Grandma’s Recipe Box Series. For more about grandma’s recipes read my post here.
(Disclosure: I work for the J.M. Smucker Company, which owned Crisco, but sold the brand in 2019. They don’t pay me to talk about it, I just believe it makes a superior crust from personal experience. All thoughts and opinions are my own.)
My grandmother made a great strawberry pie, and I’ll share her recipe with you. Her recipe includes strawberry Jell-O in the homemade glaze, and I know some people don’t like to “cheat”, so I also included a recipe for a completely homemade glaze if you want to skip the artificial flavors and colors.
Gram’s Recipe (pic is her handwritten recipe I got when she passed away this year)
- 1 1/2 Cups sugar
- 2 Cups water
- 4 Tablespoons corn starch
- 1 Quart of fresh strawberries
- One box strawberry Jell-O
- 1 Prepared pie crust (I make my own using the Crisco® recipe, very easy) Then pre-bake it. If you haven’t done this before, instructions can be found here. (note – I was told the pie crust link was broken and updated on 6/26/21 so it works again)
Directions:
- Wash and cut the strawberries into pieces. I cut small berries in half, medium berries into quarters, and large berries into 6 or more pieces. Drain off any liquid and put the berries aside.
- Put the water (hold back about half cup) and sugar in a saucepan and heat on med-high heat.
- Mix the cornstarch with the remaining half cup of water and whisk together until it is dissolved. Add this mixture to the sauce pan and stir slowly until it begins to thicken and look clear, about 5 minutes. It won’t be completely transparent, but it won’t look milky any more.
- Slowly stir in strawberry Jell-O. Once dissolved remove from heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
- Add the strawberries to the still warm glaze and gently stir to cover all berries with glaze.
- Spoon the berries into the pie shell and add as much of the remaining glaze as you like.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours and enjoy with some whipped cream.
Alternate No Jell-O Recipe Ingredients:
- 1/2 Cups sugar
- 1 Cups water
- 2 Tablespoons corn starch
- 1 1/2 Quarts fresh strawberries
- 1 Prepared pie crust (I make my own using the Crisco® recipe, very easy) Then pre-bake it. If you haven’t done this before, instructions can be found here.
Directions:
- Wash and cut the strawberries into pieces. I cut small berries in half, medium berries into quarters, and large berries into 6 or more pieces. Drain off any liquid and put the berries aside.
- Divide out about 1/3 of cut strawberries and put them in a medium sauce pan with the sugar. Put on medium heat and mash the berries with a potato masher or large fork. They should be good and mushy, but a few larger chunks won’t hurt anything.
- Mix the cornstarch with the water and whisk together until it is dissolved. Add this mixture to the sauce pan and stir slowly until it begins to thicken and no longer looks milky, about 5 minutes. Reduce heat to low and let this simmer for 10-15 minutes stirring occasionally.
- Remove from heat and let it cool for about 10 minutes.
- Add the strawberries to the still warm glaze and gently stir to cover all berries with glaze.
- Spoon the berries into the pie shell and add as much of the remaining glaze as you like.
- Refrigerate for a couple of hours and enjoy with some whipped cream.
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What size box of Jello do you use?
Use the 3oz standard size box
I’m going to try grandma’s recipe tomorrow. I love that you showed her hand written recipe. Priceless ❤️
Hope you enjoyed grandma’s pie recipe, I get requests for that one often. Simple but delicious. Way better than that goo you can buy in the grocery store. Having her written recipes lets me keep a little piece of her with me.
I’m wondering why the recipe with jello calls for 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar and the recipe with no jello calls for 1/2 cup of sugar. Jello has sugar in it so it seems like that pie would be very sweet and other one a little sour
Hi Jean – it’s a fair question. The no hello recipe also has cooked down fruit in the sauce, which adds sweetness. You could certainly add more sugar if you like (it will still set up just fine) it is just designed as a more natural and healthier alternative.
What recipe did your grandmother make? With or without the jello?
Hi Sharon – Grandma made the Jell-O version. I created the non Jell-O version for those that want to avoid artificial colors and/or flavors. I like them both.
Thank you for that version. I was afraid I was going to have to run out to the grocery tomorrow just for strawberry jello.
I made this tonight, and it was great! I was short on strawberries, but had a bunch of fresh blueberries, so I added them in to make non-Jello version. Next time, I will probably make my crusts from scratch, but these are easy, fairly quick, look impressive, and taste good. It’s an all around win! Thank you!!
Thanks Tracy! I have used this filling recipe with blueberries, cherries, even apples (apples need to cook a little longer). It really is a great fruit pie filling. It even works with frozen fruit! Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
What size jello
The 3oz normal size is what I used and it worked well. Her recipe did not specify
The crisco crust is my favorite and I am glad I found your recipe for a no jello pie. I have a granddaughter who will live this!!!
Thanks Barbara. I know there are people that want to avoid jello for various dietary reasons, and this gives you a really tasty option. I hope she enjoys it!
Why don’t you just combine sugar and cornstarch before adding the water. No lumps to worry about.
Where is your pie crust recipe?
I have found the basic crisco pie crust recipe to work the best.
Classic Crisco® Pie Crust
SINGLE-CRUST
1 1/2 C. all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 C. cold Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
3 to 6 Tbsps. ice cold water
DOUBLE-CRUST
2 C. all-purpose flour
3/4 tsp. salt
3/4 C. cold Crisco® All-Vegetable Shortening
4 to 8 Tbsps. ice cold water
It turned out perfect! Brought back great memories of eating my mother-in-law’s pies over the years💕
So glad you enjoyed it!
I’ve never cared for strawberry pie using a cooked filling, so I used a bit of a blend of your Gma’s recipes. I did reduce the amount of sugar to my taste. Oh my….this pie may now be my new favorite seasonal pie. Admittedly, I saved some glaze for tasting ahead of time. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Grandma’s recipe used the jello, I came up with a no jello nor artificial coloring option for those that are looking for something different. Glad you enjoyed the recipes. We LOVE strawberry pie at our house. I’ve even used frozen strawberries in the winter. Still delicious.
Does the sauce thicken a bit more in the fridge?
Hi Dawn, yes the corn starch version thickens up a good bit in the fridge
I made this recipe following the directions exactly. I was disappointed because it didn’t thicken up enough and my pie was a mess! The only saving grace was it tasted good.
Hey there, sorry to hear it didn’t turn out as expected. Which version did you make? If making the natural version (no jello) you can always add a little more cornstarch to the liquid while it is cooking if it doesn’t appear to be thickening up.