Blueberry Pie with Lemon Crumble

Blueberries and lemons are a match made in heaven. Just imagine a warm, sweet and juicy blueberry filling topped with a crunchy lemony crumble. It is perfect with a scoop (or more) of vanilla ice cream. This Blueberry Pie is so delicious you’ll forget that it is actually vegan and gluten-free.

We love fruits in desserts. Can’t you tell? That’s why we have more and more crisp, crumble and pie recipes. Check out our Juicy Caramel Apple Crisp Pie or our tangy and sweet Strawberry Rhubarb Crisp, or our almond Blueberry Crisp, or our cinnamon-y Plum Crumble recipes. Have you tried making free-from pies, take a look at this vibrant Chocolate Peach Galette.

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Why is it the best vegan blueberry pie?

Are you looking for an amazing, unique, and delicious vegan blueberry pie recipe? Let’s be honest you have already found it. Yeah, you need this recipe, because what makes it completely awesome is the tangy lemon crumble on top. Nope, the lemon and the blueberries are not mixed together but complement each other.

Usually blueberry pie recipes add the lemon juice to the blueberry pie filling, but in this recipe all the lemony goodness is in the crumble topping. They are perfect combination but you can also taste the sweet blueberries and the tangy lemon separately as well. Have you tried adding blueberries to your lemon loaf? It is kind of like that.

The best part is that making this blueberry pie is super easy. I made both the crust and the crumble in a food processor in like 2 minutes. Let me show you how.

Do you need a gluten-free pie crust?

If you have a favorite pie crust recipe, by all means use that for the bottom crust. But just in case I have a flaky Vegan Gluten-free Pie Crust recipe, which is super simple, and no specialty flour blend is required to make it. You only need a handful of pantry staples and a food processor to make the dough. Once you have your dough, follow the below steps:

1. Roll your pie crust and arrange it inside your 9-inch pie form. Use a knife to cut off the excess dough around the dish. Pierce some holes with a fork on the bottom.
2. Pre-heat oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius). 
3. Use a round-shaped* parchment paper or cut one for yourself and place it inside the pie dish on top of the pie crust. Use rice, beans or pie weights* to ensure that the sides and the bottom keeps its place.
4. Blind bake it for 15 minutes before adding the blueberry filling.

Mixing blueberry filling

Your first question will probably be that “Should I use frozen or fresh blueberries?”. I tested this recipe with both actually. The only difference is that I add an extra Tbsp of corn starch to the frozen ones. The reason is that frozen blueberries can release extra moisture. It is not a big deal when you are making a Blueberry Crisp as the “crust” aka the crisp is on the top. But when you are making a pie you need to think about soggy bottoms.

So what do you need to make a juicy blueberry filling? Take a large mixing bowl and mix blueberries, cane sugar, a bit of lemon juice and corn starch. The blueberries will look like tiny snowballs due to the starch.

I love using coconut sugar in apple recipes like Juicy Caramel Apple Crisp Pie or Caramel Apple Crumble, but it has too strong caramel flavor for blueberries. I prefer to use dry sugar like cane sugar instead of maple syrup.

Making lemon crumble in 2 minutes!

You can double up our Vegan Gluten-free Pie Crust recipe to have a classic top crust or a lattice pattern. However, if you want something amazing, make this delicious and crunchy lemon crumble. It is undetectably vegan and gluten-free. Just saying. So here is what you need to do:

1. Measure up all ingredients: buckwheat flour, rice flour (white or brown), tapioca starch, dairy-free butter (cold, not room temperature), lemon juice, lemon zest, and cane sugar.
2. Take your food processor and add all the above ingredients (pictured below).
3. Mix and pulse until you get the dough together.

You can crumble the dough with your fingers and place them on top of your blueberries or check out our top tip below to make the most delicate, fluffy, open-crumb-like topping.

Top tip to a perfectly even crumble topping

GRATE THE DOUGH! – Oh yes, it makes such a difference. This method results in a fluffy, light and EVEN crumble topping.

My mom used to make this grated chocolate short bread crumble bars with a sweet lemony cottage cheese filling. Which is one of my favorite desserts ever. If I figure out how to make delicious vegan cottage cheese, I promise to upload her recipe.

So back to grating the dough. How to do it you ask? Follow these steps or watch it in our short video:

1. Form a ball from the dough and wrap it tight in a cling foil or saran wrap.
2. Place it in the freezer (quick freeze compartment) for 15-30 minutes.
3. Use a large hole cheese grater and grate the dough on the blueberries.
4. Place it in a pre-heated oven immediately.

I have seen this article on Epicurious writing about grating the short bread crust to create a delicate open-crumb like topping ON THE SAME DAY I finished baking and photographing the final recipe. Tell me about coincidences! The article does mention that the original idea is coming from “a variation of omlós teasütemény, a Hungarian pastry that, indeed, features grated shortbread sandwiching a layer of jam.” So there you go! No surprise there as we are Hungarians.

Baking the blueberry pie

Just to get the steps and the timing right and ensure you have a perfect gluten-free vegan blueberry pie with lemon crumble at the end, we collected all steps with top tips here below.

1. Mix your lemon crumble dough in a food processor. Form a ball, wrap it tight and place it in the freezer for 15-30 minutes. Do this first, as you can do all the others while the crumble dough waits in the freezer.
2. Pre-heat the oven to 350 Fahrenheit (180 degrees Celsius).
3. Make the dough for the bottom pie crust. To get the perfect texture, we recommend using a scale as it will give you exact amounts. (I used our Vegan Gluten-free Pie Crust. It took 5 minutes with a food processor.)
4. Roll it out, place it in the pie form, and pierce it with a fork a couple of times on the bottom.
5. Blind bake it for 15 minutes with pie weights or beans on parchment paper.
6. When ready, take the weights and the parchment paper out.
7. Mix your blueberry filling and place it on top of the pre-baked pie crust.
8. Take the crumble dough out of the freezer and grate it on top of the blueberries. Gently spread it if needed, don’t pat it down.
9. Place your complete pie in the oven and bake for 15-20 minutes. It is ready, when the crumble is crunchy and light brown. Gluten-free flours get golden or dark brown really slowly. Usually when they do, you are too far gone. The pie crust and the crumble will be too dry and hard.
10. Serve it with a scoop of ice cream. Absolutely delicious!

FAQs and substitutions

Can I make it oil-free?

You can substitute nut or seed butters for dairy-free butter to make the lemon crumble. The more neutral flavored butter you use, the more you get to keep the original tangy, lemony flavor. As for the pie crust we recommend using our Oil-free Gingerbread Pie Crust but maybe skip the cinnamon and add vanilla or lemon zest.

Can I freeze the dough overnight?

You can prepare the lemon crumble topping in advance. If you want to leave it in the freezer overnight or longer, then thaw it a bit on the kitchen counter before grating.

Can you make it with other berries?

Absolutely. I love lemon with blueberries best, but you can try mixed berries (strawberries, blackberries or raspberries) as well.

How long does it last?

Keep it in the fridge not more than 4-5 days. It is the best tasting the next day when the pie is chilled and all the ingredients are bound and come together.

This Blueberry Pie recipe is vegan, so dairy-free and egg-free. It is also suitable for vegetarian, and gluten-free diets. It can also be WFPB-friendly (whole foods plant-based) if you use nut or seed butter instead of coconut oil.

More vegan gluten-free dessert recipes

You can browse through our Vegan Gluten-free Dessert Recipes or check out

• Vegan Gluten-free Chocolate Cake
• Vegan Gluten-free Fudge Brownies
• Vegan Gluten-free Sweet Potato Brownies
• Vegan Tapioca Pudding
• Vegan Panna Cotta