It’s really, really good.
I’m so happy to finally share a solid strawberry rhubarb pie recipe with you. This is actually a recipe I played around with a few days ago and while I have weeks of content stored in my drafts, I couldn’t hold off on sharing this one.
How awesome are rhubarb desserts? It’s taken me years to warm up to them. Things like strawberry rhubarb pie, rhubarb crisp, crumble, cake, the whole rhubarb shebang. To be honest, strawberry rhubarb pie never stood a chance when I was growing up. Mom always had it around and while everyone else seemed to rave about it, I couldn’t get on board with… magenta celery pie. I mean when you’re 12, you’ll pretty much convince yourself anything and if rhubarb looks like celery, I’m certainly not eating it for dessert.
MY MY MY. Look how the tables have turned. Never did I imagine myself saying the words “my favorite strawberry rhubarb pie” and never did I imagine myself writing about it on the internet because the internet ties up mom and dad’s landline and I want to be a dolphin trainer when I grow up.
Also, what is a blog?
18 years later, magenta celery pie is at the top of my list. Let’s get right into it because I have a hankering this will be your favorite recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie too. It might even make the list of your favorite spring dessert recipes.
Strawberry and rhubarb are meant to be because the sweet flavor of strawberries balances out rhubarb’s tart/sour bite. Rhubarb is fantastic in pies, crumbles, crisps, and the sort because it needs all the sugar it can get. I like to use an almost equal amount of strawberries and rhubarb in the pie filling: about 3 cups of chopped rhubarb to 2 and 1/2 cups strawberries. Strawberries let out so much juice, so I like to have a slightly lower amount.
If you’ve never cooked or baked with rhubarb before, have no fear. It’s sold in the grocery store without its leaves (they’re toxic!) and can be prepped the same way as celery. Give the stalks a good wash, cut off both ends and slice. You’ll want 1/2 inch slices for this pie.
One common issue with strawberry rhubarb pie is the whole “mushy puddle” situation. Bottom line: the filling is known to be a soupy mess. I asked around and found that instant tapioca is usually the fix. I didn’t have any tapioca in my cupboards and wasn’t about to show my face in the grocery store AGAIN that day, so cornstarch was my choice. It was perfect—every time I tried it. I didn’t have a sloppy problem when cutting into the pie using cornstarch, which is exactly what I was hoping for. To combat the mushy puddle situation, I simply spooned the filling into the crust—leaving all the pooled liquid behind.
Also in the filling: orange juice. Just a smidge of it—1 Tablespoon. It pairs so wonderfully with strawberry and rhubarb. Mom likes to use a mix of brown and white sugars, which tugs at my heart strings. All hail brown sugar’s flavor!
Also: pats of butter to make things rich, just as we do with peach pie.
I haven’t even mentioned the pie crust yet! I always use my standard pie crust recipe because it’s the best of both worlds: flaky and buttery. A mix of shortening and butter produce the absolute best texture. I won’t get into too much detail today but shortening helps create that flaky, melt-in-your-mouth texture. Butter gets us that unparalleled flavor. Make sure both of these fats are cold. When the fat melts as the pie bakes, its steam helps to separate the crust into multiple flaky layers. You won’t get that with warm butter and warm shortening.
I used a lattice pie crust topping because it’s classic and beautiful. It’s my go-to way to decorate a pie and you can also see it on top of my blueberry pie and triple berry pie. You can also use any overhanging pie dough to crimp and flute the pie crust edges.
By the way, do you SEE those flaky layers in the crust? I want to bake 50 pies this summer just so I can eat this pie crust as much as possible.
Add coarse sugar on top for a little pie sparkle.
You can switch up the pie’s topping. Maybe you want a crumble topping like from my apple crumble pie? Go for it.
My only request is that you finish her off with a pile vanilla ice cream. There’s no other way to eat magenta celery pie, ok?
Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 7 hours
- Yield: 1 pie
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This recipe turned me into a strawberry rhubarb pie fanatic! The pie holds together nicely and the homemade pie crust is phenomenal.
Ingredients
- homemade pie crust (my recipe makes 2 crusts; 1 for bottom 1 for top)
- 3 cups (about 300g) sliced rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
- 2 and 1/2 cups (about 380g) chopped strawberries
- 1/3 cup (67g) packed light brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (67g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (32g) cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) orange juice
- 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons (28g) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 large egg, lightly beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- optional: coarse sugar for garnish
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare my pie crust recipe through step 5.
- Make the filling: Stir the rhubarb, strawberries, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cornstarch, salt, orange juice, and vanilla extract together in a large bowl. Set filling aside as the oven preheats.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough: On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough (keep the other one in the refrigerator). Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9-inch pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is smooth. Spoon the filling into the crust, leaving all of the excess liquid in the bowl (you don’t want that in the filling—discard it). Dot the pieces of butter on top of the filling.
- Arrange the lattice: Remove the other disc of chilled pie dough from the refrigerator. Roll the dough into a circle that is 12 inches diameter. Using a pastry wheel, sharp knife, or pizza cutter, cut strips 1/2- to 1-inch wide. Carefully thread the strips over and under one another, pulling back strips as necessary to weave. Press the edges of the strips into the bottom pie crust edges to seal. Use a small knife to trim off excess dough. Crimp the pie crust edges with a fork, if desired. (Alternatively, you can simply cover the filling with the 12-inch pie dough circle. Cut slits in the top to form steam vents. Trim and crimp the edges. Or a crumble or streusel topping would be great.)
- Lightly brush the top of the pie crust with the egg/milk mixture. Sprinkle the top with a little coarse sugar, if desired.
- Place the pie onto a large baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Keeping the pie in the oven, turn the temperature down to 350°F (177°C) and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of bake time, I place a pie crust shield on top of the pie to prevent the edges from browning too quickly. The pie is done when the filling’s juices are bubbling all around the edges.
- Allow the pie to cool for 3 full hours at room temperature before serving. This time allows the filling to thicken up. Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead & Freezing Instructions: This a great pie to make 1 day in advance since it is so juicy – the filling will have time to set overnight. The pie crust dough can also be prepared ahead of time and stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Baked pie freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. Prepared filling can be frozen up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Rolling Pin | 9-inch Pie Dish | Pizza Cutter or Pastry Wheel | Pastry Brush | Baking Sheet | Pie Crust Shield | Coarse Sprinkling Sugar
Reader Comments and Reviews
This may be the best pie I’ve ever made; I followed the directions as shown but added another 1/3 cup of regular sugar as my strawberries weren’t quite as sweet as I wanted. This is now my go-to pie recipe, and my husband thanks you for it!
I don’t have any oranges or orange juice, will it be ok to leave this out of the recipe? If it is to add sweetness, I am ok with a tart, less sweet pie. Thanks.
Hi Michelle, the touch of citrus really brightens up all the flavors, and we find it a little flat without it. You can use lemon juice instead, if you have that on hand!
It turned out great, but I can see how the citrus would add to it, next time I will make sure I have an orange on hand!
Glad it turned out well regardless!
Tried this pie now 4 times this past week. The best two pies used a quarter cup of tapioca. The berries and the rhubarb were garden fresh. Yummy!
This pie tasted really good! I had bought a strawberry rhubarb pie at Aldi’s recently that was so good it left me with a craving for another one but alas Aldi’s was out. Then I found this recipe. I used canned rhubarb in light syrup and drained them very well as well as fresh roughly chopped strawberries. Used three cups of strawberries and three cups of rhubarb. And made two pies using store-bought deep dish crust. Mixed it all up and used a slotted spoon to drain off all the extra juice. Added a touch of cinnamon and then baked one pie and put one in the freezer. Low and behold it tastes just like the wonderful pie I bought at Aldi’s so thank you very much!
I came back to report. After eating a hot slice each, we put the pie in the fridge and it set up perfectly. Patience is a virtue, but we just couldn’t resist the pie straight out of the oven. Lesson learned. Until next time!
I am a pretty expert pie maker, and this combination for the fruit filling was nearly perfect. I would use a full 3 cups of berries, but the orange zest idea was wonderful.
Super bummed, we did not like this and won’t be making it again. There was no sweetness-the bitterness definitely overshadowed. I also didn’t taste the orange juice or vanilla. I did like the texture and thickness of the filling but that was it:(
We had fresh rhubarb from the garden & frozen strawberries. It worked well. we didn’t let it cool for 3 hours. Get real. Seriously, we will try eating it again tomorrow & see if the puddle is gone!
Thanks for this recipe, Sally! I put together several batches of just the filling and throw them in the freezer for later to be put in a pie. Nothing like Strawberry Rhubarb pie in the winter! 🙂
Sweat out the rhubarb and strawberries with the salt for an hour or so and drain off excess, I then added my sugars and other ingredients to the filling
I thought it was an alright recipe. It isn’t one I’d make again. I didn’t see or taste the vanilla extract or orange juice…
I love your recipes!! Question about this one.
Could I make this a crisp instead of a pie? Put the filling in a baking dish and top with a crumble/crisp topping?
Thank you!
Hi Ashley, We haven’t tested this filling as a crisp, but let us know if you do! It may be easier to adapt our Strawberry Crisp recipe by reducing the strawberries, adding rhubarb, and a touch of orange juice.
I am planning on making two tomorrow
Updated pLeaseees!!!!!!!
Hi there! Can’t wait to make this. If I’m prepping a day ahead, do you think I should keep the filling and pie crust separate overnight? Or assemble and bake the next day?
Thanks for all of your fantastic recipes, your site is my go to!
Hi Merion! See recipe notes for our recommended make ahead instructions. We do not recommend making the filling ahead of time because it will be come too juicy. You could prep the crust ahead of time, then the next day, prepare the filling, assemble, and bake. The pie also sets up nicely overnight after baking.
This was the best recipe! I will be making it again for sure!
Ohhhhh my……. This flavor combination is absolutely divine. Made the hand pies and did half with this flavor but should have done them all. The tartness of the rhubarb is offset by the sweetness of the strawberries. Have already made another batch for crumbles, can’t get enough of it!
This was great but way too tart. I appreciate the note to leave juice in bowl as most pies get soggy that way. I will add another third cup of sugar next time. I used supermarket strawberries that maybe weren’t sweet enough yet.
This recipe works great. I made adjustments for using frozen fruit, for those of you who want to make this out of season. Like they said in other comments, it creates a lot of juice/moisture and you need to get rid of that.
What I did was nuke the frozen fruit in the microwave on defrost until its mostly room temperature. Alternatively you could take the frozen fruit out of the bags into bowls and leave in the fridge overnight to defrost.
A good amount of juice will have collected at the bottom of the bowls, mostly from the strawberries. Strain that off and set aside. (You can use it to make a really nice syrup) Next take the fruit and place it in a large bowl and toss together with your sugar, salt and orange juice/lemon juice. Then let it sit for another 10 mins. Once you come back, more juice from the fruit will have collected at the bottom of the bowl. Strain that off too and add to your strawberry juice from before. By now the fruit should have lost enough moisture for you to continue the recipe as normal. Add your corn starch, but to be safe, I increased it from 1/4 cup to about 1/3, just to make sure that the pie wont be runny. Then once that’s all mixed, I take a slotted spoon, and spoon the mixture into my prepared pie shell. I then take a spoon and spoon 2 two spoonfuls of the cornstarch juice stuff in the bottom of the large bowl over the fruit in the pie crust. Then I just bake it at 350 for the whole time, watching carefully to make sure it gets bubbly but doesn’t over bake. Turns out amazing every time.
Hi Sally, another question. I’ve read in previous comments you recommend using fresh fruits. If I were to use frozen fruits, let them thaw and strain the juice do you think that would help to reduce the possibility of a soggy pie?
Hi Alicia, that may help a bit, but since strawberries and rhubarb hold quite a bit of moisture, we fear the pie will still be soggy. We really do recommend sticking with fresh for best results.
Hi Sally! Just confirming, when I add all ingredients to the fruit the cornstarch won’t clump? I can’t wait to try this
Hi Alicia, we’ve never had that issue!
Hi, can you make this filing instead of the apple in the apple hand pies recipe? They would be great in bite size! Thanks
Hi Lou, that should work! Let us know if you give it a try.
I used frozen rhubarb and strawberries that I had from my garden and slightly modified this recipe and it turned out great. I could see immediately that there was too much liquid after I mixed the semi-defrosted fruit (I wanted the ice crystals off the fruit) with the sugar and corn starch. I poured as much of the liquid as possible into a saucepan and reduced it by 25%. I baked the pie in a metal pie plate which conducts heat better, on a cookie sheet, and in the bottom rack to prevent a soggy bottom. I did a lattice top (my first time ever) to allow for as much liquid evaporation as possible. There was some pie filling that spilled over and was around the edge of the crust but the pie was delicious! I did have more filling overflow on to the cookie sheet. The next time I bake this pie with frozen fruit, I won’t use the bottom rack of the oven. The bottom of the pie was a bit overdone but not burned.
Suggestions if using frozen rhubarb?
Hi Marla, for best results, we strongly recommend using fresh strawberries and rhubarb in this pie. Frozen will add too much moisture to the filling.
I would love to make this recipe, as I first had it in a tea room on Exmoor, England. I’m a little confused about the quantities of fruit. In your intro you say that you had to lower the ratio of strawberries to rhubarb because of the high quantity of juice that comes out of strawberries. However in your recipe, under metric weigh, which is what I’ll use, you have significantly more strawberries.
3 cups (about 300g) sliced rhubarb (1/2 inch pieces)
2 and 1/2 cups (about 380g) chopped strawberries
Help.
Hi Jane! There’s less strawberries by volume – follow the recipe as written. Hope you love it!
It’s my go to!!! Can you use frozen rhubarb in the off season ?
I’ve been making Strawberry Rhubarb Pie for years and thought it was great but, because I have had
such success with your recipes, I decided to try this one for a change. Needless to say, from now on, this is my go to recipe for Strawberry Rhubarb Pie. It was absolutely delicious. Thanks so much.
Can I make ahead and freeze
See recipe Notes for make-ahead and freezing details.
Delicious pie recipe!
Hi, I saw another person noting that she cooked the liquid from the fruit and added it to the pie filling. Is there a reason this is not a step with this s-r pie? Or how you determine which fillings to do that with and which not? I recently made your cherry pie, which included that procedure and it came out great.
Also, since it is summer and I think rhubarb is a mostly best in Spring, do you suggest adjusting the sugar to balance the tartness? It’s so great to be able to ask questions to support success before taking on a new baking project. Thank you so much for taking the time!
Hi Kate, you certainly can do it that way! We found the pie is just as tasty without that extra step, so left it out. To answer your second question, I don’t think you need to add more sugar; it should be enough even if your rhubarb is pretty tart. Hope it turns out great!
If using fresh rhubarb and frozen strawberries, would you increase the amount of cornstarch?
Hi Erin! For best results, we strongly recommend using fresh strawberries and rhubarb in this pie. Frozen will add too much moisture to the filling.
Great recipe worked out perfectly! I had none of that run over. Tasted great!
I tasted the extra liquid, and it was so very flavorful that I knew that I shouldn’t just throw it out, but should include it with the pie, so I strongly urge everyone to go ahead and cook that extra liquid down and pour it onto the pie before you put the lattice on.