Classic Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Without Tapioca Recipe

The marriage of sweet strawberries and sharp, tart rhubarb is a match made in heaven and enjoying it in pie form is one of the best ways to celebrate spring. As the first of warmer-weather fruit comes out (or vegetables, as rhubarb is), this kind of pie is really a beacon of hope for the spring and summer to come and an excellent way to cast aside the winter blues!

But there are a lot of bad strawberry rhubarb pies out there. Because strawberries are such a juicy fruit, it can be hard to curb that moisture in the pie – and often attempts to do so result in either a soggy bottom crust or an overly starchy filling.

This recipe tries to remedy that without using tapioca – with some of the filling precooked and the use of both flour and cornstarch to thicken the filling. It’s also just sweet enough while still celebrating the delightful sharpness of rhubarb.

How to Make Strawberry Rhubarb Pie Without Using Tapioca

At least 30 minutes (or even a few days) prior to making your pie, make sure to prep your pie crust! It needs time to rest and hydrate in the fridge.

I always use my all-butter pie crust recipe when making pies (see also my apple pie with brown butter) and it’s super easy to make, very tender, and exceptionally flaky.

Now we’ve got that covered, it’s time to get started on your filling! Keep in mind that the fruit cooks down significantly while baking so it will seem like a lot to begin with.

To start, add some white sugar to a large bowl along with a bit of lemon zest. Use your fingertips to massage the zest into the sugar, bringing out the oils. The sugar will then have the texture of moist sand. I do this in my Czech kolache recipe, as well!

Add your chopped strawberries and rhubarb along with a squeeze of lemon juice and stir to combine. Allow the fruit to macerate and collect a syrup for about 30 minutes.

You can use this downtime to roll out your pie dough. Roll out one piece to serve as the bottom crust and then gently transfer it to a standard pie dish and move it to the fridge until you need it.

Roll out the other piece of dough but cut this one into 4cm (1.5in) strips to form a lattice top. Transfer these strips to a baking sheet and refrigerate until you need it, as well.

Once the strawberries and rhubarb have macerated and release a significant amount of liquid, drain the berries in a sieve set over a saucepan.

Set the pan with the strawberry-rhubarb syrup over medium-low heat and cook the syrup down until it’s thick and reduced by about half – this will only take a few minutes. Once you’re at this point, add a bit of butter and melt that in the pan.

Sprinkle over some flour and cook it for a minute or two – you will have a pink-coloured roux at this point.

Once you’ve reached that point, spoon in about two-thirds of the fruit filling and, stirring occasionally, cook it down. You want the strawberries to begin breaking down and for a good portion of the liquid to be cooked off. This will take about 10 minutes.

Once you’re at that stage, add the cooked fruit to a large bowl with the uncooked fruit. To this, add in a bit of brown sugar (this just adds some complexity to the filling), some vanilla paste (use extract if that’s all you have) and a bit of cornstarch.

Using two different types of thickeners added in different ways allows you to have a nice, set filling without it feeling to thick and gloopy when eating it.

Mix all of this together until it’s well combined.

Go ahead and remove the bottom crust from the fridge and spoon the filling into it, making sure that everything is evenly distributed.

Now it’s time to weave the lattice top, which seems more complicate than it actually is. The lattice also serves a little bit more purpose than simply being highly decorative – it also aids in evaporation and allows the filling not to be too wet.

Remove the dough strips from the refrigerator. Arrange half of the strips – vertical and parallel to each other – evenly spaced across the pie. Make sure to lay the longer strips across the middle and the shorter strips across the sides.

Carefully fold up every other dough strip and place another dough strip perpendicular to the vertical strips. Fold down the lifted dough strips so they lay on top of the horizontal piece.

Then, lift of the other vertical strips – the ones you haven’t lifted already – still lifting every other strip. Lay another strip of dough horizontally across the pie and the vertical dough strips. Fold down the lifted strips so that they lay on top of the horizontal piece just laid.

Repeat this process until you’ve placed all of your dough and the pie is covered. Then, trim off the excess dough from the edges, leaving a bit of overhand.

Fold the overhand over itself and then crimp to seal. You can opt for a decorative crimp or simply use the tines of a fork.

At this point, I like to chuck the pie in the freezer for about 10 minutes because the pastry will have warmed up considerably during this time.

Once it’s chilled out a bit, remove it from the freezer and brush the pastry down with a beaten egg and sprinkle with a bit of demerara sugar.

Set the pie on a rimmed baking sheet (to catch any drips!) and move it to a preheated 200°C/400°F oven. As soon as you add the pie to the oven, reduce the heat to 180°C/350°F.

Bake the pie until the pastry is crisp and golden and the filling is bubbling through the gaps – this will take around an hour to an hour and fifteen minutes.

Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool completely before slicing and serving – this will take about four hours.

Try to be patient as you want the filling to be adequately set! If you want to eat a summery dessert quicker, then make my sour cherry teacake instead.

This strawberry rhubarb pie takes a little bit of work, but it’s super delicious. The filling is set perfectly even without using tapioca but it doesn’t feel too starchy when eating it!

Are you after a great recipe for strawberry rhubarb pie? Have any questions? Let me know in the comments!