This Light Rhubarb Pie is flavored with chai tea and made with creamy vanilla yogurt. Don’t worry, it’s not hard. All you have to do is bake the crust, make the filling, assemble the pie and let it chill!

light rhubarb chai cream pie with a slice removed

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Why We Love This Recipe For Light Rhubarb Chai Cream Pie

Oh I am so excited about this healthy rhubarb pie. It is a good one! It’s made with a buttery homemade pie crust, and a creamy rhubarb filling that’s flavored with Chai tea. It’s the perfect light, creamy and tangy dessert, and anyone you serve it to will be wildly impressed.

Recipe Highlights

  • Each serving is under 200 calories
  • It requires less than 45 minutes of active cooking time
  • You can make it a day in advance if you’re planning to serve it on a special occasion
A Healthy Rhubarb Pie in a pie form

Key Ingredients For This Low Calorie Rhubarb Pie Recipe

  • Pantry Staples: whole-wheat pastry flour, all-purpose flour, sugar, salt and honey
  • Unsalted Butter: You can use salted butter as well, but just be mindful of how much extra salt you’re adding in that case.
  • Canola Oil: If you’re sketched out about GMOs like I am, be sure to use an organic canola oil. We have locally made non-GMO canola here in Vermont now, from Full Sun and it is incredible. It is bright yellow and has a wonderful mild flavor.
  • Ice Water & Boiling Water
  • Chai tea: The filling is flavored with Chai tea. I used decaf so I could have this at night and share it with the kids.
  • Unflavored gelatin: The yogurt filling is actually really easy so don’t be afraid of the fact that it has gelatin in it. It is not as scary as you think, and it makes the yogurt filling nice and stable so you can slice the pie into wedges.
  • Rhubarb: The rhubarb breaks down really nicely, but I like to leave a bit of chunkiness to it so don’t cut it too small.
  • Spices: Cinnamon and cardamom
  • Fat-free Vanilla Greek Yogurt: This is the base of the creamy filling. Make sure to choose a sweetened one not plain. You can use low-fat or full-fat if you prefer a creamier filling.
Low Calorie Rhubarb Pie on a plate

Step-by-Step Instructions to Make This Light Rhubarb Pie

Step 1: Make homemade pie dough

  • Pulse whole-wheat pastry flour, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with a steel blade attachment until just combined.
  • Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles a coarse meal.
  • Remove the lid and drizzle in canola oil. Pulse in oil three or four times. Open the lid and drizzle in 4 tablespoons of ice water spreading drops evenly around the crumbly mixture.
  • Process until the mixture just comes together. If it doesn’t come together drizzle on 1 to 2 more tablespoons of ice water and process until the dough comes together as one mass.
  • Flatten the dough into a disk, wrap it with plastic, and refrigerate at least one hour to firm up.

Step 2: Steep tea

Meanwhile, pour 1/2 cup of boiling water over the tea bag and let it steep for 10 minutes. Remove the tea bag and let tea concentrate. Sit until cool, at least 30 minutes.

Step 3: Preheat oven

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Step 4: Roll out pie dough

Roll the dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a shallow 9-inch pie plate. Roll excess dough under the edge to create a tall wall of dough along the rim of the plate and crimp edges. Dock the crust with a fork to prevent puffing up in the oven. Bake in the center of the oven until golden brown, 24 to 28 minutes. Cool completely.

Step 5: Make Rhubarb Compote

Stir rhubarb, honey, cinnamon and cardamom in a medium saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cover and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove the lid and cook until the rhubarb has softened and broken down, 6 to 10 minutes.

Reserve 1 cup of the rhubarb mixture and refrigerate for the topping.

Step 6: Add gelatin to cooled tea

Sprinkle gelatin over the cooled tea and let sit until the gelatin has absorbed the moisture of the tea and softened, about 5 minutes.

Step 7: Make Cream filling

Stir the tea mixture into the remaining rhubarb in the saucepan and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Let the mixture cool, about 15 minutes, or stir over an ice bath to speed cooling, 4 to 5 minutes.

Whisk the rhubarb and gelatin mixture with the yogurt in a medium bowl.

Step 8: Assemble Pie, Chill And Add Topping

Brush ¾ teaspoon flour into docking holes. Pour the yogurt mixture into the cooled baked pie crust. Refrigerate until cold and set up, about 2 hours. (Can be refrigerated overnight)

Top the light rhubarb pie with the reserved 1 cup rhubarb mixture.

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A slice of Light Rhubarb Pie on a plate with a fork

FAQs and Expert Tips

Make ahead!

This healthy rhubarb pie can be prepared through step 5 up to 24 hours in advance. Cover tightly with foil or plastic wrap until ready to serve.

Storing instructions:

Cover the remaining pie tightly with foil or plastic wrap. Alternatively, place the leftover pie sliced in an airtight container and store in the fridge for 3 to 4 days.

How to properly use gelatin in a recipe:

Gelatin needs to be bloomed first. Blooming is just a fancy way of saying that you are softening the gelatin granules so they can easily dissolve in the liquid.

So for this recipe, I used cooled chai tea to do that. Just sprinkle the gelatin over the tea, and let it sit there for five minutes or so. Sprinkle the gelatin across the tea in an even layer. If there are dry pockets in the center, it won’t soften properly.

How to dissolve the gelatin:

When you heat the gelatin and rhubarb mixture in step 6, make sure it does not come to a boil. Gelatin is a protein, and if it gets too hot, the proteins will denature and they won’t form back together properly. When this happens, the gelatin won’t set.

How quickly will the filling set?

The rhubarb filling with gelatin solidifies and gels up as it cools, so once you’ve mixed it with the yogurt, transfer it to the pie crust and into the fridge without delay or mucking around with it too much.

More Pie Recipes to Try

More Rhubarb Recipes to Try

At Healthy Seasonal Recipes, we specialize in cooking with fresh veggies and creating weeknight meals. Sign up HERE to get more produce-forward dinner ideas for FREE! If you make this recipe, please come back and leave a star rating and review. I would love to hear what you thought! Happy Cooking! ~Katie

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Light Rhubarb Chai Cream Pie on healthyseasonalrecipes.com

Light Rhubarb Chai Cream Pie

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Description

This healthy rhubarb cream pie is flavored with chai tea and made with creamy vanilla yogurt. Don’t worry, it’s not hard. All you have to do is bake the crust, make the filling, assemble the pie and let it chill!

Ingredients

Units Scale

Crust

  • 1 1/4 cups whole-wheat pastry flour
  • 1/2 cup all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting and brushing
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 4 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into chunks
  • 2 tablespoons canola oil
  • 4 to 6 tablespoons ice water

Filling

  • 1/2 cup boiling water
  • 1 chai tea bag
  • 1 package unflavored gelatin
  • 4 cups chopped rhubarb
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 1/2 cups fat free vanilla Greek yogurt

Instructions

  1. Pulse whole-wheat pastry flour, flour, sugar and salt in a food processor fitted with steel blade attachment until just combined. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal. Remove lid and drizzle in canola oil. Pulse in oil three or four times. Open lid and drizzle in 4 tablespoons ice water spreading drops evenly around the crumbly mixture. Process until the mixture just comes together. If it doesn’t come together drizzle on 1 to 2 more tablespoons ice water and process until the dough comes together as one mass. Flatten dough into a disk, wrap with plastic and refrigerate at least one hour to firm up.
  2. Meanwhile, pour boiling water over the tea bag and let steep 10 minutes. Remove tea bag and let tea concentrate sit until cool, at least 30 minutes.
  3. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
  4. Roll dough out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface. Transfer to a shallow 9-inch pie plate. Roll excess dough under edge to create tall wall of dough along rim of plate and crimp edges. Dock the crust with a fork to prevent puffing up in the oven. Bake in the center of the oven until golden brown, 24 to 28 minutes. Cool completely.
  5. Stir rhubarb, honey, cinnamon and cardamom in a medium saucepan and set over medium-high heat. Cover and bring to a simmer, stirring occasionally. Remove lid and cook until the rhubarb has softened and broken down, 6 to 10 minutes. Reserve 1 cup of the rhubarb mixture and refrigerate.
  6. Sprinkle gelatin over the cooled tea and let sit until the gelatin has absorbed the moisture of the tea and softened, about 5 minutes.
  7. Stir the tea mixture into the remaining rhubarb in the saucepan and stir until the gelatin is dissolved. Let mixture cool, about 15 minutes, or stir over an ice bath to speed cooling, 4 to 5 minutes. Whisk the rhubarb and gelatin mixture with the yogurt in a medium bowl. Brush ¾ teaspoon flour into docking holes. Pour into the cooled baked pie crust. Refrigerate until cold and set up, about 2 hours. Top with the reserved 1 cup rhubarb mixture.

Notes

Make Ahead: Can be prepared through step 5 up to 1 day ahead.

  • Prep Time: 40 minutes
  • Cook Time: 40 minutes
  • Category: dessert
  • Method: oven/stove top
  • Cuisine: American

Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice
  • Calories: 195
  • Sugar: 15 g
  • Sodium: 59 mg
  • Fat: 7 g
  • Saturated Fat: 3 g
  • Carbohydrates: 32 g
  • Fiber: 4 g
  • Protein: 6 g

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