Homemade Cherry Pie Filling

Homemade pie fillings taste infinitely better than store-bought! And to make things as easy as can be, you can make this cherry pie filling recipe with fresh or frozen cherries.

Cherry Pie Filling

Pour the warm cherry pie filling into a store-bought or homemade pie crust and you’ll have dessert ready in no time. Don’t want to turn on the oven? Spoon this sweet cherry sauce over a classic no-bake cheesecake.

Don’t forget about breakfast either – you’ll want to top pancakes, waffles, and crepes with it. And it’s fantastic when spooned over ice cream or layered into yogurt parfaits for a treat!

Cherry Pie Filling Using Frozen Cherries

You don’t have to wait until springtime for fresh cherries. The ones from the freezer section work just fine and I use frozen cherries far more often than I use fresh cherries in my baking recipes.

Frozen cherries get double bonus points (in my kitchen) for already having the pits removed when you buy them. Just open the bag and pour the cherries into the saucepan. There’s no need to thaw them first.

How To Pit Cherries

If you do use fresh cherries, and whenever I have them in abundance I certainly do, I have a cherry-pitting tip for you. If you don’t want to buy a cherry pitter just for this one task, you can use a paperclip.

Unfold the paper clip just once and you will be able to slide the curved end into the cherry and pop out the pit. It really is super easy.

And if you’re feeling a little crafty, you can make a homemade cherry pitter from an old fork. We did this many years ago and it still works great!

Cherry Pie Filling Recipe

You’ll need just a few ingredients to make this pie filling: fresh or frozen cherries, sugar, cornstarch, water, and lemon juice.

Cherries and almonds pair beautifully together, so I often add a tiny bit of almond extract or a splash of amaretto to this recipe at the end. It’s entirely optional, but I do recommend you try it at least once.

Making homemade pie filling is as simple as combining everything in a saucepan and simmering for a few minutes, just until the sauce turns clear and has thickened. It really is that easy!

Cherry Pie Filling Desserts

In the mood for pie? You’ll need just four ingredients and ten minutes to make this fuss-free cheater pie crust! It’s a tender, flaky crust made with oil and it works great when you just don’t feel like messing with traditional, sometimes fussy, pie doughs.

I recommend layering some of the cherry sauce into a stack of banana split pancakes or spooning it over a slice of Nutella cheesecake pie.

Vanilla glazed cherry pie bars are an easy treat you can make with canned cherry pie filling or with a batch of homemade pie filling. Rich chocolate cake filled with sweet juicy cherries and topped with fluffy whipped cream is a dream come true with this easy black forest cake recipe.

This no-bake cherry cheesecake is a classic dessert that everyone enjoys. It is perfect for summer picnics and potlucks. This cheesecake has a graham cracker crust over a creamy cheesecake layer with cherry pie filling over the top.

{originally published 5/14/24 – recipe notes and photos updated 6/10/25}