Creamy Strawberry Pie Recipe

Creamy Strawberry Pie is made with fresh and aromatic strawberries, baked into a luxurious custard, and topped with a buttery streusel topping, making the perfect summer treat. This recipe is famous for the luxurious custard filling made from sour cream and fresh strawberries. It is a nice spin on the traditional strawberry pie, and perfect for those who love cheesecake and pie but can’t decide which one to make. Leave those hard decisions to make to me, as I can solve your dilemma by combining both, never compromising when it comes to great desserts.

A Creamy Strawberry Pie is one of my favorite treats to make with fresh strawberries. This is such an easy and luxurious dessert and perfect to put some berries to good use. This pie melts in your mouth with every bite. I love the buttery crust, the creamy filling with the juicy and sweet strawberries, and the rich streusel topping.

I got this recipe from making strawberry cheesecake. While preparing the cheesecake, my little one poured some strawberries into the bowl of batter. Rather than picking them out, I just went ahead and made it that way and it was so delicious, I decided to make a different recipe with strawberries in the creamy filling.

After a few dozen different versions of this creamy strawberry mixture, I finally came up with this strawberry pie that is different enough to have its recipe while still being creamy like my strawberry cheesecake. Serve it with vanilla ice cream and fresh mint leaves, it makes the perfect dessert on a hot summer evening!

The fresh strawberries and sweet crumbly topping are my favorite parts of this dessert. It is the perfect summer treat for the kids or at a family picnic, but it is also fancy enough to serve at a birthday party or holiday get-together. Since I love anything made with strawberries, I make this recipe quite often and it is requested if I have not made it in a while.

Some people call this strawberry crumble pie and that makes sense too because the crumble topping gives it a taste and texture much like strawberry crumble. What sets this dish apart is the creamy filling, which is similar to custard and has fresh strawberries mixed into it.

What you’ll need to make creamy strawberry pie:

Special utensils:

• 9-inch pie pan – To make the crust.
• Mixing bowls – You will need several sizes for different steps.
• Whisk – I love my whisks. I have several for different uses.
• Pastry cutter – To help cut in the butter.
• Wooden spoon – For mixing and scraping.
• Wire rack– For cooling your pie.

Ingredients:

• Pie crust – You can use store-bought pie crust or make your own, but it should be nine inches.
• Strawberries – Fresh strawberries, cleaned, hulled, and sliced.
• Sugar – Granulated white sugar for a pure sweet flavor. 
• Flour – You need all-purpose flour for thickening the pie filling.
• Eggs – Large eggs at room temperature, beaten.
• Sour cream – Also at room temperature. You need this ingredient for the creaminess in the filling.
• Vanilla – I only use 100% pure vanilla extract because it has the best flavor with no aftertaste.
• Cornstarch – To coat the strawberry slices for a thicker glaze-like filling.
• Salt – Just a bit to help enhance the rest of the flavors. 
• White sugar – Gives your topping a sticky and sweet texture and flavor.
• Brown sugar – For that rich, deep sweetness.
• Flour – All-purpose flour works best to make the streusel crumbly.
• Cinnamon – Adds just a little bit of earthy sweetness.
• Butter – Cold butter, cut into chunks for working into the flour mixture.

How to make creamy strawberry pie?

Prepare

Before you start, turn on the oven to 350 degrees F and line your pie plate with the crust. Precook your crust for 15 minutes with pie weights once it gets hot.

Make the filling

Now, whisk 1/3 cup of flour, one cup of sugar, and the salt in a large bowl until combined. Then, add the beaten eggs, vanilla, and sour cream and whisk together. In another bowl, gently stir your strawberries with the cornstarch with a wooden spoon until they are evenly covered. Spoon the strawberries into the pie crust and top with the custard mixture.

Mix the streusel

To make the streusel, stir ¾ cup flour, cinnamon, brown sugar, and white sugar in a medium bowl. Then, add the cold butter cubes and use the pastry cutter to work it into the flour mixture. Continue mixing it in until it looks like coarse crumbs and sprinkle it on the strawberries.

Bake, chill, and serve

Last, bake the pie for 50 to 55 minutes or until it is lightly golden brown. After, remove it and set it on a wire rack until it is completely cooled. Chill for three to four hours to let the custard set and then serve.

Expert tip

How to make the best streusel topping

So, how do you make the best streusel? The trick is in how you mix it. The butter has to be cold and cut into cubes before mixing it. Leave it in the fridge until right before you are ready to make it. This is important for keeping some of the butter in chunks.

Using a pastry cutter for this job is essential because if you use your hands, the heat from your body will make the butter too soft. If it gets worked in too much, it will end up melted and flat after cooking instead of crumbly and chunky like you want it to be.

A fork will do the job also, but a pastry cutter is so much easier, and you end up with bigger chunks of butter. Don’t be tempted to stick your hands in there and work it all out or your topping will just flatten out as it bakes.

On a side note, streusel and crumble toppings are not the same things. A streusel typically has more flour and less sugar than a crumble topping. That makes the streusel more chewy and not as sweet. The crumble is light and crispy while a streusel is cakier.

Recipe variations and add-ins:

• Other fruits: Instead of (or in addition to) strawberries, experiment with other fruits like raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, and even chopped apples or pears.
• More cream: For an extra creamy strawberry pie, add some cream cheese to the filling.
• Oaty crumble: For a crumblier topping, add ½ cup of oats.
• Add chocolate: Strawberries go great with chocolate. Pour ½ cup of chocolate chips into the strawberry filling to make it a melty creamy strawberry pie.
• No streusel: If you are not a fan of streusel, you can leave it off. Your creamy strawberry pie will still be delicious without it. 

Serving suggestions:

• Your creamy strawberry pie would be even more scrumptious with a dollop of my homemade whipped cream.
• The most common and should I say classic way to serve it, is with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.
• If you made my strawberry filling, use it on top of the vanilla ice cream.
• For your next barbecue, serve this dessert with some strawberry margarita or strawberry daiquiris for the adults and strawberry smoothies for the kids.

Frequently asked questions

Why did my streusel melt?

If you use too much butter, your streusel can melt and turn greasy. Also, if you melt the butter before making the streusel, you will never get the right texture. If you use your hands to work in the butter instead of a pastry cutter, you can make the butter too soft, and it may end up melting that way too.

Why is my pie crust gooey?

Many fruit pies end up gooey or soggy at the bottom if you do not par-bake your pie first. Also known as blind baking, pre-cooking your pie crust is an important step to keep the juices from the strawberries from soaking into the dough. However, do not cook it all the way. Just a short pre-bake to harden up the dough at the bottom so it is not as absorbent.

How to par-bake a pie crust?

The first thing to do is to preheat your oven. Then, line the pie pan with parchment paper or aluminum foil. After you place the uncooked pie crust in the pan, place another piece of foil or parchment on top of the crust. Fill this with pie weights or dry beans and bake it for about 15 minutes. Then, remove the weights and bake for another three minutes to dry the center.

What is the difference between this and regular strawberry pie?

A traditional strawberry pie is made from strawberries with a thick glazed filling but no cream. The ingredients are usually just strawberries with white sugar as a sweetener and cornstarch as a thickener. It often includes a bit of lemon juice to brighten up the flavors and possibly some vanilla extract. This pie has sour cream and eggs to make it creamy.

How to store:

• Refrigerate: Seal your creamy strawberry pie in an airtight container if you have leftovers. They can be refrigerated for several days. 
• Freezing: To freeze, wrap it in plastic and place it in a freezer bag. It can stay frozen for up to three months.   
• Defrost: Thawing overnight in the fridge will help the texture and flavor stay fresh.

More strawberry recipes:

Recipe tips:

• Prebake your crust with pie weights to keep it from getting soggy on the bottom.
• Make sure the butter is cold and the eggs are at room temperature for the best results when making this pie.
• Use a pastry cutter instead of your hands to work in the butter. Your hands will melt the butter.
• To shorten prep time, use a store-bought crust already made like a graham cracker crust.
• If the crust browns too quickly, cover it loosely with aluminum foil.
• If you do not have fresh strawberries, you can use frozen but thaw and pat them dry first.