This gorgeous vegan blueberry pie can be made with fresh or frozen blueberries. The blueberry filling is delicately flavored with cinnamon and lemon.
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Nothing says holidays quite like pie, and today I have for you a recipe for the ultimate vegan blueberry pie.
Like most fruit pies, this is a simple recipe with a few ingredients. You can put it together in about 20 minutes if you're used to making pies, and that includes making the pastry crust.
Pies are always a hit in my home--Desi loves them with a passion--and this one disappeared faster than I could say "Blueberry Pie." Try it, and be sure to come back and let me know what you think.
You can also browse through my collection of 15 vegan Thanksgiving pies for more pie recipes.
Fresh or frozen blueberries?
This recipe needs six cups (around 42 oz) of blueberries and frankly, fresh organic blueberries can break the bank where I live. I have a little blueberry tree in the backyard that produces lots of pretty little berries every summer but there hasn't been a single year when I've been able to get to the ripe or semi-ripe berries before the birds do. 🙂
So I get organic blueberries in a big bag from the freezer at Costco. It costs under $10 for three pounds (18 oz of fresh organic berries cost around $11, so I'd be paying more than $25 for the amount I need in this pie).
The frozen blueberries work just as well as fresh in this pie, and you have lots more left over for more pie or for other desserts or smoothies. Just be sure to thaw them thoroughly and strain out any of the juice that expresses on its own (don't squeeze the berries) before you add them to the filling.
Homemade or storebought pie crust?
I often cheat on sweet and savory pies with a puff pastry crust, but when it comes to a vegan pie crust I usually make it myself because it's just so easy and takes barely five minutes. If you enjoy baking with sourdough, you can also try my vegan sourdough pie crust. For ease, it's perfectly fine to use a store bought crust.
Make this vegan blueberry pie gluten-free
If you want your pie to be gluten-free, make a double batch of the crust in my gluten-free vegan caramelized onion galette recipe, and add 2 tablespoon of sugar to the flour before mixing it into a dough. Gluten-free doughs need more care with handling--roll it out between sheets of parchment paper and make sure you are keeping the dough well-floured as you roll it out. The blueberry pie filling is already gluten-free so no need for any adjustments there.
Recipe card
Vegan Blueberry Pie
Ingredients
For pie crust
- 2 vegan pie crusts (homemade or store-bought)
For the pie filling:
- 6 cups blueberries (I use frozen. but fresh is fine. If using frozen, place the berries in a colander over a bowl. Let them stand about four hours or until they thaw completely and any juice drains away. Don't squeeze the berries)
- ¾ cup sugar
- 4 tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- Juice of ½ lemon (approx 2 tbsp)
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Mix the flour, salt, and sugar in a bowl. Add the cubed butter. Using a pastry cutter or fork, cut the butter into the flour until you have large crumbs of butter dispersed through the dough.
- Using a fork to mix, drizzle ice cold water into the flour, a little at a time, until the dough comes together in a ball. Don't add too much water, the dough shouldn't be wet. It should just hold together without any dry flour remaining.
- Divide the dough into two and wrap tightly in cling wrap, shaping each ball into a disc as you wrap it. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or overnight. You can make the dough a day or two earlier as well and refrigerate.
Make the pie filling:
- Place the thawed, strained berries in a bowl. Add the sugar, cinnamon, cornstarch and lemon juice and mix well.
Assemble the pie:
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit.
- To assemble the pie, roll out one disc of dough to a width slightly larger than your pie plate (use a deep dish). Fit it into the bottom of the pie plate, leaving a slight overhang. Pour the berry filling inside.
- You can make a decorative lattice top for your pie, like I did--I am not at all good at this but the pie, as you can see, looks decent despite all the mistakes I made. To make a lattice top, roll out the dough to a disc slightly wider than the pie plate and cut it into 12 strips using a pizza cutter. Arrange half the strips on top of the pie and then "weave" in the other half crosswise. Seal the edges, cut out any overhanging dough or tuck it underneath. To make a plain top crust, roll out the dough to a diameter slightly larger than the pie plate's, place the disc of dough gently on top of the filling, and press down the edges of the dough to seal with the edges of the bottom crust using the tines of a fork. Cut four vents at the top of the pie to let the steam out as the pie bakes
- Place the pie on a rimmed baking sheet or pan. I like to spritz the top with cooking spray before I put it in the oven to give the crust more color--you can skip this. Bake the pie for 25 minutes, then lower the heat to 350 degrees and cook for another 30 minutes. This pie will express a lot of juice as it bakes, and placing it on a rimmed baking sheet or pan in the oven to catch all those juices (and make cleanup easy). .
- Once the pie is golden brown, remove it to a rack and cool thoroughly--which will take several hours--before cutting and serving.
Nutrition Information
To print recipe card without images, uncheck "instruction images" after clicking the "print recipe" button.
Helpful tips and tricks
- Thaw frozen berries: If you're using frozen blueberries, take them out of the freezer, measure them, and place them in a colander to thaw at least four hours before you start to make the pie. Place the colander over a bowl to catch the juices as they drain. Do not squeeze the berries, just let any juice that drains out naturally fall away as the berries thaw.
- Keep everything cold: One of the most important lessons in pie-baking is to keep everything cold until the moment the pie goes into the oven. To that end:
- Keep the butter refrigerated right until the moment you add it to the flour.
- Don't touch the butter with your fingers - use a fork or pastry cutter to cut it into the flour. refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes after you make it and before you roll it out for the crust.
- Use ice-cold water to make the pie dough and handle the dough as little as possible. You can learn more about this in my vegan pie crust tutorial.
- Refrigerate the dough for at least 30 minutes before you roll it out into a crust.
- Place a baking sheet under the pie pan. This will catch any juices that overflow, saving you from a dreaded mess in the oven. Put the pie on the lower rack in the first half of baking to help brown the bottom crust without burning the top crust.
- Cool the pie thoroughly before eating. As tempting as your newly baked pie looks, don't cut it open right away. All those fruit juices that are flowing around because of the heat need time to cool down and thicken, and if you cut your pie when it's just baked, you'll have a gooey mess on your hands. In the old times, bakers kept their pies on window sills to cool down in the gentle breeze (often tempting pie thieves and animals to make away with them). You can just keep the pie in a cool spot in the home and let it cool down completely before serving.
Stacey says
Hi. How much of the sugar do you add to the flour? Thinking of making this for a friendgiving dinner this weekend.
Vaishali says
1 tablespoon.
Alan D'Augustine says
Vaishali...
I made this pie last weekend... we are still enjoying it.
I did have some huge organic fresh blueberries, but not quite 6
cups... so I reconstituted some dried organic wild blueberries in
fresh apple cider to make up the difference. The end result was
spectacular. My wife was quite surprised.
The only down side for me is that now I am expected to be able to
reproduce this pie on demand.
Maybe I will attempt your Vegan Pecan Pie recipe next... do you use
raw pecans in that one... it didn't specify.
Thank you for sharing... I am a big fan.
Vaishali says
Hi Alan, so thrilled you made the blueberry pie! Happy you loved it, and thanks for the kind words. For the pecan pie, yes, use raw pecans.
Edie Tirkel says
Hi, the recipe says to lower the temperature after 25 minutes in the oven at 425deg. What temperature do I lower it to for the next 30 minutes?
Vaishali says
Hi Edie, lower to 350 degrees. I had it in the instructions above the recipe card but missed adding it in the card itself! Thanks for pointing out.
Laura says
Hi Vaishali, Did you use a 9 or 10 inch pie plate? Want to make sure the plate is big enough to hold the filling.
Vaishali says
Hi Laura, my deep dish pie plate has a 9 1/2 inch diameter. You can use a 10 inch plate.
Jesse-Gabriel says
Mmm sieht sehr lecker aus, könnte ich jetzt sofort ein großes Stück von essen, lecker!
Viele Dank das man es auch in Gramm umrechnen kann!!!
Grüße,
Jesse-Gabriel
Vaishali says
Thanks so much, Jesse-Gabriel. 🙂
Judy says
So simple! This recipe looks wonderful. Thank you! One hint: Definitely refrigerate the bottom crust while you are rolling out the top crust. That refrigeration time will "set" the dough and help keep the bottom crust from becoming soggy when you add the filling.
Vaishali says
Thanks for that great tip, Judy!
Kerri says
Can I sub arrowroot powder or tapioca starch in for the cornstarch?
Vaishali says
Yes, absolutely. I'd prob use about 3 tbsp of tapioca starch.
Poonam says
Hi, can I try your recipe with gluten free flour or organic whole wheat flour? Will the result be as good as with APF.
Vaishali says
Hi Poonam, You could certainly use whole wheat flour, but the crust would not be as light as it would with APF.
Julia says
I love your recipes. You take the effort out of Vegan. Thank you.
Vaishali says
Thanks, Julia, much appreciated. 🙂