This is the EASIEST, and I bet quite possibly, the TASTIEST pie you'll ever make and it's all from scratch! This recipe I'm giving you will result in the BEST fresh strawberry pie ever--hands down!
BEST STRAWBERRY PIE VIDEO
This pie recipe doesn't use any jello or any preservatives at all! It's all-natural and bursting with tremendous flavor from the fresh ruby-red strawberries and the super EASY, homemade, salted shortbread crust. So beautiful, so delicious, ridiculously simple to make, and made in the most nutritious way possible!
HOWEVER, I promise that this recipe will take care of both of those issues so that you have a fresh strawberry pie that has no nasty ingredients AND doesn't end up a soupy mess. It's the perfect pie!
CAN FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE BE HEALTHY?
Everyone deserves a little dessert in their lives, right? When you want to treat yourself and your family, the trick to making it healthy AND yummy at the same time is to use the best quality ingredients, free of additives.
And I'm definitely not talking about making a "skinny" pie. Oh, no no no. This is REAL FOOD and nothing about this pie is skimpy. I'm just advocating the use of the most nutritious ingredients out there.
WHY IT'S IMPORTANT TO BUY ORGANIC STRAWBERRIES
In this case, I'd strongly advise to use organic strawberries because they are free of pesticides and herbicides that wreak havoc on our bodies. Unfortunately with how much we've intervened in the natural process of growing fruits and vegetables, it's not enough to just eat your fruits & veg to get their nutrients.
You have to think about what's in fact sprayed all over those fruits that damage our cells. And these chemicals make their way inside the fruit as well, so washing the skin or cutting it off won't necessarily keep you in the clear.
Strawberries are extremely rich in antioxidants--called polyphenols--that work by stopping the cell-damaging process of oxidation. Oxidation in the body can result in literally all the possible health issues one can experience, from heart attacks to strokes to cancer. Scary.
Free radicals in the body cause this oxidation, resulting in a chain reaction of damage. The ANTIOXIDANTS in strawberries inactivate these free radicals to stop the process of cell-damaging oxidation.
Here's the kicker though!
If you eat non-organic (AKA conventional) strawberries, you should be aware that they are all treated with pesticides and herbicides used solely to damage the cells of living organisms. So if you eat them, you're consuming chemicals that cause that oxidative damage that you want to avoid at all costs.
You only really get the true nutritional benefits of the berries when you eat organic fruit.
THE BENEFITS OF BUTTER
The reality is that butter is a remarkable superfood. I honestly wonder how it has been so possible for this ridiculous myth that butter, cholesterol, and saturated fat are bad for health to take so long to go away.
A list of just some of butter's health benefits is SO extensive, SO impressive, and it's all backed by evidence-based science:
- Butter includes fatty acids (conjugated linoleic acid, oleic acid, and myristic acid) that inhibit tumor growth.
- Butter contains vitamin K2, which treats the symptoms of rheumatoid arthritis. As someone who has rheumatoid arthritis, butter is a very crucial part of my diet and I believe it has helped me manage my disease tremendously.
- Butter protects against type 2 diabetes.
- Butter contains cholesterol which is essential for healthy brains and for the development of healthy nervous systems in babies.
- Butter contains glycospingolipids that are very important for gut health. It helps prevent infections of all sorts, as well as colon cancer.
- Butter does not make you gain weight. It is made up of short and medium chain fatty acids that don't store in our adipose tissue. Instead, it's used up as quick energy. In actuality, poly- and unsaturated fats like olive oil and vegetable oil collect in the adipose tissue. But not butter! Your body needs butter and therefore you won't just store it as fat.
- The vitamin A that is present in butter is very important for proper skeletal development, vision, and thyroid and adrenal health (which are both linked to cardiovascular health). For anyone looking to have a baby, it's vital to include butter in the diet even before conception for optimal bone & facial structure development. So interesting, right? Eat your butter.
To sum up:
1) organic strawberries AND 2) butter is your new best friend.
Also, I like would encourage you to use organic and unbleached flour to avoid the chemicals, preservatives and additives that are in conventional flour. It's just plain healthier. And I like to use organic sugar in this recipe because it's more nutritious as it is less processed, and the flavor of the cane sugar comes through better because of that.
WHAT'S THE BEST CRUST FOR STRAWBERRY PIE
I highly, highly recommend this homemade salted shortbread crust recipe for fresh strawberry pie because it lends the perfect balance in both flavor and texture. It literally holds its own as a sturdy alternative to regular pie crust.
And with all those big, fresh berries, this pie needs a stronger crust. The salted shortbread is a perfect counterbalance to the sweet fruit and really brings out the bursting strawberry flavor.
INGREDIENTS FOR FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE
- BUTTER - For the easy shortbread crust. I always recommend some good, grassfed butter for all those fat-soluble vitamins.
- POWDERED SUGAR - Organic powdered sugar mixes in uniformly for making the shortbread crust dough.
- FLOUR - Avoid heavily pesticide/herbicide-sprayed wheat, and choose organic, unbleached flour for your health. Plus, unlike regular, conventional flour, the organic flour doesn't have added artificial vitamins and heavy metals.
- SEA SALT - Always unrefined sea salt is best because it delivers all those micronutrients and elements that regular table salt is depleted of. Plus, regular table salt has aluminum added so that it "rains when it pours" but you don't want that heavy metal in your food supply.
- FRESH STRAWBERRIES - Again, always organic for your berries since they're grown with lots of carcinogenic, toxic pesticides/herbicides.
- GRANULATED SUGAR - I actually prefer using unprocessed and organic raw cane sugar as it's closest to it's most natural form.
- CORNSTARCH - Used to thicken the pie a bit.
- HEAVY CREAM - You definitely need some freshly whipped organic cream to top off your fresh strawberry pie!
HOW TO MAKE FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE
- MAKE THE CRUST - To make the crust, all you do is combine butter, powdered sugar, flour, and sea salt. Use your hands to make it into a ball of dough and then simply mash it down into your pie dish. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until golden.
- PREPARE STRAWBERRIES - While the crust is cooling, you take just a bit of your fresh strawberries, and mash them with the back of a fork or anything you want to use for the task.
- MAKE PIE FILLING - Throw the puree into a saucepan over medium heat along with some sugar, cornstarch, and sea salt. Once it thickens, let it cool before combining with the rest of your fresh strawberries. Add the filling to your crust and chill it in the refrigerator before topping with freshly whipped cream.
You'll definitely want to make some fresh homemade whipped cream to top each slice of pie. It's super quick to prepare too! Just a little sugar and some heavy cream--whip it up with a mixer and you're all set for pie heaven!
HOW DO YOU STORE FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE AND HOW LONG WILL IT LAST?
To store your fresh strawberry pie, just cover it and place it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days before throwing it out. But come on now--no one will ever let this pie go past day 2 in the fridge because it's too scrumptious to not gobble up right away!
CAN YOU MAKE FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE THE DAY BEFORE?
This pie is definitely best eaten day-of. However, if you don't finish it, it'll be great the next day, too. It just won't look exactly the same because of the nature of the fresh strawberries. It's just the difference in appearance between a fresh-picked strawberry and one that's been sitting in the fridge for a few days.
So you technically can make it the day before but if it's for guests, I'd say prepare it the same day that you plan on serving it. It's a pretty simple pie to make, anyway!
CAN YOU FREEZE FRESH STRAWBERRY PIE?
You can freeze it by wrapping slices of the pie in foil and placing them in the freezer. Just thaw it the day you plan on eating it. Again, it won't be the same as if you had made it the same day, but you can totally get away with it if it's for a date that includes just you and your pie.
Better yet, after taking it out of the freezer, you could even put it in the toaster oven to heat it up to make a warm strawberry pie/cobbler out of it. Yum!
LOOKING FOR MORE RECIPES LIKE THIS?
For more of my popular dessert recipes, try my easy and authentic key lime pie recipe and my super easy, lazy black raspberry pie recipe too! You could even switch out the black raspberries for any other berries you have on hand. And you neeeeeed to try my Easy and Perfect Strawberries & Cream Cake!
Recipe
Best Fresh Strawberry Pie - Fresh and Easy - VIDEO!!
Ingredients
Salted Shortbread Crust
- 1 cup unsalted butter softened or melted
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
Strawberry Filling
- 2½ pounds fresh strawberries approximately 6-8 cups; rinsed and hulled; larger ones sliced in half
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ¼ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt
Homemade Whipped Cream
- 2 cups heavy cream
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
Instructions
Salted Shortbread Crust
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Mix all crust ingredients together by hand in a mixing bowl and place the dough in a pie dish.
- Spread evenly along the dish.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden.
- Allow to cool while you make the rest of the pie.
Strawberry Filling
- Take 1 ½ cups of strawberries and place them in either a bowl or saucepan.
- Mash them with the back of a fork. You could also puree them with a blender, food processor, or emulsion blender.
- Add your strawberries to the saucepan (if they're not already in there).
- Add sugar, cornstarch, and salt, and mix over medium heat until thickened. It can take a few minutes (up to 10 minutes).
- Cool this mixture until it's just barely warm and add it to the rest of the fresh strawberries.
- Mix well, but gently, before pouring this filling into the baked pie crust.
- Chill in the refrigerator for an hour or two before eating. (This time frame depends on you and when you want to eat your pie. I'd recommend an optimal chill time of anywhere from 1 to 5 hours. But I've eaten the pie after 30 minutes of chilling and it was still amazing.)
Homemade Whipped Cream
- Combine heavy cream with sugar and use a mixer to whip it up until desired whipped cream consistency.
- Top pie slices with a generous dollop of whipped cream before devouring. Enjoy!!
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Video
Nutrition
Sources:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16469152
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/26268692/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4383754/
Addis, Paul, Food and Nutrition News, March/April 1990 62:2:7-10
https://www.rosicrucianfellowship.org/rays_archives/rays/butter.pdf
Levels of linoleic acid in adipose tissues reflect the amount of linoleic acid in the diet. Valero, et al Annals of Nutritional Metabolism, Nov/Dec 1990 34:6:323-327; Felton, CV et al, Lancet 1994 344:1195-96
Shahin says
The best, soooo good 👌😋
honestandtasty says
So happy you loved it!! <3
Becky says
Couldn't be more delicious! Yummy!
honestandtasty says
Thank you, Becky!! So happy you enjoyed it! 🙂
Gina says
Looks so delicious, and so easy to make👌
honestandtasty says
Thanks so much! SO easy and SO delicious!
Suzanne says
This was the best strawberry pie ever! I also have RA (and lupus), & I have difficulty working with my hands, but this was easy to make & so enjoyable!