This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases at no extra cost to you. Click HERE to read my policies & disclaimers if you're interested. I will only link products I use and personally recommend. Thank you for your support, friends!

Home-canned strawberry pie filling (ok, all fruit pie fillings) is probably my most favorite of all pie fillings to can and the only way I will can fresh strawberries. AND I rarely use it to actually make homemade strawberry pies! I can it in pints to use as waffle/pancake toppings, mixed into my homemade goat milk yogurt, overnight oatmeal, cheesecake topping, strawberry shortcake, churn into ice cream, you name it. (I’m starting to feel like Forrest Gump here….). On the rare occasion, I will make a graham cracker crust or a single pie crust, fill it with strawberry pie filling, and top with homemade whipped raw cream… ohhhhh my goodness, it’s the most delicious strawberry pie second only to freshly picked fresh berries. Don’t get stuck on using home canned pie filling exclusively for delicious pie and get creative and use them for so much more!

Canning pie filling is really easy to make and comes together rather quickly to be able to preserve a bunch of strawberries at the height of strawberry season. A few tips from me are to use the blanching liquid from the strawberries to make the filling and to never use clear jel. Yes, that’s rebel canning, but it’s so unbelievably expensive around here and makes such goopy pie fillings; I can’t stand that texture. I get something similar called thermflo from my local Amish store that works great and is less than half the price of clear jel. This recipe makes 4 quarts or 8 pints, so feel free to double, triple, or more this recipe.

In This Post You'll Find...

What is Clear Jel?

Clear jel is a modified cornstarch that has exclusively been approved for canning thickeners. Cornstarch, thermflo, and flour have not been approved nor tested for canning. What you choose to use for your pie fillings in canning is entirely up to you, but the recommended thickener is clear jel. Clear Jel is able to handle high heats and acidity, as used for canning, and not break down during the processing time. When using regular cornstarch, you will run into having a thick pie filling going into the canner and then pulling out juice after processing if you buy the wrong kind. I’ve been there.

That’s my assumption as to why they approve clear jel, because not everything likes the acid and high heat. It also stays crystal clear after canning unlike other thickeners that tend to get cloudy. When you are canning, be sure and use a cook type clear jel and not instant. Instant will thicken…. instantly… and then be liquid again after processing. Learned that the hard way! Clear jel is also corn based, so if you have a corn allergy, you’ll have to find an alternative and it will, again, be rebel canning. I recommend doing some research and talking with other rebels about using other starches, like tapioca starch, and thickeners to avoid your allergy. Someone’s got to know, but unfortunately not me, because I gratefully don’t have an allergy so I’ve honestly not taken the time to test anything.

Headspace for Pie Fillings

The amount of headspace you leave for pie fillings is a little more than any other recipe you will see. Since we are utilizing a thickener, extra headspace is needed to allow room for the pie filling to “grow” in the jars. The best way to do this is to fill right to the shoulder of the jar. The shoulder of the jar is right where the jar starts to angle in to form the top. Look at a jar, you’ll see it. For both pints and quarts, you’ll want to aim for 1 1/4″ to 1 1/2″ headspace to give your pie filling ample amount of room to grow.

If, after processing, you have extra headspace, don’t fret, it’s fine! Too much headspace is loads better than not enough. Pie filling that siphons and leaks out of the jars during processing has a high incidence of a false seal. A false seal is where a jar appears sealed but in reality is just glued shut by the pie filling that oozed between the jar and the lid. In a few weeks or months, that false seal will degrade and cause your jar contents to ferment and go bad. It’s always a sad day to lose a jar of food!

Equipment You Will Need:

Steam canner or water bath canner
large pot
canning jars, new lids & rings
jar funnel
jar lifter

Ingredients:

4 pounds sliced strawberries
4 cups water
1 1/4 cup clear jel or thickener of choice
3 cups sugar (or less if desired)
4 Tbs lemon juice

Let’s get to canning!

Step 1: Blanch the Strawberries

Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a stock pot.

Wash and slice strawberries while the water heats. Weigh out 4 pounds after removing tops and slicing.

Blanch strawberry slices in small batches for 1 minute. Remove from boiling water with a slotted spoon to a bowl and cover the blanched strawberries to keep warm. In between batches of berries, allow the water to return to a full boil before adding another batch of berries. Once all berries are blanched, remove stock pot from heat and keep the liquid (it’s a nice strawberry juice to add to your filling in the next step).

**NOTE** if I have extra strawberries, I will add a cup or two of whole berries to the blanching liquid last and let them get soft in the hot water. I blend them with the immersion blender and use that as strawberry “juice” instead of just the blanching water alone to make the filling in the next step. It will make your pie filling recipe more red, more strawberry-y (that’s not a word but it is now), and more tasty! You don’t have to do this, but I figured I’d let you know that’s what I do if I have some extreeeee :D

Step 2: Make the Filling

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and clear jel, or cook-type thickener of choice. Whisk together. Then add the clear gel mixture to the stock pot with the slightly cooled blanching liquid, whisking while adding to prevent lumps.

Return stock pot to medium-low heat, whisking to incorporate. Stir constantly until mixture begins to thicken and starts to bubble. This happens quickly.

Add in lemon juice and bring back to a boil and cook for 1 more minute,

Remove stock pot from heat and fold in berries gently with a spatula.

Step 3: Canning

Into prepared wide mouth pint or quart jars, ladle in pie filling to about 1 1/2 inches of headspace using a wide mouth funnel to make it easy on you. Regular mouth is fine, wide mouth just makes the filling process exponentially easier with thick thigs like pie filling. Debubble as needed and maintain headspace. I aim to add pie filling just to the shoulders of the jar because thickeners like to grow during the canning process and if you overfill, the siphoning explosion that happens isn’t very fun to clean up.

Wipe jar rims of filled jars and add clean lids and screw bands.

Process both pint and quart jars for 30 mins in a steam canner or water bath at a full rolling boil. Adjust time as needed for elevation.

When canning time is up, turn off heat and allow jars to set undisturbed for 10 minutes in canner. After 10 minutes, remove lid and allow jars to cool 10 more minutes before removing completely from hot water. This allow the pie filling to cool slower and prevent siphoning which is an unholy mess you would like to skip, trust me.

Step 4: Storage

Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours before removing bands, testing seals, washing jars, labeling and storing. Store jars somewhere cool and away from direct sunlight. Try to not eat all the finished product in a week!

Notes:

If you would like to add anything past the main ingredients, such as some spices or vanilla, go right ahead! It would be delicious.

If you don’t have enough strawberries for a batch, you can slice and freeze them until you do. Frozen strawberries work well here, but skip the blanching part because they’re already soft and deflated.

You can decrease the sugar content to your liking but leave the amount of lemon juice the same. You can also use a sweetener of your choice if that is desired. Just know some sweeteners tend to crystallize in pie fillings and not look very nice, so consider doing a test batch.

Happy canning!

….and stay tuned for more pie filling recipes because I LOVE THEM!

There you have it. Preserved, delicious strawberries at your fingertips to use any time of year. We especially love having the sweet sunshine in the winter when the snow is flying and we’re dreaming of fresh strawberries from the garden again! So good!

Easy Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling Canning Recipe

Name: Easy Homemade Strawberry Pie Filling Canning Recipe
Prep time: 30 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 70 min
Ingredients: 4 lbs strawberries; 4 cups water; 1 1/4 cup clear jel; 3 cups sugar; 4 Tbs lemon juice

Print Pin Rate

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 10

Canning Time: 30

Total Time: 1 10

Servings: pints

Author: Ruby – Red Feather Farm

Equipment

steam canner
Large Stock Pot
Wide Mouth Canning Jars
canning lids & bands
jar funnel
jar lifter

Ingredients

4 lbs strawberries
4 cups water
1 1/4 cup clear jel
3 cups sugar
4 Tbs lemon juice

Instructions

Wash and slice strawberries while the water heats. Weigh out 4 pounds after removing tops and slicing.
Bring 4 cups of water to a boil in a stock pot.
Blanch strawberry slices in small batches for 1 minute. Remove from boiling water with a slotted spoon to a bowl and cover the blanched strawberries to keep warm. In between batches of berries, allow the water to return to a full boil before adding another batch of berries. Once all berries are blanched, remove stock pot from heat and keep the liquid (it's a nice strawberry juice to add to your filling in the next step).
In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and clear jel, or cook-type thickener of choice. Whisk together.
Then add the clear gel mixture to the stock pot with the slightly cooled blanching liquid, whisking while adding to prevent lumps. Return stock pot to medium-low heat, whisking to incorporate. Stir constantly until mixture begins to thicken and starts to bubble. This happens quickly.
Add in lemon juice and bring back to a boil and cook for 1 more minute.
Remove stock pot from heat and fold in berries gently with a spatula.
Into prepared wide mouth pint or quart jars, ladle in pie filling to about 1 1/2 inches of headspace. Debubble as needed and maintain headspace.
Wipe jar rims of filled jars and add clean lids and screw bands.
Process both pint and quart jars for 30 mins in a steam canner or water bath at a full rolling boil. Adjust time as needed for elevation.
When canning time is up, turn off heat and allow jars to set undisturbed for 10 minutes in canner. After 10 minutes, remove lid and allow jars to cool 10 more minutes before removing completely from hot water.
Allow jars to cool undisturbed for 18-24 hours before removing bands, testing seals, washing jars, labeling and storing. Store jars somewhere cool and away from direct sunlight.

Notes

If you would like to add anything past the main ingredients, such as some spices or vanilla, go right ahead! It would be delicious.
If you don’t have enough strawberries for a batch, you can slice and freeze them until you do. Frozen strawberries work well here, but skip the blanching part because they’re already soft and deflated.
You can decrease the sugar content to your liking but leave the amount of lemon juice the same. You can also use a sweetener of your choice if that is desired. Just know some sweeteners tend to crystallize in pie fillings and not look very nice, so consider doing a test batch.