This Blueberry Crumble Pie has it all—jammy, crispy, crunchy, flaky, and sweet. It combines the best of blueberry pie and blueberry crumble/crisp. This pie is packed with fresh blueberries and features a deliciously sweet and crunchy oat topping. Why choose between a crumble and pie when you can have both with this Blueberry Crumble Pie?!
All-Butter Whole-Wheat Crust
This recipe features the flakiest all-butter whole-wheat crust. Aside from the nutritional aspect, whole-wheat flour is surprisingly ideal for pie crust. Whole-wheat flour develops less gluten in the cooking process than all-purpose flour. So by replacing some of the all-purpose flour with whole-wheat you’re creating a more tender crust.
The best texture and flavor comes by using a combination of all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour. I don’t recommend using all whole-wheat flour as the crust comes out too crumbly and dry.
Simple Blueberry Filling
I find most dessert recipes to be unnecessarily too sweet. And the only reason for using WAY too much sugar is it’s easy—high amounts of sugar generally make baking easier. What’s more challenging is creating a great dessert that relies on technique, not sugar, to create something impressive and delicious.
The blueberry filling for this blueberry crumble pie is 100% naturally sweetened. Because of that, I recommend making this pie with in-season ripe blueberries.
In addition to the blueberries, the filling is also made with shredded green apple. The apple does a few things: adds natural sweetness, adds fruit pectin (which helps thicken the fruit filling), and balances the sweet flavors with its tartness.
If you like this sweet-tart blueberry filling, then you should check out our Blueberry Rhubarb Pie. It is fabulous!
Thickening Fruit Filling with Tapioca
This blueberry crumble pie relies on ground tapioca to thicken the filling and make it nice and jammy. I prefer this over cornstarch for its thickening power. It’s important to use an added thickener to ensure a thick filling that will hold as opposed to a thin, soupy filling that can cause the crust to become soggy.
Buttery Oat Crumble Topping
I love a crisp, buttery crumble topping and this one is so good! It’s hard not to snack on it before it even goes in the oven. My healthier version (similar to the crumble used in this apple crisp recipe) is made with oats, almonds and whole-wheat flour. I like to use a combo of melted butter and olive oil, though you can use all butter if you prefer.
And finally, the only added sugar in this recipe is in the crumble—a bit of brown sugar. Coconut sugar will also work, but since we’re only adding ⅓ cup to the entire recipe I prefer brown sugar for it’s sweet punch (coconut sugar just isn’t as sweet).
FAQs About Blueberry Crumble Pie
I haven’t tested this so I can’t guarantee anything. But if you’d like to try preparing this and freezing it ahead of time, I would follow the instructions up until the point of baking.
Place the prepared pie (crust filled with blueberry mixture and topped with crumble) on a baking sheet and transfer to the freezer until frozen solid. Once frozen, wrap the pie tightly in a piece of plastic wrap followed by a piece of foil. Store in the freezer for up to 3 months.
To bake the frozen pie, remove the foil and plastic wrap, place on a baking sheet and bake on the bottom rack according to recipe instructions. I would increase the bake time at 400ºF (204ºC) to 30 minutes before decreasing the oven temperature to 350ºF (177ºC). Do not thaw the pie before baking.
I have not tested this using frozen berries, so I cannot guarantee it will work. However, I anticipate frozen blueberries would work well. Follow the recipe instructions as directed, cooking down 3 cups of blueberries and keeping 3 cups of blueberries whole. Mix the cooked blueberry mixture with 3 cups frozen blueberries (do not thaw them).
According to the USDA, fruit pies do not need to be refrigerated due to their high sugar and acid content (both of which slow the rate of bacteria growth). This pie does well stored either way—room temperature or refrigerated—for up to two days. I prefer room temperature but do what works best for you!
Place the pie plate in a 300ºF (149ºC) oven for 5–10 minutes until warmed through and the topping is crisp.
Most fruit pies feature a lot of added sugar in the form of granulated sugar. Unlike most pies, this blueberry crumble pie has just ⅓ cup added sugar in it.
The combination of ripe fresh blueberries and shredded Granny Smith apple make the filling sweet enough. The crumb topping—made with almonds, oats and brown sugar—adds just the right amount of sweetness.
Blueberry Crumble Pie with Spiced Oat Crumble
Description
Ingredients
Crust
- 1 cup (125g) all-purpose flour
- ½ cup (66g) white whole-wheat flour
- ½ teaspoon (3g) kosher salt
- 11 tablespoons (150g) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into ¼-inch cubes
- 4-6 tablespoons ice water
Crumble Topping
- ¾ cup old-fashioned oats
- ⅓ cup sliced almonds
- ⅓ cup packed brown sugar, or coconut sugar
- ⅓ cup white whole-wheat flour, or regular whole-wheat flour or all-purpose flour
- 4 tablespoons (¼ cup) unsalted butter, melted
- 2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil, or additional melted butter
- 1 teaspoon ground ginger
- ¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
Filling
- 2 pounds fresh blueberries (about 6 ½ cups)
- 1 lemon, zested and juiced
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 Granny Smith apple, peeled, cored, and shredded (about 1 cup shredded; 158g)
- 2 tablespoons instant tapioca, ground*
Instructions
Crust
- Drizzle 3 tablespoons of water over flour mixture. Pulse until mixture resembles wet sand and forms a dough when pinched, 5–10 pulses. (If the dough is too try, add additional water by teaspoon until a dough forms when pinched.)
- Transfer to a large piece of plastic wrap and gently form dough into a ball; wrap in plastic and flatten into a 5-inch disk. Refrigerate dough until very firm, at least 1 hour.
- Generously flour a work surface. Unwrap dough and lightly dust with flour. If needed, let dough stand at room temperature until it gives slightly when pressed; 5–10 minutes. Roll dough out into an ⅛-inch thick 13-inch round.
- Fold dough in quarters; place corner in center of a 9-inch pie plate. Gently unfold dough to cover plate, using one hand to pick up edges of dough and an index finger to press dough into corners and up sides. Trim dough overhang to ½-inch. (Use dough trimmings to patch any thin creased areas caused by folding).
- Tuck edges of dough under and crimp using thumbs and pointer fingers.
- Freeze dough-lined pie plate for 20 minutes. Prick bottom, sides and corners with a fork. Line dough with a piece of foil, pressing it flush against the corners, sides, and to cover the rim. Prick foil about a dozen places with a fork. Freeze shell for 30 minutes.
- Heat oven to 400ºF (204ºC) with rack set in lowest position. Bake shell 25 minutes, pressing down on foil with an oven mitt to flatten if it puffs. Remove foil and continue to bake shell just until it begins to color, about 10 minutes.
Crumble Topping
- While the pie dough is chilling or baking, combine oats, almonds, brown sugar, flour, melted butter, oil, ginger, nutmeg, and ¼ teaspoon salt until a stiff dough comes together. Cover and chill until needed.
Filling
- Place 3 cups and blueberries and 2 tablespoons lemon juice in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring and mashing occasionally with potato masher, until half of blueberries are broken down and mixture measures 1½–1 ¾ cups, about 10 minutes. Off heat, stir in 2 teaspoons lemon zest and ¼ teaspoon salt; let cool.
- In a large bowl, stir together remaining 3 cups fresh blueberries, cooled cooked blueberry mixture, shredded apple, and ground tapioca until thoroughly combined.
- Transfer blueberry mixture to warm crust.
- Pinch crumble topping into ½-inch pieces and sprinkle evenly over filling.
- Set pie on a baking sheet and bake on lowest rack at 400ºF (204ºC) until crust is light golden brown, 15–18 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF (177ºC), rotate sheet, and continue to bake pie until crust and topping is deep golden brown, about 25 minutes more.
- Let pie cool on wire rack until juices have thickened, about 2 hours. Serve with vanilla bean ice cream, optional.
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This was delicious! Such a great textured crust (my girls said that was their favorite part!), tart and juicy filling and sweet crunchy topping. We plopped vanilla ice cream on each slice and it was perfect.
yay! So glad to hear you and the girls loved it! Thanks for giving it a try!