Canning Cherry Pie Filling
Love cherry pie? Canning your own cherry pie filling is a great way to enjoy peak cherry season all year long. Whether you use fresh-picked sour cherries or frozen ones, homemade pie filling beats anything you’ll find at the store.
This recipe is easy, versatile, and only takes about an hour. With just five simple ingredients and a bit of preparation, you’ll have jars of cherry goodness ready for desserts, breakfasts, and sweet snacks all year.
Why This Recipe Works
Canning cherry pie filling lets you preserve that sweet-tart cherry flavor while it’s at its best. Sour cherries are the traditional choice, but sweet cherries can also work, provided you reduce the sugar and add a bit more lemon juice to balance the flavors.
The key ingredient here is ClearJel, a modified cornstarch made specifically for canning. It thickens without clumping and remains stable during processing and storage. Regular cornstarch and flour aren’t safe for canning due to food safety concerns. Thickeners can prevent the ability of the ingredients in the jar to heat through consistently, according to Iowa State University.
If you don’t have enough time to make the cherry pie filling right after picking, just freeze the cherries. Then thaw in the refrigerator and proceed with the recipe.
What you need
- Tart cherries: Fresh cherries yield the best flavor, but they can also be fresh-frozen.
- Sugar: Sugar is important for both flavor and safety.
- Clearjel: Again, do not use regular cornstarch!
- Lemon juice: Bottled lemon juice is crucial; don’t use fresh lemon juice.
- Cinnamon: Cinnamon is optional but adds a great flavor.
How to make it
Remove the stems and pit the cherries. Heat cherries in juice, if frozen and thawed, or water, if fresh. Separate juice from the cherries by draining in a colander. Keep cherries warm in a covered bowl.
Mix the sugar and Clearjel well. This will prevent the Clearjel from clumping.
Resume heating the juice.
Add the sugar mixture to the juice in the pot. Stir to remove lumps. Constantly stir until thickened.
Stir the cherries back into the thickened juice in the pot.. Heat through on low heat.
Ladle the pie filling into quart jars, leaving a 1-inch headspace. This is the perfect amount for a 9-inch pie. (You can use pints if you want to use them for ice cream topping or another use.
Run a bubble remover tool or a wooden or plastic chopstick around the edges of the jars to remove any air bubbles. Wipe the jar edges clean with a damp paper towel.
Top with lids. Tighten bands fingertip tight.
Get the canner water hot. Wash the jars and lids. Add the clean jars to the canning pot to heat. Once the jars are filled, add them to the canning pot. Bring the water in the pot to a boil. Once the water is boiling, set the timer.
When the processing time is complete, remove the pot from the heat, carefully open the lid, and partially lift it off the top of the canning pot. Let it rest like that for 5 minutes.
Then, remove the lid and let the jars rest in the canning pot for an additional 5 to 10 minutes.
After resting, remove the jars onto a kitchen towel placed on your counter and let them thoroughly cool for 12-24 hours, undisturbed. You may hear the lids pinging sometime in the next hour. This is music to a canner’s ears. It is due to the reaction of the lids being sealed to the jar.
Check the seals. Press down in the middle of the lid. If it flexes up or down, the jar is not sealed and should be refrigerated and used first.
Then, remove the bands. Gently pick up the jar by the lid to check the seal further. Again, if it is not sealed, use it first.
Label jars with contents and the date. Store in a cool, dark place for at least a year. Avoid areas with large temperature fluctuations.
Do not stack jars on top of each other. This can compromise the seals. If you run out of room on your shelf, use a sheet of cardboard or a thin piece of wood and place that on top of a row of jars. Then you can put jars on top of that. This will distribute the weight evenly.
Before using any canned goods, always inspect the packaging and the food itself. Make sure that it looks and smells as it should. If it doesn’t, it’s best to err on the side of caution and discard it.
Pro tips for success
- It’s best to use sour cherries for this recipe. If using sweet cherries, reduce the sugar and increase the lemon juice, to taste.
- Use a cherry pitter to speed up the pitting process.
- Use ClearJel, a modified cornstarch, instead of cornstarch, if canning.
- If you don’t want to can this cherry pie filling, it lasts 2-3 days or freeze it up to 1 year.
- If you are not canning, the Clearjel can be substituted with cornstarch.
- Use proper canning techniques, if canning, to make the product shelf stable.
- Pack into quart jars. A quart is the perfect amount for a 9″ pie.
How to use Cherry Pie Filling
- cherry pie
- cherry crisp
- easy cherry parfaits
- topping for pound cakes, pancakes, crepes, ice cream or yogurt
- quick cherry bars
- cherry cheesecake
- cherry turnovers
- no bake cherry delight dessert
- cherry dump cake
- cherry fruit squares
More Pie Fillings
Other dishes made with fresh cherries
Tools I Use
Want to Grow Your Own Produce?
Due to my horticulture background, readers frequently ask for help with vegetable gardening. If that’s something you’re curious about, check out my How to Start a Garden series:
- Planning Your Garden
- Preparing the Garden Site
- Choosing Plants + Planting
- Garden Maintenance
- Harvesting + Preserving the Harvest – includes over 100 free recipes
Connect with us through our social media pages! Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, Twitter.
Please ask any questions or share your comments in the comments section below. We’d love to hear from you.
I hope you enjoyed the recipe today.
Enjoy. And have fun cooking!
Canning Cherry Pie Filling
Ingredients
- 3⅓ cups fresh or frozen sour cherries
- 1 cup sugar
- 1⅓ cups water
- ¼ cup Clear Jel modified cornstarch plus
- 1 tablespoon Clear Jel modified cornstarch
- 1 tablespoon Bottled Lemon Juice plus
- 1 teaspoon Bottled Lemon Juice
- ⅛ teaspoon ground cinnamon optional
Instructions
For Fresh Cherries
- For fresh fruit, add cherries to large pot. Cover with about 1/2 gallon of water.
For Frozen Cherries
- Thaw cherries in refrigerator.
- Add cherries and juice to large pan. Just barely cover cherries with water.
For fresh and frozen cherries
- Bring to boil. Once boiling, boil for 1 minute.
- Strain liquid from cherries. Keep cherries warm in covered container. Reserve water and juice.
- Combine sugar and clearjel. Add the water or juice back to the large pot.
- Cook over medium high heat, stirring constantly, until mixture starts bubbling.
- Add lemon juice. Boil for 1 minute.
- Fold in cherries.
- Pack immediately into hot jars. Reserving 1-inch headspace.
- Remove the air bubbles with a bubble tool. Wipe the edge of the jar clean. Place lids. Screw on bands fingertip tight.
- Process 30 minutes,at sea level. Adjusting for altitude. See the notes below.
See all of my favorite tools and gift ideas on my New Amazon Store!Check out Binky’s Amazon Store!Notes
- It’s best to use sour cherries for this recipe. If using sweet cherries, reduce the sugar and increase the lemon juice to taste.
- Use a cherry pitter to speed up the pitting process.
- Use Clear Jel, a modified cornstarch, instead of cornstarch, if canning.
- If you don’t want to can this cherry pie filling, it lasts 2-3 days or freeze it up to 1 year.
- If you are not canning, the clearjel can be substituted with cornstarch.
- Use proper canning techniques, if canning, to make the product shelf-stable.
Nutrition
Originally published September 1, 2020. Updated July 1, 2025.
Great easy recipe! Works great doubled also.
Thanks Patti. Yes, it will work fine doubled!
Will this be enough for a cherry pie or should the recipe be increased? If needing to be increased, by how much?
One quart fills a nine-inch pie nicely. This recipe makes one quart.
I highly recommend using half tart cherries with chopped rhubarb–Oh! My! This year I added a vanilla bean….Off the charts for deliciousness! We used the cherry/rhubarb for everything–waffles, pancakes, yogurt, ice cream….I would say it makes a lovely gift, but it’s one that everyone becomes so sad when we don’t have it on the shelf!
That sounds good! We’ll have to try it.
I am confused about the amount of water. Recipe says 1 1/3 cup but direction says 1/2 gallon. Please explain. Thank you
When you boil the cherries to heat them, you will use about 1/2 gallon of water to cover them. Then drain them, reserve the water/ juice. Keep the cherries warm in a covered bowl and use 1-1/3 cups of the reserved water/juice to make the 1 pint of pie filling, which is what the recipe is written for. Does that straighten it up.
Is there a reason you use bottled lemon juice? I l prefer fresh lemon juice. Will it provide the same result?
It is recommended to always use bottled lemon juice when canning because the pH of bottled lemon juice is consistent and the pH of fresh lemons varies.
How much would you reduce the sugar for sweet cherries?
I would say by at least half. Mix everything together, except the Clear jel. Then taste it. It will depend on how sweet the cherries are. Measure out 1/2 cup. Maybe don’t add that all. Just keep tasting until it is sweet enough for you. I prefer tart pies, so our tastes may differ. Thanks for checking out the recipe Matthew!