When it comes to holiday pies, this Cranberry Pie is one you will want to make. Easy, minimal ingredients makes this pie delicious and addicting.
This time of year I love all the cranberry things. Especially all the desserts. But you all know that I’m a dessert person at heart anyways as you can tell if you’ve followed me for some time.
But when November/December rolls around cranberry desserts are where it’s at! Some of my favorite ones include my Cranberry Orange Bundt Cake, Cranberry Orange Layer Cake and these Cranberry Bliss Donuts.
But I also love pie, so if you are a pie lover like me then you’ll adore this Cranberry Pie. A mixture of cranberry, orange and raspberry make this pie come together really well and the flavors I can’t even explain, just amazing.
WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS:
- Using minimal ingredients and no bake (besides the crust) this pie whips up quickly and chills to create a fun flavorful treat.
- The addition of Jello in this pie really makes it set up well and keep it’s flavor and texture in tact.
- You can add or take away ingredients depending on your flavor profile making this Cranberry Pie recipe adaptable to your liking.
I’ve made some “jello” pies in the past which include my Strawberry Pie and my Blueberry Pie and I really wanted to see if it worked with a Cranberry Pie, and it turned out better than I had expected.
HOW TO MAKE CRANBERRY PIE, STEP BY STEP:
- In saucepan over medium heat whisk together water, orange juice, orange zest and sugar until combined.
- A little at a time add in your cornstarch and whisk in until combined.
- Add in your cranberries and stir together.
- Heat over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until berries burst, smashing with your spoon/spatula until thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in your jello until dissolved.
- Pour into pre-baked pie crust and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until set.
This Cranberry Pie is really a simple recipe, the hardest part is waiting for the pie to chill and set up before you can really dig in. Think of it as a cranberry sauce pie, but better tasting.
WHAT KIND OF JELLO SHOULD I USE?
For this Cranberry Pie recipe we used raspberry jello, you can also use cranberry jello (hard to fine), cherry jello or even orange jello if you want that orange flavor to really pop out.
We chose raspberry jello because in typical Cranberry Dessert recipes that use jello, they use raspberry and the flavors taste similar and it offsets the tartness of the cranberries themselves.
DO I HAVE TO USE A PRE-BAKED PIE CRUST?
You do not have to use a pre-baked pie crust. I like to use the deep dish frozen crusts that you bake in the oven and then let it cool. You can make your own pie dough as well, but make sure you are using deep dish so it can fit the filling.
If you want to use a graham cracker crust use one that uses the 2 plus servings, this should work, but graham cracker crusts for this recipe are not my favorite but have worked with jello pies in the past.
This Cranberry Pie Recipe is one of those unique holiday recipes that you will want to have at your dinner table. People might be confused at first, but once they have that first bite, they will fall in love.
At least that is what we have done. We fell in love with this pie and will be served at all of our winter holiday gatherings here on out for real.
TIPS AND TRICKS FOR MAKING CRANBERRY PIE:
- Use fresh cranberries, frozen will carry too much water in them and won’t let this pie set up right.
- You can switch out your jello for others if you’d like, we like the pairing of raspberry for this particular recipe.
- Let this pie set for at least 4 hours, we make our’s the day before and refrigerate overnight.
- You can add mix-ins such as chopped pecans if you’d like or some small cut up mandarin oranges for a little more texture.
- Make sure when you are simmering your berries to press down to help them burst, regardless if you do get whole berries they will be softened and not hard if you don’t get them smashed.
This Cranberry Pie is exactly what you need in your life, super easy, super flavorful and 100% fun! You at least have to try it to find out!
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Cranberry Pie
Ingredients
- 1 9 " deep dish pie crust baked according to pkg
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup orange juice
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1 12 oz bag fresh cranberries
- 1 3 oz pkg raspberry jello
Instructions
- In saucepan over medium heat whisk together water, orange juice, orange zest and sugar until combined.
- A little at a time add in your cornstarch and whisk in until combined.
- Add in your cranberries and stir together.
- Heat over medium heat for 10-15 minutes until berries burst, smashing with your spoon/spatula until thickened.
- Remove from heat and stir in your jello until dissolved.
- Pour into pre-baked pie crust and refrigerate for at least 4 hours until set.
Notes
- Use fresh cranberries, frozen will carry too much water in them and won't let this pie set up right.
- You can switch out your jello for others if you'd like, we like the pairing of raspberry for this particular recipe.
- Let this pie set for at least 4 hours, we make our's the day before and refrigerate overnight.
- You can add mix-ins such as chopped pecans if you'd like or some small cut up mandarin oranges for a little more texture.
- Make sure when you are simmering your berries to press down to help them burst, regardless if you do get whole berries they will be softened and not hard if you don't get them smashed.
Nutrition
Tornadough Alli is not a nutritionist or dietitian, and any nutritional information shared is an estimate. If calorie count and nutritional value is important to you, we recommend running the ingredients through whichever online nutritional calculator you prefer. Calories and values can vary depending on which brands were used.
Brenda Pavich
Recipe was wonderful. Used 3 pie crusts & cut to circles in cupcake pans to make 18 tarts. Garnish with sugared cranberry.
Amy
Simple and perfect. It came out great! A new favorite. Thank you!
Donna Miner
Need to keep my carbs as low as possible- what do you think of trying sugar-free jello and a sugar free sweetener?
Tornadough Alli
I think it should be fine, I would just make sure the jello adds up to the amount of the regular box of jello would, I’m not too familiar with sugar free jello but I know the boxes are smaller.
Linda Williams
Looks awesome, so I’m giving it a 5 star rating anyway. I am going to make it, but I need to know, how much cornstarch? Thanks.
Tornadough Alli
Of course that would be something I would leave out ugh! Thank you for pointing it out, its 1/4 cup, just updated in the recipe card! I hope you enjoy it!