Pink Grapefruit Cream Pie Recipe - The Daring Gourmet (2024)

Picture your favorite Key lime pie. Then swap out the lime for pink grapefruit and what do you have? Pure HEAVEN! This Pink Grapefruit Pie is sweet, tangy, creamy, and utterly delicious!

For more grapefruit goodness be sure to also try our Grapefruit Muffins!

Oh my goodness. Talk about died and gone to heaven. That’s how I felt the first time I made this grapefruit pie just a month after launching my blog back in 2013. I had scored a large load of pink grapefruits for a fantastic price and I was busy developing a number of grapefruit recipes. This pie was the result of one of those experiments and boy were the results divine.

The inspiration came while I was attempting to take a nap while my toddler and baby were napping. But instead of being able to sleep, images of pink grapefruits kept dancing through my head. (I know, I think about food even when I’m not thinking about food, lol.) The thought suddenly struck me, “There’s Key lime pie…so how about a pink grapefruit pie?” I made a mental note and tried to shove it aside to catch a little nap, but it was hopeless. The more I tried to ignore it, the stronger and more alluring the image became of a cold, creamy, sweet and tangy grapefruit pie with whipped cream. Sleep would have to wait: It was time to make some pie!

This undertaking would prove to be a little more challenging than I had thought. After pulling my first pie out of the oven to find the filling far too soft inside the graham cracker crust, I knew it clearly wasn’t quite as straightforward as swapping key lime juice for grapefruit juice. The reason being that grapefruit has a significantly lower acidity content than lime or lemon juice, and so its chemical properties react differently in baking…in that it doesn’t set as well in cases like this creamy pie filling. I didn’t want to add cornstarch to thicken it and I wanted to keep the filling light and fluffy so I wanted to avoid using more egg yolks than already called for. So the solution was to bump up the acidity level to ensure the filling would set properly. At the time I didn’t want to make a run to the store and the only thing I had on hand were some vitamin C tablets which I crushed to a powder and added to the liquids. It worked like a charm. But since then I’ve used citric acid which is much simpler than pounding vitamin C tablets!

The resulting Pink Grapefruit Pie turned out exquisite. I called my parents and invited them over for dessert, excited for them to try it also. We all sat down together with our slices of pie, dessert forks in hand, and took a bite. It was an instant hit and my husband declared it the best pie he’s had! And I think you’ll love it as much as we do.

Pink Grapefruit Pie Recipe

Let’s get started!

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Combine the graham cracker crumbs with the sugar and melted butter. Stir to thoroughly combine.

Pour the crumb mixture into a 9-inch pie dish. Press the crumbs firmly inside the pie dish and up the sides.

Bake for 7-8 minutes. Remove and set aside to cool while you prepare the filling.

Whisk the egg yolks and add all the other ingredients except for the citric acid. Whisk until everything is incorporated and no lumps of sour cream are left.

Whisk the citric acid into the mixture.

Decrease the oven temperature to 350 degrees F.

Pour the mixture into the pie shell and bake for 20-25 minutes or until set but still slightly jiggly.

Let the pie cool completely and refrigerate for at least 1 hour until fully chilled through.

Decorate as desired, or serve as is with whipped cream.

Slice and serve.

Enjoy!

Originally published on The Daring Gourmet February 24, 2013