Fresh strawberry pie with Jello is a simple old-fashioned recipe made famous at Shoney's Big Boy. Served topped with whipped cream, strawberry Jello pie is the perfect light summer dessert for a picnic or every day.
🍓Ingredients
Pie Crust—usually a premade refrigerated crust
Strawberries—fresh
Strawberry Glaze—cornstarch, white sugar, water, strawberry Jello
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Featured Comment by M. Bartlett:
"This pie was easy to make and turned out well. We all loved it. A very good recipe."
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This delicious strawberry jello pie recipe is easy to make in 25 minutes. It uses only five ingredients: a premade refrigerated pie crust or a no-bake Graham cracker crust, an easy homemade strawberry gelatin glaze, and delicious fresh strawberries.
We have used this recipe for over 40 years. It was a tightly guarded recipe in my wife's family—the "secret" Shoney's Big Boy™ fresh strawberry jello pie recipe. But, of course, it is not that secret.
Don't miss these other quick and easy fruit dessert recipes, like Blueberry Crumble Pie, Apple Crumble Pie, Apple Crisp, and Apple Berry Crumble.
👨🍳How to Make Fresh Strawberry Pie—Step-by-Step Photo Instructions
1. Bake a refrigerated pie crust.
2. Over medium-high heat, combine water, sugar, and cornstarch.
3. Lightly boil and stir until the cloudy mixture turns clearer and thickens. Remove from heat and mix in Strawberry jello.
4. Clean and slice strawberries.
5. Allow the gelatin mixture to cool, then stir in the sliced strawberries.
6. Pour the berry mixture into the pie crust.
7. Refrigerate for 2-3 hours before serving. If desired, top with whipped cream or cool whipred.
For more details, keep reading. See the Recipe Card below for complete instructions and to print.
Tips and options to make it right every time.
You can use any crust: homemade, Pillsbury refrigerated, a no-bake graham cracker, or frozen shells. I suggest a refrigerated crust baked to a golden brown according to the producer's instructions.
Use ripe berries. Wash and dry the fresh strawberries, then trim. You can leave them whole, but it is easier to enjoy your pie if cut into bite-size pieces.
You can add the berries to the baked crust and then add the filling, but the glaze must coat the berries to preserve the pie, so it is easier to mix the sliced berries into the jello mixture after cooling and then add it to the crust.
Frozen berries will release fluid and should not be used to replace fresh berries.
You can buy premade strawberry glaze, but please do not. You will not be happy with the flavor or the texture.
Other summer recipes to try
Check out Corn on the Cob, Mango Salsa with Pineapple, and Lemonade by the glass.
How to store fresh strawberry pie.
Store in the refrigerator covered with plastic wrap. It will not freeze well.
This is great on the first and second days. By the third day, the berries will start to deteriorate.
❓FAQs
An old trick is to put pies on baking sheets preheated in the oven. It will melt the fat in the bottom of the crust faster and create a shield to prevent the filling from penetrating it.
The most likely cause is the cornstarch mixture was not cooked to a high enough temperature or long enough. Get it to a light boil and cook for a few minutes after the cloudy white appearance starts to clear. It will clear some and thicken before it is done.
Also, be sure to get the cornstarch to dissolve and not clump—this may take a bit of mixing. Add it slowly while you continuously mix.
📖 Recipe
Fresh Strawberry Pie with Jello
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Ingredients
- 1 pie crust - refrigerated and baked
- 1 pound strawberries - or a bit more
- 3 oz strawberry Jell-O® - one small package
- ¼ cup corn starch
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 ½ cup water
Instructions
- Bake a refrigerated pie crust by following the instructions on the package in a 9-inch pie plate.
- In a larger saucepan, add 1 cup sugar to 1 ½ cups water over medium-high heat. Sprinkle in ¼ cup of cornstarch slowly while stirring.
- The mixture will turn cloudy. Stir continuously over medium heat and bring to a light boil. In about 3-4 minutes, it will turn clearer and thicken. When the thickening is complete (about two minutes after it starts to clear), remove it from heat. Add a 3 oz package of Strawberry Jell-O® to the mixture and stir until completely dissolved.
- Clean and slice one pound of strawberries. Set them aside and let them air dry while the glaze cools. The glaze sticks better to dryer berries.
- Mix the berries into the jello mixture.
- Pour the berry mixture into the pie crust.
- Refrigerate for at least 2 hours (3 plus is better) before cutting. Keep refrigerated and covered with plastic wrap between servings. This is great on the first and second days. By the third day, the berries had deteriorated some.
Recipe Notes
Pro Tips:
- You can make your own pie crusts, but this pie requires frozen or refrigerated versions. A 9-inch crust is just right.
- Pick nice ripe strawberries.
- We like to add a few more berries. "Crowd the pan" so to speak.
- You can buy glaze, but please make your own. It is easy and tastes so much better.
- Some people like to do whole berries with the point up. All for looks. Cutting them into bite-size pieces is so much easier to eat.
- Be sure to dry the berries. The glaze does not stick well to wet berries.
- It is good for two days in the refrigerator but not too good on the third day. It will not freeze well.
- Make two at once; the work is about the same for double the reward if you're having a party.
Your Own Private Notes
To adjust the recipe size:
You may adjust the number of servings in this recipe card under servings. This does the math for the ingredients for you. BUT it does NOT adjust the text of the instructions. So you need to do that yourself.
Nutrition Estimate
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Publisher's note: This recipe was originally published on June 23, 2012. Updated with expanded options, refreshed photos, and a table of contents to help navigation.
This pie recipe is featured in Memorial Day Recipes, Independence Day Recipes, and Labor Day Recipes roundups.
M. Bartlett says
This pie was easy to make and turned out well. We all loved it. A very good recipe.
Tonya says
Strawberry pie is my most favorite pie! If I may be so bold to make a suggestion: replace 1/2 cup of water with 7up Soda when making the glaze. It makes a huge difference! Several years ago I discovered this tip and made 4 pies for a family function. Two with the 7up added and two without. Everyone wanted to know why two of the pies were so much more flavorful. Have been using 7up ever sense. Enjoy!
Pamela says
My mom mad it like that too. Rip. She was a wonderful cook
Natalie Paret says
I, too, have been making a very similar strawberry pie for decades. Mine is an old Air Force Women's Club recipe. Decided to try this one and was not disappointed and, in fact, will do this one in the future. Thank you, Dr. Dan for bringing back an old but very sweet (pun intended) memory. Enjoy your Memorial Day weekend.
S says
Didn’t find any question about pie plate size. 9”? 10”? Makes a difference with amount of ingredients!
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
The standard 9 inch is fine. The frozen 8 inch is a bit small. I haven't seen a 10 inch one for years but it would be about 20% more volume. So you could increase ingredients by 20% or just make it a bit thinner.
I added some wording in the notes.
Dan
gayle says
Excellent with two modifications. I used 3 T cornstarch and whisked that together with the sugar before adding to the water. I used cookingwithk homemade butter shortbread pie crust and this was superb combination.
I wish good intentioned people would make it before they comment.
Sue says
Mixing the sugar and cornstarch together before adding the water lets you make sure there are no lumps in the cornstarch.
Martha Worley says
Well, this city has no strawberry jello! Maybe everyone is making your strawberry pie for Easter! I got jello brand strawberry-banana because that’s what they had! So what if it has a little banana flavor!! (Hmmm, guess I could stick a few banana slices in it!)
Happy Easter to Dr Dan & family.
Dan Mikesell AKA DrDan says
Hi Martha,
I think the banana will be ok although I have never had to resort to that. We do love our strawberry pie.
Thanks for the note and rating. Have a good holiday.
Dan
colleen says
I have this pie several times and it is always good. Also I have used it with peach jello and fresh peaches and it is awesome. My question is can you freeze jello based pie?
DrDan says
Hi Colleen,
I love the peach idea. I will try that.
Freezing not recommended. The jello will loose it's texture and be somewhat disgusting and the fruit will also thaw with a frozen fruit texture.
Dan
Dori S. says
This pie was so easy and delicious, everyone loved it. I really appreciate the detailed instructions and tips. Followed the recipe as written, using a store bought crust. It was a good tip to dry the berries a little...will be making this again. Thank you for posting.
Christine Koenig says
I just buy the glaze! It’s all ready, no mess, no fuss and it tastes great! Yes, I do use Pillsbury Pie crusts, as shown in the picture! 😋 it all comes together in a blink of an eye, well almost...😉
Lisa says
I always used to buy the premade glaze too. Then one day, I ate a strawberry pie slice that was made with strawberry jello like this recipe. Oh my goodness! The homemade glaze had so much more strawberry flavor than the store bought glaze! I highly recommend trying it.
DrDan says
Hi Lisa,
I so agree with you, I think this is so much better then the pre-made I have tried in the past. There may be some variation but this is always good.
Thanks for the note.
Dan
Robin McCown says
I've made this for years. I recall my mom making it at least 20 years ago. Where did you get the recipe?
DrDan says
Handed down through my wife's family. They "stole it" from a family friend probably 60 yrs ago. It's a long story. But there are similar ones on the internet.
Leslie says
I love this strawberry pie, great recipe I plan to use often!. I have not been receiving your new blog updates for about 4 weeks. Do I need to sign up again? Thank you Leslie
DrDan says
We do love our strawberry Pie... I need to do one soon. Go ahead and sign up again... if the signup widget shows up... I have a war between the ads and the widgets this weekend and tech support is not available until Monday. Yagou might want to wait until Tuesday. A major change in format of the site is coming soon and we will see if I can break even more things.
Dan
Krystal Shearer says
Oops, by teaspoons*, just a little cold water as necessary (for anybody else who could possibly have the strange troubles that I have in the kitchen. Bah!)
Krystal Shearer says
I got it to work!!! I'd never used cornstarch in a recipe before so I had to Google around a bit as well :) I used 1/4 cup cornstarch and then I added cold water to it by tablespoons until it wasn't oobleck anymore, then added THAT to the sugar water. Worked like a charm. Possibly I should have cut down on the content of water in the pan in the first place, as it was replaced, but that's okay - we'll see if it sets up correctly. Thanks for the recipe! :)
Dr Dan says
It hasn't been a problem for me. Corn starch needs to be powder and if it is in lumps, maybe it has got moisture in it in the past and you need new???? Otherwise, I just keep sturring while I slowly add the corn starch. If a glob goes in, smash it against the side and keep sturring. Another option I have seen in other recipes is to mix the corn starch with the sugar first. Give that a try...
Krystal Shearer says
I had an awful time making the cornstarch break apart in the water/sugar - first step!!! I tried just stirring, I whisked it, I tried breaking them apart....how did it get like this? It's so strange. It's just like gloppy water/sugar with corn starch chunks everywhere. Sad day :(
Linda says
I always add the sugar and cornstarch together mix well and then slowly add the water while stirring. Works every time
Chris says
This makes me want to get some Plant City strawberries, great pie.