I developed this air fryer blueberry pie recipe for people with mobility issues that make using a regular oven a non-starter. The crust is a delicate cornmeal crust. I am not much of a sweets eater. But when I’m in the mood for something on the sweet side, blueberry pie, or pie in general, is something I like to reach for. This recipe makes four 5-inch blueberry pies. Depending on the type of air fryer you have, they takes 12 – 20 minutes to bake.
The downside with all air fryer recipes is, that while things cook faster and more evenly, you don’t save any “spoons” using them. Unless you have a pasta maker to roll the dough, you are still going to spend an hour rolling and preparing the crusts. And you will need to watch it while it cooks to make sure the crust doesn’t burn. When air frying, things go from “looking great” to “OMFG IT IS A CHARCOAL BRICK” in less than a minute. Fellow spoonies, keep this in mind when deciding whether or not you have enough energy to tackle baking pies.
The upside to this air fryer blueberry pie recipe is that it does make pie-making accessible to people with a variety of mobility disabilities where fatigue isn’t also a factor.
If you do not have a food processor to mix the dough, then use a pastry cutter. This will add signifant prep time. If you do not have a French rolling pin or a pasta maker, I highly recommend buying a French rolling pin if you are going to manually roll the crust. French rolling pins require signfically less force to use and the tapered ends make for a more even crust, with less work.
You will need the following equipment:
Air Fryer Blueberry Pie Equipment
- Food processor
- 3 Mixing bowl: 1 large and 2 small
- Mixing spoon
- Measuring cups and spoon
- French rolling pin or pasta maker: If you have a pasta maker, it significanlty cuts down on the time it takes to roll the crust and cut it in strips for the lattice
- Cutting board or marble slab for rolling if not using a pasta maker
- Pizza Cutter or knife. If you have a pasta maker, you can use it to cut the strips for the lattice
- 4 5-inch pie pan
- Baking sheet
- Pastry brush optional
- Oven Air Fryer or 8-qt Instant Pot Duo Crisp or 8-qt Ninja Foodi Deluxe
- 2 Stackable trivets if using a Duo Crisp of Foodi Deluxe
Air Fryer Blueberry Pie
Equipment
- Food processor
- 3 Mixing bowl (1 large and 2 small)
- Mixing spoon
- Measuring cups and spoon
- French rolling pin or pasta maker (If you have a pasta maker, it significanlty cuts down on the time it takes to roll the crust and cut it in strips for the lattice)
- Cutting board or marble slab for rolling if not using a pasta maker
- Pizza Cutter or knife (If you have a pasta maker, you can use it to cut the strips for the lattice)
- 4 5-inch pie pan
- Baking sheet
- Pastry brush (optional)
- Oven Air Fryer or 8-qt Instant Pot Duo Crisp or 8-qt Ninja Foodi Deluxe
- 2 Stackable trivets if using a Duo Crisp of Foodi Deluxe
Ingredients
Blueberry Pie Filling
- 600 gram bag frozen blueberries Bags of frozen blueberries typically come in this size. 4 cups frozen blueberries if using a bigger bag.
- 1.5 tbsp lemon juice
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 1/3 cup cornstarch
- 2 tbsp unsalted butter divided into 4, cut into small dots
- 1 large egg optional for egg wash
- 1 tsp water optional for egg wash
Cornmeal Pie Crust
- 1.75 cup all-purpose flour
- 0.75 cup medium grind cornmeal
- 1/3 cup icing sugar
- 1 cup cold unsalted butter cubed (2 sticks)
- 6 tbsp ice water
- 1 tbsp vinegar
- cornmeal for rolling
Instructions
Prepare the filling
- In a small mixing bowl, blend the sugar and cornstarch.
- In a large mixing bowl, add the blueberries and lemon juice. Toss.
- Sprinkle the sugar and cornstarch mixture over the blueberry mixture. Mix well.
- Let stand for at least 15 minutes.
Prepare the crust
- In the food process, add the flour, cornmeal and icing sugar. Blend well.
- Add the cubed cold butter. Blend until the mixture is the consistency of small peas.
- In a small mixing bowl, mix the 6 tbsps of water with vinegar.
- Add the water/vinegar mixture to the food processor. Pulse until it is well-combined. The dough should be soft to the touch and not wet. If the dough is not holding together, add a tsp of water and pulse again.
Roll the crust
- Divide the dough into 8. Refridgerate the dough that isn't currently being rolled.
- If rolling by hand, lightly flour the surface with cornmeal. Place the dough on the centre of the board. Lightly flour the dough with cornmeal.
- Roll the dough from the centre out to the top edge. Rotate the 45 degrees and repeat. Continue the process until the dough is evenly rolled and about 2 mm thick.
- If rolling using a pasta maker, flatten the dough enough that it will go through the pasta maker at setting 8. Rotate the dough and put it through the pasta maker at setting 2. Rotate and repeat.
- Place the rolled dough in the 5-inch pie pan. Tuck the overhang and then cut away the excess.
- Place the pan with the dough in the refrigerator.
- Set the excess aside. This will be used later to make the lattice for the top crust.
- Repeat rolling the above steps until all pans are filled.
Fill the pies
- Fill each pie pan with 3/4 cups of the pie filling you made and set aside earlier.
- Add the smalll dots of butter to the top of the filling.
Cover the pies
- Divide the scraps into 2 balls.
- Roll the first ball using the above method.
- Cut the crust into the strips between 0.5 cm to 1 cm in width. The width is purely one of personal preference. If you are using a pasta maker, run the rolled crust throught the linguini cutter.
- Create a lattice on top of the pie using whatever method works for you. I like to add a strip in one direction, then the next strip in the perpendicular direction, the next strip in the direction of the first strip with a gap of about 0.5 cms, perpendicular with gap, repeat until the pie is covered. Doing it in this way creates a nice braid effect down the centre of the pie. Pinch the crust before cutting off the excess.
- Repeat until all the pie are covered.
- Put the pies on a baking sheet and put in the freezer for 15 minutes.
Air Fry the Pies in Oven-Style Air Fryer
- OPTIONAL: Beat the egg with 1 tsp of water. Using a pastry brush, lightly brush the top of each pie. This will create a deep gold pie crust.
- If using an oven-style air fryer, preheat the oven using the Bake function at 375 F for 13 minutes.
- Place 2 pies per baking tray.
- When the "Add Food" notice goes off, add 1 tray of pies on the bottom level. Bake for 12 - 13 minutes.
- When done, remove the tray with the pies. Let the pies cool to room temperature before serving.
- Repeat with the remaining 2 pies.
Air Fry the Pies in an Instant Pot Duo Crisp or Ninja Foodi Deluxe
- If using an Instant Pot Duo Crisp or Ninja Foodi Deluxe, place a trivet in the bottom of the inner pot.
- Place a pie on the trivet.
- Place the second trivet.
- Place the second pie on the top trivet.
- Place the lid.
- Using the "Bake" function, bake at 375 F for 15 minutes.
- When done, remove the top pie and top trivet.
- Place the lid.
- Using the "Bake" function, bake at 375 F for an additional 5 minutes.
- Remove the pie to cool to room temperature before serving.
- Repeat with the remaining 2 pies.
Notes
Nutrition
