Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
43 comments » 
Rhubarb is relatively new to my palate, and I have enjoyed experimenting with it over the last year or so. I especially enjoyed the rhubarb pie-tartlets I made a few weeks ago. Loved those little pastries! Since I’m new to rhubarb, I had never experienced a strawberry-rhubarb pie until last summer. For as long as I can remember, my Chief Culinary Consultant had been telling me about the utterly amazing strawberry-rhubarb pies that his grandmother made when he was a kid, and that he hadn’t had one in years. I considered it my mission to end the strawberry-rhubarb pie drought and made this for him last summer. My first taste of rhubarb, and I loved it. He loved it. Success!
{Don’t you love when the juices from fruit pies bubble up through the crust? It makes my foodie heart go pitter patter…}
The combination of rhubarb and strawberry is a fruity match made in heaven. The sweetness of the strawberries balances out the bitterness of the rhubarb, and they both break down quite a bit in the pie so it almost becomes one beautiful, mostly sweet, a little tart, pink pie. Basically, it’s everything wonderful about summer in a pie.
You’ll definitely want to heed the instructions in the recipe to let the pie cool for at least two hours before slicing into it. I cooled this one for a little over an hour and it seemed cool to me, but when I sliced into it, the juices ran and steam came barreling out. After letting it sit for another hour or two, the filling really set up nicely. Trust me, it’s worth the wait! 
One year ago: Black Forest Cake
Two years ago: Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons
Strawberry-Rhubarb Pie
Yield: One 9-inch pie (8 servings)
Prep Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
Cook Time: 1 hour 5 minutes
Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
Ingredients:
For the Crust:
2¼ cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons granulated sugar
11 tablespoons butter, cut into ¼-inch cubes
7 tablespoons vegetable shortening, chilled
1/3 cup ice waterFor the Pie Filling:
3 cups strawberries, hulled and sliced
3 cups rhubarb, trimmed and cut into 1-inch pieces
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 tablespoon grated orange zest
2 teaspoons lemon juice
¼ teaspoon vanilla extract
4 tablespoons quick-cooking (instant) tapioca
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small piecesDirections:
1. To Make the Crust: Place the flour, salt and sugar in a food processor and pulse a few times to combine. Scatter the pieces of butter over the flour mixture, using your fingers to toss and coat the butter with some flour. Cut the butter into the flour mixture with five 1-second pulses. Add the shortening and continue to pulse until the flour is ple yellow and resembles coarse cornmeal with butter bits no larger than small peas, about four more 1-second pulses. Turn the mixture into a medium bowl.
2. Sprinkle all but 1 tablespoon of the ice water over the mixture. Use a rubber spatula to fold the water into the flour mixture. Press down on the dough with the spatula until the dough sticks together, adding up to 1 tablespoon of remaining ice water if the dough does not come together. Divide the dough into two balls, one slightly larger than the other. Flatten each into disks, dust lightly with flour, wrap separately in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
3. Remove dough from the refrigerator; let stand at room temperature to soften slightly, about 10 minutes. Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
4. Make the Filling & Assemble the Pie: Toss the fruit with sugar, orange juice, lemon juice, vanilla extract and tapioca; let stand for 15 minutes.
5. Roll the larger dough disk on a lightly floured surface into a 12-inch circle, about 1/8-inch thick. Transfer and fit dough into 9-inch pie plate, leaving dough that overhangs the lip in place. Turn the fruit mixture, including juices, into the pie shell. Scatter the butter pieces over the fruit. Refrigerate until ready to top with the remaining dough.
6. Roll the smaller disk on a lightly floured surface into a 10-inch circle. Lay over the fruit. Trim the top and bottom dough edges to ½-inch beyond the lip of the pie plate. Tuck this rim of dough underneath itself so that the folded edge is flush with the edge of the pie plate. Flute the dough or press with a fork to seal. Cut four slits at right angles on the top of the dough to allow steam to escape. Place in the freezer for 10 minutes before baking.
7. Place the pie on a baking sheet; bake until the top crust is golden, 20 to 25 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees and continue to bake until the juices bubble and the crust is golden brown, 30 to 40 minutes longer.
8. Transfer the pie to a wire rack; let cool for at least 2 hours before serving so the juices have time to thicken.
(Recipe adapted from Cook's Illustrated)
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I own a jam business, and I make a strawberry rhubarb jam that tastes just like pie filling. It’s heavenly. I also make a rhubarb vanilla jam, which I just enjoyed on top of a bowl of vanilla ice cream. Yum.
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This looks delicious!!! I love going to the farmer’s market and getting a great deal on organic strawberries. Only way to get a great deal is to buy lots. No problem. Recipes like this only encourage my addiction.
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ooo this looks scrummy! I too had my first experience of cooking with rhubarb relatively recently, only this year in fact! and fell in love at first bite
I have never tried the rhubarb-strawberry combo though it seems so popular it must be pretty darn good, hence am thinking about giving this recipe a try although i am a little embarrassed to say I dont really know what tapioca is and was wondering if there are any good substitutions?
Thank you
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Michelle on June 22nd, 2011 at 10:01 am
Hi Sasha, Tapioca is a starch and it’s used as a thickening agent in the pie. You can usually find it in the baking aisle near the gelatin. Substitutions for tapioca to thicken the pie would be things like cornstarch or flour, but I wouldn’t be able to give you an idea of how much to use because I haven’t tried this recipe with those thickening agents.
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Sasha on June 22nd, 2011 at 11:10 am
Thank you so much for the advice, I will do some research and if i make it with substitutions will comment and let you know what i did incase it might help anyone else
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Mmmm…rhubarb and I are BFF and this recipe looks wonderful. Guess I know what I’ll be making in the near future
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Your pie looks wonderful and I definitely love that it is bursting with fruit!
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Looks wonderful! I’ve yet to try baking with rhubarb!
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Strawberry rhubarb pie is my all-time favorite kind of pie! This looks wonderful!!
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oh my word, your crust looks absolutely SUBLIME!
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I’ve never had rhubarb but would love to try it in this pie!
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Even a non-fan of rhubarb (me) knows when she’s looking at a beautiful and tasty pie (with an awesome flaky crust)!
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This looks nothing short of delicious! I haven’t tried rubarb yet, but certainly need to after seeing this recipe! Thanks for sharing
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Looks amazing! I love strawberries AND rhubarb!
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Oh, I live for strawberry and rhubarb! This pie is perfect.
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I made the same pie from Baking Illustrated last summer – it was awesome. I agree about cooling, in fact I’d say let it cool overnight if you can – it sets up very nicely if it’s cooled completely – cut it too soon and it’s a soupy mess. Your pie looks like it turned out much prettier than mine, though.
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I remember a pie like this from my childhood (except I think yours looks even better
)!
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That looks INCREDIBLE! Thank you for sharing–I can’t wait to try all these rhubarb recipes that have been going around lately!
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Last time I made strawberry-rhubarb pie the juices went everywhere! Good call on noting that it needs to cool longer.
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love pie so much. This one looks amazing. Love the pinky inside.
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Strawberry-rhubarb pie is my favorite summer pie! I posted a Bon Appetit version last week that I’ve been making for several years. It was amazing – yum!!
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Wow, it looks as though you hit a home run with this one,Michelle. Beautiful!
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This pie is a beaut. My favorite dessert actually
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I have only tried making pie once and that was a huge failure. My pie crust tasted weird, not good at all. The strawberry rhubarb combination is on all blogs! So many amazing things at once.
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I just looove it… and this picture with the juice going out of the pie…. mmm
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i made a strawberry rhubarb tart for father’s day last sunday. i topped it with a brown butter crumble instead of another pie crust. it was crazy delicious!
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Your pie looks great! I just love rhubarb. I just make a blueberry rhubarb pie for Father’s Day.
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Hmmm, now my Dad would argue that it’s not a rhubarb pie if it is tainted with strawberries. I would argue that looks pretty delicious though and I might have to give this recipe a whirl for our 4th of July BBQ!
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and dessert!
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This looks so yummy! I love strawberry and rhubarb together!
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I just made strawberry-rhubarb pie today…it’s my all-time favorite. Your recipe looks lovely, and I too love seeing the fruit bubble up from below the crust.
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Where did you get your oven safe cooling rack and the pan to match it? I have been looking for something like it and no luck. Just keep finding the ones not oven safe. thx!
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Michelle on June 27th, 2011 at 2:27 pm
Hi Kim, These are the cooling racks that I use: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000OFND8W/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=broeyebak-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B000OFND8W
I don’t know that they have “matching” pans, but these are the sheet pans I use, and the cooling racks fit perfectly inside them: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0001MS3P6/ref=as_li_qf_sp_asin_il_tl?ie=UTF8&tag=broeyebak-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=B0001MS3P6
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My mom use to fix this kind of pie. It was one of my favorites, with of course a scoop of vanilla ice cream on it. I’m going to go back home for a visit this summer, and maybe mom will fix it for me.
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I have always wanted to make a strawberry rhubarb pie, but it is next to impossible to get fresh rhubarb in Texas; it just doesn’t grow well here. Would frozen work? And while we’re on the subject, how about frozen strawberries? This pie looks amazing and makes my mouth waters every time I see the pictures…
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Michelle on July 5th, 2011 at 1:06 pm
Hi Jen, I have never had frozen rhubarb so I can’t say for sure how it might break down but you could always give it a try. If you have access to fresh strawberries (I imagine you can get those in Texas, right?), I would definitely recommend going the fresh route.
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I had never tried strawberry-rhubarb pie and decided to try this recipe. It turned out really well and I am now a fan of this pie. Just be careful not to add too much water to the crust…
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Been dying to try this as I had my first experience with ever TRYING Strawberry Rhubarb pie was last year…and I just turned 40!!!!
Strawberries are on sale this week and a perfect time to try it! Thanks!
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was wondering if this pie can be made with frozen strawberries and rhubarb??
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Michelle on November 1st, 2012 at 1:44 pm
Hi Audrey, Yes, you can use frozen fruit. Be sure to measure it when frozen and then allow it to thaw before using it in the pie. Enjoy!
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This pie looks amazing! I must go and see if we have any rhubarb in the stores here in Holland!
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I just noticed, you used a pastry mat, right? I have one of those because none of my kitchen surfaces are suitable for pie dough. How do you prevent it from slipping around as you roll the dough? It drives me nuts!
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Michelle on April 21st, 2013 at 4:17 pm
Hi Erika, I do have a pastry mat, I love it! It doesn’t slide at all because it’s a silicone material. This is the one I have, if you’re interested: http://www.kingarthurflour.com/shop/items/silicone-rolling-mat
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