My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie
My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie
My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie is a great upgrade on the classic peach pie and peach cobbler which are staples in many homes. What makes this one so special is the bursting of flavor from the peaches + spices which pops through the buttery, flaky crust. Plus, the crunchy crumble topping is easily whipped together using flour, brown sugar, and cornflakes, for a nice twist! Just like with your other favorite pies, a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream makes every bite even better and it's a recipe that your entire family will love. Dairy-free, Vegan, + Gluten-free options.
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I don't know what to say when it comes to this peach pie. It's seriously one of the most delicious ways that I enjoy pie whenever I make it and the crumble topping is one of the highlights of the whole thing. My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie recipe is such a great dessert addition for the entire family and can be easily whipped together using either homemade crust or a frozen organic store-bought crust for greater ease. If you're into peach cobbler, then you're sure to love this pie and if not, then I definitely have this Easy Southern Peach Cobbler [with Canned Peaches] recipe waiting for you! Plus, this Vegan Peach Crisp Oatmeal Porridge is so comforting for breakfast and worth trying.
Oh and if you're a major pie lover, then there's no perfect time to whip together one than the Spring and Summer months. Plus, you can always omit the peaches if you need to and make a more traditional apple pie like this Dutch Apple Pie! There's just never a time to not enjoy pie and it makes for the perfect family dessert. But if you're in the Fall mood at any point, then you'll certainly love this Vegan Apple Cranberry Crumble Pie and Vegan Southern Bourbon Pecan Pie. Either way, you won't be disappointed with good pie.
What is Crumble Pie?
Basically, crumble pie is the fusion of both a traditional pie which has a crust that is then generously filled with a juicy filling and a standard fruit crumble which consists of no crust, but just cooked fruit that are topped with a crumble-like breadcrumb topping. Seriously, the best invention!
Jump to:
- What is Crumble Pie?
- Do You Use Peeled or Unpeeled Peaches for Crumble Pie?
- Ingredients for Peach Crumble Pie
- How to Make Crumble for Peach Pie
- How to Fix Pie Crumble
- What You'll Love Most About this Peach Crumble Pie:
- How to Easily Peel Fresh Peaches
- How to Thicken Peach Pie Filling
- How to Bake an Peach Crumble Pie in a Pre-made Crust
- Tips For Making the Flakiest Pie Crust
- How to Store + Reheat this Peach Pie
- Common Q + A's for My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie
- More Amazing Dessert Recipes to Try Next!
- MADE OUR RECIPE(S)?
- My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie
Do You Use Peeled or Unpeeled Peaches for Crumble Pie?
Although this peach crumble pie uses canned peaches specifically, if you'd like to make it more traditional by using actual fresh peaches, you'll want to use unpeeled peaches. Believe it or not, keeping the skin on your peaches actually gives the pie more depth flavor and a beautiful color in the filling. And don't worry---the peach skins won't be hard and they actually soften greatly which still makes for the perfect bite!
Ingredients for Peach Crumble Pie
This peach pie consists of three components: the crust, the peach filling, and the crumble topping. While the pie crust is chilling, you can make the juicy, sweet spiced peach filling using these ingredients:
- Sliced peaches. You can use fresh or frozen or canned peaches, which means this is a year-round recipe! If you use frozen fruit, dust the peach slices in a few tablespoons of flour before adding them to the recipe. This helps absorb some of the excess moisture on the frozen fruit. For the canned peaches, you'll need to drain them thoroughly and pat dry to remove all excess moisture + juices.
- Brown sugar. Ensure that it's organic for healthiest option. You can use either light or dark. You can substitute with brown coconut sugar for a healthier option.
- Arrowroot starch. This is a great thickener for the filling since there is moisture involved during the baking process. You can also use tapioca flour, cornstarch, or more flour instead.
- Cinnamon, nutmeg and allspice. For more warming flavors and it amplifies the peach notes in this recipe!
- Vanilla extract. The pure vanilla is the best flavor.
- Unsalted butter. I like to bake with unsalted butter, however, you can substitute with salted butter and omit the additional salt.
- Lemon juice. I love to use freshly-squeezed lemon juice. This adds acidity to the pie which adds great structure and texture as well as a nice tartness that compliments the peaches.
PIE CRUMBLE TOPPING
Finally, make the crumbly topping for your peach pie. You'll need:
- Flour. I use all-purpose flour for the creation of the topping. For the gluten-free option, use a high-quality GF flour from Bob's Red Mill or King Arthur.
- Brown Sugar. Ensure that it's organic for healthiest option. You can use either light or dark. You can substitute with brown coconut sugar for a healthier option.
- Corn flakes. Crush your cornflakes by placing them in a zip-top bag and crushing them with something heavy until you have a coarsely medium texture and not too fine. You can also substitute with flour or rolled oats.
- Unsalted butter. I like to bake with unsalted butter, however, you can substitute with salted butter and omit the additional salt.
- Cinnamon and nutmeg. Always amplifies the flavors in the entire pie.
How to Make Crumble for Peach Pie
The crumble topping for the peach pie is literally simple ingredients that include flour, brown sugar, cornflakes, cinnamon, nutmeg, and butter. It's such an easy process and can be easily tossed together by:
Mixing together the flour, cornflakes, brown sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon until combined.
Add partially melted butter to dry ingredients and using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir together until the mixture resembles "wet sand" with medium-sized crumbles visible. Wallah!
How to Fix Pie Crumble
If for any reason you feel like your peach pie crumble is a bit too dry or crumbly, just add additional melted butter (about 1 tablespoon at a time) until moist. If it's too wet by any chance, just add additional flour (about 1 tablespoon at a time).
What You'll Love Most About this Peach Crumble Pie:
- It has a buttery, flaky crust.
- Has a rich, perfectly packed warm-spiced filling that balances sweet + tart flavors from the tender peaches.
- Comes with a dairy-free, vegan, + gluten-free option for everyone to enjoy!
- Comes topped with a delicious brown-sugary buttery, cornflake crumble.
- Goes together well with a generous scoop of ice cream or whipped cream.
How to Easily Peel Fresh Peaches
If you decide while making this peach pie that you'd prefer to peel the skins off your peaches----no worries! A great hack to do so is to gently lower a few peaches at a time (best to use a skimmer) into a pot of boiling water and leave them in fro 20-30 seconds before removing them and into an ice bath to stop the "cooking process". Then you should be able to peel them with no problem without the need for a knife or any tool.
How to Thicken Peach Pie Filling
To thicken your peach pie filling is very simple. If you don’t have or don’t want to use Arrowroot starch (as in this recipe), you can always use Tapioca Flour, regular Cornstarch, or flour instead. Either substitution will help to thicken the mixture just fine.
How to Bake an Peach Crumble Pie in a Pre-made Crust
OK, so if you're thinking about making this peach pie using a store-bought pre-made crust instead of making your own from scratch---that's totally fine. Sometimes we find ourselves pressed for time, not in the mood to go through the process, or just simply make things easier and this all works! Since most store-bought crusts don't require that you bake it first, you'll simply remove the rust directly from the freezer (unless instructed otherwise on the packaging) and go straight to the steps of creating your filling and crumble and then assemble.
Once assembled fully, you'll bake your pie for around 45-50 minutes. You'll still want your filling to bubble nicely and the topping to become golden----so check on the pie after the 40 minute mark or so.
Tips For Making the Flakiest Pie Crust
- The butter is SUPER important. When it comes to the butter, ensuring that they are COLD and of course from a great brand is key! Of course, you can also use salted butter and omit the actual salt, if you'd like.
- Adding Shortening works too! Although I tend to use butter alone, adding shortening or lard adds great wonders as well. All you need is half shortening and half butter.
- Fridge time is an important time! Chilling your dough for an hour at a minimum is so imperative to a flaky crust. Even slightly longer makes for a great advantage.
- Your flours matter, big time! While different brands of flour hydrate differently (causing a slightly different result), ensuring that you mix in all-purpose flour with pastry flour is also just as important. Believe it or not, pastry flour makes a difference and serves a greater purpose!
- SLOWLY pour in water (or milk), don’t dump it! Gently pouring in the water/milk-ACV mixture is so imperative. I pour ¼ cup at a time and work the dough with my hands to eyeball how wet or dry everything is.
- The dough can be made in advance, too. If making your crust ahead, you can always store it in the refrigerator for up to 2 days. No longer!
- Not too Thick or Thin. Ensuring that you roll out a good enough crust is of course a must. Most go by the rule of thumb being ⅛ of an inch thickness or even slightly thicker. This helps your crust to the perfect thickness to carry the weight of your filling without compromising flakiness.
How to Store + Reheat this Peach Pie
Keep leftover pie tightly wrapped with heavy duty plastic wrap or foil and refrigerated for 3-4 days. Re-heat each slice when serving. Best to reheat pie in the oven for a nice crispiness and ensure that it warms through nicely.
Common Q + A's for My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie
Yes! You can certainly make this Peach Crumble Pie ahead of time. It’s even better if you make the pie the day before. Simply wrap the pie in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge. A few hours before you plan to serve the pie, place it on the counter and serve at room temperature. Of course, you can always make the crust (and storing it in the fridge) about 2 days prior to making the actual pie.
Absolutely! To make the crust entirely gluten-free, simply substitute the flour with a great Gluten-Free flour option like Bob's Red Mill's GF 1-to-1 baking flour or All-purpose flour. If using any other flour, ensure that it has Xanthan Gum included or add 1 teaspoon in with any flour that doesn't. For the remaining ingredients, just make sure that you use arrowroot starch which is very GF-friendly.
Basically, cornstarch or arrowroot is used to help thicken the filling and ensure that it doesn't come out too runny.
The best way to help to ripe hard peaches is to put them in a paper bag and leave on the counter for a day. And if it still isn't soften, keep it in the bag for another 24 hours or so.
This peach crumble pie is thickened with cornstarch (arrowroot), which helps prevent the filling from getting too juicy and creating a soggy crust.
Not at all! A matter of fact it's said to not grease or flour your pie pans because the pie dough has enough butter to prevent sticking. Extra grease will change the texture of the crust.
Basically, it's all about the temperature! Too-cool of an oven will cause the crust to come out soft and dough-like, so it's important to have your oven at the correct temperature from the start.
If you're using frozen peaches instead of fresh or canned ones, always remember to dust them in flour prior to adding them to the recipe. Secondly, you'll need to cook frozen peaches slightly longer for about 50-60 minutes total, to ensure that the liquid reduces greatly.
If your peaches are too ripe and soft, then they might produce too much juice, which causes your pie to be a lot more mushy and runny. To avoid this, it's best to ensure that your peaches are firm to the touch. Also, ensure that you don't pack on too much of the crumble topping to the tops so that it's harder to cook through.
Overall, this is usually due to an incorrect temperature or bake time. It's always best to ensure that your oven is preheated and that you bake your peaches for 20-25 minutes first before adding the topping. This helps to aid in a fully cooked through pie in the end.
Absolutely! To make this peach crumble pie dairy-free or vegan, simply substitute the butter with vegan butter and ensure that you make a vegan crust. Also, ensure that your sugar is organic as well as your cornflakes if using it. Top your pie with your favorite dairy-free ice cream or coconut whipped cream.
In general, peaches are generally canned in 15 or 16-ounce cans, therefore, you'll want to use three fresh peaches for every can.
Bake in the preheated oven for about 45 minutes to start. The peach layer should be bubbling and the surface of the crumble should be an even medium golden brown. If you are using a shallower, slightly larger baking pan like a 9x9, watch it closely, the crumble may be done in 5 or 10 minutes less time.
More Amazing Dessert Recipes to Try Next!
Now that you're on a baking kick with this peach crumble pie recipe, give these recipes that your entire family will love a try next:
- Southern Peach Cobbler Cheesecake
- Homemade Apple Berry Crumble Pie
- The Best Strawberry Shortcake Donuts
- Lemon Ginger Bundt Cake
- Lemon Blueberry Doughnuts + Sprinkles
- The Best Vegan Chocolate Cake
- Best Homemade Cinnamon Rolls
- Deconstructed Vegan Sweet Potato Bread Pudding
- Chocolate Sweet Potato Cupcakes
MADE OUR RECIPE(S)?
If you tried My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie recipe or any other recipe on my website, please please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how you go in the 📝 comments below. I love hearing from you.
My Favorite Peach Crumble Pie
Ingredients
CRUST:
- 1 Homemade or store-bought pie crust
FILLING:
- 4 (15 oz.) cans organic peach slices, patted dry (That's 7-8 medium sized peaches; about 6-7 cups)
- ½ cup organic brown sugar, light or dark
- ¼ cup arrowroot starch
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
- ⅛ teaspoon ground allspice
- Pinch of sea salt
- ½ lemon, freshly-squeezed
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tbsps unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
CRUMBLE TOPPING:
- ½ cup organic brown sugar, light or dark
- ½ cup organic cornflakes, crushed (This is optional; You can sub with flour or oats, if desired)
- ¼ cup organic all-purpose flour
- 6 Tbsps unsalted butter, partially melted
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- Pinch of ground nutmeg
Instructions
TO MAKE THE CRUST:
- To make your own homemade crust, see my Homemade Apple Berry Crumble Pie recipe!
TO MAKE THE FILLING:
- In a bowl, add the sliced peaches, brown sugar, arrowroot, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, lemon juice, vanilla, and salt, stirring everything together until combined and the peaches are completely coated.
TO MAKE THE CRUMBLE:
- In a bowl, add the flour, crushed cornflakes, brown sugar, cinnamon, and nutmeg, stirring until combined. Add the partially melted butter and using a spatula, mix until combined and 'crumbly-like'.
PRE-BAKE (IF USING HOMEMADE CRUST):
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees Fahrenheit and set a standard (9") pie dish aside.
- Remove dough ball from the refrigerator and place it onto a lightly floured surface. Roll out dough ball using a rolling pin (not making it too thin), about ½-inch thick and gently placing it in your pie dish; working it around evenly. Be sure to do any folding or tucking of any excess pie crust.
- Once complete, poke tiny holes around the bottom of the crust using a fork, add parchment paper to the center of the crust and add "pie weights" atop it and pre-bake the crust for 10-15 minutes. Remove from oven.
PRE-BAKE YOUR PEACHES [FOR CANNED ONES ONLY]:
- Spoon the coated peaches into the center of the crust and re-arrange slices to fit until completely filled to the top of the crust. Tuck the pieces of cut butter in between the peaches and bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. The peaches should begin to soften and become bubbly a bit.
- NOTE: Baking the peaches first allows for the pie to cook through fully after you've added your crumble topping without getting too brown at the tops. IF NOT USING CANNED PEACHES, Just add your peaches, butter and crumble topping all at once and do a final bake for the full 45-50 minutes or so.
FINAL BAKE:
- Bake for the remaining 25-30 minutes or until the peach filling begins to bubble "out", and the crust + topping are golden brown. NOTE: To avoid the topping from getting too brown, during the last 15 minutes, add foil paper atop crust loosely. Then remove it for the final 5 minutes or so.
- Once done, remove from the the oven and let cool completely, about 1-2 hours. When cooled, place the pie in the refrigerator for at least 4 hours before serving and slicing. NOTE: Overnight is best.
- To serve, add whipped cream or your favorite ice cream and enjoy!
- Bon Appetit!
Tips & Tricks
- STORAGE: Keep leftover pie tightly wrapped with heavy duty plastic wrap or foil and refrigerated for 3-4 days. Re-heat each slice when serving.
- FLOUR: If you don’t have Pastry Flour available for your pie crust, simply substitute for All-Purpose Flour.
- TIPS FOR THE PERFECT PIE CRUST: Be sure to check out my article on How to Make the Perfect Pie Crust!
- GLUTEN-FREE OPTION: To make the crust entirely gluten-free, simply substitute the flour with a great Gluten-Free flour option like Bob's Red Mill's GF 1-to-1 baking flour or All-purpose flour. If using any other flour, ensure that it has Xanthan Gum included or add 1 teaspoon in with any flour that doesn't. For the remaining ingredients, just make sure that you use arrowroot starch which is very GF-friendly.
- ARROWROOT: If you don’t have arrowroot starch, feel free to substitute with regular starch, tapioca flour, or all-purpose flour, which all act as a thickening agent.
- FRESH VS. CANNED VS. FROZEN PEACHES: See FAQ section for more info.
- SALTED VS. UNSALTED BUTTER: You can always substitute the salted butter with unsalted butter. When doing so, you can omit the salt as an ingredient.
Nutrition
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One of the best tricks my mother taught me to keep pie crust from getting soggy is to brush it with marmalade before putting the filling in the shell and baking. It really works! I like a lemon ginger marmalade for peach or blueberry. If making a double crust, I brush the top crust with the marmalade, as well. Gives it a beautiful color as it bakes.
Hi Tomi! WOW! That sounds like a great trick! I'll definitely give it a try! Thanks so much!