From cherry pie to apple pie to creamy lemon pie (and don’t forget peach pie!), let’s move onto another fan-favorite flavor this month: blueberry.
If you haven’t made a pie yet this month, let me try to encourage you to get in the kitchen ASAP. Today we’re making blueberry pie! Ditching that top pie crust and sprinkling the whole thing with a buttery streusel crumble topping. It’s like blueberry pie and blueberry crisp in one. Did you read that? Literally the two best summer desserts on the planet in one pie dish. 8 slices of blueberry heaven. The stars have aligned and I’m declaring this the best of the best when it comes to blueberry desserts.
(Though this lemon blueberry cake begs to differ.)
I had some trouble with this pie! I tested it 4 or 5 different times. Honestly I lost count after the 3rd and everything after that was a blurry blueberry mess.
With my determination (but mostly a craving for blueberry crumble pie) I conquered this little blueberry beast. The pesky little issue each time? Blueberry soup. Sloshy blueberry soup on top of a doughy uncooked pie crust topped with much-too-buttery crumble on top. Can there ever be too much butter? YES. I’ve seen it. And it’s not pretty.
It’s a tall order, but I cracked the code. The filling is juicyโlike the best blueberry pie fillings areโthe bottom crust is golden brown and flaky, and the crumble topping keeps its shape.
So, how do we get there?
There are 3 components to this blueberry crumble pie.
The Pie Crust
Use a solid recipe that can stand up to the heavy and juicy blueberries on top. My pie crust yields 2 crusts so you can pop one into your freezer for the next time you crave blueberry pie. Which, if you’re anything like me, will be about 5 seconds after your last slice of this guy. Make sure to cook the blueberry pie long enough, too. This will help guarantee (1) a golden brown crust and (2) a thicker filling. If using a glass pie dish, which I strongly recommend, you can see when the crust on the sides is browning perfectly.
Since we’re using a crumble topping, we don’t have to worry about any pie crust designs. However, you still want to crimp or flute the edges of the pie dough. Here’s my full tutorial if you need a refresher: How to Crimp and Flute Pie Crust.
The Blueberry Filling
Let’s do all we can to keep it on the sturdy side. I typically make blueberry pie with cornstarch as the thickener, but a couple tries proved this isn’t enough in a blueberry crumble pie. Why not? All the butter in the topping melting down creates our not-so-beloved blueberry soup filling. So I gave a mixture of flour AND cornstarch a whirl and was pleasantly pleased with the results. I’ve discussed this before, but I prefer cornstarch as the thickener in summer berry pies. (Read why in my blueberry pie recipe.) Flour weighs things down, but proved to be just the ticket underneath this buttery crumble topping. Success!
The Crumble Topping
We want a crumble topping that can hold its shape, crisp up, and generally avoid turning into goo. I use the same topping on my apple cranberry crumble pie also. The trick with this crumble topping is to use the coldest butter ever. You’ll mix brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon together then cut in super cold butter. Finally, mix in the oats. I add the oats last because I don’t want them to break down when I cut in the butter. I want them to stay whole. Whole oats = more texture on top of your pie!
There’s an obnoxious amount of crumble topping, so I hope you’re not opposed to brown sugar + cinnamon + butter + oats. You’ll flip for my blueberry pie bars, apple crisp and oatmeal lemon crumble bars, too!
And, like with all pies, the colder everything stays the better pie success you have. Whenever you’re not directly working with a layer, keep it in the fridge. For example: after you roll out the pie crust and place into the pie dish, refrigerate it while you prepare the filling. Likewise, after you add the filling to the crust, refrigerate the whole thing as you prepare the crumble topping.
If you want to dig in while the pie is still warm, be my guest! But I will warn youโit will be pretty juicy. I find the best time is to wait until it fully cools. This takes several hours but luckily, blueberry pie is THEE best make-ahead recipe. It’s even better the next day! Just keep it covered and refrigerate it. Bring to room temperature before serving. Add a scoop of ice cream and a dollop of homemade whipped cream for good measure. Pie-fection.
Enjoy this satisfying blueberry dessert for all your summer celebrations including Father’s Day, 4th of July, graduation parties, Labor Day, and more.
If you’re looking for all the benefits of a pie with half the work, try my blueberry galette instead. And here is even more inspiration for blueberry dessert recipes.
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Blueberry Crumble Pie
- Prep Time: 3 hours
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 7 hours
- Yield: 8-10 servings
- Category: Pie
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Use up summer’s fresh blueberries in this buttery, juicy, and completely delicious blueberry crumble pie. It tastes even better with ice cream on top!
Ingredients
- homemade pie crustย (myย recipe makes 2 crusts; you’ll just need 1)*
- 5 and 1/2 cups (about 780g) fresh blueberries*
- 1/2 cup (100g) granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup (41g) all-purpose flour
- 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
- 1 Tablespoon lemon juice
- 1 teaspoon lemon zest
Crumble Topping
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 6 Tablespoons (46g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 5 Tablespoons (71g) unsalted butter, very cold and cubed
- 1/2 cup (40g) old-fashioned whole rolled oats
Instructions
- The crust: Prepare my pie crust recipe through step 5.
- Make the filling: In a large bowl, mix blueberries, granulated sugar, flour, cornstarch, lemon juice, and zest together until thoroughly combined. It will be pretty flour-y. That’s ok. Place filling in the refrigerator until needed in step 4.
- Preheat oven toย 400ยฐF (204ยฐC).
- Roll out the chilled pie dough: On a floured work surface, roll out one of theย discsย of chilled dough (you can freeze the 2nd for later use, see note). 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 ย cold filling into the crust and discard the leftover juices in the bottom of the bowl, if any. Flute or crimp the pie crust edges. Place pie in the refrigerator until needed in the next step.
- Make the crumble: Mix the brown sugar, flour, and cinnamon togetherย in a medium bowl. Using a pastry cutter, cut the cold butter into the brown sugar mixture untilย coarse crumbs are formed. Stir in the oats and sprinkle over pie.
- Place the pie onto a large baking sheet and bake for 25 minutes. Keeping the pie in the oven, turn the temperature down to 375ยฐF (190ยฐC)ย and bake for an additional 30-35 minutes. After the first 20 minutes of bake time, I place aย pie crust shield on top of the pie toย prevent the edges from browning too quickly. I also loosely cover the whole pie with aluminum foil to prevent the crumble from browning too quickly as well.
- Allow the pie to cool for 3ย full hours at room temperature before serving. This time allows the filling to thicken up. Cover leftovers tightly and storeย in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.
Notes
- Make Ahead / Freezing Instructions: A couple ways to make ahead of time! Make 1 day in advanceโafter it cools, cover tightly and keep in the refrigerator. Bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. 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 can also be frozen up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Glass Mixing Bowl | Rolling Pin |ย 9-inch Pie Dish | Pastry Cutter | Pie Crust Shield
- Remaining Pie Dough: You can freeze the 2nd pie dough for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator before using.
- Blueberries: I strongly suggest using fresh blueberries, not frozen. The pie will be quite soupy if using frozen. If you decide to use frozen, do not thaw first. The pie will take several more minutes in the oven due to the increased liquid. Again, I highly encourage fresh.
Try my brown butter blueberry peach crisp next!
Reader Comments and Reviews
Iโm a huge fan of Sallyโs recipes! This is the first time I have made a blueberry pie that didnโt resemble soup! Thank you! I think next time I will use a regular crust on top as the crumble was a little sweet for me. I also learned to be mindful of the amount of cinnamon I use because I put in too much and, unlike apple pie, I think it overwhelmed the taste of the blueberries. It was still delicious!!
This pie was absolutely delicious! Took 2 pies to family reunion and everyone was raving about them!
This is a great recipe, weโve made is several times and it does. It disappoint, but there is one thing I donโt quite follow.
The recipe says no blind baking is required, and the total bake time in the recipe is about an hour.
At one hour, the crust is still very blond, and we donโt want any soggy bottoms. My experience is that this pie takes at least 2 hours on the oven to get the right color.
I am using the all butter crust, no shortening. Is that the issue? If so, should I be blind baking the all butter crust?
Hi Chris, We do not find blind baking the crust necessary. The long bake time guarantees a nice golden brown crust!
Love all your recipes. They are easy and delicious and always a crowd pleaser.
You go girl!
xoxo
Kathe
To make this a crisp can the recipe be made without the crust?
Hi Maggie, we recommend using our blueberry crisp recipe instead (you can use all blueberries โ 6 cups โ instead of blueberries and peaches). Enjoy!
Made the blueberrie pie
As soon as I read it!!!
Delicious!
Am on a low sugar and sodium medical diet and my nutritionist recommends that I eat a lot of blueberries. Couldn’t find whole wheat crusts at the grocery store, so used a deep dish frozen crust with bleached flour, but no added salt or sugar.
This recipe is awesome! I sweetened the blueberries with Stevia powder and used just a third of a cup. Used half Stevia and half brown sugar for the topping. Was concerned about the mountain of fresh blueberries, but they didn’t boil over as I’d feared. Will definitely be making this pie- crumble again, maybe with homemade crust using almond and/or whole wheat flour. Thanks for your efforts on perfecting this recipe!
I am going to bake this pie, but I was wondering if I need to parbake the crust. Or, do I just put the filling into the unbaked pie crust and cook it all at the same time?
Hi Lisa, this crust does not need to bake par-baked. Happy baking!
This is a great-tasting pie! I do recommend making a correction or being more specific about the pie dish. It should require a DEEP-DISH 9″ pie plate. There simply is not enough room for all the filling and topping in a regular shallow 9″ pie plate.
I love everything about this blueberry crumble pie but the oats in the crumble. I just donโt care for oats at all. Is there a way to adjust the topping without oats?
Hi Rebecca, you can use a crumble topping like we do on this Cranberry Pear Crumble Pie if you prefer. Let us know how it turns out!
Hi Rebecca. Try mixing in the oats before you cut in the butter. The oats are incorporated into the topping better instead of really standing out on their own.
Every recipe Iโve tried here is top notch! Can I make this crumble with no crust at all (not a galette either), just like the apple crisp with fruit on bottom and crumble on top?
Can’t see why not!
I really enjoyed this pie! We cut back on the sugar some ( trying to watch our sugar ) and it still was delicious!!
I have a leftover disc of the All Butter dough from making the cranberry pear crumble pie (which was amazing by the way). Iโd like to use it. Would that dough work for this blueberry crumble pie?
Hi Holly, absolutely!
I really enjoyed this pie! We cut back on the sugar some and it still was delicious!!