Blueberry Pie Filling

This homemade blueberry pie filling is perfect for easy pies, blueberry hand pies, cheesecake topping, and cake filling! Use fresh or frozen blueberries, add some fresh lemon to make the blueberry flavor pop, and use Clear Jel for extra shiny filling. This is so easy you will never open a can of grocery store pie filling again!

Blueberry season is one of the best things summer brings, fresh berries! My blueberry patch is bursting with sweet blueberries and this pie filling captures the berries' best flavor. During berry season I like to can this filling and save it on the shelf for the winter months when I crave a bit of summer sunshine. It also makes a delicious gift. Can you tell I need all of the reasons to use up my blueberries?

Blueberry Filling Ingredients

Blueberries: You can use fresh blueberries or frozen, which are picked at the peak of their season, and flash frozen to preserve their flavor. Using frozen berries makes this filling versatile and available all year long. If you have access to wild blueberries those would be wonderful too! If you are using freshly picked berries make sure to wash them and remove the little stems and leaves that remain. If you want to save your berries for later, learn how to make them last longer in the fridge with my berry wash recipe. 

Clear Jel: It is a superior version of cornstarch because it tolerates higher temperatures and works well with all types of ingredients including acidic ones. Plus it makes your blueberry filling extra shiny! You can use cornstarch if that's what you have, the measurement is the same.

Lemon juice: The acid of the lemon juice adds a brightness to the blueberry flavor and helps preserve the bright purple color of the berries. A little lemon zest gives the filling depth of flavor.

Salt: Salt makes all the flavors come alive in a sweet berry filling! It will make the sweetness of the berries taste even sweeter. 

Making the Blueberry Pie Filling

1. Whisk water and Clear Jel (or cornstarch) together in a small bowl to make a slurry and set it aside.
2. Place the blueberries and butter in a large pan over medium high heat and cook for about 1 minute. Pro tip - I like using frozen blueberries because they are always very ripe and tasty, and there’s no need to defrost them.
3. Add the sugar, water, and salt to the pan and stir them together. 
4. Pour the Clear Jel (or cornstarch) mixture into the pan and cook on medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken.
5. Cook for 1 more minute to make sure the Clear Jel (or cornstarch) is fully cooked. Remove the mixture from the heat and add the lemon juice and zest. Pro-tip – Cornstarch doesn’t like acid, so it’s best to add the lemon after your cornstarch has cooked out a bit.
6. Once it has thickened, remove the filling from the heat and pour it into a cake pan or heatproof bowl and cover with plastic wrap to avoid forming a skin. Store the blueberry filling in an airtight container for about 2 weeks in the refrigerator or freeze it for 6 months. Clear Jel will continue to thicken as it cools.
7. Use this recipe to make a 9" pie, make hand pies, or half the recipe to use as a cake filling.

Using the Blueberry Pie Filling

Making Blueberry Pie

If you would like to use this filling for pie, make sure the filling has cooled and your pie dough is prepared and ready to use. This recipe is enough to fill a standard 9-inch pie shell.

For fruit pie or berry pies I prefer to use my flaky pie crust recipe, it's my favorite pie crust, and I use the mealy dough for custard-style pies.

1. Roll the prepared dough to about ¼" thick and line your pie plate, dock the dough lightly to avoid bubbles while baking.
2. Fill the lined pie plate with the cooled blueberry filling.
3. If desired, cover the pie with a full top crust and cut vents or designs in the top. You can learn how to make a lattice crust in my pie crust video. 
4. Bake the pie at 425°F for 15 minutes and then reduce the temperature to 350°F and continue to bake for another 30-40 minutes. The crust should be golden and the filling bubbling. Pro-tip: Bake your pie on a baking sheet or a piece of foil to prevent the filling from spilling over.
5. Allow your blueberry pie to cool completely before serving, about 2-3 hours, or your filling will be runny. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!

Making Blueberry Hand Pies

For Hand pies, prepare your hand pie dough according to the recipe. Hand pies come in all shapes and sizes and are great with homemade pie filling.

1. Roll your dough to ¼" thick.
2. Cut out the shape and size of hand pie you desire, I made mine from 6" round circles of dough. 
3. Scoop about 2 Tablespoons of filling into the center of the pie dough round.
4. Brush an egg wash to moisten the edge of the dough, and then fold it in half over the filling and crimp the dough closed.
5. Poke some vents in the top of the hand pie or the filling will burst out of the seams.
6. Bake the hand pies at 400°F for 15 minutes until they are golden brown.

Using Blueberry Cake Filling

Cut this recipe in half if you're making this blueberry filling for a cake. You'll also want to prepare your cake so that your cake layers don't slip around or ooze out the sides of cakes.

1. Make sure your blueberry filling is fully cooled down to at least room temperature before you use it.
2. Pipe a dam of buttercream around your cake layer and spread a thin layer of your blueberry filling inside. The buttercream keeps the filling from oozing out the sides of the cake.
3. Keep your blueberry filling layer thin. No more than ¼" thick.
4. If you want more blueberry flavor, you can mix some of the blueberry filling in with buttercream or even whipped cream. Not only does it make a gorgeous purple color but it tastes delicious.

For more information on how to frost and decorate your first cake, you can watch my free tutorial on how to decorate your first cake. In this cake tutorial, I show how to bake perfect cake layers, how to stack, crumb coat, make the perfect final coat of buttercream, and how to decorate.

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