Freezing Pies and Pie Fillings (2024)

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Fruit pie with latticed crust; skeeze on www.pixabay.com Licensed under CC0

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Freezing Unbaked Pies

• Unbaked pies have a fresher fruit flavor than ones baked before freezing.
• Freeze the filling and crust separately to prevent fruit juice from penetrating and softening the lower crust during freezing.

Freezing Shaped Pie Filling

• Freezing a pie in a pie pan takes lots of space and ties up the use of that pan.
• Freeze the pre-measured fruit filling for one pie in a large freezer bag or foil-lined pan.
• Before adding the cooled filling, plastic wrap can be placed over the foil in the pie pan to avoid filling sticking to the foil.
• Dot with butter and sprinkle with cinnamon or nutmeg if desired.
• If freezing the filling in a freezer bag, squeeze out the air, then seal.
• Place the bag into the pie pan, shaping it to fit the pan, and freeze until solid.
• When the filling is frozen, remove it from the pan. This way, you can continue to use the pie pan and yet have everything mixed ahead to put into fresh pie dough.
• When you are ready to use the pie, unwrap and place the frozen filling in an unbaked pie shell, top, and bake. Allow an extra 20–25 minutes of baking time.

Freezing Pie Dough

• Pie dough can be rolled into circles and frozen flat on lined cardboard separated with pieces of freezer paper or foil.
• To freeze unbaked dough in pie pans, stack pie pans with two layers of freezer paper between them and place all in a freezer bag.
• Prick pastry that will be baked unfilled. Pricking a frozen pastry will cause it to break.
• Do not prick pastry that will be filled before baking.
• To use frozen sheets of dough, thaw in the refrigerator before shaping to the pan.
• Pastry shaped in pans before freezing does not need to be thawed before baking.

Freezing Pies

• It is easier to freeze pies before wrapping, whether baked or unbaked. Wrap them after they are frozen solid.
• Do not cut vents in the top crust of an unbaked pie before freezing.
• Cut vent holes in the upper crust just before baking.

Other Tips

• Adding ½ teaspoon ascorbic acid or a commercial color preserver such as Fruit Fresh® with the sugar when preparing light-colored fruit pie fillings such as peach, pear, or cherry will help to maintain color.
• For unbaked fruit pies, add 1 extra tablespoon flour or tapioca or ½ tablespoon cornstarch or modified food starch to juicy fillings to prevent boiling over when the pies are baking.
• Freezing causes liquids thickened with flour or cornstarch to shear or separate during freezing. Therefore, baked pies or fillings thickened with tapioca or modified food starch such as Instant ClearJel® or ThermFlo® will maintain their consistency better.
• Do not use regular ClearJel® in frozen pies. Regular ClearJel® is appropriate for canned pie fillings.

Baking Frozen Pies

• Bake frozen pies in the lower third of a preheated oven for 25 minutes at 425°F and then reduce the heat to 350°F and raise the pie to the center of the oven to finish baking.
• Some people prefer baking at 450°F for 15 to 20 minutes and then reducing heat to 375°F for 20 to 30 minutes or until the top crust is brown.
• Placing the pie on a cookie sheet or pie drip pan helps catch juices that might overflow.
• A baked pie that has been frozen can be served without reheating; thaw it in its wrapping in the refrigerator.

Pie Filling Recipes

Recipes for both canned and frozen pie fillings are found in Penn State Extension's Let's Preserve: Fruit Pie Fillings. The National Center for Home Food Preservation has a recipe for canned Green Tomato Pie Filling that is processed in a boiling water bath. Mincemeat pie filling contains many low-acid foods and requires processing in a pressure canner.

Creative Uses of Frozen Pie Fillings

• Think of all the uses of canned pie fillings—toppings for cheesecake, fillings for crepes, sides for angel food cake. Simply thaw a frozen pie filling and use in the same manner.
• With a few changes, the filling can also be used for a fruit crisp or a cobbler. For cobbler, bake the filling until hot before adding the biscuit topper. To make a crisp, reduce the sugar in the filling by half because the crumb topping will provide additional sugar for sweetness.
• Simple crisp recipe: Top the filling with 1 cup quick oats, ⅓ cup flour, ½ cup brown sugar, ½ teaspoon salt, ½ teaspoon cinnamon, and ⅓ cup melted butter or oil and bake it at 375°F for 60 minutes.

References

National Center for Home Food Preservation. (n.d.). “How Do I?...Can Fruits, Canning Pie Fillings.”

Zepp, M., LaBorde, L., & Hirneisen, A. (2023, August 2). “Let’s Preserve Fruit Pie Fillings.” Penn State Extension.