Description
This Strawberry Pie Filling recipe creates a luscious, thickened strawberry sauce perfect for pies, tarts, or as a topping. Made with fresh strawberries, lemon juice, sugar, and a thickening agent like tapioca or cornstarch, it’s a quick and versatile homemade filling that captures the sweet and tangy flavor of ripe strawberries.
Ingredients
Scale
Filling Ingredients
- 1 quart (16 ounces) ripe strawberries, washed, hulled and sliced
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ⅓ to ½ cup (70-100 grams) sugar (depending on strawberry sweetness)
- 1 tablespoon quick-cooking tapioca or 1 tablespoon cornstarch
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- Prepare Strawberry Juice: Place ½ cup (3 ounces) of sliced strawberries in a blender with lemon juice and ½ cup water (omit water if using cornstarch). Blend until completely smooth to create the strawberry juice base.
- Combine Dry Ingredients: In a pot, mix the sugar, quick-cooking tapioca (or cornstarch), and a pinch of salt until well combined.
- Add Juice and Cook: Pour the blended strawberry juice into the pot with dry ingredients and stir to combine. Heat over medium heat and bring to a boil. Once boiling, if using tapioca, reduce heat to simmer and cook for about 5 minutes, stirring frequently until the sauce thickens and the tapioca pearls soften. If using cornstarch, cook only until the mixture thickens after boiling—do not simmer further.
- Add Remaining Strawberries: Stir in the remaining sliced strawberries and cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture returns to a simmer. Then, remove the pot from heat.
- Cool the Filling: Immediately transfer the hot filling to a wide container to cool quickly to prevent overcooking.
- Store Properly: Once cooled, pour the filling into a jar and refrigerate until ready to use, typically 3-4 days. For longer storage, freeze the filling for up to 3 months.
Notes
- This recipe yields about 1 pint of strawberry pie filling. To make enough for a full 9-inch pie, double the ingredients but keep the pureed strawberry juice amount at ½ cup.
- You can use this filling for no-bake pies by precooking it, or even add it directly without cooking as explained in the detailed recipe notes.
- Quick-cooking tapioca offers a slightly different texture compared to cornstarch, so choose based on your preferred consistency.
- Use ripe, sweet strawberries for the best flavor; adjust sugar according to natural sweetness.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1/4 cup (60g)
- Calories: 70
- Sugar: 15g
- Sodium: 10mg
- Fat: 0.1g
- Saturated Fat: 0g
- Unsaturated Fat: 0.1g
- Trans Fat: 0g
- Carbohydrates: 18g
- Fiber: 1g
- Protein: 0.5g
- Cholesterol: 0mg
