Fresh pineapple, a piece of butter, a spoonful of sugar and two rounds of flaky dough. That is the whole shopping list for this air fryer pineapple pie, and it’s one of the most-watched recipes on our YouTube channel, with more than 100,000 views.
The filling is cooked on the stove first. Diced pineapple goes into melted butter with a spoonful of white sugar, cooks until the extra juice is gone, then a little starch mixed with water turns it thick and glossy. That step matters: a dry, sticky filling is what keeps the bottom crust from going soggy.
The crust is two hand-pulled pancakes, the thin, flaky frozen dough rounds sold in Asian grocery stores. One is the base, the other is cut into strips for the lattice. A brush of egg yolk and a few sesame seeds, then 20 minutes in the air fryer at 180°C (356°F). No pie dish, no rolling pin, no oven.
It comes out golden and crisp on top with a sweet, jammy pineapple layer inside. Cut it into wedges while it’s warm.
What you need
- 1 fresh pineapple, peeled and cut into small dice.
- A piece of butter for the pan. The caption in the video says “a stick”, but the pan shows a small piece, so don’t go by a full US stick.
- 1 spoonful of white sugar. Add more if your pineapple is sour.
- Half a bowl of water starch, which is starch stirred into cold water. Cornstarch or potato starch both work.
- 2 hand-pulled pancakes (frozen flaky flatbread dough, sometimes labelled “shou zhua bing”).
- 1 egg yolk and a pinch of white sesame seeds for the top.
Air Fryer Pineapple Pie
Ingredients
Method
- Peel the pineapple and cut it into small dice.
- Melt a piece of butter in a pan over medium heat.
- Add the pineapple cubes.
- Add 1 spoonful of white sugar and stir-fry until the extra juice cooks away.
- Pour in half a bowl of water starch and keep stirring until the filling is thick and sticky. Take it off the heat.
- Cut one hand-pulled pancake into thin strips.
- Lay the second hand-pulled pancake on a sheet of baking paper and spread the pineapple filling over it, leaving a border.
- Fold the edge of the dough up over the filling all the way round.
- Lay the thin strips over the top in a criss-cross lattice.
- Brush the pastry with egg yolk and sprinkle with a few white sesame seeds.
- Air fry at 180°C (356°F) for 20 minutes, turning it over halfway.
- Let it cool for a few minutes, then cut into wedges.
Video
Notes
Tips
- Cook the filling until it’s really thick. In the video it holds its shape on the spatula. A runny filling will soak the base.
- Let the filling cool a little before it goes on the dough, so the butter in the pastry doesn’t melt before it bakes.
- Work on baking paper. The pie is built on a sheet of paper, which also makes it easy to lift into the air fryer basket.
- Keep the dough cold. Hand-pulled pancakes soften fast. Take them out of the freezer just before you cut the strips.
Questions people ask
What is a hand-pulled pancake?
It’s a thin, layered dough round, sold frozen in stacks in Asian grocery stores. Fried on its own it becomes a flaky flatbread. Here it works like a quick puff pastry. Frozen paratha rounds are very similar. Our video only uses hand-pulled pancakes, so other doughs are your own experiment.
Can I use canned pineapple?
The video uses a fresh pineapple. Canned pineapple is softer and wetter, so you would need to drain it well and cook the filling longer to get the same sticky result.
How long does pineapple pie take in the air fryer?
20 minutes at 180°C (356°F), turned over halfway, as shown in our video. The filling is already cooked, so you are only baking the pastry until it’s golden.
You might also like
- Air fryer apple batter cake, another dessert from our channel.
- Air fryer orange pudding, a fruit dessert from our videos.
- Pineapple upside down cake, if you have pineapple left over.
