This easy and delightful Blueberry Custard Pie is a celebration of fresh summer blueberries, rich homemade vanilla custard, and a slightly salty graham crumb crust.
If you can tuck away a good cream pie, such as a classic homemade banana cream pie or a decadent dark chocolate cream pie, I think you will be a big fan of this fresh and summery blueberry cream pie! This recipe is somewhat similar to my Blueberry Custard Tarts; however, the custard is cooked on the stovetop, not baked like in the tarts, and the blueberry topping is fresh in this pie.
This pie starts with a buttery graham crust made with crushed graham crackers, a little sugar, and salted butter for that slightly salty touch. Then, a homemade vanilla bean custard layer goes on top of the crust. A simple layer of fresh blueberries folded together with blueberry jam tops off this yummy summer pie. Of course, you need to serve this pie with a dollop of lightly sweetened whipped cream with a kiss of vanilla added and more blueberries!
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⭐️ Why You Need to Make This Recipe
- Texture - Crisp crust, smooth and creamy custard, juicy blueberries come together into a winning texture experience.
- Flavor - The simple yet comforting flavors of the graham crackers, vanilla, and blueberries come together in a decadent way in this pie.
- Method - There are 3 main steps to making this pie: crust, custard, and topping. Have no fear, though; all three steps are simple, and you can follow my step-by-step instruction photos below to make this recipe a breeze!
🧈 Ingredients
Here are the ingredients needed to make this blueberry cream pie.
Ingredient Notes
- Blueberries - Well, of course! This recipe uses juicy and flavorful fresh blueberries that are in season. We will also mix some blueberry jam in with the fresh blueberries for a super simple fresh blueberry pie filling!
- Graham Crumbs - I like to buy pre-crushed graham crumbs, but you could buy or make whole graham crackers and crush them up well to make the crust.
- Butter - I use salted butter in most of my recipes, including this one for the crust to add a slightly salty edge to the buttery crust. We will also add a little butter to the custard to make it extra rich and decadent.
- Eggs - This recipe calls for 1 whole egg plus 2 egg yolks (for extra richness and thickening).
- Vanilla - Just because it is pretty and yummy, I like to use a whole vanilla bean pod in the custard part of this recipe. You can, of course, use plain vanilla extract or jarred vanilla bean paste instead if you don't have vanilla beans. The vanilla bean specks make this custard reminiscent of my Vanilla Bean Rice Pudding and Vanilla Bean Creme Brûlée recipes!
See the recipe card for the full list of ingredients with measurements.
📃 Instructions
Step 1: Stir together the graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and melted butter to form a sandy mixture. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie pan. Bake in a 350℉ oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden and fragrant.
Step 2: In a heavy saucepan, whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, salt, and the seeds of a vanilla bean scraped out. Add in the vanilla bean pod. Add the milk while whisking. Bring to a boil over medium heat while stirring constantly. The mixture should thicken quite a bit. Remove from the heat.
Step 3: In a separate heat-safe bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolks until incorporated. Slowly temper the eggs by adding about ¼ cup of the hot, thickened milk mixture at a time while whisking briskly. Add about 1 cup total and whisk until fully smooth before returning the tempered egg mixture to the pot and returning to medium heat just until the mixture boils and bubbles. Be sure to whisk the entire time.
Step 4: Remove the custard from the heat. Remove the vanilla bean pods and whisk in the butter and vanilla extract until smooth and incorporated. Pour into the still-warm baked crust. Let cool at room temperature until just warm to the touch. Cover and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.
Step 5: Once the custard has chilled and solidified, gently stir together the blueberries and blueberry jam.
Step 6: Transfer to on top of the chilled custard layer and distribute evenly. Slice and serve or refrigerate until ready to serve.
💡 Top Tip
This recipe is easy to swap out ingredients as needed to suit different allergies! Use your favorite dairy-free milk, such as almond or oat, and use a butter substitute to make it dairy-free. Or use gluten-free graham crackers to make this pie gluten-free.
❓ Recipe FAQs
No. This recipe has been designed to be made with fresh blueberries for ideal texture and flavor, so I cannot recommend using frozen blueberries instead in this particular recipe.
Yes. Simply swap the whole milk for a dairy free alternative such as almond, cashew, oat, or soy milk and swap the dairy butter for a dairy-free alternative.
Yes! I recommend assembling the crust and filling together and keeping the blueberry mixture separate until closer to serving time to avoid a watery pie, but you can definitely prepare this recipe ahead of time. The crust will get a little soggy as time goes on, though.
Because there are eggs and milk in this recipe, this pie does need to be stored in the refrigerator for no more than 4 days.
🫐 More Blueberry Recipes
Looking for other recipes like this? Try these:
If you tried this Blueberry Custard Pie or any other recipe on my website, please leave a ⭐️ star rating and write a little note telling me how it went in the comments below. Thank you!!
📖 Recipe
Blueberry Custard Pie
Equipment
- 9-inch pie pan
- mixing bowls
- measuring cups & spoons
- heavy saucepan
- whisk
- silicone spatula
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs *
- 2 tablespoons powdered sugar (confectioners sugar)
- ⅓ cup salted butter melted
For the Custard:
- ½ cup granulated white sugar
- ⅓ cup cornstarch
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups milk * (I use whole milk)
- 1 vanilla bean * (or 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste)
- 1 whole egg
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 tablespoons salted butter
For the Blueberry Layer:
- 3 cups fresh blueberries (washed and dried)
- ¼ cup blueberry jam
Instructions
To make the Crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350℉. Stir together the Graham cracker crumbs, powdered sugar, and melted butter until combined. Press firmly into the bottom and up the sides of a pie pan. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-12 minutes or until golden and fragrant. Let cool slightly on a wire rack while you make the custard.1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs, 2 tablespoons powdered sugar, ⅓ cup salted butter
To make the Custard:
- In a medium-sized saucepan, whisk together the granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Scrape the seeds out of a vanilla bean pod. Add the seeds and pod into the pot along with the milk and whisk until incorporated.½ cup granulated white sugar, ⅓ cup cornstarch, ¼ teaspoon salt, 2 cups milk, 1 vanilla bean
- Begin heating the milk mixture over medium heat while whisking constantly until the mixture boils and thickens. Remove from the heat. In a separate heat-safe bowl, whisk together the egg and egg yolks for 30 seconds until smooth.1 whole egg, 2 egg yolks
- Temper the egg mixture by adding ¼ cup at a time of the hot, thickened milk mixture into the bowl while whisking briskly. Add about 1 cup total into the bowl, whisk until fully combined, and then add the tempered egg mixture back into the pot over medium heat and cook, while whisking, just until the mixture boils and thickens slightly to bring the eggs up to temperature.
- Remove from the heat and immediately whisk in the vanilla extract and butter until smooth. Remove the vanilla bean pods from the custard and discard. Pour the custard into the still-warm baked crust. Let cool at room temperature until only slightly warm before covering and refrigerating for at least 3 hours to firm up the custard layer before adding the blueberry layer.1 teaspoon vanilla extract, 2 tablespoons salted butter
To make the Blueberry Layer:
- Gently fold together the fresh blueberries and blueberry jam. Cover and refrigerate to assemble later, or put on top of the custard layer once it has chilled. Serve immediately or cover and refrigerate the fully assembled pie until ready to serve. Serve with lightly sweetened whipped cream and more blueberries, if desired. Enjoy!3 cups fresh blueberries, ¼ cup blueberry jam
Notes
- Use gluten-free graham crackers to make this pie gluten-free.
- Use dairy-free milk and butter to make this recipe dairy-free.
- If you do not have a vanilla bean or vanilla bean paste, you can simply use vanilla extract to make this recipe.
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