This easy homemade Pear Pie recipe combines the sweet and tender flavors of baked pears infused with cinnamon and nutmeg with a flakey buttery crust. It’s how dessert dreams are made!

A sweet friend recently dropped off a bag of fresh pears from their farm. And my mouth started watering just thinking about the pie I was going to make. When life hands you a bag of pears, well, you have to make a pear pie! I think it’s a rule of nature!
You’ve never tasted a pear pie? How can that be? We need to remedy that right now. With a purchased crust, there is nothing easier to make. Peel and slice some fresh pears. Mix them with a little sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, flour, and lemon juice and pour them into a prepared crust. Bake and voilà, pear pie!
A close cousin to apple pie, pear pie takes the best of summer’s fresh pears and turns them into a luscious dessert that will have you coming back for more. Add a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a dollop of whipped cream, and you have a dessert that your company will rave about!
What kind of pears to use?
The best pears are the old-fashioned, hard sand pears you probably remember from your youth or backyard pear tree. Barlett pears which are firm and not too ripe, also work well. You want a pear that doesn’t give when it is squeezed softly. If your pears are soft, they will be mushy after baking. The softer pears will also give off too much juice, which will cause your crust to be soggy.
How to make it
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.
Place one crust in an ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Smooth out when your fingers so that it covers the bottom and sides of the dish.
Add the pears, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, and nutmeg to a large bowl. Gently stir all ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed.
Pour into the prepared crust. Spread the filling out evenly.
Top with the second crust. Gently fold the excess top crust over and under the sides of the bottom crust and press edges together to seal. You should have an even double roll of crust around the top.
To flute the crust, use one finger to push the inner edge out while pinching the outer edge in with the thumb and index finger of the other hand. Repeat around the entire edge. Alternatively, you can take a fork and press the tines around the edge of the crust to seal it.
Cut several slits in the top crust.
Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place strips of aluminum foil around the crust edges to keep it from browning too fast. Bake for another 20-25 minutes.
Cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before serving.
Sharon’s Expert Tips
- If you need help fluting the crust, check out this short instructional video.
- This recipe is best when made with hard or firm, slightly underripe pears.
- Do not make the filling ahead of time. The pears will turn brown and will give off too much juice, which will result in a soggy crust.
- You can use a frozen unbaked deep-dish shell if you do not want a top crust. If you do, you can top the pears with a streusel mixture consisting of ⅓ cup flour, ⅓ cup brown sugar, and three tablespoons cold butter. Mix the streusel ingredients with a fork and sprinkle evenly over the top of the pears — bake as directed.
- Instead of using aluminum foil to keep your crust from burning, crust shields can be purchased, which you can reuse.
This recipe calls for a 9-inch pie plate, and all I had was a dish that measured 9.5 inches at the top. Because of this, my bottom crust wasn’t large enough to extend past the edge of the dish. Consequently, I didn’t have enough overlap to produce a pretty fluted edge. Of course, it still tasted the same, but the crust edges weren’t as pretty as they could have been.
More dessert recipes with fruit
If you like easy dessert recipes with fresh fruit or berries, you might also be interested in these popular recipes on my blog:
- Old Fashioned Strawberry Pie
- The Best Kumquat Pie
- Fresh Peach Pie Recipe
- Classic Southern Style Blackberry Pie
- Southern Peach Cobbler
- Classic Southern Strawberry Shortcake, and
- Strawberry Trifle with Angel Food Cake
- Old-fashioned Blackberry Pie
Need more dessert ideas? Check out all of my dessert recipes here.
★ If you make this recipe, please leave a comment and give it a star rating. I would love to know how you liked it!
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Pear Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups thinly sliced pears peeled, about 6-7 medium-size pears
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ¾ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- ⅛ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- 1 tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- 1 pkg refrigerated pie crusts You need two crusts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- Place one crust in an ungreased 9-inch glass pie plate. Smooth out when your fingers so that it covers the bottom and sides of the dish.
- Add the pears, sugar, flour, cinnamon, salt, lemon juice, and nutmeg to a large bowl. Gently stir all ingredients until they are thoroughly mixed. Pour into the prepared pie crust. Spread the filling out evenly.
- Top with the second crust. Gently fold the excess top crust over and under the sides of the bottom crust and press edges together to seal. You should have an even double roll of pie crust around the top.
- To flute, the pie crust, use one finger to push the inner edge out while pinching the outer edge in with the thumb and index finger of the other hand. Repeat around the entire edge of the pie. Alternatively, you can take a fork and press the tines around the entire edge of the pie to seal the crust.
- Cut several slits in the top crust.
- Bake for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and place strips of aluminum foil around the pie crust edge to keep it from browning too fast. Bake for another 20-25 minutes. Cool on a wire rack for at least two hours before serving.
Notes
- This recipe is best when made with hard or firm slightly underripe pears.
- Do not make the pie filling ahead of time. The pears will turn brown and will give off too much juice, which will result in a soggy crust.
- You can use a frozen unbaked deep-dish pie shell if you do not want a top crust. If you do, you can top the pears with a streusel mixture consisting of ⅓ cup flour, ⅓ cup brown sugar, and 3 tablespoons cold butter. Mix the streusel ingredients with a fork and sprinkle evenly over the top of the pears — bake as directed.
- If you need help fluting the pie crust, check out this short instructional video.
- Instead of using aluminum foil to keep your crust from burning, pie crust shields can be purchased, which you can reuse.
- This recipe calls for a 9-inch pie plate and all I had was a dish that measured 9.5 inches at the top. Because of this, my bottom crust wasn’t large enough to extend past the edge of the dish. Consequently, I didn’t have enough overlap to produce a pretty fluted edge. Of course, the pie still tasted the same, but the crust edges weren’t as pretty as they could have been.
Jpatrick
You can also use canned pears in this recipe. We store canned Kieffer and Bartlett pears off our trees for later use. They are peeled, sliced, and canned in medium syrup. You can just substitute the volume of pears in the recipe and skip the sugar since it’s already in the canning liquid. The flour in the recipe should work, but if the filling ends up runny, a little corn starch should thicken it up.
Stacy Hughes
Hi Sharon, I am a Family and Consumer Science Culinary Science teacher at Flathead High School in Kalispell, Montana. I have a student who just brought in a box of small pairs from his backyard tree. I am excited to find your recipe. My students are going to use your recipe to make Pear Blossoms for our Parent Teacher Open House on Wednesday. Time is always of the essence in a class period. I am going attempt project this in two class periods, one day pie crust, the second day filling and bake. Hence the reason for making small individual blossoms instead of a pie. I have two questions. The pairs are petite and will have been refrigerated for three days in a colder commercial refrigerator. If they are at all soft should I add cornstarch and if so how much? I have searched for your pie crust recipe an cannot locate it. If possible please share your pie crust recipe. Your pie crust looks flakey and amazing I am interested to know what fat you used. Thank you for your time and consideration. Much appreciated.
Sharon Rigsby
Hi Stacy, this is a great idea to get your children interested in cooking.
I usually only use premade refrigerated or frozen pie crusts, so I don’t have a good recipe for you. The flakey pie crust in the picture was a purchased refrigerated pie crust. The flour in the recipe should be enough to keep the filling from being too runny without adding cornstarch. The only problem with soft pears is that they tend to be a little mushy after cooking, but since they are small and you are making small pies, I think they should be fine. It’s just so hard to say for sure without seeing them or knowing what kind they are. I wish you the best of luck with your endeavor, and know that they will still be delicious and the children will enjoy making them.
All the best, Sharon
Mimi
Hi Sharon…Your pear pie recipe worked out well for me using 7 Bartlett pears and two homemade pie crust I took from freezer supply.
I added a handful of golden raisins which my hubby liked and commented on. I also had a new baking spice, Mahaleb or Mahlep, I received as a Christmas gift that I added along with the cinnamon called for. The Pear Pie turned out great!
I appreciate “Sharon’s extra TIPS.”
Thank you
Sharon Nelson
HI Sharon.
We loves the pie. It looked beautiful, the pears were still firm (I added 1/3 cup of fresh cranberries. When I cut it, it was very watery; delicious but watery.
How can I fix it next time? More flour?
Thank you
Sharon
Sharon Rigsby
Hi Sharon, this recipe was developed using hard sand pears which give off very little juice. My guess is your pears may have been juicier and this is what contributed to the watery filling. I do think that adding an additional tablespoon of flour should take care of the issue. I like your idea of adding the cranberries, I’ll bet they added a nice tartness.
All the best,
Sharon
Kat
I used a bit of corn starch in with my flour to keep it from being too juicy. I mixed half paers and half apples. I cut them thin and left the skins on since i think that’s where a lot of the nutrients and fiber are. I also used a crumb topping I got off an apple crumb recipe. I haven’t tasted it but it’s baking now and I hope I can wait until our thanksgiving dinner to try it out because it sure smells delish! Thank you, Sharon!
Cassie Busta
This is for a pear pie, correct? I see in the directions it mentions apples. My husband requested a pear pie for his birthday… his grandmother used to make it for him as a child. I’m excited to try this! Thank you,
Cassie
Sharon Rigsby
Hi Cassie,
Yes, it is a pear pie recipe. I’m not sure how “apples” snuck in there, but I’m glad you mentioned it so I can get it corrected. I hope you enjoy it!
All the best,
Sharon
Julie
I loved this pie and so did my husband. The pears were amazing. Such a nice break from the apple pie we have all been making for decades!
Sharon Rigsby
Hi Julie,
I’m so happy you enjoyed the pie and thanks too for letting me know!
Happy New Year!
Sharon