Prep Time: Varies- You can prep the day before to save time.
Filling Cook Time: 15 minutes
Pie Cook Time:
Uncooked Crust: 65 -75 minutes
Parbaked (or storebought) Crust: 30-40 minutes
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Video tutorial coming soon.
Do you have any fresh or frozen fruits that need to be used up? Use them to create a pie filling and bake a pie. There are many ways to enjoy pie. My favorite way to enjoy pie is with savory dinner fillings, such as chicken pot pie or Sheppard’s pie. My children’s favorite way to enjoy pie is at dessert time! With dessert pie, we prefer to leave off the top crust. Although traditional tarts slightly differ from pies, with a crumbly versus flaky crust, some parts of the world consider an open-faced pie to be a tart.
About the Crust
This recipe isn’t tied to any specific kind of pie crust. I created a homemade pie crust with flour, butter, iced water, and a pinch of salt and sugar. You can follow the recipe and steps I use for a pie crust or use the method that works best for you. The pie filling also goes great with graham cracker pie crust. If you don’t like making pie crust, or simply don’t want to, storebought pie crusts will work perfectly.
If you do decide to make your own pie crust, I recommend prebaking before adding the filling. Prebaking your pie crust the day before you plan to bake your pie will save you a lot of time and hassle. If your pie is storebought, you will not need to prebake the crust. The goal is to keep the crust flaky, which is why prebaking is beneficial to any pie with a wet filling. Fruit contains a lot of water, and prebaked crusts are recommended with berry fillings.
About the Filling
Fresh or frozen (from fresh; no added sugar or preservatives) fruit are both perfect candidates for a pie filling. This is my favorite way to use frozen fruit, aside from homemade jams. If there is a certain fruit you don’t like or can’t eat, just leave it out and compensate with extra servings of the fruits you do like. I only use one banana for the filling. Adding too many will overtake and change the overall flavor. I find that one banana does the job. You can add another half banana if you want a boost on the banana flavor.
You can leave your fruits whole, pulse them in a food processor until you have a chunky filling, or puree it all and make it smooth. This is all subjective and per personal preference. No matter how you do it, the steps are generally the same. The only change you might need to make will be the timing on your boil. You may also need to stir more frequently to avoid burning any fruit pieces. I create a mixture of pureed fruit and fruit chunks by pureeing the softer berries (the frozen ones), then cutting any fresh fruit and mixing it into the puree. If I am strictly using frozen fruit, I pulse it in the food processor until it reaches a slight puree with fruit chunks.
Save the filling! If you end up with leftover filling, or accidentally ruin the pie crust and cancel your baking plans, save that filling. This isn’t just a pie filling. You can stuff a donut. make a pastry, top your ice cream, spread it between two sugar cookies and more. Spread a light layer over a biscuit or waffle. Keep it traditional, simple, and easy by making a PB&J sandwich. You pretty much have a jam to work with. This one just consists of more thickener (cornstarch) than my usual homemade jams.
About the Sugar
The total amount of added sugar, including the crust, is 2 1/2 cups plus 1/2 tablespoon. You DO NOT need added sugar for any part of this recipe to work. In fact, I have left the sugar out of the filling completely, many times. Fruit is naturally sweet, with plenty of natural sugars. Some fruits also become sweeter when you cook them. This is why I LOVE fruit-based desserts. You can also use sugar substitutes.
Depending on the sweetener you use in place of the sugar, you may only need half of what I use in sugar (example: 1/2 cup instead of 1 cup). A couple of my favorite substitutes are stevia and monk fruit. I actually happen to like the monk fruit a little bit more than the stevia. Allulose is another great substitute for sugar.
FUN FACT: Stevia, monk fruit, and allulose aren’t just a great sugar substitute for blood sugar reasons. They are also safer for your teeth!
Ingredients
- Pie crust – homemade and prebaked or storebought crust
CLICK HERE for an easy pie crust recipe with prebake instructions - 4-5 cups mixed berries
I use 3 cups puree of blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. I dice up 2 cups worth of strawberries and add them to the puree. - 1 medium-large sliced banana
- 1 cup sugar
- 4-5 TBSP corn starch
- 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice
Instructions
In a medium pot or saucepan, combine the fruit, sugar, and lemon juice over medium heat.
Bring the mixture to a boil while stirring frequently, then whisk or vigorously stir in the cornstarch.
You can premeasure your amount and dump it all in at once or add tablespoon by tablespoon.
Continue to cook while stirring frequently for about ten minutes, or until it thickens to texture.
Keep in mind that it thickens as it cools.
Remove from the heat and let it cool. I speed up the cooling process by covering it and sticking it in the freezer for 40-60 minutes.
When your filling has cooled and thickened a bit more, preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
Fill your pie crust with your banana berry filling, then place it into the oven for 30-40 minutes.
With my homemade crust, I find that 32 minutes, plus 2-3 minutes on low broil creates the perfect banana berry pie.
Remove from the oven when finished and allow to cool on the countertop over a cooling rack.
After it has cooled to room temperature, transfer it to the fridge and let it sit for 3 hours (or overnight). This step helps the filling to slightly contract and come to texture.
That’s it; your banana berry pie is ready!
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