There’s no dessert that compares to a delicious slice of pie! As tempting as it would be to eat a whole pie, sometimes we need to freeze our pie to save it for later! But how do we reheat pie after it’s been frozen? In this post we’ll tell you all you need to know to reheat your frozen pie. Whether you have a fruity pie, custard pie, or even a delicious meat pie, we have you covered on how to reheat that mouth watering frozen pie.
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What are the best ways to reheat frozen pie?
There are a few methods used to reheat frozen pie. The best way depends on the type of pie you’re reheating, but the ways we will cover are: Microwave, Oven, and Air Fryer. Each pie type has a slightly different method and time for reheating. In this post, we’ll break pies into three categories to discuss reheating them: Fruit Pies, Custard Pies, and Meat Pies. Examples of fruit pies include apple pie and blueberry pie. Examples of custard pies include pumpkin pie and key lime pie. Chicken pot pie and shepherd’s pie are both example of meat pies. In the paragraphs below we'll explain how to heat each type of pie using three methods; the microwave, the oven, and an air fryer.
Microwave Method
Frozen Baked Custard Pie
Frozen custard pies are ideal to reheat in the microwave due to a couple of reasons: their even consistency and the fact that they aren’t meant to be crispy. The uniformity of a custard pie allows a microwave to heat the pie evenly. This is because microwaves work by causing water molecules to vibrate. So when you have a food item that has equal water molecules through it, it will heat evenly. Microwaves are not known for crisping food, in fact, they typically make food soggy. The fact that custard pies do not have crispy tops make them ideal to reheat in the microwave!
- Place custard pie on microwave safe plate and cover with a plate or paper towel
- Cook for 5 minutes
- Check temperature and continue to cook for 30 second intervals until the pie has reached desired temperature.
All times assume an 8” pie or larger.
Frozen Baked Fruit Pie
Frozen fruit pies have a good amount of liquid in them, which can cause the bottom of the pie to get soggy when reheating. This occurs because as the pie reheats, the liquid in the filling settles to the bottom. The best thing about heating from frozen is that the liquid doesn’t have as much of a chance to settle to the bottom, thus is less likely to cause a soggy bottom. If your pie thaws for some reason, simply place the pie (removed from pan or tin) on a paper towel (only for microwave method) before reheating to absorb any liquid.
- Place fruit pie on microwave safe plate and cover with a plate or paper towel
- Cook for 7.5 minutes
- Check temperature and continue to cook for 30 second intervals until the pie has reached desired temperature.
All times assume an 8” pie or larger.
Frozen Baked Meat Pie
Frozen meat pies can be reheated in the microwave following the steps below. Reheating frozen meat pies in the microwave is a great method when the pie doesn’t have a crispy top. For example, shepherd's pies typically have potatoes on top that aren’t flaky, so reheating in the microwave will not impact the texture of the potatoes. On the other hand, the crispy top on chicken pot pies will likely get soft and soggy when reheating in the microwave. For frozen meat pies with crispy tops, see below for reheating in the oven if you want to maintain a crispy top.
- Place meat pie on microwave safe plate and cover with a plate or paper towel
- Cook for 8 minutes
- Check temperature and continue to cook for 30 second intervals until the pie has reached desired temperature.
All times assume an 8” pie or larger.
Oven Method
Frozen Baked Custard Pie
Frozen custard pies can be reheated in the oven for a nice, even temperature throughout the pie. If the custard pie that you’re reheating has a crispy crust, be sure to place aluminum foil on top of the crust to keep it from burning. If your pie doesn’t have a crispy crust, there is no need for aluminum foil when reheating.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place frozen pie on a baking sheet and wrap exposed crust loosely with foil
- Heat for 20 minutes
Frozen Baked Fruit Pie
Reheating fruit pies in the oven is definitely the preferred method! Fruit pies typically have a top crust that’s better to reheat in the oven instead of the microwave because the oven will keep the crust flaky and delicious. The key to reheating your pie in the oven is to not burn the crust! To keep the crust from burning it’s important to cover the pie in the oven. This is done by placing strips of aluminum foil over the crust edges if it does not have a top crust or by placing the foil over the entire top.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place frozen pie on a baking sheet and wrap exposed crust loosely with foil
- Heat for 30 minutes
- Once baked mostly through, remove the foil for the last 2 minutes to allow the crust to crisp up.
Frozen Baked Meat Pie
Reheating frozen meat pies in the oven is a great method when the pie has a crispy top. For example, chicken pot pies typically have a flaky crust on top that will remain crispy when reheating in the oven. It’s important to not burn the top though! This is done by placing strips of aluminum foil over the crust edges if it does not have a top crust or by placing the foil over the entire top.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees
- Place frozen pie on a baking sheet and wrap exposed crust loosely with foil
- Heat for 50 to 60 minutes
- Once baked mostly through, remove the foil for the last 2 minutes to allow the crust to crisp up.
Airy Fryer Method
Frozen Baked Custard Pie
- Place your baked frozen pie into the air fryer basket.
- Set the temperature of your air fryer to 330 degrees F and then heat for 4 minutes.
- Before removing, make sure that the pie is fully heated in the middle.
- Plate, serve, and enjoy!
Frozen Baked Fruit Pie
- Place your baked frozen pie into the air fryer basket.
- Set the temperature of your air fryer to 330 degrees F and then heat for 6 minutes.
- Before removing, make sure that the pie is fully heated in the middle.
- Plate, serve, and enjoy!
Frozen Baked Meat Pie
- Place your baked frozen pie into the air fryer basket.
- Set the temperature of your air fryer to 330 degrees F and then heat for 8 minutes.
- Before removing, make sure that the pie is fully heated in the middle.
- Plate, serve, and enjoy!
How to reheat a frozen slice of pie
Simply follow the same steps above but reduce the cook time down to whatever percentage of a whole pie the slice is. An example would be if you want to reheat a single piece of fruit pie in the oven, that is ⅛th of the whole pie, the cook time will be ⅛th of the time to reheat a whole fruit pie in the oven (30 minutes). This would be ⅛th x 30 min = 3.75 or 4 minutes to reheat a slice. Start with this and if not heated through, then add time by 1 minute increments until it is heated through.
Reheat Pie Chart
Below is a chart to use as a quick reference to reheat different types of pie using different methods. For more detail on the best techniques to reheat, see the paragraphs above. Want to save this chart for later? Be sure to Pin it!
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