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Today we’re celebrating the official start of summer with this Roasted Strawberry Cream Pie! I feel like it’s officially summer when I go strawberry picking. But we almost missed the season! It’s been insanely hot super early this year, plus lots of rain. These are not great combos for growing strawberries and causes them to spoil. We managed to squeeze in a trip last week right at the end of our favorite u-pick farm’s season and came home with two buckets full of Ruby Junes. (I’m obsessed with this name.) Now I have two bags of delicious strawbs stashed in the freezer.

I’ve had strawberry pie on the brain lately, so that was first up on the to-bake list! This roasted strawberry beauty is a labor of love and totally worth the time and effort if you love a creamy dreamy pie like my family does. There are quite a lot of steps in the recipe card below, but I’m also going to list some ways you can tweak this pie to make it easier! So you have options! Lots of sweet, sweet strawberry options.

HOMEMADE PIE CRUST

For the base of this Roasted Strawberry Cream Pie, we need a good pie crust. I’m using my go-to all-butter pie crust recipe here, and it’s actually super simple and easy! I like to use a food processor, but you can do the pastry cutter or hands-only methods if that works better for you. This crust is great because it’s flakey and buttery and sturdy on it’s own. I threw in a pinch of ground cinnamon and cardamom too for some extra flavor! It goes really well with the roasted strawberry filling 🤤

Other crust options

Absolutely feel free to use a store bought crust if you want to! Just know that the crust is blind-baked, so you’ll need to bake it by itself with pie weights (or dried beans or uncooked rice) first.
I also think a good old graham cracker crust would be great here too. If you’d rather do that, just combine 1 1/2 cups graham crumbs and 1/2 cup melted butter. You can add the cinnamon and cardamom in there too! Bake for 12 to 15 minutes and cool completely.

how to make roasted strawberries

If you’ve never roasted strawberries before, just know that it really brings out the flavor and caramelizes the natural sugars. Omg, so good. I really wanted the flavor to shine through in the custard, which is why I decided to roast them. 10/10 excellent decision, highly recommend. All you have to do to roast strawberries is toss them with a little bit of sugar and bake them for about 30 minutes. Then they’re all caramelized and juicy.

Roasted Strawberry Reduction

Y’all know I love a good fruity reduction. Once the roasted strawberries have cooled, they go into a blender (with any juice left on the baking sheet). Then the puree is reduced in a pot on the stove until it’s a spreadable, jammy consistency. This means we get all that delicious flavor with none of the liquid, which would water down the custard.

It’s super easy to do, just a little time consuming. This is definitely the kind of recipe that lets you work ahead though, so if you’d like to divide up the steps, you can make the pie crust and the strawberry reduction a day or two in advance.

Do You Have to Roast the Strawberries?

The answer is no! You can skip the roasting step and just puree them if you’re looking for ways to cut down on time or make things easier. I do highly recommend roasting them, though!

HOMEMADE STRAWBERRY CUSTARD

Homemade custards can be intimidating, but they’re pretty easy to make once you’ve done it a few times. Basically you start with your dry ingredients in a saucepan (sugar, cornstarch, salt) and whisk in whole milk. You’ll have your egg yolks lightly beaten in a bowl and set aside. The milk mixture is cooked until thoroughly heated, and then you temper the egg yolks by spooning some of the milk mixture into the bowl with the egg yolks, whisk them together really fast, and then pour it all back into the pot. (We do this when we need to combine ingredients that are two different temperatures to avoid curdling!) From there it’s just whisking until thickened. Then you add the strawberry reduction and food coloring, if using.

The other thing to know about custards is that you need to immediately press a piece of plastic wrap to the surface before it goes into the refrigerator to chill. This prevents a skin from forming on the surface of the custard.

The No-Cook Version

Another option! Because while I love a good custard and I’m super happy with how it turned out, I did briefly entertain the idea of a no-bake-cheesecake-esque type of filling for this pie, just because it would be easy. If you’d rather do that, you can follow the recipe below.

In a large bowl, mix 1 (8-oz) block cream cheese (room temp) with 1 cup powdered sugar and 1 tsp vanilla with a hand-held mixer on medium speed until combined and smooth.
In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip 1 1/2 cups heavy cream on high speed until stiff peaks form. Fold whipped cream into the cream cheese mixture. Stir in strawberry reduction (and emulsion or food coloring if using).
Spoon filling into the prepared pie crust and garnish with additional whipped cream and fresh strawberries.

And there you have it friends! A novel length guide to Roasted Strawberry Cream Pie. Plenty of options. Probably too many options, but I really want you to give it a try. 🤣 Pick a crust, pick a filling, top with whipped cream, devour!

More strawberry recipes to come—happy baking, y’all!

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Roasted Strawberry Cream Pie

Prep Time: 3

Cook Time: 1

Chill time: 6

Total Time: 10

Ingredients

Pie Crust:

1 ½ cup all-purpose flour
½ tsp salt
½ tsp ground cinnamon
½ tsp ground cardamom optional
8 tbsp cold butter
6 tbsp ice water
1 large egg
Splash of water

Roasted Strawberry Reduction:

1 lb strawberries hulled
¼ cup granulated sugar sugar

Roasted Strawberry Custard:

⅔ cup granulated sugar
⅓ cup cornstarch
½ tsp salt
2 cups whole milk
4 large egg yolks lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
Roasted strawberry reduction
1-2 tsp strawberry emulsion optional
Red gel food coloring optional

Whipped Cream:

¾ cup heavy cream
2 tbsp powdered sugar
1 tsp vanilla

Instructions

To make the pie crust:

Add flour and salt to a food processor. Add butter and pulse once or twice for a couple of seconds. Add water 2 tablespoons at a time, pulsing twice for a couple of seconds before adding more water. Dough will be shaggy and there should be visible flecks of butter. Turn out onto a lightly floured surface and shape into a disc.
Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes or overnight.
On a lightly floured surface, turn out dough and roll into a 12-inch circle. Lift dough using a rolling pin (if dough is hard to work with, return to the refrigerator to help it firm up a bit) and lay over a lightly greased 9-inch pie plate. Gently press into pie plate and flute the edges. Chill for 30 more minutes.
When you’re ready to blind bake the pie crust, preheat oven to 350°F. Beat egg and water with a fork until pale and frothy. Brush egg wash over edges of pie crust. Dock the bottom of the crust with a fork.
Lay a sheet of parchment paper over the pie crust. (If you crinkle the parchment into a ball and then spread it back out, it’s easier to fit into the pie crust.) Add pie weights (or dried beans or uncooked rice) and bake for 20 minutes.
Remove pie from oven and carefully lift the paper and weights out of the crust. Return the crust to the oven for about 15 more minutes, or until golden. Remove from oven and cool completely before using.

To make the roasted strawberry reduction:

To roast the strawberries, preheat oven to 350°.
In a large bowl, toss strawberries with sugar. Pour onto a parchment paper-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 28 to 30 minutes, until strawberries are juicy and caramelized.
Cool completely before using. (If you’d like to make these ahead, store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.)
To make the roasted strawberry reduction, add roasted strawberries and juices to a blender. Blend until smooth.
Pour into a medium saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer and cook for 20 to 30 minutes, stirring occasionally, until thickened to a spreadable, jam-like consistency. (You may need to stir more as it thickens so it doesn’t stick to the bottom of your pot.) It will continue to thicken as it cools.
You should end up with about ½ cup of strawberry reduction.
Cool completely and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator until ready to use.

To make the custard:

In a medium saucepan, whisk together sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in the milk. Cook over medium-low heat, whisking often, until mixture is heated through and beginning to thicken.
Once the mixture is thoroughly heated, ladle a large spoonful of the custard into the egg yolks (to temper them), whisking until completely incorporated.
Pour the egg mixture back into the pot. Whisk constantly until the mixture thickens, about 6 to 10 minutes. It should be thick enough to coat a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.
Stir in the roasted strawberry reduction, vanilla, and strawberry emulsion if using. Continue to whisk for about 1 minute. Remove from heat.
Spoon custard into a glass or heat safe bowl. If using food coloring, start by stirring in a small dab of red gel food coloring until the desired shade is reached.
Press plastic wrap directly onto the surface of the custard (this prevents a skin from forming as it cools). Chill the mixture for 1 to 2 hours or overnight.

To make the whipped cream:

Combine all ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment (or a large bowl with the whisk attachment on a hand-held mixer), and whip on high speed until stiff peaks form. Be careful not to over whip!

Assembly:

Remove strawberry custard from the refrigerator and give it a good stir or whisk. Pour into the prepared pie crust and spread to the edges. Spoon whipped cream on top and spread with the back of a spoon. Garnish with fresh strawberries if desired. Store loosely covered with plastic wrap in the refrigerator until ready to serve.