My mom absolutely LOVES cherry pie, as does Tony’s family, so a few years ago I decided to make a tart cherry pie with a dutch topping crumble. Since then, I’ve spent the past few years tweaking the cherry pie recipe until I found that it was absolutely perfect.
Fast-forward to today, and this incredible tart cherry pie is FAMOUS thanks to The Kitchn! The writers from The Kitchn did a cherry pie showdown to find the best one on the internet, and after pitting my recipe against 3 others, they wrote an article called “I Tried 4 Cherry Pie Recipes and I Can’t Stop Thinking About the Winner.”
If that isn’t any indication that this pie is a MUST make, I don’t know what is.
So here it is in all its glory: from the butter pie crust, to the perfect cherry pie filling and dutch topping, this truly is the BEST cherry pie you’ll ever eat! The Kitchn said so with their review here 🙂
I hope you’ll give it a try — it makes the perfect Fourth of July or summertime dessert and it’s well worth the effort!
What’s the difference between regular tart cherry pie and dutch tart cherry pie?
Regular tart cherry pies are made with a lattice or regular crust on top, while dutch tart cherry pie is traditionally made with a streusel topping made up of butter, flour, brown sugar and sometimes, nuts or oats. The dutch crumb topping bakes up golden brown and is slightly sweeter than a regular crust top. Both are delicious but I love the way the dutch topping is almost like a tart cherry crumble!
What kind of cherries are good for pies?
Cherries come in two broad categories: sweet cherries and “sour” or tart cherries.
Sweet cherries are the ones you’ll find fresh in the produce section of the grocery store, whereas tart cherries are more likely found canned or frozen.
In this cherry pie recipe, we’re using frozen tart cherries to give the pie a wonderful flavor that balances with the sweet crumb topping. Tart cherries are packed with antioxidants and also brighter in color, giving this tart cherry pie a gorgeous, bright red look.
Ingredients in tart cherry pie
This wonderful tart cherry pie recipe is made with frozen tart cherries and delicious flavors from almond extract, amaretto and some good old sugar & butter. Here’s what you’ll need to make it:
- Homemade pie crust: we’re using my homemade butter pie crust in this recipe to make it extra special. You can also use store bought crust or your favorite pie crust!
- Frozen tart cherries: our filling is made of lots of gorgeous tart cherries. No need to thaw them before using, as you’ll cook them on the stovetop with the other ingredients. If using dark sweet cherries, we recommend reducing the sugar to 3/4 cup and reducing the cornstarch to 1 1/2 tablespoons.
- Organic cane sugar: give the filling the perfect amount of sweetness with some organic cane sugar. You can also use regular, granulated sugar.
- Cornstarch & flour: to thicken the tart cherry pie filling you’ll need to add a bit of cornstarch and regular flour.
- Almond extract & amaretto: I love adding both almond extract and a bit of amaretto to give the filling and amazing, cozy flavor.
- Butter: you’ll also need a bit of butter in the filling to deepen the flavors.
- For the crumb topping: you’ll need all-purpose flour, brown sugar, rolled oats and butter to make that delicious dutch crumb topping.
How to make homemade tart cherry pie from scratch
- Make your crust. Roll out your dough, place in the pie pan, shape your crust as desired and then cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge until you are ready to add your tart cherry pie filling.
- Make your tart cherry pie filling. Add frozen tart cherries, sugar, cornstarch, flour and almond extract to a large pot and place over medium heat. After 5 minutes or so, the cherries will thaw, begin to break down and the sugar will melt. Stir frequently during this time. Add in butter and amaretto and continue to stir. After another 5-10 or so minutes, the mixture will begin to thicken and start to bubble along the edges. Once the filling begins to stick slightly to the back of your spoon, remove it from the heat and set aside to cool off.
- Make the dutch crumble topping: in a medium bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar and oats. Add in the melted butter and stir together with a fork until it begins to form into crumbles and resembles clumpy wet sand. You may need to use your hands/fingers to form into nice crumbles. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 5 minutes or until ready to use.
- Add pie filling to pie crust, top with dutch topping and bake! I recommend baking your tart cherry pie on a baking sheet just in case the filling bubbles over. The pie is done when the filling is bubbly and the topping is slightly golden brown.
- Allow tart cherry pie to cool for at least 4-6 hours, but preferably overnight. This is necessary to help the filling set. If you cut into it earlier, it’s likely to not be ready and the filling may not hold up as well. The longer the pie rests, the easier it is to serve! See below for making it ahead of time.
Make this tart cherry pie ahead of time
If you’re prepping this for the holidays or a special occasion, feel free to bake this pie 2-3 days ahead of time. It will hold up well at room temperature, then after a few days should be transferred to the fridge for optimal freshness.
Can you make tart cherry pie filling ahead of time?
Yes! Simply cook your tart cherry pie filling on the stovetop, cool it to room temperature and then place it in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to 4-5 days.
How do you store tart cherry pie?
After baking and cooling completely, you can keep the tart cherry pie covered at room temperature for up to 2 days, then it’s best to transfer to the fridge and store for up to 3 extra days.
How to freeze cherry pie
You can freeze tart cherry pie after baking by wrapping the pie tightly with aluminum foil and placing it in a heavy freezer bag. Pie can be frozen for up to 3 months. Once ready to eat, defrost the pie in the fridge and then reheat at 350 degrees F for 20-30 minutes or until warm.
More summer desserts you’ll love
- World’s Best Banana Cream Pie (with peanut butter cookie crust!)
- Key Lime White Chocolate Macadamia Cookies
- Strawberry Crisp with Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookie Crumble
- Brown Butter Strawberry Coffee Cake with Lovely Strawberry Icing
- Raspberry Bars with Oatmeal Cookie Crumble
Get all of my dessert recipes here, and desserts using fresh fruit here!
I hope you love this homemade tart cherry pie! If you make it be sure to leave a comment and a rating so I know how you liked it. Enjoy, xo!
Ambitious Kitchen
Cookbook
125 Ridiculously Good For You, Sometimes Indulgent, and Absolutely Never Boring Recipes for Every Meal of the Day
The Best Tart Cherry Pie You'll Ever Eat
Ingredients
- For the crust:
- 1 recipe for butter pie crust (or use store bought crust or your favorite pie crust)
- For the filling:
- 6 cups frozen tart cherries (about 24 oz tart cherries)*
- 1 cup organic cane sugar (or granulated sugar)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 tablespoon butter
- 1 tablespoon amaretto
- For the topping:
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- ½ cup packed brown sugar
- ¼ cup rolled oats
- 6 tablespoons butter, melted
Instructions
- Make the pie dough and shape the crust in a pie pan ahead of time, then store covered in the fridge. You can follow my recipe for an all butter flaky pie crust, use your favorite recipe, or a store-bought crust.
- To make the tart cherry pie filling: add frozen tart cherries, sugar, cornstarch, flour and almond extract to a large pot and place over medium heat. After 5 minutes or so, the cherries will thaw, begin to break down and the sugar will melt. Stir frequently during this time. Add in butter and amaretto and continue to stir. After another 5-10 or so minutes, the mixture will begin to thicken and start to bubble along the edges. Once the filling begins to stick slightly to the back of your spoon, remove it from the heat and set aside to cool off.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
- While your oven preheats, make the dutch crumble topping: in a medium bowl, mix together the flour, brown sugar and oats. Add in the melted butter and stir together with a fork until it begins to form into crumbles and resembles clumpy wet sand. You may need to use your hands/fingers to form into nice crumbles. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 5 minutes or until ready to use.
- Remove pie pan with pie crust from the refrigerator and place pie pan onto a large baking sheet. I do this to avoid any spillage that may happen as the pie filling bubbles and bakes. Pour cooled tart cherry pie filling into the crust, then top filling with the dutch crumble topping.
- Bake for 1 hour-1 hour 15 minutes or until the filling is very bubbly and the crumble is slightly golden brown. Check pie after 30 minutes to make sure the crust isn’t burning. If it is getting too golden brown, simply cover pie edges with foil or pie shield.
- Allow pie to cool on a wire rack until completely cooled before cutting into it (this is annoying, but if you cut into it before then the pie filling won't be set). The longer the pie rests, the easier it is to serve! Can be made a few days ahead of time. Pie is best served at room temp or just slightly warm. Serves 9. Great with vanilla bean ice cream. Enjoy!
Recipe Notes
Recipe by: Monique Volz // Ambitious Kitchen | Photography by: Eat Love Eats
This post was originally published on November 13th, 2020, and republished on June 18th, 2023.
I have high hopes for this recipe — I do have a question… how long do I let the filling “cool off”?
Thank you!
This was delicious. I subbed a few cups of cherries for strawberries. So yummy. Will definitely be making again.
Yum! Glad you enjoyed!
You make it impossible to print just your recipe with subscribing to your app.
Hi! No app necessary – the recipe will just be emailed to you for safe-keeping 🙂
OMG! This is the best! I had finally splurged and ordered some sour cherries from King Orchards in MI. (Shipping is cheaper in the winter). One cannot find frozen sour cherries in Florida.
I made this and it is perfect! I love that you can use a store bought crust (I do make a good pie dough for pot pies and such) and the Dutch topping is not too sweet but just enough.
I will be making this over and over (I mean I did get 10lbs of cherries! ) and do not need to look at any other recipes for Cherry pie.
Thank you, thank you.
Warm regards,
Heidi
Sarasota, FL
Amazing! Such a great go-to with all of those cherries 🙂
I made this to try it out to see if I wanted to use it for Thanksgiving. We loved it so much. It is now on the Thanksgiving pie rotation. Wondering if anyone has ever tried some orange peel in it. Thank you for the great recipe.
So happy to hear that! I haven’t tried orange peel, but I think some orange zest would be delicious 🙂
No rating because I haven’t made it yet! The reason being, I can’t find the size of the pie dish you’re using. I’m from England and maybe this is standard in the US, but here it could be anything. Please advise!
thanks so much
I made this recipe once last summer with my neighbors wondering tart cherries off their tree. I still have more of their cherries in my freezer and now i have some haralson apples off my tree. I am wondering what you would think of making this replacing half the cherries with apples? Would I also cook the apples with the cherries? I’m trying to find a similar recipe but cant find one with the amaretto.
That sounds delicious, yes you would cook the cherries and apples together!
This looks wonderful, however, I am allergic to almonds and don’t have either extract or amaretto. Can I either omit or substitute and if substitute, with what? Thank you!
Feel free to use vanilla extract instead!
May I use fresh cherries?
Yes!
This was delicious! This was the first time I’ve made a pie from our tart cherry tree and I’m so happy it turned out so yummy. I will definitely be making this again!
Amazing! Glad you loved it!
This was delicious!! This was the first time I’ve made a pie with the tart cherries from our tree and I’m so happy it turned out so yummy. I will definitely be making it again in the future!
I made this using fresh tart cherries I harvested from my cherry tree. One of the best pies I have ever made! I used a “standard size” frozen store-bought crust but a deep dish crust might have been better as the filling COMPLETELY filled it leaving room for only about 1/2 the streusal.
Fresh cherries sound amazing! Noted on the crust, too – did it look smaller than the one in the photos?
Fell in love with tart cherry pie while traveling in Michigan. I was surprised to find frozen tart cherries in Texas at HEB, our local mega grocery store. I love this pie and everyone raves about it. I follow the recipe exactly and top it with Blue Bell Ice Cream, a Texas favorite.
All fruit recipes I have made call for freezing the pie before baking.
Why does yours not requiring freezing?
Hmm I’ve always made my fruit pies as written and they turn out beautifully!
I totally missed the temperature to bake
Oops! It’s in Step 3 🙂
I love this recipe. Tastes like the most perfect cherry pie. Make it!
So glad you love it!
Forget my previous post. I can now get into the recipe from the pin. Must have been a glitch in Pinterest! Sorry!
I store my recipes on Pinterest. I can pin this recipe to a board but cannot go to your recipe when I click on the pin. Why enable someone to pin it and not be able to do directly to the recipe? Did something change?
Hi! The pin should link directly to this post. Can you do me a favor and send me the link to the pin from your Pinterest account so I can check?
My husband is allergic to tree nuts (including almonds), and Amaretto can be dangerous. I substituted brand and a slight hint of cinnamon oil instead of the almond extract and Amaretto; otherwise followed the recipe. So good. I’m considering making a double batch next time, and mixing some into a homemade vanilla ice cream.
So glad that worked out well!!
I used Pillsbury pie crust. It was absolutely delicius. Thank you.
Perfect! Glad you enjoyed!
Absolutely terrific pie! I ordered a lot of frozen cherries from upstate Michigan and made this for our extended family’s Independence Day celebration on the lake. I used a store bought crust from Trader Joe’s…I wish I could post a photo. The result was amazing. Added a little more cornstarch, due to the frozen nature of the cherries and it was perfect! Everyone loved the pie and now I think I’m on the hook to make one annually. Perfect amount of almond extract also. Going to try your recipe for berries this week. Thanks for sharing all the helpful hints also.
So happy to hear that! It’s such a fun summer treat 🙂
Still my all time favorite recipe of yours! Thanks, Monique! Just came here to tell you Whole Foods no longer carries the frozen tart cherries and they are hard to find. Jewel (Albertsons) has frozen mixed dark and tart cherries. Gordon Food Service (GFS) and Walmart seem to carry all tart cherries if you are looking for them. Google search before you go to the store.
I’m so glad! And thanks so much for the tip on finding them!
In the pre recipe instructions you said to add apples to crust . Was that a mistake
Yes, it should be cherries! Is this located within the blog post? I couldn’t seem to find the error.
My family grows tart cherries in the summer and we freeze them to save for special occasions in the winter. They’re precious and this recipe is so tasty that I only ever use them for this! I do reduce the sugar a bit to 1/2-3/4 cups because I really like the tartness to come out and I usually serve with vanilla ice cream which pairs wonderfully:) Highly recommend this recipe
That sounds amazing!! So happy to hear that you use them for this beautiful pie 🙂
I altered the recipe a bit to fit what I had. I was using a 10″ pie plate and the frozen tart cherries came in a 32oz bag so I added an additional 1/2 tablespoon of corn starch and used vanilla instead of almond extract. My wife and guests said it was the best cherry pie they had ever had. I will definitely be making this pie again
Amazing! So happy to hear that!
I don’t know if it’s written somewhere and I just keep missing it, but what size pie pan is this recipe for? It says serves 9 but how large a pie pan is that in diameter and depth?
Hi! I typically use a 9-inch pie pan like this (it’s 1.7 inches deep).
Made this for Christmas and it was a hit!
So happy to hear that!
DELICIOUS. I love the crumble topping… I’ve never been big on double-crust pies. I also didn’t have amaretto so I used vanilla rum and it was still delicious. I also used an immersion blender to crush the cherries a little while they were cooking down so there weren’t BIG chunks of cherries.
I’ll DEFINITELY make this one – it’s husband-approved.
Perfect! So glad it was a hit!
This is my favorite cherry pie recipe of all time. I found the cherries at Whole Foods in the frozen section- two bags equals the six cups you need. I’ve made this recipe multiple times and keep coming back to make it again, it’s that great. If you like tart cherries, you won’t be disappointed. Thanks, Monique! I have loved every pie recipe (and crust) I’ve made from your website. You are the queen of pies!
Perfect! So glad you’ve been loving the pies 🙂 Might have to rename myself Pie Queen haha
From my own sour cherries-this recipe made the netting picking destining well worth the effort!
Love that! So happy you found this one!
Just made this pie today and can I say I was amazed how easy it was! I’ve had a few bags of tart cherries in my freezer for around a year now and needed a recipe to use them up, and this pie did not disappoint!
Ahh this is so great to hear! Glad it is a hit and you are loving this pie ❤️
Quite literally the best tart cherry pie you’ll ever eat.
AHH this means so much! Glad you are loving this pie recipe 🍒
I drained and froze canned tart cherries because frozen cherries are just not available anywhere — and I live in a dense city with supermarkets and food stores everywhere, including whole foods, Trader Joes and local .chains. (Please make the alternative — freeze your canned cherries — the first option, with good instructions. Also — made the filling a day ahead because of time constraints. It worked. Also rolled out the dough the day before and stored in the fridge.
This looks like what it claims to be — the best. On the other hand, making it depend on an ingredient that, based on many comments, appears to be difficult to find (I couldn’t find it in either the large chain supermarket or three smaller ones) is frustrating. Canned cherries are ubiquitous. If it’s possible to do this with canned cherries (i.e., by freezing them) it would be so much more friendly to have done it that way. Maybe you would consider doing it that way and posting? Thank you
Sorry to hear that the cherries have been hard to find! Feel free to use frozen dark sweet cherries if you’re having trouble finding tart cherries — there’s a note within the blog post about reducing the sugar a bit. I’ll be sure to update the post if I’m able to re-test with canned cherries as well.
THE most delicious cherry pie we have ever had! We’ve been picking fresh cherries every year for over 40 years and have made cherry pies as long! We have our new GO TO recipe! Thank you!
Ah this makes me so happy to hear, that you’re loving this pie recipe and I am SO glad you’re able to make it with fresh cherries, total game changer!
Each June we buy sour cherries at a local orchard so that we can freeze them and enjoy cherry pie throughout the year. Most recipes call for draining the cherries before putting in a bowl with the sugar, cornstarch, etc. (no using the juice–so I drink it). This results in a cherry pie that doesn’t is less than stellar. In 2022, I found this recipe and the results can be summed up in one word: “WOW!” This method of cooking the frozen cherries on the stove top makes all the difference. I cannot stress enough how delicious the pie is using this method. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
Ahh I’m SO glad that you love it, Deb! And I love that tradition of buying the local cherries!
Cherry is my husbands favorite pie so made this for his birthday. We live on the west coast and found frozen cherries at Haggens. Used 1 bag of those and a bag of dried tart cherries from Trader Joes. WOW, what a great pie. Don’t know that I will be making traditional cherry pie again. THANK YOU.
YUM! This is the best, glad this recipe is a hit for you and your husband!
This pie came out very good. My granddaughter and I made it together and she was very proud of her finished product. The comments on the pie were that it was good, but a little sweet. I tried to clarify if they thought the topping made it too sweet, but they felt the filling itself was too sweet. We were surprised because we used more cherries than called for. We used three 12 oz bags of frozen tart cherries, which yielded about 7 cups, but we did not up the sugar. We did increase the almond extract to 3/4 tsp. and skipped the amaretto as we didn’t have any. Other than that, we followed the recipe as written. We will keep this recipe, but will use less sugar for the filling next time.
This is delicious! I didn’t have almond extract or amaretto so I subbed with DiSaronno and it was fabulous. The next time I make this, I plan to double the filling!