The Best Fresh Strawberry Pie [+ Video]

There’s nothing better than a slice of fresh strawberry pie on a hot day! This is the perfect dessert for Easter, July 4th, and summer barbecues!

The BEST Fresh Strawberry Pie Recipe

This really is the BEST Fresh Strawberry Pie recipe, and I believe it’s the homemade pie crust and a secret ingredient in the strawberry pie glaze that make all the difference. Before we get into all of the questions, tips and troubleshooting let’s chat about what makes this fresh strawberry pie with Jello filling the best ever.

A fresh strawberry pie is NOT just a pie crust full of strawberries, I mean I guess it is, but there’s much more to it than just that. A fresh strawberry pie has to have a perfectly flaky pie crust, which will hold up to the glaze much better.

Now, there’s a secret ingredient that most people leave out of their strawberry pie recipe and I’m telling you, it’s so easy, but totally brightens up the pie in a way that you’ll never skip it again.

Are you ready?

It’s lemon zest.

Ahhh man, it’s a no brainer! I know, but still do it. I started noticing that while strawberry Jello really does make for a quick and easy strawberry pie recipe that sets up every time, it also tastes a little more store-bought than fresh. Adding the zest of just one lemon totally brightened things up without it tasting like lemon at all.

Fresh Strawberry Pie Ingredients

This fresh strawberry pie recipe has three main components: the homemade pie crust, the strawberry pie filling, and the stabilized whipped cream that gets piped on top.

Here’s what you’ll need to make all three parts of this easy strawberry pie:

• Homemade pie crust
• Fresh strawberries
• Granulated sugar
• Cornstarch
• Lemon zest
• Strawberry Jello
• Unflavored powdered gelatin
• Heavy cream
• Vanilla extract

How to Make Strawberry Pie with Jello

Making a fresh strawberry pie with a Jello filling is the easiest pie recipe to learn! Here are the basic steps to making homemade strawberry pie:

1. Make the pie crust. It’ll need to bake and cool completely before making the strawberry pie filling. Head to our lemon meringue pie recipe for instructions on how to blind bake a pie crust.
2. Wash and hull the strawberries, then set aside to dry off.
3. Heat a saucepan over medium-high heat with the water, sugar and cornstarch.
4. Turn off the heat and add the Jello and stir to combine until dissolved.
5. Once it has thickened, remove from the burner to cool.
6. Fold the strawberries into the glaze to ensure even distribution. Turn the strawberry pie filling into the prepared pie crust.
7. Let it set up in the fridge and then top with stabilized whipped cream.

Do I Have to Make a Homemade Pie Crust?

If you’re in a hurry and can’t make a pie crust from scratch, I’d actually recommend you just use a graham cracker crust instead of a store-bought pie crust. A graham cracker crust will go soft faster than a pie crust, but I really haven’t found a pre-made pie shell that stands up to our homemade pie crust recipe. If you scroll down you’ll see that we link up to my mom’s fail-proof magic crust and trust me, anyone can learn to make that. Anyone.

If you go for the graham cracker crust, I encourage you to pour the glaze over the strawberries in the pie crust versus folding the berries in it, that way there’s less of a chance that a layer of glaze softens the crust.

Can I Use Frozen Strawberries Instead of Fresh?

No, this recipe is best when made as a fresh strawberry pie. Even if you thawed the frozen strawberries first, their texture would be much different than fresh strawberries and the pie wouldn’t set up right.

Can Strawberry Pie Filling be Frozen?

You can freeze the strawberry pie glaze in a ziploc bag for up to 3 months, but make sure you don’t add any strawberries or they won’t be the same once you defrost them.

How Long Will Strawberry Pie Last?

Fresh strawberry pie can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, but each day it will lose a little more of its vibrancy and texture so we try to eat it within 3 days.

Tips for Making the Best Strawberry Pie

We’ve only ever made the strawberry pie glaze with regular strawberry Jello, so we can’t speak to whether or not sugar-free Jello will work here. If you give it a go, please leave us a comment below telling us how your pie turned out!

For the best flavor, make this pie with in-season strawberries. You can certainly make this fresh strawberry pie in the middle of winter, but it’s best enjoyed in the spring and summer when strawberries are juicier and sweeter.

Note that making stabilized whipped cream is highly recommended since regular whipped cream isn’t thick enough to pipe. Regular whipped cream also deflates after a few hours, which isn’t ideal if you plan on serving this on a hot day.

More EASY PIE RECIPES:

• Homemade French Silk Pie
• Dulce  de Leche Banana Cream Pie
• Dutch Mixed Berry Pie
• Lemon Jello Peach Pie
• Peach Blackberry Gallette
• The Perfect Razzleberry Pie
• Easy No-Bake Chocolate Pie
• Simple Blueberry Pie
• Strawberry Icebox Pie
• No-Bake Lemon Cream Pie
• ALL OF OUR PIE RECIPES! 

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