(Almost) No Bake Strawberry Pie

A slice of No Bake Strawberry Pie finished with whipped cream, sits on a white plate with a yellow gingham background.

5 from 3 votes

Looking for that spectacular summer pie with practically no work? Well, this No Bake Strawberry Pie is it! Easy, delectable and made in minutes, this will have you out of the kitchen in no time.

Prep Time45

Total Time45

Course: Pie

Cuisine: American

Keyword: easy to make, No Bake Strawberry Pie,, Strawberry Pie

Servings: servings

Calories: 474kcal

Author: Helen S Fletcher

Ingredients

Vanilla Wafer Crust

60 vanilla wafers (215 grams)
¼ cup powdered sugar (30 grams)
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted (90 grams)

Waterproofing the Crust

4 ounces semisweet or white chocolate (114 grams)
1 tablespoon unsalted butter or shortening

No Bake Strawberry Filling

6 cups fresh strawberries (2 poundds or 910 grams)
3 tablespoons Instant ClearJel
½ to ¾ cup granulated sugar (100 to 150 grams)
⅔ cup water
⅓ cup lemon juice
Red food coloring, optional

Whipped Cream Wreath

1 cup heavy cream
¼ cup powdered sugar (35 grams)

Instructions

Vanilla Wafer Crust

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Spray a 9" standard pie plate with a non stick baking release. Set aside.
Place the vanilla wafers in the bowl of a food processor. Process to make crumbs. There should be 2 cups. Add the powdered sugar and pulse to mix in.
Remove to a bowl and add the butter tossing with a fork to coat all of the crumbs.
Pour into the pie plate and press the crumbs up the side of the plate as well as the bottom. The sides should be a bit thicker than the bottom. Bake for 13 minutes. It will be lightly browned and firm up when cooled. Cool completely.

Waterproofing the Crust

Combine the white or semisweet chocolate and butter or shortening. Microwave briefly to melt or place over simmering water to melt.
Coat the sides and bottom of the crust with the chocolate. Refrigerate until needed.

No Bake Strawberry Filling

Wash and pat the strawberries dry. Remove the tops and cut into bite size pieces.
Whisk together the Instant ClearJel and sugar in a large bowl.
Mix the water and lemon juice together and add it to the dry ingredients. Add the red food coloring at this point if using. Whisk together and immediately pour over the strawberries. Stir to coat all the strawberries and distribute the liquid ingredients.
Pour into the prepared shell and even the filling out. Set aside.

Whipped Cream Wreath

Combine the cream and powdered sugar in the bowl of a mixer. Whip until stiff peaks form.
Fit a piping bag with a #5 open star tip and add the cream. Pipe a wreath around the edge of the pie.
Refrigerate until serving. This is best served the day it is made.

Notes

There is always an abundance of photos to guide you in the post above.

As always, I recommend using a scale for accuracy and consistency. Flour, in particular, is difficult to measure by volume. For my recipes, I use 140 grams per cup of unsifted all-purpose, bread or whole wheat flour and 125 grams of cake flour. Others may use different weights so use whatever they suggest.

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If a food processor isn't available, place the wafers in a plastic bag and crush them with a rolling pin. You may need to do this several times for the amount of the crumbs. Simply stir in sifted powdered sugar, then add the butter as called for.

Be sure to waterproof the crust. It can become soggy from the filling which is off-putting.

Use either semisweet or white chocolate for the waterproofing.

Make sure the pie plate is sprayed with a non-stick baking release or the crust can stick making it difficult to remove.

Do not use regular ClearJel which is sometimes referred to as Cook Type to differentiate it from the Instant version.

I used Nabisco Nilla Wafers as they are readily available. The amount of butter is geared towards these cookies. Other brands may need more or less butter so I would start with less if using a different brand and increase as needed.

Place the pie crust on a rimmed baking sheet to make it easier to remove from the oven when hot.

Nutrition