Rhubarb Pie

Fresh Rhubarb Pie is super simple and easy to make, and lets the rhubarb shine through for the perfect spring pie recipe. An easy homemade pie crust is filled with a sweet, tangy rhubarb filling and baked to golden brown perfection.

Rhubarb Pie

Hi hi! Just popping in to share the recipe for this super easy homemade rhubarb pie. I have a bunch of rhubarb recipes on my site, and a whole bunch of homemade pie recipes, but don't yet have one that has a straight up rhubarb filling. I often pair rhubarb with fruit - see my strawberry rhubarb pie or my blueberry rhubarb pie, but I love it so much I think that it needs its very own fresh rhubarb pie recipe! This Rhubarb Custard Pie recipe is also super delicious for celebrating all things rhubarb!

This Rhubarb pie recipe is made in a tart pan with a removable bottom, but you can very easily scale the recipe to be made in a standard pie pan.

Ingredients in Rhubarb Pie

This rhubarb pie is super simple ingredients wise!

• Homemade Pie Crust. I use my go-to homemade pie crust recipe. This rhubarb pie recipe uses one batch of the recipe - one crust for the base and one for the top of the pie.
• Rhubarb. I use fresh rhubarb for this rhubarb pie, I haven't tried it with frozen, but if you do use frozen rhubarb, defrost first and drain any excess liquid.
• Tapioca Starch. Tapioca starch is similar to corn starch in how it behaves, but is my choice of thickener for a lot of pies as it sets clear. I haven't tried it with cornstarch before but typically you need less cornstarch than tapioca if you are substituting - about half the quantity. Tapioca starch is great to have on hand for pies!
• Sugar. I use raw sugar, but granulated works great here too!
• Vanilla. Because the flavours are so simple in this rhubarb pie, a wee bit of vanilla in the filling really shines through.

How to prepare rhubarb for baking

If you haven't baked with rhubarb before, this rhubarb pie is a great place to start. Preparation wise, you can treat rhubarb a lot like celery. It can be a little stringy, so I like to use my fingernail to just see if I can lift any fibre from the flat part of the rhubarb stalks by starting at the end and seeing if any lifts off. If you can, pull the stringy stuff off and discard, if not then no worries. I cut the rhubarb into about 1cm (0.4") pieces.

The leaves of rhubarb are poisonous so you will often see it sold without them. To prepare the rhubarb just chop it into thin slices. This can be done ahead of time if you like.

To freeze rhubarb just pop it into an airtight bag and freeze. I prefer to freeze it once it is already chopped up.

Easy Homemade Pie Crust

I use my super easy homemade pie crust for this recipe. When I am making a lattice top pie such as this one, I like to make one portion of the dough slightly larger than the other. The larger portion will be for the top crust, with a little extra dough for the lattice work, and the smaller one for the base of the pie.

I shape the crust I am using for the top into a rectangle, and the one for the base into a disc. Rolling out pie dough evenly is a lot easier if you start with the dough in the general shape that you are aiming to finish with - so a circle for the base and a rectangle for the lattice top to cut the strips from.

Check out my ultimate guide on how to make your own homemade pie crust for all my tips and tricks for perfect pie crust!

Easy lattice topped pie

I finished this rhubarb pie with a simple lattice top, but just cut uneven strips of dough and placed the strips on an angle to give it an angled lattice. Lattice on pies are super simple to do, you just follow the pattern:

1. Lay out all the vertical strips on the pie filling. Make sure that the spacing is even between them. This will form your foundation.
2. Lift every second strip up and fold it back - so strips 1,3,5,7 etc.
3. Place a strip of pie dough down and carefully unfold the strips and place them back down.
4. Fold back every strip again but starting with the alternate set of strips - so lift up strips 2,4,6,8 etc and fold them back.
5. Place another strip of pie dough and reset your strips.
6. Repeat the process, alternating which strips you fold back. I like to start in the middle and work my way down, and then start in the middle and work my way toward the top of the pie.

Use the longest strips in the middle of the pie. You can use shorter strips as you get closer to the edges of the pie. If you have any strips which have messy parts on them, arrange them so that the mess part is covered by another strip of pie dough (if you like, messy parts on pies are also fine!)

See the video below for a visual guide on how to lattice a pie.

How to tell when a pie is baked.

The degree to which you bake a pie is personal preference, but I like mine deeply golden brown. Not only does this provide insurance against a soggy bottomed pie, but the golden brown crust is flavour.

I found since moving to NZ and getting a new oven that heats from both the top and the bottom, that my top crust is colouring much earlier than it would in a bottom heated oven. My oven has a setting for bottom heat only, which I use to help get a nice crisp bottom crust without baking the top too much.

If your oven only bakes with top and bottom heat, you can tent the pie with foil once the top is your desired level of done, and keep baking until it is ready to come out.

The best way to tell that this rhubarb pie is baked is to look at the filling. It should be bubbling out a little through the gaps in the lattice. Look for the middle bubbling too, not just the sides. This indicates the filling has gotten hot enough for it to set and for the starch to do its job.

Pie made in a tart pan?!

I used a removable bottom tart pan to make this rhubarb pie - rather than a more standard pie pan. I love using a tart pan for a few reasons:

• It is super easy to get nice clean edges on a tart pan. Instead of trimming like a pie crust, you can just press the pie crust against the sharp edge of the tart pan and it cuts away cleanly.
• A tart pan gives a great crust to filling ratio. A tart pan is shallower than a pie pan, so you get a thinner layer of filling to go with the flaky lattice pie topping.

Removing this pie from the pan is super easy. My favourite way to remove a tart from a pan like this is to use a bowl. Turn the bowl upside down, and then press the tart down onto it. The outside ring will drop off, leaving the tart on the base. You can either slide the pie off, or serve on the base.

If you would like to make this in a pie dish it should work just fine. Just work out the capacity of your pie pan compared to the tart pan and scale accordingly for the filling - it should use about 650g rhubarb, so you will need 40g tapioca starch and 220g sugar for the filling. The crust recipe will stay the same.

If your pie has leaked filling around the outside a little, it is best to make sure that it is loosened from the pan before cooling so that it does not stick.

FAQ for Rhubarb Pie

What tools and equipment did you use?
You can see a full list of all the tools I use here

Are you sure this recipe doesn't need to be blind baked?
No. If you make sure that you get a good enough bake on your crust, as with most fruit pies, this pie does not need to be blind baked.

How do you reheat a pie?
If you make a pie ahead of time, you can reheat in a 350°f / 180°c oven. Just pop it in there for 15-20 minutes. Cover with foil if needed to stop any further browning. You are just looking to reheat the filling slightly and re-crisp the crust a little.

How do you store pie?
I store this rhubarb pie lightly covered or in an airtight container at room temperature. It is best on the day it is made but will be fine 1-2 days after making too.

For more rhubarb recipes, check out:

Recipe For Rhubarb Pie

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