This healthy and refreshing no bake strawberry pie uses fresh, wholesome ingredients that everyone will love! The recipe is SCD and Paleo friendly. It's gluten free, grain free, dairy free, egg free, and refined sugar free!
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To say I'm excited to share this easy and healthy dessert with you would be an understatement! Here in Florida the strawberry season starts early, like right now, so I wanted to make a pie using those delicious berries and add some gut healing gelatin into the mix!
What is gelatin?
Gelatin is a powder that's derived from animal bones, skin, and connective tissue. It's excellent for healing your gut as well as strengthening bones and fingernails!
When cooking, gelatin helps firm things up! It has no taste or smell, so it's perfect to use when thickening sauces or making desserts!
For this recipe you want to use unflavored gelatin, I recommend either the Great Lakes 
or Vital Proteins brands.
Gelatin Tip:
Make sure to use the type of gelatin that "gels" together like jello when chilled. If not, you'll end up with a VERY soup-y strawberry pie!
How to make a healthy pie crust
For this crust I used hazelnut meal. It's a fairly strong nut flavor that I happen to enjoy and it pairs nicely with strawberries. However, almond meal, pecan or even walnut meal would all make great substitutions.
Mix the nut meal with melted coconut oil, a little honey, and a squeeze of lemon before using your fingers to evenly press the dough into the bottom of a spring form pan. For individual servings, you could use ramekins or decorative glasses.
Place the crust in the refrigerator to firm up while you work on the filling.
Ingredients for a no bake strawberry pie filling
- full fat canned coconut milk
- fresh strawberries
- honey
- vanilla extract
- fresh lemon juice
- sea salt
- gelatin
Look at those ingredients! Delicious, healthy, and simple...does it get much better?!
Ingredient Tips:
- Frozen berries can be used but I suggest defrosting and draining them first.
- The riper the berries used, the more flavorful the pie will be!
- I suggest a full fat canned coconut milk as opposed to almond or cashew milk because it's thicker and will result in a creamier pie filling. Make sure to choose a canned coconut milk that has no added gums. My go-to coconut milk is Native Forest Simple Organic Unsweetened Coconut Milk
.
How to make the strawberry filling
Begin by shaking up a can of full fat coconut milk REALLY well! Pour one cup of the milk into a small saucepan and sprinkle with the gelatin. Allow the gelatin to "bloom" (swell and soften) for at least 5 minutes.
While the gelatin is doing its thing, put the rest of the coconut milk along with the other pie filling ingredients into a blender and process until smooth.
Fiiling Tip:
- Smooth Filling: put all the strawberries into the blender.
- Filling With Strawberry Pieces: If you'd like to see some of the strawberries in your finished product like in my photos, then finely dice a cups worth of strawberries and set aside. You'll stir these into the mix just before placing the pie into the refrigerator to set.
Dissolve the gelatin over low-medium heat. Once the gelatin has completely dissolved and the coconut milk is warm, slowly pour it into the blender and continue blending until it's well combined.
At this point, you can stir the diced strawberries into the filling and then pour the whole mixture into your pan. Cover the pan with aluminum foil or plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until it sets.
Garnish the pie with strawberries and enjoy!
Looking for more strawberry goodness?
- Seared Mahi Mahi with Strawberry Mint Salsa
- Paleo Lemon Tart
- Strawberry Almond Flour Cake
- Strawberry Shortcake Smoothie
If you’ve made this recipe, be sure to leave a comment and star rating below! This is the best way you can help support me and my website!
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This recipe was first published in January 2018 and the post was revised in February 2020.
No Bake Strawberry Pie
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 cups hazelnut meal
- ¼ cup melted coconut oil
- 2 Tablespoons honey
- 2 teaspoons fresh lemon juice
- a pinch of sea salt
Filling
- 13.5 ounces cold canned coconut milk (shaken and divided)
- ½ cup honey
- 1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
- 2 Tablespoons gelatin
- 2 pounds fresh strawberries, washed with stems cut off
- 1 Tablespoon fresh lemon juice
- a pinch of sea salt
Instructions
- Place all ingredients for the crust in a small bowl and use a spoon or fork to combine.
- Use your fingers to evenly press the dough into the bottom of a 9" spring form pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator for at at least 15 minutes to firm up.
- Finely dice 5 or 6 strawberries, should be about 1 cup of diced strawberries, and set aside. Reserve a few whole strawberries to use as a garnish.
- Pour 1 cup of coconut milk into a small saucepan and sprinkle the gelatin on top. Set aside and allow it to "bloom" for about 5 minutes.
- While the gelatin is "blooming", put the remaining canned coconut milk and strawberries in a blender along with the honey, vanilla, lemon juice, and salt. Blend until smooth.
- Set the saucepan with the gelatin over low-medium heat and whisk until the gelatin has dissolved and the coconut milk is warmed. Slowly add the warmed coconut milk to the blender with the filling. Blend until well combined.
- Stir in the diced strawberries. Pour the filling into the spring form pan with the crust. Cover pan with plastic wrap or aluminum foil and allow to chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours or until the filling has set. The pie is ready when the filling doesn't jiggle.
- Run a sharp, thin knife between the pie filling and pan to loosen the edges before removing the ring of the spring form pan.
- Garnish with strawberries and serve cold. Keep covered in the refrigerator.
Notes
- Almond, pecan or walnut meal would all work for the crust.
- Use unflavored gelatin for the filling. Make sure you use the kind that "gels" or the pie will not set!
- If the strawberries used are not sweet and ripe, then add an additional ¼ cup of honey (making it ¾ cup total) and 1 more tablespoon of gelatin.
- You can make these in individual ramekins or decorative glasses if you prefer to make in something other than a pie/cake pan.
Nutrition
PIN IT!
Karen
I’m disappointed. , I followed the directions exactly. I could not find any of the exact brands that you recommended. I used Gel that I found at sprouts which is a type of unflavored gelatin. Part of the problem may have been that I cooked it until warm using a whisk which is what the directions said.... I let it bloom in the coconut milk first. It didn’t say to cook with a whisk until it was really thick. Mine thickened but I could have probably kept cooking it in til it was thicker. That was not clear to me. My pie is watery. I’m freezing it. I probably won’t try this against n since I’m not sure what happened or what products to use. I also was unable to find a canned coconut milk without guar gum. At Whole Foods or sprouts or any other grocery store. Ugh..
Jennifer Brown
Hi Karen, so sorry to hear that the recipe didn't turn out as expected, I'd love to help troubleshoot what might have gone wrong. You mention keeping it over the heat to thicken but the only part of the recipe that should have been over the heat was the bloomed gelatin. It is whisked over the heat just until dissolved and is then poured into the blender and blended with the other filling ingredients. It will be a fairly thin liquid at this point and needs to be placed in the refrigerator for a minimum of 2 hours (possibly longer if the refrigerator door is opened a lot) to set. You're essentially making jello. If you had the filling mixture over the heat for long periods of time and/or allowed it to simmer or boil then that would definitely effect the final results. Did you place the pie in the refrigerator?
I'm not familiar with the Gel brand of gelatin but there are some gelatins that don't congeal, you might want to double check the package to make sure you purchased one that congeals when cold. In my post I suggested using a full fat canned coconut milk without guar gum since the majority of my readers, including myself, have gastrointestinal issues and guar gum is an irritant. However, it should not have affected the outcome of the recipe. I understand being frustrated when a recipe doesn't work and I hope this helps you try to narrow down what might have gone wrong!
Kathy Parker
I made this pie for my birthday tomorrow. It is the perfect dessert for spring, summer or any celebration. Thank you for this great recipe. It always turns out perfect when I use fresh berries. I did not have such luck with the frozen. I did not drain them long enough I guess.
Emilie
Made this gelatin pie following your exact instructions and it turned out perfect! So creamy & melts in your mouth! Thank you we all loved it!
Jennifer
I'm always happy to hear that a recipe is a hit! Thanks for sharing!
Tatjana
I made this pie last week when my friend with autoimmune disease was coming over. We absolutely loved it, everyone had two servings of it and wanted more. Even my 10yo grandson praised it, it was that delish!
I am going to try and make the same pie with oranges today, have some old-ish oranges and want to use them. Will let you know how that goes!
Jennifer
How kind you are to make something your friend could eat! I am so glad to hear that everyone enjoyed the dessert, can't wait to hear how the recipe turned out with oranges!
Tatjana
Hubby liked the orange one even better than the strawberry pie, bit I did not enjoy it much. Going to try with mango and the pineapple. Its the favourite desert in the house now. Thanks heaps and best wishes! 🙂
Sally
This is a hit at our house! As fresh locally grown strawberries are in season I made two of these! I used ground pecans instead of the hazelnut. I wonder if this recipe would work with fresh peaches now that they are coming into season?
Jennifer
I'm so happy to hear you and your family enjoy the pie! It should absolutely work with peaches and I bet it will be delicious!
adriann
Will any other dairy free milk work? I have coconut allergies.
Marley
Any way to expedite the setting of the pie? Messed up on timing here!! Otherwise, have an hour here - 1/2 commute - then UP to an hour there before needed for serving. Help!
Jennifer
Oh no! I haven't tried it myself but I had a reader share that they froze it...the texture will be different (maybe more like a frozen ice cream-ish pie) but the flavor should still be there. You could also keep it in the very back of the fridge and try to avoid opening the door as much as possible to help it along. Good luck and let me know how it goes!
Angie
Hello- What size springform pan?
Jennifer
Hi Angie! A 9 inch pan.
Amanda
I have an autoimmune disease too, and I hear you on the joint pains and all of the joys that come along with these conditions. This pie sounds delicious. Love that the crust is hazelnut meal!