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Even the most novice baker can achieve success with this easy and delicious Cherry Pie recipe. It includes a homemade cherry pie filling made with fresh or canned cherries, baked inside a flaky pie crust.
I have too many favorite pie recipes to count and most can be enjoyed all year round, like cherry pie, Coconut Cream Pie, and Key Lime Pie.
Of all the pies in the world, Cherry Pie tops the list as one of the easiest pies to make, and I'm excited to share the simple, delicious recipe with you all!
How to make Cherry Pie:
If using fresh cherries:
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Pit and halve the cherries. Add them to a saucepan with sugar and lemon juice and toss to combine. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until juices are released. Use a slotted spoon to spoon cherries out into a bowl. Spoon some of the sauce into a cup and stir in the cornstarch until dissolved. Return to pot with remaining juices and cook for a few minutes until sauce has thickened. Pour over cherries and set aside while you prepare the pie crust.
If using canned cherries:
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Drain the juice from the cans of cherries into a saucepan, reserving ⅓ cup in a small bowl. Set the cherries aside.
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Add cornstarch to the bowl with the reserved ⅓ cup of juice and stir well to combine.
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Heat the saucepan (that has the juice in it) over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir well. Bring mixture to a low boil. Stir in dissolved cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Fold in the cherries. Add a few drops of red food coloring, if desired.
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Allow mixture to cool to room temperature while you prepare the pie crusts.
- Line pie plate with pie crust and cherry pie filling into it. If desired, cut the top crust into wide strips to lay a lattice crust on the pie, or place the whole, uncut pie crust over the filling and poke a hole in the top for steam to release as the pie bakes. (Here's a lattice top tutorial if you've never made one on a pie.)
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Pinch the edges of the top and bottom pie crusts together and crimp the edge, if you like. Brush a thin layer of beaten egg white over the top of the pie crust and sprinkle the crust pieces lightly with granulated sugar.
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Bake at 400 degrees F for 40-45 minutes.
Some Tips for perfect cherry pie:
Should you use Sweet or Sour Cherries for cherry pie? Sour, tart cherries (sometimes called “pie” cherries) are most commonly used in desserts like cherry pie. If using sweet cherries, decrease the sugar in this recipe by at least ⅓ cup.
Use a homemade pie crust! For pies like this that bake for longer in the oven, a homemade pie crust will make a difference in how the crust holds up as it bakes.
Most store-bought pie crusts are super thin and flimsy so the edges brown and dry out more quickly when baking. (Store-bought crusts work better for custard or pudding type of pie that only requires a pre-baked pie shell).
The good news, is my favorite pie crust recipe can be made weeks or even months in advance so that your pie dough is ready to “roll” (pun intended 🙂 ) when you need it!
Make ahead Instructions:
Both the cherry pie filling and pie crust can be made a few days in advance, stored in the fridge until ready to use.
Freezing Instructions:
Baked and cooled cherry pie can be covered tightly and frozen for 2-3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator. The prepared cherry pie filling and pie crust can also be frozen, stored separately.
CONSIDER TRYING THESE HOMEMADE PIES:
- Lemon Sour Cream Pie
- Pumpkin Pie with Caramel Pecan Topping
- Chocolate Mousse Cheesecake Pie
- Key Lime Pie
- Chocolate Cream Pie
- Oreo Cheesecake Pie
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Cherry Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
- 1.5 lbs fresh, sour cherries, or three (14.5 oz) cans sour cherries
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 Tablespoons lemon juice
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons butter
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- homemade pie crust, (this recipe makes 2 crusts: one for the bottom and one for the top)
- 1 large egg white, , beaten with a fork
- granulated sugar, , for sprinkling on top
Instructions
If using fresh cherries:
- Pit and halve the cherries. Add them to a saucepan with sugar and lemon juice and toss to combine. Cook over medium heat for a few minutes until juices are released. Use a slotted spoon to spoon cherries out into a bowl. Spoon some of the sauce into a cup and stir in the cornstarch until smooth. Return to pot with remaining juices and cook for a few minutes until thickened. Pour over cherries and set aside while you prepare the pie crust.
If using canned cherries:
- Drain the juice from the cans of cherries into a saucepan, reserving ⅓ cup in a small bowl. Set the cherries aside. Add cornstarch to the bowl with the reserved ⅓ cup of juice and stir well to combine.
- Heat the saucepan (that has the juice in it) over medium heat. Add the sugar and stir well. Bring mixture to a low boil. Stir in dissolved cornstarch mixture. Cook, stirring, until thickened, about 2-3 minutes. Stir in butter and lemon juice. Fold in the cherries. Add a few drops of red food coloring, if desired.
- Allow mixture to cool to room temperature while you prepare the pie crusts.
Prepare Pie:
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Set aside a 9'' pie pan. (If using canned cherries, there will be enough filling for a deep dish pie dish).
- Remove one chilled pie crust dough from the fridge. On a lightly floured counter, roll out your dough to about 12'' in diameter. Gently place in the bottom of pie dish. Spoon the cherry filling into the unbaked crust and sprinkle a little cinnamon over the filling. (If using fresh cherries, add a few small pieces of butter on top).
- Remove the second pie crust from the fridge and roll it out in a similar manner. Use a pizza cutter, knife or pastry wheel to cut the crust into long strips, about 1/2'' wide. Lay strips over the crust in a lattice pattern. (If you're lazy, like me, you can just lay half of the strips going one direction, and the others on top, going perpendicular, leaving a small space between each.)
- Pinch the edges of the top and bottom pie crusts together and crimp the edge, if you like. Brush a thin layer of beaten egg white over the top of the pie crust and sprinkle some granulated sugar on top.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for about 40-45 minutes. Check after about 25 minutes and gently place a piece of tinfoil over the top crust to keep it from getting too brown.
- Remove to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool for several hours. Once cooled completely you can cut and serve it, or cover it and refrigerate it overnight to serve the next day.
- Leftover cherry pie will last up to 5 days, stored in the fridge.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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Have you tried this recipe?!
RATE and COMMENT below! I would love to hear your experience.
I originally shared this recipe June 2017. Updated April 2020 with process photos and more detailed instructions.
Holy Moly! This is so good! I forgot to put the cinnamon on top though. It is the absolute best cherry pie I have ever had. I used fresh sour cherries 🍒
Way too lemony and the cinnamon detracted from the cherry taste as well. This is definitely a recipe that I will not make again.
Mix 3 good tablespoons of Minute tapioca to your cherries and sugar. It will thicken it.
Love this recipe – I found a large bottles of sour cherries at our local Jon’s grocery – they worked perfectly – butter & lemon juice really brightened the flavor. Homemade crust is a must do – still need a little help with getting the dough just right so its not too dry and inflexible for making the lattice. Wish we could post photos to share – thanks for the great recipe!
You reserve 1/3 cup of cherry juice from cans to mix with cornstarch. Then pour the REST of the cherry juice from cans into saucepan first. Then add the cornstarch/juice mixture. I misread it and was confused as well :). Just don’t discard any of the cherry juice from the cans.
I have frozen cheeries on hand. Can I use these?
Yes, although I would thaw them first.
Should I treat thawed frozen cherries like fresh cherries in this recipe? I.e. don’t cook them?
I used two jars of aldi tart cherries. I used 1 cup sugar. Tad bit more lemon juice. Crazy good.
I made this for Thanksgiving yesterday. It was delicious! The pie crust was amazing! And we loved the fillings well. Thank you for teaching me how to make a cherry pie! 🙂 I might play around with it next time and add some orange juice to it. Loved the sprinkle of cinnamon on top. Thank you!
I tried this recipe for thanksgiving this year and it worked really well the only thing is that with the rolling out with the dough the parchment paper stuck to the damp towel then it got into the crust, do you have any suggestions to fix this.
Made cherry pie for the first time to have something to bring to the table at my dad’s Thanksgiving, as my parents divorced and my mom’s apple pie would not be present. Came out absolutely beautiful, and I have not tried the pie and filling together yet, but individually each were delicious! Incredibly quick and easy recipe.
I will say, however, to take especial care to pull out the pie a little early if using a store bought crust. Remember, only the crust needs to cook–the cherries can technically be eaten raw–and store bought crusts brown faster than homemade ones do. Also, be careful not to let the egg pool on top of the pie–mine came out with baked egg on top that I had to remove in some corners. While the egg was delicious, I’m sure that’s not what y’all are looking for.
Set aside 1/3 cup of the juice, and mix the cornstarch in with it. Then put the cornstarch/juice mixture into the pan where you’re making the filling. This is called making a cornstarch slurry and is a common way of thickening soups or sauces. If you were to put the cornstarch straight in the saucepan, it would not dissolve well and you would have tiny flecks of cornstarch in your filling.