Blueberry Pie Bars are easier than pie to make and a perfect treat to make with fresh or frozen blueberries! Made with a buttery shortbread cookie base, a creamy, sweet blueberry filling, and a generous crumb topping, these Blueberry Bars are absolutely delicious.
If you love blueberries, not only will you love these Fresh Blueberry Bars, but you will also love Blueberry Coffee Cake, Blueberry Pancakes, and Whole Wheat Blueberry Muffins.
From the buttery shortbread to the sweet blueberries to the creamy custard, these Blueberry Pie Bars are the perfect summer dessert.
They are sweet. They are buttery. They are creamy. Absolute perfection!
Not to mention, these blueberry bars are incredibly easy to make.
Notes on Ingredients
- Shortbread Base and Crumble: The crumble and the base of these pie bars is the same mixture and is made with flour, butter, sugar and salt--much like my recipe for Classic Shortbread Cookies.
- Blueberries: While fresh berries are best, frozen blueberries work as well, so you can enjoy this treat year round.
- Custard Filling: The creaminess in these pie bars comes from a mixture of sour cream, vanilla, eggs, and sugar together. Feel free to replace the sour cream with plain Greek yogurt if desired.
How to Make Blueberry Bars
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and grease an 8x8 baking dish or line with parchment paper and set aside.
- Mix together the flour, ¼ cup sugar, a dash of salt together.
- Add in cold butter and mix together until the butter is incorporated into the flour mixture and resembles sand.
- Take out a ½ cup of the pie crust mixture and set aside for the blueberry bars crumb topping.
- Press the remaining batter evenly in the glass baking dish.
- Bake the shortbread cookie base for 15 minutes.
- In a mixing bowl, mix together the sour cream, remaining sugar, egg, and vanilla together until well combined.
- Gently fold in the blueberries.
- Remove the shortbread crust from the oven and spread the sour cream blueberry pie filling over the shortbread crust.
- Sprinkle the reserved pie crust over top of the blueberry pie bars evenly.
- Bake the bars until the blueberry pie filling is set and the crumble topping is golden brown.
- Cool bars completely before storing in the refrigerator. These bars can be enjoyed immediately once cooled, but the flavor is best if enjoyed after chilling for a couple of hours.
Storage
Cool the Blueberry Pie Bars until they reach room temperature. Cover and refrigerate the bars for up to 3 days.
You can freeze these bars as well, if well wrapped and stored in an airtight container for up to 1 month. Defrost in the refrigerator overnight before enjoying. The texture will be a bit softer after freezing, but still taste delicious.
Recipe FAQs
Yes, this step helps to seal the base of these bars which keeps the blueberry filling from seeping into the crust as it bakes, which would make the crust soggy.
I find it is best to slice into bars after refrigerating the blueberry bars for several hours first. This gives the filling time to set up and thicken and makes cutting the bars much easier. Plus the flavor is more developed.
Yes! DO NOT THAW the frozen berries, mix into the sour cream mixture right from the freezer. If using frozen berries, you will need to add an additional 10 minutes to the bake time.
You can mix together the shortbread crust in a food processor fitted with the pastry blade, with a pastry cutter, or with 2 forks. Personally, I opt for my food processor to make quick work of preparing the shortbread.
More Dessert Recipes
If you tried these Blueberry Pie Bars, I would love for you to leave a comment and review below.
Blueberry Pie Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cup flour
- ½ cup sugar divided
- dash of salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter cubed and cold
- ½ cup Sour Cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 egg slightly beaten
- 4 cups fresh blueberries washed and dried
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Grease an 8x8 baking dish or line with parchment paper and set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, ¼ cup sugar, and dash of salt. Mix in the butter with a paddle mixer, pastry blender, or 2 forks until crumbly, and butter is distributed evenly. Reserve ½ cup of the mixture for later. With the remaining batter, press it evenly in the glass baking dish. Bake for 15 minutes.
- While crust is baking, mix together yogurt/sour cream, remaining ¼ cup sugar, vanilla and egg together. Gently fold in the blueberries.
- When the crust comes out of the oven, pour the blueberry batter over the crust and sprinkle the reserved ½ cup crust batter over the berry mixture evenly. Return to the oven and bake for 45-50 minutes or until pie bars are set and crumble over top is slightly browned.
- Allow to cool for at least an hour before slicing. The bars are BEST if enjoyed after refrigerating for 12 hours before slicing and enjoying.
Louise Stewart
Two quick questions: 1) Current recipe says 1-1/2 cups flour; comments from 2015 state 1/2 cup flour 2) Current recipe says 1/2 cup butter; comments from 2015 state 3/4 cups butter...just making sure of ingredients before I make this, hopefully today. Maybe the recipe has been changed by you since 2015??? Thanks
Kristen Chidsey
The comments were referring to just the base (I had it divided before into 2 steps). Follow the current recipe as written for success. Enjoy!
Laurie Cowell
Wish it gave an estimated time for baking.
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Laurie! It sounds like you just missed the baking time. It is in step 4 of the recipe card stating to bake 45-50 minutes. I hope you enjoy.
Beth
These are everyone’s favorite and so yummy! I can’t wait to make these bars again! Such a great and easy recipe!
Kristen Chidsey
Thanks for sharing. I love hearing you enjoyed this recipe.
Katie
These are a family favorite around here. The blueberry with the crumble is irresistible!
Kristen Chidsey
That crumble gets us every time! Glad you enjoyed Katie!
Krystle
The crust on these is out of this world. I followed your instructions for using frozen berries, and they turned out perfect.
Kristen Chidsey
So glad you enjoyed Krystle! And thanks for letting us know the results with frozen berries!
Lisalia
we LOVE blueberry pie - we have three large blueberry shrubs growing in our front yard. And we're always on the look out for new recipes. This was fantastic and tasted just like my favorite pie without all the effort. Thanks for a great new recipe!
Kristen Chidsey
I am so happy you all enjoyed so much! And what a wonderful thing to have blueberry shrubs!
Beth
This is the perfect summer treat! It says it can be refrigerated for up to 3 days but there is NO way these will last that long in my home! Delish!
Kristen Chidsey
So glad you all enjoyed so much Beth!
Janell Young
Hi! We did enjoy these, but the sour cream mixture disappeared. Should there have been more of it (maybe 1 cup or even more) so that it made a "sauce" around the berries?
Kristen Chidsey
Hi Janell. I am glad you enjoyed the flavor, but sorry you were disappointed by the lack of cream mixture. Adding more would make this recipe not sliceable or able to be hand-held.
Jacquita Beddo
Did I miss where it says how long to pre-bake the crust?
Kristen Chidsey
The last line in step two states to bake for 15 minutes 🙂