How to Bake Frozen Pies

Bake Frozen Pies

Speaking of fruit pies, I can attest that freezing fruit pies before baking yields a much better finished product. This is because the crust has a chance to cook before the filling (since it’s frozen when it goes in the oven), so you can be sure that you have a nice crispy crust and a perfectly cooked filling.
Freezing fruit tarts before baking always turns out amazing.
Also, using this method allows you to get some prep work done, especially during the holidays, when you have a very busy few days before the main event. So while it’s not necessary to freeze fruit pies before baking, it can definitely come in handy in some cases!
What pies can be frozen?
Double Crust Tarts are the perfect pies for freezing. The recipes shared below are for double fruit pies only, such as sweet cherry pie or ginger strawberry rhubarb pie. This method works for crumble pies such as apple crumble, but exact baking times will vary slightly, and you’ll want to cover the crumble with foil to keep it from burning.

unbaked or toasted
This guide applies to both frozen and unbaked pies. This means the pie is fully assembled until it is baked and then frozen.
However, fully baked pies can also be frozen. Double Fruit Pie is perfect for baking, cooling completely, and then freezing. Can be thawed and stored uncovered at room temperature for a day. Before serving, you can reheat briefly in a 350°F oven until the pastry is fully warmed.

How to Freeze Pies
While this may seem like common sense, it’s important to briefly discuss how to freeze pie properly while keeping a few things in mind.
First, if you’ve pre-cooked the filling, make sure you let the pie cool completely before filling it. Even putting a slightly warm filling in a pie crust can ruin it. Also, you shouldn’t put anything warm in the freezer.
The second is not to wash the pie with eggs before freezing. Egg washing is only done right before you are ready to bake.
Finally, make sure there is a flat surface in the refrigerator to set the pie on. It must lie completely flat when frozen. Once it’s frozen, you can move it.
Frozen Fruit Tarts:
1. Start by placing the whole pie on a sheet pan, then place it in the refrigerator on a flat surface. If you don’t have room for a pan, you can skip it.
2. Once frozen (approximately 8-12 hours), wrap the entire pie twice tightly in plastic wrap. Also cover it with aluminum foil if you plan to keep it in the fridge for longer than a month. Don’t forget to tag it!

It’s best to cook any frozen pie within three months, as the flavor will be less pronounced the longer it’s kept in the fridge. However, if frozen properly, you can wait up to a year or so.
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Bake Frozen Pies
Baking a frozen fruit pie is no different than baking an unfrozen pie, it just takes 15% longer in the oven.

Having said that, here are a few tips I suggest when baking from the freezer:
• Do not add any sugar to the pastry. You can if you really want to, but it will get very dark because the pie will probably be in the oven for a long time.
• The recipe instructs you to bring the frozen pie to room temperature while the oven is preheating. You want the dough to thaw slightly. The dough should be slightly sticky to the touch. If this doesn’t happen when the oven preheats, leave it for a few more minutes until it does.
• Bake pies on the lowest oven rack almost all of the time. This really helps ensure the bottom pastry is baked through.
• When baking in the freezer, don’t rely on the recipe time to tell if the pie is done; instead, you really need to rely on the pie’s physical cues and/or temperature to ensure it bakes properly.
How to tell when it’s done
There are a few signs to keep an eye out for to know if your fruit pie is done.

The first is through vision. Look for the crust to be golden and crisp.
Another way to tell if a pie is done is to see if the filling is bubbling from the center of the pie. The bubbling doesn’t need to be fast, just watch for at least one bubble when checking the pie. This rule doesn’t necessarily need to apply if you’re using a pre-cooked filling, such as an apple pie filling.
If your fruit filling is raw, you must ensure that the filling is cooked to the proper temperature and that the thickener is activated. The internal temperature of the fruit pie needs to be above 200°F to ensure the thickener is activated. An instant read thermometer is a great option