Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
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A simple homemade strawberry cream cheese pie made with an easy graham cracker crust, a sweet cream cheese layer, and topped with fresh strawberries. This pie uses no Jello, gelatin, or artificial add-ins, and a quick strawberry sauce serves as a sweet glaze for the berries.
When it comes to sweets, it’s pretty well-known in my household that I have a complete and utter lack of restraint. Cookies, cakes, and pies (particularly strawberry cream cheese pies) need to be removed from the premises posthaste, or else it’s just a matter of time before I no longer fit through our doorways. Zach must take care to monitor the ice cream in our freezer closely, otherwise I’ll whittle it down to nothing, one sneaking spoonful at a time (he’s actually really bad at this, there’s a carton of ice cream in our freezer with a single spoonful of chocolate ice cream left because I’ve eaten nearly all of it).
But my inability to control myself is possibly most evident during strawberry picking season.
Because when it comes to strawberry picking, I just cannot stop myself. I will pick, and pick, and pick (and maybe sample a few, for, you know, quality control) until my arms are aching from the weight of my berries. Zach and I brought home more berries than two people can be realistically expected to eat in a year, but within a week we’d worked our way through all of them — mostly courtesy of this Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie.
Strawberry picking is a tradition with Zach’s family that I’m grateful to have been absorbed into, and each year for the past three years I’ve shared a strawberry dessert with you. First it was my Strawberries & cream daiquiris (I know, the photos could use a re-shoot), my homemade strawberry pop-tarts last year, and now this strawberry cream cheese pie.
Originally this year’s recipe was going to just be a plain Strawberry Pie, but when Zach’s mom mentioned that she’d had one before with a layer of cream cheese, I made the quick decision to re-route, and a fluffy layer of whipped cream cheese filling was the first thing to go into my homemade graham cracker crust.
It’s just four ingredients, and actually served as the inspiration for my no-bake cheesecake, which I shared with you last week.
We are using no Jello or gelatin in this strawberry cream cheese pie — no artificial flavors, just the pure juicy taste of fresh berries. However, that means that we have to get to work making a simple strawberry sauce, and while this pie is no-bake, you will have to whip out a saucepan for that — don’t worry, it will only take a few minutes.
We’re going to cook the berries with some sugar, lemon juice, and cornstarch (a thickener), releasing the fresh juice of the berries and reducing the amount of liquid for a strawberry sauce that we will toss even more fresh strawberries into. Allow it to cool completely (once it’s finished cooking I usually pour the jam into a new heatproof container, that seems to speed up the process a bit since you don’t have to wait for the pan to come back down to temperature) and then stir in your berries.
And that’s it!
Super simple, isn’t it?
Enjoy!
I used some of these strawberries to make a strawberry icebox cheesecake, that I shared over on TheSpruce.com, make sure you check that out, too! 🙂
Strawberry Cream Cheese Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9-10" graham cracker crust, prepared and baked (click on link)
Strawberry topping
- 5-6 cups (840 g) quartered strawberries, stems removed, divided
- ½ cup (100 g) sugar
- 2 Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 Tbsp lemon juice
Cream Cheese Layer
- 8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, softened
- ½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
Instructions
- In small saucepan, combine 2 cups (280g) strawberries, sugar, cornstarch, and lemon juice over medium-low heat.½ cup (100 g) sugar, 2 Tbsp cornstarch, 1 Tbsp lemon juice
- Stir frequently until strawberries release their juices.
- Use a potato masher to crush the strawberries until mostly liquid (it's fine if small pieces are remaining).
- Increase heat to medium-high and bring to a boil, stirring constantly.
- Boil (still stirring constantly) for 1 minutes and remove from heat, place in new heat proof container to cool faster. Set aside while you prepare your cream cheese layer
- In a medium-sized bowl, beat together cream cheese, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until combined.8 oz (225 g) cream cheese, ½ cup (65 g) powdered sugar, ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a separate, clean bowl, beat 1 cup heavy cream to stiff peaks1 cup (235 ml) heavy cream
- Fold into cream cheese mixture -- the resulting mixture will be thick and fluffy.
- Spread evenly into prepared graham cracker crust and place in refrigerator while your strawberry mixture continues to cool.1 9-10" graham cracker crust
- Once strawberry mixture has cooled completely, add the remaining srawberries and stir well.
- Pour over cream cheese layer, piling/mounding strawberries towards the center.
- Return to refrigerator and allow to set at least 4 hours (preferably overnight) before slicing and serving.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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AMAZING. This is a wonderful pie, enjoyed by all. Highly recommend making the day before and giving it plenty of time to set up. Easy recipe to follow.
Thank you for sharing.
So glad you enjoyed! Thank you for commenting, Diane!
I made this for a Labor Day Bbq. It was a hit! I loved that the glaze was not made from Jell-o. Although good, they are usually gloppy and overly sweet. This recipe was just right! I also appreciated you used real whipped cream instead of whipped topping. That always makes such a difference. Usually I stick to the recipe but knowing my guests, I wanted to tailor it to their likes. I added lemon zest to the cream cheese layer and fresh chopped basil to the strawberry glaze. It was sublime. I used a pastry crust instead of graham because my guests prefer pastry. I finished the pie off with fresh sweetened whipped cream, pastry flowers and basil sprigs and flowers.
Thank you for sharing this recipe. It is a keeper!
Homemade is ALWAYS the way to go! I don’t like that store bought whipped cream. I’m glad you and your guests enjoyed it! 😃
Can you use frozen strawberries?
Yes that will work! Enjoy!
This pie is delicious – Made it because I had the ingredients needed and was trying to make something I did not need to go to grocery store for. I had fresh strawberries and cream cheese. All the other ingredients I also had on hand. Everyone loved it at the gathering I went to yesterday – and it was so good – I am making another one today. I used regular pie crust – but am sure graham cracker crust would be good as well… Thanks for the awesome recipe!
I’m so glad to hear that it was a hit, Pati!!
What a wonderful recipe! Made this with my 10 year old for a 4th of July church picnic and we won 2nd place! I only got a tiny taste that day so we made it again today and it was divine!
I just made this last night on a steamy hot summer night. So easy and so delicious! I bought an extra large graham crust and the filling and mountain of strawberries fit perfectly. I also added lemon zest to the cream cheese mix. This will be my new go to for a stunning summer treat. Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed! Thank you for commenting, Maia!
OMG…I made this yesterday and it is sooo good and my husband also really liked it. I will definitely be making this again.
I’m so glad you and your husband enjoyed, Mary! 🙂
I love this recipe and use it with sugar-free sweeteners for diabetic relatives.
So glad to hear you enjoy it! 🙂
Thank you so much. I have searched everywhere for something comparable to what my husband remembers his mother making and this did the trick!
So glad you enjoyed it! 🙂
I made this for a summer dinner, and it was a huge hit! I used a gluten free graham cracker crust as I have celiacs. And then for the lemon juice part, I used fresh squeezed lemon juice in the sauce, but before I squeezed it I zested it. I put some of the lemon zest in the cream cheese mixture. It was kind of a like a strawberry lemonade pie after that! It made it slightly tangy, which I loved! I could definitely see incorporating other fruits too, so versatile. Thank you for sharing!
I’m so happy to hear you enjoyed the pie so much, Sara!! 🙂
My pie came out deliciously! Thank you for the recipe. My strawberries were larger but I loved that it had a cream cheese whipped cream filling. There are so many “strawberry pie” recipes online that are nothing but ready-made crusts with strawberries and gelatin under whipped cream. This is sooooo much better! Thank you again!
I’m so happy to hear that you loved it! I also don’t love the pre-made pies and try to do as much from-scratch as possible! 🙂
Just made 2! Taking one to an elderly aunt and keeping the other for our family. Can’t wait until it’s ready to eat. I’m sure we will like it and I’ll probably be making it several times this summer.
This was easy to make, beautiful to look at, and absolutely delicious! The whole family enjoyed it – I’ll definitely be making it again! Thank you.
I’m so happy to hear this! Thank you for letting me know how it turned out for you, Mary!
Strawberries are so addicting! I would eat them by the barrel if I could! There is just something about a fresh, bright red strawberry. I love this pie. It is so cooling and refreshing which is perfect for the summer!
This pie looks perfect for summer!