The Great Dilemma:
You are asked to bring a dessert to a potluck, BBQ, or dinner party. Do you stick to your real food convictions and bring something “healthy”, or cave in and bring a standard dessert loaded with white sugar…?
I will confess that I’ve done both. Depending on the crowd, sometimes it’s not worth it to use all my expensive, healthy sweeteners when they won’t eat it anyway.
Thankfully, fruit pies are a great compromise, provided you can make them without adding cups and cups of white sugar.
I LOVE having pie fillings ready to go, whether they are in my freezer or pantry (home canned). When I need a dessert fast, it’s such a relief to pull one out and dump it in a crust. Homemade pie in a hurry!
Is it Possible to Can Pie Filling?
Yes, it is possible to safely can a variety of fruit-based pie fillings. However, it’s important that Clear-Jel is the ONLY thickener you use in your pie fillings destined for canning. Cornstarch, arrowroot powder, and flour are great for regular pie fillings, but are not approved for canned ones, as they can cause the filling to thicken to a point where the heat cannot fully penetrate the jar’s contents.
Why I Freeze Pie Fillings
Honestly, I don’t usually have Clear-Gel in my pantry, so when Northwest Fruit Growers generously sent me a box of nectarines this week that needed to be processed ASAP, I decided to opt for frozen pie filling instead.
When you freeze your pie fillings, you can use whatever thickener you like– it’s as easy as tossing the ingredients in a gallon freezer bag and calling it good!
I had a hard time finding a peach pie filling recipe that didn’t call for an obscene amount of sugar. So, I tweaked several and came up with my own. Depending on the sweetness of your peaches, you will need to adjust the amount of sucanat. My filling ended up pleasantly sweet, but definitely not overpowering.
How to Freeze Peach Pie Filling
Yield: Filling for one 9-inch pie
You Will Need:
- 5-6 cups peeled, sliced peaches or nectarines (**See peeling tip below)
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup (or more to taste) sucanat or other granulated natural sweetener
- 3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder OR cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons pure lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch of salt (I use this one)
Instructions:
**To easily peel whole peaches or nectarines: Drop the whole fruit in a pot of boiling water for 60 seconds. Remove from the hot water and immediately place in a bowl of ice cold water for 1-2 minutes. The skin should slip right off with minimal waste. (And be sure to give the peach skins to your chickens, goats, or pig!)
After the peaches are peeled and sliced, drain them to remove the majority of the water and other liquid. Combine the peach slices with arrowroot powder, cinnamon, vanilla, sweetener, lemon juice, nutmeg, and salt. Mix thoroughly.
Place in a gallon-size freezer bag or other freezer safe container (if using glass, be sure to leave plenty of headspace). Label and freeze.
Freezer Peach Pie Filling Notes
- Alternate Freezing Method: Line a pie pan with foil, then freeze the filling in the shape of a pie. I’ve read that you can put the frozen chunk directly in a crust and then in the oven. However, I’ve never tried this. My pie pans are all different sizes, so I prefer just to use defrosted (or mostly defrosted…) filling.
- When You are Ready to Make a Pie: Defrost the filling and place in a homemade, shortening-free pie crust. (or use this filling in a peach cobbler instead!) Top with either an additional crust or a crumb topping. Cover the edges with foil or a pie shield, then bake at 400 degrees for 25 minutes. Remove the shield and bake for an additional 20-30 minutes or until the filling is bubbly and the crust is golden brown. (But whatever you do, please, please don’t overbake your crust. Please.)
How to Make Peach Pie Filling for the Freezer
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch pie 1x
- Category: Dessert
Ingredients
- 5–6 cups peeled, sliced peaches or nectarines (**See peeling tip below)
- 1/4 to 1/3 cup (or more to taste) sucanat or other granulated natural sweetener
- 3 Tablespoons arrowroot powder OR cornstarch
- 2 Tablespoons pure lemon juice
- 2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- Pinch of salt (I use this one)
Instructions
- After peeling and slicing peaches, drain to remove water
- Combine peach slices, arrowroot powder, cinnamon, vanilla, sweetener, lemon juice, nutmeg, and salt, mixing thoroughly
- Place in gallon-size freezer bag or freezer safe container (if using glass, leave plenty of headspace)
- Label and freeze
- To use: thaw first, then pour into an unbaked pie shell. Cover edges with foil or a pie shield and bake at 400* for 25 minutes, then remove the shield and bake for an additional 20 minutes, or until the filling is hot and bubbly in the center.
Notes
*To easily peel peaches: Drop whole peach in pot of boiling water 1-2 minutes, remove and immediately place in a bowl of ice water 1-2 minutes. The skin should slip right off with minimal waste. (Chickens, goats and pigs love peach skins!)
*Alternate Freezing Method: Line a pie pan with foil, then freeze filling in the shape of a pie. I hear you can put the frozen chunk directly in a crust to bake, however, I’ve never tried this-I just to use mostly defrosted filling. It works.**
3.4.3177
What other sweetness would you use I stead of sucanat? Maybe I missed the list somewhere on this site!
You could use rapadura, raw honey, maple syrup, straight stevia, unrefined cane sugar, etc. Or, if you had to, just plain white sugar.
How much honey or maple syrup per recipe?
Oh, this sounds yummy! Do you know how to can it instead of freezing it? Can I just put the peach mixture in the jars or would it need something else? Thanks!
CathyG,
I’ve personally never canned the peach filling, I’ve only done canned apple pie filling. I think it would probably be pretty similiar- might google it, though.
Unless you can find Thermflow- a thickener designed for canning pie filling- that is will maintain the thickness after canning and thru baking, then can unthickened and add thickener when making the pie.
I have made peach pie, apple pie.filling and canned it, turns out the Sam as you would buy in a can? My adopted mom taught me to do it!
How would you use this in a peach cobbler
Looks delicious (I prefer cold pie too). I am in love with your blog, found you via the MomComm critique. Lovely to meet you 🙂
Lovely to meet you, too! So glad to have you along!! 🙂
This sounds like a great idea! I’m tempted to try this with the mountain of blackberries and raspberries that are currently sitting in my kitchen. Any thoughts on using different fruits?
I just took advantage of the season as well – I did some canning and freezing just of the slices, not the pie filling. Pie filling would have been nice though! I was just too lazy.
My preferred sweetener is raw honey… it’s about as natural and unprocessed as you can get, plus it is significantly lower on the GI index as opposed to pretty much any other sweetener. Even processed honey is up there the same as sugar, but the raw stuff is good for ya 🙂
Oh yes, I <3 raw honey too!!
I will definitely have to try this next year when I get my annual 4 boxes of peaches in August. I did canning and freezing but didn’t even think of doing a peach pie filling. And I love that your recipe is a lot lower in sugar!
Jill,
This is a great trick. We do this with whatever fruits we have extras of. This year it doesn’t look like we’re going to have a big stash which may end up helping my diet. 🙂
Amanda
This is a seriously brilliant idea! I must do more freezer cooking to have things ready for last minute dishes. And thanks for the recipe without the obscene amount of sugar! Definitely appreciated 🙂
I hear ya- I need to work on my freezer cooking skills, too… easier said than done. 😉
I love pie fillings, too. And partnering it with a glass of hibiscus tea, makes it a perfect snack. 🙂
When I make anything with peaches, I peal them and then chop them up really fine in my food processor and make jelly out of it. This way only the seed needs to be thrown away. If I have a large batch to peel I disk the skins in lemon water to maintain their color. I also do this with the peach flesh.
Why does the crust have to be shortening free? Is that to do with using a frozen filling or because you just don’t think it is healthy?
I don’t like to use vegetable shortenings (like Crisco) in my cooking because of all the hydrogenated, processed fat they contain. Butter or coconut oil is a much better option. 🙂
Palm shortening is great! and it isn’t hydrogenated…
Hi, Jill! Thanks again for allowing me to share this with my readers. It is SO wonderful! I have a whole case of peaches and will be making this pie filling this weekend. YUM! Blessings to you, sweet friend, Kelly
You are most welcome Kelly! Thanks for sharing it!! 🙂
I always freeze apples in the shape of my favorite pie plate after I get them all spiced up and put in freezer zip-lock bags. Then when I am ready to make my pie, bam, pop it in the pie plate and bake! Apples don’t come out mushy and tastes like I just picked them. I am going to try this with the peaches. I have never done it before but why Not!!!
Super smart idea!
Do you have to use any sweetener at all. I can’t have sweetener or sugar products so can this recipe be done without it.
It’ll be fairly tart without sweetener, but I suppose you to taste test the filling mix before you freeze it and see what you think.
I just defrosted one of the mixes I made with your recipe in August – it seems quite liquidy now that it has defrosted. Should I drain off some or all of the liquid before placing the filling in the pied crust to bake? Thank you for your help!
Wanted to follow up and say I did remove some of the liquid before baking the pie, and it turned out perfectly! It is so delicious. I only prepared 2 batches of your recipe for this winter in order to try, but I will rely on this recipe exclusively in the future. My only substitution was regular sugar for the sweetener because that’s all I had, but it turned out amazing. Thank you so much for sharing!
Yes, that happens to me too, sometimes. I usually drain some of the liquid if it is excessive.
I had just read through the peach pie post this evening when my husband walked in with a bag of way ripe peaches a neighbor had just handed to him. We already had a plan for dinner, but I quickly got them washed, peeled, sliced, spiced and in a freezer bag for a meal not too long up the road. Nutmeg is not a spice that agrees with me. My workaround is a pinch of powdered clove bud, a good pinch of cardamom, a 1/4 tsp. of cinnamon and if it feels right, 1/8 tsp of powdered ginger. We’re off of sugar and like our honey raw, so we’ll drizzle a small amount of raw honey over each slice at serving time. and very possibly some heavy cream. We have been happy with a coconut flour, coconut oil and smidgen of shredded coconut crust for years (adapted from a recipe in Nancy Bubel’s book on root cellars). Thanks for making a surprise way more fun!
Hi Sandy,
Could you share your coconut pie crust recipe??
Thanks,
Juliana
sandy…we would love that coconut flour pie crust recipe too! Thanks!
I love your Podcast. I have a ceramic business so Podcast are perfect for me to listen to while I work.
Could plain gelatin be used to thicken the filling? If so, how would one go about doing so?
Thank you,
Debbie
Hello… how long can peach pie filling be frozen? I have a peach tree that is enormous and I can get LOTS of bags of filling out of it. 1 year’s worth probably. Is that too long?
Thank you. Peg
If you have that many peaches, lucky girl, I would can some too. Canning peaches is fairly simple and if you have help it goes quite quickly. My canned peaches have sat on the shelf for 2 years.
You could reduce the liquid after defrosting, intensifies the flavour. Yum
Hi Jill, love your idea for peach pie filling. Can I use coconut sugar for the sweetner?
Thanks,Amy
How many peaches does it take to make 5-6 cups?
The recipe looks great and I can’t wait to try it.
Thanks!
According to google, 8-10 peaches. It will depend on the size of your peaches, of course.