This recipe is better than ever. My homemade cherry pie is perfectly sliceable with a thick almond-hinted cherry pie filling and a golden brown buttery flaky pie crust. As always, wait for the pie to cool completely before slicing, which is a non-negotiable that helps avoid a soupy pie filling.
I originally published this recipe in 2017 and have since added new photos, a video tutorial, and more success tips, like quartering *some* of the cherries instead of halving and reducing some juices on the stovetop to guarantee the pie filling will set up perfectly.
No store-bought pie filling or pie crust because today we’re making cherry pie completely from scratch. Does making homemade pie intimidate you? I promise this dessert specialty is nothing to fear and that’s exactly why I’m sharing my recipe with you. Out of all pie flavors, cherry pie is where most bakers depend on canned filling, but I’m going to teach you how to make the most of fresh cherries and a delicious crust.
One reader, Shirlee, commented: “I’ve never tasted a cherry pie as delicious as this one. The crust is flaky, not soggy, and so delectable. The dough is easy to work with. The filling was incredible. It’s just the right consistency—not runny. The almond extract adds amazing flavor. Pitting the cherries takes a little bit of time, but once that’s done the recipe moves along quickly. Thanks, Sally, for providing such wonderful baking tips and instructions. ★★★★★“
Cherry Pie Details
- Flavor: While the cherry flavor is front and center in this pie, you’ll enjoy the notes of vanilla and almond as well. Vanilla and almond extracts add richness and depth and a touch of lemon juice keeps the overall flavor fresh and bright. (Without it, the filling can taste a little flat.) A scoop of vanilla ice cream and a dollop of homemade whipped cream pair perfectly on top of a slice.
- Texture: If you follow the recipe closely, this cherry pie filling is buttery, jammy, sturdy, and sliceable. You can use your favorite pie crust recipe, but I encourage you to try mine linked below. We use a mix of shortening and butter because they work together to make the BEST crust. Butter adds flavor and flakiness, while shortening’s high melting point keeps the crust tender and workable. It’s my go-to crust for apple pie and pumpkin pie, too. If you don’t want to use shortening, try this all butter pie crust recipe instead.
- Ease: It goes without saying that homemade pie is a labor of love, especially if you’re a beginner. Consider this recipe an activity—hopefully fun and definitely satisfying—and set aside several hours from start to finish. My time-saving tip is to prep the pie dough ahead of time because it needs to chill for at least 2 hours before you can roll it out. Plan accordingly if you want to include this cherry beauty in your lineup of Memorial Day recipes.
Best Cherries to Use for Cherry Pie
If you’re making cherry pie from scratch, it’s helpful to know which cherry variety works best. I usually choose a mix of rainier cherries and dark sweet cherries, but opted for all dark sweet cherries in the pictured pie. You can use all Rainier or all dark sweet. If using sour cherries, add a little more sugar as referenced in the recipe note below.
You can also use frozen halved or quartered cherries. Follow the recipe as written below and don’t skip the reducing step on the stove.
Pitting Cherries
Pitting fresh cherries is always a tedious and messy task, so if you want to save time and prep work, pick up a cherry pitter. If you’re anything like me, you don’t like stuffing your kitchen drawers with endless gizmos and gadgets, but a cherry pitter is most definitely an exception. I don’t bake with cherries often, but when I do, I’m VERY thankful for this tool.
- It’s also a timesaver if you’re baking bourbon cherry crisp, cherry cobbler, and/or cherry buckle!
Reducing the Cherry Juices on the Stove Takes Less Than 10 Minutes
After you combine the filling ingredients together, set it aside and roll out the pie dough for your pie dish. During this time, your filling is already working as the sugar pulls juices from the cherries. Normally I discard all this juice, but it’s where a lot of the cornstarch ends up and that’s what helps thicken the filling in the oven. I use this same method in my blueberry peach pie, and it helps the filling set nicely.
Instead, use a slotted spoon to transfer the fruit into your crust, then pour the leftover juice into a small saucepan. You’ll only have a few Tablespoons, but this juice is pure GOLD as it holds our thickening agent and a lot of flavor. Reduce on the stove over low heat for about 3-4 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then pour over the cherries and toss gently (in your pie dough!) to combine.
Here’s the filling in the mixing bowl. You can see all the juices at the bottom. Spoon cherries into the pie dough:
Reduce the excess juice on the stove until it has thickened:
Let it cool for a few minutes, then toss into the cherries. The sugars in the reduced juice will harden and you’ll notice this “juice” become almost caramelized and stringy once it hits those cold cherries. This is NORMAL and totally fine! The “juice” will melt down in the oven, but keep the filling thick.
Don’t Forget the Extras
- Butter: Dot the pie filling with small cubes of butter before applying the top crust. Why? It adds buttery richness and actually helps prevent the formation of bubbles on the filling’s surface. We do the same thing when we make peach pie.
- Egg wash: An egg wash is egg mixed with milk (or water) and you use it pretty much whenever you’re baking pie dough or baking other shaped dough such as stromboli, vanilla biscotti, homemade bagels, choux pastry, croissants, etc. Egg wash promises a crispier crust and helps develop that signature golden sheen. Without it, dough is dull and lackluster.
- Coarse sugar: This is optional, but I love finishing sweet pies with coarse sugar because it adds a little crunch and sparkle. I usually use Sugar in the Raw or these coarse sugar sprinkles, both of which can be found in the baking aisle of major grocery stores.
Lattice Pie Crust
Note that our pie crust recipe yields enough dough for a double crust pie—one for the bottom and one for the top. If you’re new to working with pie dough or need a little troubleshooting, our pie crust tutorial walks you through each step in thorough detail and includes a video, step-by-step photos, and all my tips and tricks for pie crust perfection.
I made a simple lattice pie crust design with thick and thin strips, but decorate the pie however you’d like. Once your lattice is assembled, you’ll want to crimp or flute the pie crust to finish it off. I fluted the pie crust in these photos.
You could even skip the top crust and use the crumble topping from our blueberry crumble pie. Or if you wish to skip the pie dough completely, try these cherry pie bars instead.
Start the Pie at a High Oven Temperature
Why do some pie recipes call for an initially hot oven temperature that you eventually lower? Baking this pie at 400°F (204°C) for 20 minutes helps the pie dough set and activates the cornstarch in the filling (as does heating it on the stove). After that, reduce oven temperature down to 375°F (190°C) to continue baking the pie. We use this same trick when we make blueberry pie and triple berry pie.
Do I Need to Par-Bake The Crust for This Cherry Pie?
Before you begin, let me answer a FAQ we receive on this recipe. You do not need to par-bake or blind bake this bottom pie crust. Reducing the filling’s juice on the stove keeps excess liquid off the bottom pie dough, plus we bake the pie for long enough that the bottom crust sufficiently cooks through. It’s helpful to use a glass pie dish so you can see when the sides/bottom of the pie crust has browned.
See Your Homemade Cherry Pies!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂 For more pie inspiration, check out our collection of delicious summer pie recipes!
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Homemade Cherry Pie Recipe
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 55 minutes
- Total Time: 7 hours (includes cooling)
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
This homemade cherry pie is perfectly sliceable with a thick almond-hinted cherry pie filling and a golden brown buttery flaky pie crust. The ingredients are exactly the same as when I originally published the recipe in 2017, but quartering *some* of the cherries instead of just halving and reducing some juices on the stovetop both guarantee that the pie filling will set up perfectly.
Ingredients
- Homemade Pie Crust or All Butter Pie Crust (both recipes make 2 crusts, 1 for bottom and 1 for top)
- 4 and 1/2 cups halved & quartered pitted fresh cherries (see note)
- 2/3 cup (135g) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (28g) cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon (15ml) lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 Tablespoon (14g) cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
- egg wash: 1 large egg beaten with 1 Tablespoon (15ml) milk
- optional: coarse sugar for sprinkling on crust
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare either pie crust recipe through step 5. The pie dough needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before using.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl, stir the cherries, sugar, cornstarch, lemon juice, vanilla, and almond extract together until thoroughly combined. Cover the filling and place in the refrigerator as you roll out the pie dough (or for up to 24 hours).
- 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. Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cherries into the crust. Reserve the juice in the bowl for the next step. Refrigerate pie, uncovered, as you reduce the juice in the next step.
- Pour the leftover juice into a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring, until juice has slightly reduced and thickened, about 3–4 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then pour over cherries in filling. Do your best to gently toss together—doesn’t have to be perfect. The reduction will harden and thicken as a result of mixing with the cold cherries—this is normal. Dot the pieces of cold butter on top of the filling. Place the pie in the refrigerator while you roll out the top crust.
- Arrange the lattice: Remove the other disc of pie dough from the refrigerator. Roll the dough into a circle 12 inches in diameter. Using a pastry wheel, sharp knife, or pizza cutter, cut the dough into strips—for the pictured pie, I cut four strips 2 inches wide and four strips 1 inch wide. Carefully thread the strips over and under one another, pulling back strips as necessary to weave. See this post on How to Lattice Pie Crust for help with this step. Press the edges of the strips into the bottom pie crust edges to seal. Use kitchen shears or a small paring knife to trim off excess dough. Flute or crimp the pie crust edges.
- Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top and edges of the pie crust with egg wash. Sprinkle the top with coarse sugar, if using. Place the pie in the refrigerator for 20–30 minutes while your oven preheats.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C).
- Place the pie onto a large baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes. Keeping the pie in the oven, reduce the temperature to 375°F (190°C) and bake for an additional 30–40 minutes or until the top crust is golden brown and the filling juices have been bubbling up around the edges or through the lattice/vents for at least 5 minutes. *After the first 20 minutes of bake time, I recommend placing a pie crust shield on the crust’s edges to prevent it from over-browning too quickly.*
- Remove pie from the oven, place on a cooling rack, and cool for at least 3–4 hours before slicing and serving. Filling will be too juicy if the pie is still warm when you slice it.
- Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead / Freezing Instructions: There are a couple ways to make this pie ahead of time. Prepare the pie in full 1 day in advance—after pie cools, cover tightly and keep at room temperature. 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 also freezes well for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving. Prepared filling (with juices) can also be frozen up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before spooning into dough and reducing the juice.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Cherry Pitter | Glass Mixing Bowl | Rolling Pin | Pie Dish | Pastry Wheel or Pizza Cutter | Pastry Brush | Pie Crust Shield | Cooling Rack
- Cherries: You need about 1.5 lbs of cherries for this recipe. Cut half of the cherries into halves and the remaining half of cherries into quarters. Using a mix of halved and quartered cherries helps keep the baked filling in tact. You can use any variety of cherries. I use all dark sweet cherries in the pictured pie, but also enjoy using a 50/50 combination of dark sweet and Rainier cherries. Feel free to use all Rainier cherries if desired. If using sour cherries, increase sugar to 3/4 or 1 cup depending how sweet you like your pie. You can also use frozen cherries. Halve/quarter them while they’re frozen, then toss with other filling ingredients as instructed. Reduce the juices as instructed as well. Bake time may be a few minutes longer.
Reader Comments and Reviews
I made this pie. But i have a question. I used frozen cherries. After i thawed them i had quite a lot of juice. How much juice do you actually use? It seemed like too much from the thawed berries. Also after i put the sugar, corn starch and flavorings on them they made more juice. About how much juice do you actually use
Hi Pam, that’s normal to have more juices from frozen berries. You’ll want to make the filling with the cherries frozen, not thawed. You can use just a few tablespoons of the leftover juice until it has slightly reduced/thickened. Discard the rest/do not add to the filling/crust. Hope you enjoyed the pie!
Hi Sally, I love this pie, and your cherry crumb pie bars! My Dad requested a cherry pie with crumb topping instead of the lattice crust, can I make any substitutes to make this variation for him? Thank you!!
Hi Marissa, absolutely. It’s delicious with the crumble topping from our blueberry crumble pie!
What are your thoughts on frozen cherries?
Hi Jennifer, You can also use frozen cherries. Halve/quarter them while they’re frozen, then toss with other filling ingredients as instructed. Reduce the juices as instructed as well. Bake time may be a few minutes longer.
I’ve only ever made this with frozen cherries and it’s come out well every time! I allow more time for the cherries to sit in the mix and let the juices out (at least 20-30 minutes but if I have more time I do it for a few hours) and the bake time is usually 5-15 min longer depending on how long you let the cherries sit before
How much quick cooking tapioca should I use for a 4-5 cup cherry pie when using frozen cherries for a 9” pie.
Hi Alan, You can use tapioca instead — we would increase amount to 1/3 cup.
Made this today, absolutely delicious. I definitely used 1kg of cherries- about 2 pounds – and would not use less! I will omit the almond essence next time as we’re dont care for it and it was fairly strong flavour despite the small amount.
Going to be trying this recipe this weekend and want to see if i can make the filling one day in advance?
Looking forward to trying this!
Hi Nyah, yes, you can cover the filling and place in the refrigerator as you roll out the pie dough (or for up to 24 hours).
Follow the recipe and you will be guaranteed a perfect cherry pie. My guests loved this pie.
My cherry tree went crazy this year so I have a freezer full of cherries. I thought I would try my hand at making a pie. I found your website that included a recipe using frozen cherries. Great directions and explanations. My only issue was the amount of liquid that was released by the cherries after being in the refrigerator overnight – 1/3 cup! I wasn’t too sure how much to add to the filling as there was still a lot after reducing and thickening.
My rating is based on your directions and great youtube video. Haven’t tasted the pie yet as it is for the next day. Thank you for the recipe.
UPDATE
Changed my rating to 5 stars. It tasted amazing and the crust was super flakey! Great comments from everyone. I have to stop saying I’m not a baker after this success. Thanks again
If I’m cooking in an aluminum pie pan, are the baking temperature and time different? What works best to use as a nonstick agent?
Hi Shailyn, the pie may bake a little faster in a metal pan, so keep an eye on it. With all the butter in the crust, greasing the pan isn’t needed or recommended.
Best cherry pie I’ve ever eaten. The first one I’ve ever baked. The filling was spot on perfect. My crust was a little on the tough side- all my fault – I didn’t blend in the butter enough. I was able to fix the top layer (lattice) of crust – again – thank you for instruction on fixing pie dough. Oh, that pie filling!!
I dont often leave reviews, but I really had too for this one. I made two pies of this recipe and brought the first out of the freezer to enjoy. I had a piece and with my approval I brought it into work. It honestly is so good. The crust is amazing and the perfect balance. I am not a big fan of cherries, my family is and WOW it was so good! I will look into more of your pie recipes.
can you pit the cherries ahead of time if you need more than 24 hours before filling and baking?
Hi Cynthia, yes, you can pit the cherries in advance.
It’s is a perfect pie recipe. My family loved it. I made 4 small pies instead of 1 regular pie. I froze 2 and they were just as delicious. I was wondering why you say to freeze the pie after cooking not before? I’m new to pie making. Thanks!
Hi Kelly! I’m so glad to read that you enjoyed this pie! Thank you for taking the time to write about it, too. I have found that after thawing the unbaked pie, the filling is much juicier and has a hard time setting up properly during and after baking.
Pie baked beautifully, looks fantastic and set very well, but was confused by the lackluster flavor until I realized the recipe has no salt whatsoever. Sprinkled some maldon salt on top and tasted significantly better.
Strongly recommend incorporating salt in some way.
Love the ideas! I halved the filling ingredients except the lemon juice and butter, added 2 tablespoons of concentrated montmercy cherry juice, used a graham cracker bottom crust and a store-bought top crust – faster and fabulous!
What would you recommend to use instead of cornstarch? (I can’t use it due to an allergy)
Hi Shelby, you can use tapioca instead — we would increase amount to 1/3 cup. Hope you love this pie!
Can I use clear gel especially if I can this?
This was my first ever pie attempt and cherries are my favorite fruit. I was so excited to try this! Sadly, I do not like it very much. The crust turned out great, maybe I used the wrong type of cherries, but the filling is not sweet at all. Very disappointed in this one, but will be trying Sally’s other pies.
Hi Megan, I’m so sorry to hear this recipe was a disappointment. What type of cherries did you use? We do have a wonderful cherry pie recipe developed specifially for sour/tart cherries coming out in Sally’s new cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101, so if you are using that variety of cherries you may prefer to use the new recipe in the book. Thanks for giving this a try!
Hi Beth, I looked at my grocery order and I did buy fresh sweet red cherries. Not sure what happened here. Thanks for your comment.
We are using a 10 inch pie plate do you have measurements
This recipe is perfect as written. I used 4.5 cups of sweet cherries. I also put down a crust dust before adding the filling. My cook time was just a little bit longer but what an incredible way to use fresh cherries! Delicious and got rave reviews!
Any recommendations when using pre-jarred pie cherries? Thanks.
Hi Sheryl! We haven’t tried it but other readers have reported success using them. Just be sure to drain them first. Enjoy!
Best pie ever!!! Everyone loved it!!!! I thought your idea to cook the remaining juice was really good.
The best I have ever tasted!!!Every mouthful was heaven!
Thickening the juice was an excellent idea!
Excellent…just excellent! Best pie we have ever eaten!
This recipe is the 1st which I made from this website. My pie turned out perfect: beautiful flaky & flavorful crust with jammy, delicious cherries. I increased the recipe for both pastry & berries by half in order to fit a bigger pie pan. I needed to make ahead & freeze the pie so I sprinkled a tablespoon of cornstarch on top of the bottom crust before spooning the filling in – other than that I followed the recipe exactly. I’m looking forward to adapting this recipe to blackberries & finding other recipes to try on this site. I’m picky about my cooking websites & am genuinely impressed with Sally’s Baking Addiction. Thanks Sally!
We’re so glad you enjoyed this pie, Jacki! Thank you for giving this recipe a try, and we hope you continue to find lots of inspiration from our website. Happy baking!
I’ve made this pie numerous times, and it’s delicious. However, with a 9″ pie tin, you really need 5 cups (maybe even 5.5) to get a nice full pie. I’ve also assembled and frozen the pie before baking … great to have on hand.
I agree. We ended up using 5 1/2 cups just because I wanted to use all the rest of the cherries that I had. I’m glad I did because it made a beautiful full pie without being overflowing..
Use glass pie pans. My bottoms are always browned.
I take my leftover dough and roll it out in a small rectangle, thin like pie crust. Spread butter, brown sugar and cinnamon on on it and roll up. Then slice it in 1” pieces. Put each seam side down on a parchment covered pan and bake at 400 for 15-20 minutes. This was always my kids fav treat when I made pies at the holidays.