Easy Whipped Cranberry Pie Recipe

This easy Whipped Cranberry Pie recipe is perfect for your Thanksgiving table. It’s simple and luscious with whole berry cranberry sauce and creamy whipped topping!

Whipped Cranberry Pie is just right for serving a deliciously easy whipped dessert for your holiday dessert table, after any dinner, or potluck. We love making simple and tasty desserts like our Blueberry Nectarine Cake, Homemade Pumpkin Cake, and Instant Pot Strawberry Cheesecake. This is one of our Dessert recipes you’ll want to keep in your recipe box!

I’ve been thinking lately about how to make easy stress-free desserts for holiday gatherings. By easy I mean no peeling, slicing, baking, or hard to find ingredients. It then occurred to me that our new easiest ever peanut butter pie recipe can be tweaked for the holidays by using cranberry sauce rather than peanut butter. What would Thanksgiving dinner be without cranberry sauce. Viola, you now have Whipped Cranberry Pie!

Fresh cranberries can be super tart, so we decided to use whole berry cranberry sauce instead. And talk about simple…we LOVE LOVE ?? how easy it is to make. Substitute a store-bought crust for the homemade one and it is almost hands-free! Almost.

What you ned to make this recipe

• Graham Crackers – we used 9 full sheets of graham crackers for this crust. The sheets have 4 crackers per sheet. Depending on how yours are packaged, you may need more or less. When crushed into crumbs, you’ll want a measure of 1 1/2 cups of crumbs. Alternately, graham cracker crumbs are sold by the box for convenience, just measure what you need right from the package.
• Sugar – white granulated sugar is our choice.
• Butter – we love unsalted butter for our recipes. It allows the cook to control the salt!
• Whole Berry Cranberry Sauce – bursting with plump cranberries, a whole can of this seasonal goodness goes into our pies!
• Cream Cheese – a full 8 ounces of cream cheese! Set the block out a few hours ahead of time to soften OR place cream cheese block on a plate and microwave for 10 second intervals until softened.
• Sweetened Condensed Milk – not to be confused with evaporated milk. NOTE – The cans look similar and most grocery stock them next to each other on the shelves.
• Whipped Topping – aka non-dairy whipped topping. We used a national brand but most store brands are more budget friendly and just as good!

How to make Whipped Cranberry Pie

This Whipped Cranberry Pie is a breeze to make in only minutes. You can either bake the graham cracker crust for 8 -10 minutes, or make it no-bake by simply chilling the crust in the refrigerator. Then beat the room temperature cream cheese, condensed milk and whole berry cranberry sauce together until fluffy. Fold in the whipped topping and you’re ready to fill up your crust. Amazing.

1. To a food processor, add graham cracker sheets. Pulse until pieces resemble fine crumbs. Alternately, place graham cracker sheets in a plastic bag and crush with a rolling pin.
2. Pour the crumbs into a 9-inch pie dish. Add sugar and stir to combine. Pour the melted butter over the crust crumbs and toss with a fork until graham cracker mixture is totally moistened.
3. Press the crumb mixture over the bottom and up the sides of a 9-inch pie plate.
4. Bake crust in 350°F preheated oven OR chill the crust for 1 hour in the refrigerator.
5. To a large bowl, add the cream cheese, sweetened condensed milk and the entire can of cranberry sauce. Beat with a stand or electric mixer at low speed. Mix until completely blended and fluffy, about 2 minutes.
6. Using a rubber spatula, fold 1/2 of whipped topping into the cranberry mixture until no white streaks remain. Add remaining whipped topping and gently fold into the cranberry mixture until blended.
7. Scrape pie filling into crust and smooth the top. Chill for at least 2 hours in the refrigerator. Add dried cranberry garnish on top before serving.

Can I Substitute Whipped Cream for Whipped Topping?

Rather than cool whip or another whipped topping, you can definitely use heavy cream to make this fantastic holiday pie. NOTE – It’s not a 1:1 substitution. You’ll need 3 ingredients to make the whipped cream.

• 1 1/2 cups heavy cream
• 1/3 cup powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

I don’t get fussy about it, but if your house is warm, you might want to chill the bowl and beaters before adding the heavy cream. Some cooks find this helpful.

1. To a large bowl fitted with a whisk attachment (stand mixer), add the heavy whipping cream, powdered sugar and vanilla.
2. Whip on HIGH speed until stiff peaks form. (The peaks or tips will stand straight up and hold their shape).
3. Fold whipped cream into the cranberry mixture according to the recipe.

You can also use an electric hand mixer to make the whipped cream!

Can I use fresh or frozen cranberries instead of canned cranberry sauce?

You could, but you’d need to cook them first. Hard, raw cranberries won’t work for this pie because no heat will be used to soften them and they’ll be very tart! If you want to use fresh cranberries, you can make homemade cranberry sauce to add to the ingredients instead. For this recipe, you could make cranberry in the oven using this method:

Ingredients:

• 1 10-ounce bag fresh or frozen cranberries
• 1/4 cup water
• 1-1/4 cups sugar
• pinch salt
• pinch cardamom (optional)

Instructions:

1. Place rack in center of oven. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Toss cranberries, water, orange zest, sweetener, salt and cardamom in an 8 x 8 glass dish. Stir to combine.
3. Bake for 55 minutes to 1 hour, stirring occasionally, until the cranberries are soft and the juice is bubbling and starting to thicken. Sauce will thicken as it cools.
4. Taste and add more sweetener if needed. Allow to cool completely before adding to recipe ingredients.

Storing Whipped Cranberry Pie

• Store pie in an airtight container or the pie dish wrapped completely in plastic.
• Store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for 2 months.
• If frozen, let sit out to soften a little at room temperature before cutting.