No Bake Dr. Pepper Pie with Instant Pudding

I’ve seen tons of Dr. Pepper pie recipes on Pinterest and all of them used a cake mix and can of soda. Also, they had to be baked in the oven. With this recipe, I’m offering a different way to make a Dr. Pepper pie. This one is a no-bake dessert all the way. It tastes like a Dr. Pepper float but it is a delicious pie and I think you’ll love it.

No Bake Dr. Pepper Pie with Instant Pudding

Previously, when I created no-bake desserts using a cake mix, I would use cream cheese as the way of holding the dish together. This works especially well when making a version of my grandmother’s icebox dessert.

However, after the success in making a banana version of icebox cake using a pudding mix, I decided to try my hand at making a no bake version of a pie with pudding. I’m thrilled with the results. I can easily see making this cake a part of my warm-weather rotation for family parties or potlucks. It will be so refreshing on hot days.

If you like the idea of making dishes with soda pop as a legit ingredient, check out this Crock Pot chicken chili recipe that uses cola. You could also use a can of Dr. Pepper soda if you have extra cans in the fridge.

Instructions 

1. Start by making your pie crust. In a large bowl combine the graham cracker crumbs, sugar and melted butter.
2. Press the crust mixture into a 9 inch pie pan.
3. To prepare the pie filling, whisk together the Dr. Pepper, milk and pudding mix until well combined. Then fold in Cool Whip.
4. Pour the pie filling into the crust and smooth top.
5. Place in freezer for 4 hours or overnight.
6. When ready to serve, garnish with whipped topping and cherries.

Notes

I made my graham cracker crust from scratch. However, if you’re pressed for time or just don’t want to make a homemade pie crust, you have options — namely buying an already-made graham cracker crust at the supermarket.

You can use diet ingredients for this recipe if you like. So Diet Dr. Pepper, sugar-free vanilla pudding and replace the 1/4 cup of sugar with a sugar-free sweetener such as monk fruit. If I end up experimenting with this other version, I’m definitely putting the recipe on my low-carb blog.

The cherries are here to be used as a garnish. However, you can easily transform this recipe into a cherry pie by chopping the cherries and mixing them in with the pie filling. They will chill nicely as the pie firms up in the freezer.

This recipe calls for maraschino cherries, which Bill loves. I prefer fresh cherries. So if I was going to modify this recipe to have cherries on the inside or even as a topping, I would go with the fresh cherries. This handheld cherry pitter is a lifesaver to have in the kitchen when dealing with fresh cherries.