Cherry pie filling is made of simple ingredients that are designed to thicken the cherries and help their flavor star brightly: fresh sweet or tart cherries, sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch. The idea: stay out of the cherries’ way and help this precious red summer jewel taste its best. Old-fashioned cherry pie filling recipe uses sugar, but I prefer to sweeten my filling with honey. I was a little concerned that the honey’s flavor would overpower the cherries, but the two taste wonderful together. The cherries shine brightly, while the honey adds light background notes of floral sweetness. This cherry pie filling recipe turned out to be so tasty and so easy, I made a second jar the very next day and tucked it into my freezer for a later (and for these Cherry Bars of course). Even if you don’t bake a pie, there are many, many delicious ways to use homemade pie filling. Serve it over pancakes (like Banana Oatmeal Pancakes), mix it into a bowl of Steel Cut Oats, use it to top ice cream (like Oat Milk Ice Cream), and more!

How to Make Cherry Filling From Scratch

No more wondering which is the best canned cherry pie filling or how you make canned cherry pie filling taste homemade. The answer is: use homemade pie filling you make from scratch! This is a breeze to stir up. The hardest part is waiting for fresh, in-season cherries to arrive.

The Ingredients

Cherries. A precious gift of summer! The cherries give the pie filling beautiful color without the need for red food coloring. Cherry season is short (a few weeks in July). Making pie filling is one of the bests ways to make the most of them.

Honey. For a naturally sweet cherry pie. Using honey instead of sugar (or worse, high fructose corn syrup from cherry pie filling in a can) makes me feel all the more redeemed when I spoon this onto my breakfast parfait.Lemon Juice. Essential for the best cherry pie filling.Cornstarch. How to thicken cherry pie filling. To thicken the cherry pie filling without cornstarch, swap in arrowroot starch.Pure Almond Extract. Cherries and almonds are a lovely flavor combination (have you ever noticed that cherry pits smell a little like almonds?). DO NOT use imitation almond extract, which tastes artificial.

The Directions

How to Use Cherry Pie Filling

This recipe will yield 2 heaping cups, which is enough for a regular (non-deep dish) 9-inch pie.

Sweet Cherry Pie Filling. Sweet cherries (such as Bing) are the most widely available and what you see in the photos of this recipe.Tart Cherry Pie Filling. Tart or sour cherries are prized for pies and Cherry Crisp. Increase the amount of honey by 1 to 3 tablespoons, or to taste.Black Cherry Pie Filling Recipe. Black cherries are slightly sweeter and softer than regular cherries. You can use them in this recipe without any further changes.Pie Filling with Frozen Cherries. An ideal option outside of summer. No need to thaw the cherries first.

That said, cherry pie is certainly not the only option! I encourage you to try:

Mixed with yogurt (try it in these Berry Parfait Yogurt Popsicles)On top of oatmeal (try Instant Pot Steel Cut Oats and Overnight Slow Cooker Steel Cut Oats)With ice cream (this Banana Ice Cream would make for a fun, fruity combo)Spread it on warm Healthy Chocolate MuffinsOn top of Oatmeal Pancakes or Whole Wheat WafflesSwapped in for the strawberry in these Strawberry Hand PiesBaked in puff pastry to make Brie Bites (swap it for the cranberry sauce)On top of Greek Yogurt Cheesecake

Storage Tips

To Store. The filling will keep in the refrigerator for up to one week.To Freeze. Because it is made with honey, the filling does congeal somewhat when frozen and thawed. I found it worked best to let the frozen filling thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then warm it in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds, to smooth it out a little.

Saucepan. These saucepans have two layers of stainless steel for balanced heat conduction.Small Whisk. Perfect for small bowls and containers.Magnetic Measuring Spoons. One of my favorite purchases!

Pie, a breakfast treat, cake filling, turnovers, or straight from the jar.

Healthy Granola

1 hr

Coconut Flour Pancakes

25 mins

Fluffy Pancakes

15 mins Leave a rating below in the comments and let me know how you liked the recipe. However you eat this cherry pie filling, it’s a taste of sweet summertime!

Strawberry Pie

5 hrs 30 mins

Grammy’s Lemon Cream Pie

4 hrs 43 mins

Heart Shaped Strawberry Hand Pies

45 mins

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