Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Ingredients

• 1 package (2 crusts) refrigerated pie dough (store-bought or homemade), or a double batch of homemade dough
• 3 cups sliced rhubarb, 3 cups halved strawberries
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 1/3 cup cornstarch
• 1 tsp orange zest
• 1 tbsp lemon juice
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp butter, cut into small pieces
• 1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
• 1 tbsp coarse sugar, for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat oven to 400°F (204°C). Fit one crust into a 9-inch pie dish.
2. In a large bowl, gently toss the sliced rhubarb and halved strawberries, mixed with the sugar, thickener, spice, lemon juice, and salt until evenly coated.
3. Pour the filling into the crust and dot with the butter pieces.
4. Top with the second crust, forming a lattice top, or cut several vents in a full top crust. Crimp the edges to seal, then brush the top with the beaten egg and sprinkle with coarse sugar.
5. Bake for 45–55 minutes, until the crust is deep golden and the filling is bubbling through the vents.
6. Cool on a wire rack at least 2 hours before slicing so the filling has time to set.

The Tale of Strawberry Rhubarb Pie

Story updated September 18, 2026

Rhubarb pie has deep British roots: the plant had been grown in England since the 1600s, though only in the 1700s did cooks realize the stalks, not the toxic leaves, were worth eating, sweetened generously to offset their tartness. Rhubarb reached American gardens in the 1700s and 1800s; Benjamin Franklin is often credited with sending rhubarb seeds from London to the botanist John Bartram in Philadelphia, and by the 1820s the plant, nicknamed "pie plant," was common in New England seed catalogs and kitchen gardens. Because rhubarb's harvest window overlaps with the start of strawberry season each spring, English and then American cooks began pairing the two, using strawberries' sweetness to balance rhubarb's sourness. Nineteenth-century American cookbook authors, including Maria Parloa and Fannie Farmer, printed strawberry-rhubarb pie recipes that helped standardize the combination nationwide, and it remains one of the few pies genuinely tied to a specific, narrow season: the first weeks of late spring.