Pie Crust (makes two 9” or 10” deep dish crusts)

• 3 cups all purpose flour
• 3/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cold and cubed
• 7-10 Tbsp ice water

Blueberry Filling:

• 6 cups fresh blueberries
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar*
• 1/3 cup all purpose flour
• 2 Tbsp cornstarch
• 2 1/2 tsp orange zest*
• 2 Tbsp heavy whipping cream
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 1 Tbsp unsalted butter, cold and cubed

Topping:

• 1 egg
• 2 Tbsp water
• raw sugar, optional

Instructions

Crust:

1. Mix flour and salt together. Using a pastry cutter, fork, or a standing mixer on low, cut butter into the flour, mixing until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs (the butter pieces should be about pea sized at this stage).
2. Add in ice water, 1 Tbsp at a time, until the dough just comes together (I used approx. 9 Tbsp).
3. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and form the dough into 2 balls. Flatten each into a disc shape and wrap in plastic.
4. Chill for at least 30 minutes.

Filling

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees and set out your 9” or 10” deep dish pie plate.
2. In a large bowl, mix blueberries, granulated sugar, all purpose flour, cornstarch, ornage zest, heavy whipping cream, almond extract, and vanilla extract together.
3. Set aside.

Assembly

1. On a floured surface, roll out 1 pie dough disc into a large circle, about 1/4” thick.
2. Loosely wrap pie dough around your rolling pin and transfer the dough to your pie plate. Gently unwrap the dough and place it in your pie dish.
3. Cut off any excess pie dough, leaving about 1/2” of dough overhang (this helps you form a crimped pie edge).

4. Pour half of the blueberry filling into the pie dough. Place the butter cubes in the filling, evenly spaced apart. Then pour the rest of the filling on top of the pie.

5. Roll out the other pie dough disc into a large circle, about 1/4” thick. Cut the dough into 10 slices (if you can’t get 10 slices from the first roll out, take the scraps of dough and re-roll the dough in a circle and cut more slices).

6. Arrange dough slices into a woven pattern (I place 5 slices on the pie first, then weave the remaining 5 slices of dough until I have a woven lattice crust).
7. Tuck the edges of pie dough, including the lattice slices, underneath the bottom crust. Using a fork or your thumb and knuckles, crimp the edges of the dough.
8. Beat egg and water together, then brush on top of the pie. This will give the pie a golden brown hue as it bakes. Sprinkle with raw sugar, if desired.

9. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.

10. Reduce heat to 375 degrees and bake for another 45-50 minutes, or until the blueberry filling is bubbling. Cover the edges of the pie with a pie shield to keep them from burning (I keep it uncovered for the first 20 minutes, then place the pie shield on the pie for the remaining cook time).

11. Allow to cool for 3 hours at room temperature before slicing.
12. Store leftovers in the fridge.
13. Enjoy!

Recipe Notes

Notes:
*You can use anywhere from 2/3 cup - 1 1/4 cups of granulated sugar, depending upon how sweet your blueberries are. My blueberries were very sweet and 3/4 cup of sugar was perfect for me. You can add more or less according to your taste preferences.
*You can use anywhere from 2 tsp - 1 Tbsp of orange zest, depending upon your taste preference.

Here are some other recipes to try next:

Lemon Blueberry Scones

Blueberry Sour Cream Muffins

Lemon Blueberry Cream Pie