Made with homemade cherry pie filling and a flaky, buttery crust, this is the best cherry pie recipe. Simple, delicious, and perfect for any occasion.
You might also like our cherry turnovers, fresh peach pie with buttermilk crust or fresh blackberry pie recipes! For lattice pie instructions check out our blueberry pie!
Cherries don't usually last long enough to do anything else but eat them fresh, but we picked a giant bucket of cherries at our friend's house over the weekend, and I came home and filled the freezer with fresh cherry pies.
Why I Like This Recipe
- Made with sweet cherries. Some people advise against using Bing cherries because they are too sweet, but if you reduce the sugar content in the recipe, they are perfectly fine. Most canned pie fillings that you buy in stores are made with sour cherries. Since sweet cherries are easier to find fresh at the grocery store, I've adapted my recipe to work with them. Not too sweet, not too tart. Just right.
- Flaky pie crust. This is my favorite pie crust recipe because it uses both butter and shortening. The perfect, flaky, crust that is easy to work with.
- Can be easily doubled. If you are going to go to the trouble of trashing your kitchen making a pie, you might as well make at least two pies. If that's the case, disposable pie tins are the way to go. They are essentially disposable aluminum pans with plastic covers on top and bottom, allowing you to stack and freeze them.
- Freezes well. You can freeze the pie unbaked or baked. I prefer baking unbaked pies. Wrap in plastic wrap, then wrap in foil. When ready to bake, DO NOT THAW. Place unwrapped frozen pie on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes, then 350 degrees for 60 minutes or until done.
What Others Are Saying
I made 3 pies, not too dry, not too juicy, just right. It is almost the end of cherry season here.---Lisa on Pinterest
Making this today! My 7 year old has been begging for a cherry pie. We will be making gluten free crust. Thanks for the great recipe!---Ally
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How to Pit a Cherry
For any method that you use, make sure to cover the work surface to avoid juice from staining your counter or clothing. Gloves are also a good idea unless you want your hands to look like you smeared self tanner on them. Cherry juice stains them brown. The fastest methods are the straw or frosting tip, but all 3 work!
- Paper Clip Cherry Pitter: Pull out the stem and poke the paper clip inside and it will loosen the pit. The pit falls right out. It still takes awhile to get enough for two pies, but it wasn't hard.
- Metal Straw Cherry Pitter: If you watch our step by step video I'll show how to use a straw. Metal straws work great. Poke it into the cherry and push through. The pit will fall out the other side.
- Frosting Tip Cherry Pitter: Place a frosting tip on top of a cutting board and pushed the cherries down onto it. As the frosting tip is pressed against the bottom of the cherry, the pit pops right out.
- Pitter Tool. Last, but not least, you can pick up a cherry pitter on Amazon.
Ingredients
- Flour: All-purpose flour is a great all-around flour for making pie crust.
- Salt
- Shortening, butter, and oil: I use all 3 of these ingredients for the best pie crust. It's easy to work with, tastes delicious, and is flaky.
- Milk or buttermilk: You can use buttermilk or a combination of milk and lemon juice. I don't always have buttermilk on hand, so I use the milk and lemon juice hack.
- Fresh cherries: You'll need 4 cups of pitted cherries.
- Water
- Lemon juice: Lemon juice is used in both the crust (to create a buttermilk substitute) and the pie filling.
- Sugar: Adds sweetness and enhances the flavor of the cherries.
- Cornstarch: Cornstarch is a thickening agent for the filling.
- Almond extract: This enhances the cherry flavor. You hardly even notice it is there, but it's what truly gives cherry pit its classic taste.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
How To Make Fresh Cherry Pie
Step 1: Mix flour and salt in bowl. Cut in shortening and butter with a pastry blender or two forks until it resembles coarse crumbs the size of peas.
Step 2: Combine milk and vinegar in a small bowl (or lemon juice), then add to the flour mixture, along with oil, and mix until all flour is moistened. Press the dough into a ball with your hands.
Step 3: Divide the dough in half and cover the unused portion. Roll out the other portion and line the bottom of your pie pan with the crust. Smooth the edges of the crust by trimming with a sharp knife.
Step 4: Heat cherries, water, sugar, corn starch, lemon juice, and almond extract in a medium saucepan.
Step 5: Bring to a boil, while stirring. Reduce heat to low and simmer, stirring frequently, until thickened (3-5 min).
Step 6: Allow filling to cool before pouring into the pie crust.
Step 7: After pouring pie filling into the bottom crust, add the top layer of crust, crimp the edges, then place the pie on a foil-lined baking sheet.
If using a solid crust (not lattice) cut a few slits to allow venting while baking.
Note: If you'd like to make a lattice crust, follow the step-by-step instructions that I shared in my blueberry pie recipe.
Step 8: Sprinkle the pie with sugar and add any final details then bake at 400 degrees for 65 minutes. If you notice the pie crust browning too quickly you can tent it with foil for the last 20-30 minutes of baking.
Allow the pie to cool for 2 hours before serving.
Cherry Pie FAQs
You can easily freeze an unbaked pie by wrapping it in plastic wrap then wrapping it in foil before placing it into the freezer. Pies can be frozen up to 4 months. DO NOT THAW before baking the frozen pie. Place unwrapped frozen pie on a baking sheet and bake at 425 degrees for 20 minutes then 350 for 60 minutes or until done.
Store leftover pie in the pan, covered with plastic wrap, to keep fresh for up to 3 days.
That's a matter of preference. I prefer sweet cherries that have natural sugar and require less sugar in the filling. However, sour cherries are often preferred for baking because they aren't overly sweet, and you can balance out the flavor by adding the desired amount of sugar. Sweet cherries, like Bing cherries, are already sweet. Some find it difficult to add the sugar needed to create the filling and keep the pie from being overly sweet at the same time. I have not ever found that to be a problem and my pie reflects the use of sweet cherries, only using ⅓ cup of sugar vs. sour cherry recipes which call for at least a cup of sugar. The filling thickens beautifully, is sweet and doesn't call for a lot of sugar.
More Cherry Recipes To Make
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Best Cherry Pie Recipe
Ingredients
Filling
- 2 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup shortening
- 3 Tbsp. cold butter
- 2 teaspoons canola oil
- ⅓ cup milk
- 1 Tbsp. vinegar or lemon juice
Cherry Pie Filling
- 4 cups pitted cherries
- ¼ cup water
- 4 ½ teaspoons lemon juice
- ⅓ cup sugar
- 3 Tbsp. cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon almond extract
Instructions
Crust
- Mix flour and salt in bowl. Cut in shortening and butter with a pastry blender or two forks until it resembles coarse crumbs the size of peas.
- Combine milk and vinegar in a small bowl. Add to flour mixture along with oil and mix until all flour is moistened.
- Divide dough in half and cover unused portion. Roll out the other portion and line the bottom of your pie pan with the crust.
Filling
- Heat cherries and all of the filling ingredients in a medium sauce pan. Bring to a boil, while stirring. Reduce heat to LOW and simmer, stirring frequently to prevent burning, until thickened (3-5 minutes). Allow filling to cool before pouring into pie crust.
Baking Pie
- Pour filling into pie pan that has the botton crust. Roll out top crust and place on top, pinching edges to seal. Cut a few slits for venting.If you'd like to make a lattice top follow our step by step instructions linked in the post.
- Sprinkle with sugar and bake at 400 degrees for 65 minutes. If pie begins to brown too much you can tent it with foil for the last 20 minutes of baking.
- Cool 1 hour before serving.
Ally says
Use some lemon or orange zest, try adding a bit more sugar or agave. 🙂
Making this today! My 7 year old has been begging for a cherry pie. We will be making gluten free crust.
Thanks for the great recipe!
Brandy says
You're welcome! And your suggestions sound delicious!
Pam Kurkowski says
I find frsh cherry pie is very acidic as compared to the sour pitted cherries packed in water. What can I use to cut the acid?
Brandy says
Hi Pam! I'm not sure. Hopefully someone else can answer this for ya!