Homemade Cherry Pie Filling Recipe

Why make pie filling in an Instant Pot? 

Fruit pies are perfect to make in the Instant Pot! Whip up the filling quicker and easier than stovetop methods, all without heating up the house.

Frozen fruits also break down really well in the pressure cooker, allowing you to use less water to bring the pot to pressure. This means less thickeners in the pie filling as well.  

What to serve with this cherry pie filling?

This cherry pie is perfect on its own, topped with vanilla ice cream or homemade whipped cream.

You also don’t have to limit yourself to serving it with only pie. While it has more thickener than our cherry compote, if you’re making a smaller pie, the leftover filling would work similarly well served over pancakes, waffles, oatmeal, or cheesecake. 

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Frequently Asked Questions

✅ This easy recipe will work in any brand of electric pressure cooker, including the Instant Pot, Ninja Foodi, Cosori, or Power Pressure Cooker XL.

Sweet cherries or sour cherries?

Our local store used to carry a mix of frozen sweet and tart cherries that was perfect for cherry pie. However, it’s been difficult to find lately, so we used frozen sweet cherries in this recipe.

If your local store has frozen tart cherries, I prefer using a 50/50 blend. (Others say 75% tart to 25% sweet, so let your sweet tooth be your guide!)

Regardless of what cherry variety you choose, make sure the brand you buy has just the cherries, with no sweeteners or sugars added. 

Can I use fresh cherries? 

We used frozen cherries for the convenience of pre-pitted cherries frozen at peak ripeness.

If you want to use fresh cherries in this recipe, I recommend using a mix of fresh and frozen cherries. I would still pressure cook the 4 cups frozen cherries, then add 2 cups fresh, pitted cherries in step 3. 

(This is a great option if you want to add tart cherries to your pie.) 

Note: If you are using fresh, a good-quality cherry pitter is a huge time-saver. We like this one from Oxo, but it does struggle to fit extra-large cherries. If I were buying again, I would go with this model that lets you pit several at the same time.

Do I have to use the cornstarch thickener?

We opted to use cornstarch as the thickener in this recipe, since we always have it on hand and tapioca starch is a little more finicky than cornstarch. 

If you do want to sub tapioca starch, you’ll need to use twice as much tapioca starch to get the same amount of thickening power as cornstarch.

What about almond extract?

I’m not a fan of almond in my cherry pies, so I leave it out. However, if you love the taste of almond in a cherry pie, feel free to include it (or increase it)!

Important Notes about Pie Crust

We wanted to make this recipe as easy as possible, so we included an option for store-bought pie crust. After a long day in the kitchen test baking 8 name-brand and store-brand crusts, we have a lot of important information for you!

While all pie crusts can shrink during the baking process, store-bought pie crusts are more likely to have shrinkage.

Shrinkage is more common when blind baking the crust, like we do in this recipe. (“Blind baking” means baking the pie without any filling in it.) Blind baking is really useful because it ensures the bottom crust stays flaky (no soggy bottoms here).

However, without the weight of the pie filling to keep the pie in place, the crust can tend to shrink back into the pie tin, leading to an uneven appearance.

To Avoid Shrinkage

There are a few basic techniques you should always use when blind baking a pie:

• Make sure to prick the bottom and sides of the pie crust with a fork (aka “dock” the crust). 
• Gently lay the pie dough in place and gently hold up the sides to allow it to settle into the pan. (Stretching the dough causes it to spring back when it hits the hot oven.)
• Refrigerate the pie dough once you have it in place in the pan. 

However, even with all these basics, store-bought dough still shrank in our testing. several different methods to avoid shrinkage:

• Vary the type of dish you use: For instance, in my testing at home, my scalloped, wide-rimmed ceramic pie plate held the dough in place the best because I was able to press the dough firmly into the scalloped edges. However, other people have better luck pressing it into a metal pie plate.
• Use a fork to firmly crimp the edges, pressing them securely to the rim of the pie tin.
• Line the pie crust with parchment paper, then fill the bottom with dry beans, rice, or specially created pie weights. (Barbara likes this stainless steel chain weight the best and these ceramic pie weights as a close second.)
• Blind bake your pie crusts between two metal pie tins turned upside down (this is Alton Brown’s method).
• Use a smaller pie pan (an 8-inch or a 7-inch pie tin) to bake store-bought crusts in.
• Roll the store-bought pie crust a little wider with a rolling pin. (Some people say this makes the dough tougher, other people gently roll the crust and have no problem with it.)
• Flute the edges so that three or four small pieces actually fold over the side of the pie tin to hold it in place.

For us, firmly crimping the crust and lining the crust with a weight made the biggest difference in minimizing shrinkage. 

Can I make a double crust pie? 

If you prefer, you can absolutely make this a double crust pie. (But you’ll miss out on the amazing crumble topping.)

If you’re making a double crust, I would skip the blind bake. Trim any excess dough from the bottom crust to fit a 9-inch pie pan, then spoon the cherry pie filling into the crust. Top the filling with the second crust, seal the edges, and flute them. Use a pastry brush to spread a beaten egg white (aka an egg wash) onto the top crust, then sprinkle with 1 tablespoon coarse sugar. 

Use a sharp knife to cut several vents in the top pie crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes until the pie is golden brown. (If the edges are browning too quickly, cover with aluminum foil. Cool at least 1 hour before serving.