15 Frozen and Chilled Pies to Make This Summer

Piña Colada Pie
Photo: Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

There’s something so satisfying about digging into a freshly baked slice of pie — the flaky and buttery crust, the warm filling. However, once summer (and peak ice cream season) hits, the idea of a warm dessert isn’t as appealing. Enter our favorite frozen and chilled pie recipes, which are sweet, refreshing, and seriously cut down on your oven time. You can’t avoid it completely — you may need to bake the crust or toast the toppings, or even briefly cook the pie before transferring it to the freezer, depending on the recipe. But the end result is cold and creamy, perfect for enjoying on hot nights. Here are the cold pies we love.

01 of 15

Berry Ice Cream Pie

Berry Ice Cream Pie

© Jody Horton

This recipe turns out a berry ice cream pie that is as beautiful as it is deliciously refreshing. It's layered with balsamic blueberry jam and strawberry ice cream atop a graham cracker crust, then served with fresh blueberries.

02 of 15

Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie

Black-Bottom Banana Cream Pie
© Dana Gallagher

Valeri Lucks, the co-owner and self-titled "chief people wrangler" and "pie master" at Milwaukee's Honeypie Cafe, says this pie marries two of her bestselling pies: chocolate cream and banana cream. 

03 of 15

Lemony Sumac Pie with Ritz Cracker Crust

recipe
Photo by Antonis Achilleos / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Ali Ramee

Chef Paola Velez loves making crumb crusts for no-bake pies during the hot summer months. Here she uses Ritz cracker crumbs as a salty, buttery foil to a tangy lemon and sumac curd filling. Sumac, a tart spice that adds floral aroma and pops of red color, backs up fresh lemon juice in this sweet and sour filling. 

04 of 15

Mud Pie

Mud Pie
Abby Hocking / Food & Wine

This decadent ice cream pie has a crunchy cookie crust, a fudgy chocolate-pecan layer, and lots of coffee ice cream. To top it off: a blanket of homemade hot fudge plus a generous heap of whipped cream.

05 of 15

Chilled Grapefruit-Caramel Meringue Pie

Grapefruit-Caramel Meringue Pie
© Tina Rupp

Most pastry chefs love lemon and orange, but for this recipe Deborah Snyder champions grapefruit. In one cold, creamy dessert, she layers pink grapefruit curd in a crunchy graham cracker crust with caramel cream, caramel sauce, and a delicate topping of fluffy meringue. 

06 of 15

Chocolate Cream Pie

Chocolate Cream Pie
© Con Poulos

This dreamy, creamy dessert starts as a simple chocolate pudding that gets transformed into a homey, silky pie by adding a quick chocolate crust and vanilla-scented whipped cream.

07 of 15

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Pie

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream Pie

© John Kernick

If you don't want to make a caramel or fudge sauce, chef Nancy Silverton suggests using high-quality jarred ones like King's Cupboard cream caramel sauce and Scharffen Berger chocolate sauce.

08 of 15

Tiramisu Icebox Pie

Tiramisu Icebox Pie
Eric Wolfinger

Pastry chef Mathew Rice takes the familiar elements of a classic tiramisu — ladyfingers, coffee, and mascarpone — and reimagines them as an icebox pie. The dessert is full of playful textures and flavors, including a dense coffee mousse and salty-sweet coffee crunchies.

09 of 15

Piña Colada Pie

Piña Colada Pie
Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley

In this swoon-worthy dessert, the classic tropical flavors of a piña colada cocktail are transformed into a pie featuring layers of silky coconut custard and a caramelized pineapple jam made by simmering fresh pineapple with brown sugar. Adding rum to the hot pineapple mixture burns off the harsher taste of the alcohol while leaving a pleasant kick.

10 of 15

Butterscotch Pudding Pie

Butterscotch Pudding PIe
Abby Hocking

Top Chef judge Gail Simmons likes to keep her butterscotch pudding homey, focusing on the buttery flavor and lingering finish of real Scotch. For this impressive pie, she thickens the pudding more than usual and pours it into a fully cooled pie crust flecked with golden pecans. The contrasting textures of rich pudding and nutty, flaky dough make this a grown-up ode to the comforting childhood classic. 

11 of 15

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie

Creamy Peanut Butter Pie
© Jonny Valiant

This delicious whipped cream-topped peanut butter pie offers the perfect balance of sweet and salty flavors. The simple press-in crust is a combination of peanut butter sandwich cookies and butter.

12 of 15

Tangy Key Lime Pie

Tangy Key Lime Pie
© Quentin Bacon

Based on a recipe from Florida Keys Cooking pamphlet, published in 1946 by Patricia's Notebook newsletter, this pie is not the ordinarily dense and cloyingly sweet version. Folding in beaten egg whites gives it a light, mousse-like texture. The pie needs to chill overnight, so plan accordingly.

13 of 15

Coconut Cream Pie

Coconut Cream Pie
© Christina Holmes

Every part of this fluffy pie from pastry chef Kierin Baldwin has coconut: the crust, the filling, and the topping.

14 of 15

Banana Pudding Pie

Banana pudding pie
Photo by Will Dickey / Prop Styling by Christina Daley / Food Styling by Margaret Monroe Dickey

Cool, creamy, and nostalgic, banana pudding gets a gourmet upgrade thanks to buttery, roasted macadamia nuts in the classic vanilla wafer crust. This is no place for instant pudding — the pie gets a rich lift from an easy homemade pudding made with whole milk and egg yolks flecked with flavorful vanilla bean seeds. Two layers of sliced banana and a billowy crown of fresh whipped cream take this make-ahead dessert over the top. 

15 of 15

Lemon Chiffon Pie with Saltine Cracker Crus

Lemon chiffon pie with saltine cracker crust
Photo by Greg DuPree / Food Styling by Torie Cox / Prop Styling by Christine Keely

Pastry chef Kelly Field's great-aunt Jean, who first made this pie during the Great Depression, swapped pricey graham crackers in the crust for less-expensive saltines, which play well with the tart lemon filling. To create the voluminous filling, be sure to whip the egg whites to stiff peaks.

Was this page helpful?
Related Articles