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Easy Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling

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It only takes a few minutes to make and then to enjoy this Easy Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling.  It is perfect for pies, cakes, breakfast pastries, or spreading on toast.

A clear mason jar on a blue towel filled with homemade strawberry pie filling

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 With spring finally getting here, I am looking forward to lots of fruit.  One thing I always loved doing with our kids when they were younger was to go strawberry picking.

There is nothing like a fresh strawberry on a warm day!  Sadly, the kids don’t share my enthusiasm for going anymore, but that doesn’t stop me from making them go with us from time to time. 

It’s about family time, and those cute photo opportunities.   Now that we live in Florida, I have to remember that strawberry season and strawberry festivals are much earlier in the year.  

I missed it again this year, so I’ll have to settle for buying strawberries in the store or at the farmer’s market.

A large canning jar filled with homemade strawberry pie filling with a black label on the front

Berries do not last very long in our refrigerator.  We have some berry monsters who will eat an entire box if I’m not watching.  I am so glad our kids love to eat fresh fruit and veggies.  

So when I bought a new big box of strawberries, I had to make sure everyone knew they had to wait to start munching.  These berries had a pie filling destiny.

Homemade pie filling is actually easier to make than you think.  Sure, you can buy a can of strawberry pie filling at the store if you like paying for cans full of gel and very little berries.

This pie filling is easy to make, and it doesn’t take much time at all.

A blue towel with two clear jars filled with homemade strawberry pie filling on it

How to make Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling:

  1. Start with 5 cups of sliced (or diced) berries.  You want to make sure there are plenty of strawberries in your filling.   
  2. Water, sugar, and cornstarch gets boiled into a gel for coating the strawberries in. 
  3. Pull the pan off the stove and stir in some strawberry Jello powder to thicken it even more and to give it a bright red color.
  4. Add the sliced strawberries and stir until everything is coated.
  5. Now comes the hard part.  You have to have patience and wait for the homemade pie filling to cool off.   It needs to cool off enough for you to put it in your refrigerator for a few hours.  This will give it time to thicken up a little bit more.  

Pro Tip: Make the pie filling the night before, so it is ready to go the next day.

An overhead picture of two clear jars on a blue towel filled with homemade strawberry pie filling

What can you make with the best strawberry pie filling?

Can you freeze homemade strawberry pie filling?

Yes, it freezes just fine.  Thaw it overnight in the fridge before using it.  There may be a little bit of extra water on top from thawing it, but you can pour that off easily before using the pie filling.

Can you make this strawberry pie filling without cornstarch or Jello?

Both of these ingredients help to thicken and stabilize the fruit filling. If you are looking for a strawberry pie filling without cornstarch or Jello, you may enjoy this Honey Lime Strawberry Sauce.

Two jars with red and white twine around them and filled with homemade strawberry pie filling

More easy strawberry recipes you may like:

Swirls of strawberries and graham cracker crumbs give these Strawberry Cheesecake Milkshakes a fun flair. Awesome frozen drink on a hot day!

This easy No Bake Strawberry Daiquiri Cheesecake is a refreshing dessert to enjoy on a hot summer day. Strawberry and lime pair so well in this light fluffy mousse cake!

Layers of no bake cheesecake, cookies, and pie filling make these Strawberry Mousse Cheesecake Parfaits a fun and easy treat to make for your loved ones.

Make a batch of this Strawberry Crisp Ice Cream for dessert. Homemade vanilla ice cream filled with chunks of strawberry crisp is a frozen treat that no one will forget.

The sweet and salty crust on this Strawberry Pretzel Pie makes this easy, no bake pie a delicious spring or summer dessert.

A large canning jar on a white plate filled with homemade strawberry pie filling

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Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling

Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling

Yield: 4 cups pie filling
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Total Time: 15 minutes

It only takes a few minutes to make and then to enjoy fresh Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling.  It is perfect for pies, cakes, breakfast pastries, or spreading on toast.

Ingredients

  • 5 cups sliced fresh strawberries
  • 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1/4 cup cornstarch
  • 1 1/4 cup water
  • 3.4 ounce box strawberry Jell-O powder

Instructions

  1. Stir together the strawberries and lemon juice. Set aside.
  2. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch into the water in a large saucepan. Stir over high heat until the mixture turns clear and starts to bubble.
  3. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the Jello powder and stir until dissolved.
  4. Add the strawberries and stir until completely coated in the gel mixture.
  5. Let the mixture cool on the back of the stove or counter for 1-2 hours, then refrigerate until chilled all the way through.
  6. Keep refrigerated in a sealed container for 4-5 days. It can also be frozen if you want to keep it longer.

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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 137Total Fat: 0gSaturated Fat: 0gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 0gCholesterol: 0mgSodium: 17mgCarbohydrates: 34gFiber: 2gSugar: 27gProtein: 1g

Nutrition facts are an estimate and are not guaranteed to be accurate. If you need special diet advice, please see a registered dietician.

Did you make this recipe?

Please leave a comment on the blog or share a photo on Instagram

© Jocelyn @ Inside BruCrew Life
Cuisine: American / Category: Fruit Desserts

Two pictures of homemade strawberry pie filling collaged together with a white text box

*The post for Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling was first published on March 22, 2014. The photos and post has been updated and republished on March 19, 2019.

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  • Jocelyn, this is such a great idea! We pick pounds and pounds each summer and always makes loads of jam, but I’ve never made the filling to keep for later. I’m pinning this to my STRAWBERRY board. 🙂
    Ang
    PS – that Strawberry Cheesecake Brownie looks pretty amazing, too!

    Reply

  • Oh man, I can’t wait for fruit picking season – we go every year too! Love the sound of this homemade pie filling. Haha – we have berry monsters in our house too -(one of them is me teehee) they don’t last very long in our fridge either 😉

    Reply

  • Mmm Pie Filling = pie season!!! My daughters are at the age where they love berry picking. We took them Raspberry picking last year and it was so much fun! We’ll need to do some strawberry picking this year. BTW-love the cute little labels for the filling! Totes adorbs!!

    Reply

  • I know fresh berries would be best, but…do you think this recipe would work with frozen berries. I have a big bag in my freezer that I need to use. LOVE you pics and recipes!

    Reply

    • Thank you so much! I have not tried this recipe with frozen berries. I know as the berries would thaw in the pan, they will release more water which would affect how the filling would set up. My thinking is that you could put the frozen berries in a big saucepan and bring them to a boil with just the water that they release. Then stir in the cornstarch and sugar and maybe a little bit more water. Because frozen berries tend to be mushy when they thaw, you won’t need to simmer it as long. I know that is all kind of vague…I hope that helps!

      Reply

  • This does not freeze well. I made this to make the strawberry lemon snack cake and had to put it off for a week ( I was taking a meal to a new mom), so I decided to freeze it like the recipe said. After thawing, it separated into a hard, jelled mess and lots of liquid. I do not recommend freezing. 🙁

    Reply

    • Oh, no!! I’m not sure why it would have done that for you. I am going to remove that from the recipe until I can make and freeze it again. I am so sorry it did that for you!!!

      Reply

        • I have slightly changed the recipe and tried freezing and then thawing the filling and it worked just fine for me. There was a little extra liquid after it thawed, but I just poured that out. The filling itself was still delicious, and I was able to use it in another recipe.

          Reply

    • Thank you… I was really wanting to make extra jars, and freeze some but this answers my question…. thanks again.

      Reply

    • I froze a small container of this the last time we made it, and it was still great after thawing it overnight in the fridge. There was a little bit of extra water from thawing it, but I just poured that off. The filling itself was still delicious and worked great in another recipe.

      Reply

      • Just read the comment for the freezing… thanks…. will let you know how it does, I am going to freeze one pint.

        Reply

  • Jocelyn, thank you so much for this recipe! Last week I was making a dessert that called for cherry pie filling, but I wanted to use strawberry. When I did a search, I found this recipe and knew (because I’ve come to completely trust your recipes to be great!) that it would be wonderful. And it was.

    I did use frozen strawberries because I had bags of them that we picked this summer. What I did was to partially thaw the berries enough so they could be sliced. Then I sliced them, measuring 5 cups of sliced berries, and used them in the recipe, following the directions as given. You’re right, it didn’t take as long to cook the previously frozen berries. The recipe came out perfectly. I let it cool at room temp for several hours, then put it in a container to chill overnight before using it in the recipe.

    Thanks again, so much. The dessert turned out great.

    Reply

    • I have actually never canned this recipe. The recipe doesn’t make a lot, so we usually eat it all in a short time. Keep me posted if you decide to can it.

      Reply

  • Confused on the amount of time for simmering…

    In post / writing…
    Add the berries and simmer for 2-3 minutes.

    On actual recipe…
    Stir in the strawberries and simmer for 3-4 minutes.

    Hoping to hear back & corrections are made.

    Reply

    • You can actually do either and it would be fine. Most of the batches I did were about 3 minutes, but I did a few at 2 and a few at 4, and it didn’t seem to make a big difference. Thanks for the heads up that I had two different times listed. That was my mistake, and I’ll get it corrected.

      Reply

  • I made this strawberry pie filling this morning and used a graham cracker pie crust, just ate a piece for lunch and was amazed at how good it is. I did use sugar substitute instead of real sugar and I had a bag of frozen sliced strawberries. Still really good.

    Reply

  • Does anyone know how to make strawberry pie with this recipe??? Is it a baked strawberry pie? Or is it a single crust you just pour into an already baked crust? Sorry, my husband lives baked strawberry pie, but It doesn’t set up well. So I want to make a filling and then bake it in the crust.

    Reply

    • I actually do NOT recommend using this filling in a baked pie. It is better if you use it in an already baked or no bake pie crust. I was curious about this too, so I did try baking one, but I didn’t think it set up as well after chilling it because of the extra gel in the pie filling.

      Reply

  • Hi Jocelyn: Just made your pie filling and tastes awesome. I have made the dough for the pie and am now ready to make the pie. You don’t mention what temperature the oven needs to be at for your filling though. Could you please make a recommendation as to what temp I should set it at. The dough recipe says follow lifting instructions.

    Reply

    • Hi, Mike. I actually recommend using this particular pie filling in an already baked or no bake pie crust. You can bake it in a crust, but the pie slices don’t hold up as well when you cut into it later.

      Reply
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