Bursting with summer berries and paired up with my famous flaky pie crust, this gluten free and keto blueberry pie truly is as good as it gets. i.e. its the real deal!

Keto Blueberry Pie 🥧

With my (suuuper flaky!) pie crust

Sometimes life really does give you lemons. And by lemons I mean ridiculously good summer blueberries. So many, in fact, that all you can dream up is a legit summer pie.

Lattice pie crust, fluted edges ‘n all that jazz.

And by all that jazz, I mean an impossibly creamy (no churn!) vanilla ice cream. You know, one that doesn’t freeze rock solid.

(Because RIP to all the bent spoons that have succumbed to erythritol based ice creams).

But back to pie, a true labor of love. So do make sure to procure some terrific summer berries, you know, to make it all worth while. So turn on some jams, be mindful and enjoy the process!

The Filling: Jammy vs Fresh

How about we do a mix of both?! And I guess that’s the best fruit pie making advice I can give you. Incidentally, not mine originally, but by the lovely Southern lady who passed on the *brilliant* top tips of adding beer (or coffee)(or both!) to chili. (Truly brilliant, in case you haven’t tried it!).

Well, she poised a very interesting opinion about pie. How the best kinds have the best of both worlds: a jammy filling that’s also bursting with fresh berries.

And, she was right! At least imho. So what I like to do here is cook about three quarters of the blueberries on the stovetop, and this way I can adjust the sweetener to taste too. And, vip, this way you can reduce the thickener incidentally (i.e. reduce the carb count too!)… or leave it out completely even (though I would cook most of the berries here to avoid soggy pie).

This way you are reducing the juice of your berries on the stove top and your pie will also bake quicker. Which is handy too, as we all know keto flours have a tendency to brown faster (and so this pie crust is good and done after about 40 minutes in the oven).

But do note that a little thickener does result in the best texture. Cornstarch is the usual choice for blueberries (a ‘dirty’ keto choice I suppose), so tapioca or arrowroot are also a solid option (still a starch, but grain free, paleo etc).

Feeling a little extra? Adding a touch of cinnamon (or lemon zest!) to the filling brings out beautiful notes in the blueberries. Sometimes I’ll even add it to the pie crust itself, to create even more boldness in the flavors. On that note, I once had a blueberry pie topped with cinnamon ice cream: out. of. this. world! (And on that note, why isn’t cinnamon ice cream more a thing?!)

The Sweetener

I suggest truly sweetening to taste here (another case for the beauty of partially cooking the filling on the stove top!). As we all know, keto palates adapt quickly to the absence of sugar- i.e. your fresh summer blueberries (or frozen variety, ahem!) are likely to even be plenty sweet (nearly) solo.

Still, I like to add a touch of allulose and a squeeze of lemon juice to amp up the flavors. Though Lakanto Golden (barely any cooling aftertaste here) and xylitol (non-corn though to avoid tummy troubles!) are solid options too.

And if using xylitol, make sure to be careful if you have a pup (or kitty!) around the house, as it’s highly toxic to the little guys!

The Deets

When rolling out the pie crust, you may want to use parchment or wax paper. Given the lack of gluten, the crust is more fragile and it will break easily if not handled with care. So I suggest rolling it out between two sheets of parchment paper. Easy peasy.

If it begins to become unmanageable as it comes to room temperature (you know, and the butter melts away), just pop it into the freezer for a few minutes before carrying on.

And talking about lack of gluten, this is the reason why the dough will crack slightly when baked. I’ve noticed that the cracking can be lessened by allowing the dough to rest overnight (as it hydrates more evenly, I’m guessing), though note that taste and texture will be the same. I also noted that by increasing the xanthan gum you can get a silky smooth crust, but at the cost of losing quite a bit of flakiness. So I most definitely sacrificed some aesthetics for the sake of taste and texture.

If you’re still struggling with the pie crust, up the xanthan gum to 1/2 teaspoon. No biggie.

One last thing. Like with any pastry dough, make sure not to over-process the dough. The mixture ought to resemble coarse breadcrumbs rather than cookie dough.

And just pinch together any cracks. No biggie either, just takes a little practice. 🙂

Just One Rule

Make sure the filling is completely chilled before filling up the pie. Otherwise you will (quite literally) see the pastry melt before your very eyes.

And remember that, like with any pastry dough, you need to work quickly and over a cool surface. Again, if the dough becomes too hard to manage, you can always pop it back in the fridge (or even freezer) for 15 minutes before carrying on!

And enjoy the beautiful mess that is a truly bursting blueberry pie!

p.s. if you find yourself short of kitchen equipment (you know, pie moulds etc), you can whip up some pretty legit galettes too. You know, essentially french for lazy pies (but we can call them rustic too). Which are also, incidentally, great too if you so happen to be flying solo. Or doing keto solo. Or want to reduce the carb count (for they have a higher ratio of pie crust to blueberries). You can find the full deets on Keto Summer Favorites.