Are you excited that it's officially pie season!? The idea of making homemade pie crust used to intimidate me. If this resonates with you, I want to assure you that it's very quick and easy.
This simple, all butter pie crust (a.k.a. no shortening or Crisco) recipe requires only 4 ingredients. Even better, they're common ingredients you likely already have in your home.
Make your pie crust in just 10-15 minutes. Store it in the freezer or refrigerator if you don't need it right away, or roll it out for immediate use!
*Disclaimer: This article contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
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Ingredients
- All purpose flour
- Salt
- Unsalted butter
- Ice water
How To Make All Butter Pie Crust
- Measure flour & salt into a mixing bowl & whisk.
- Cut your butter into cubes and add them to the dry ingredients.
- Use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs.
- Begin adding ice water a little at a time. Stir the mixture with a spatula after each addition.
- Once little to no dry ingredients remain, empty the shaggy mess of dough out onto a clean, dry surface or a pastry mat and use your hands to press it into ball.
- Cut in half with a knife or bench scraper and make two smaller balls of dough. Each one will make a 9 inch crust. You can also use one for crust and one for lattice work or cut out decorations for the top of your pie.
Baking Your Crust
- Reference your pie recipe for baking instructions. Some will require a blind or par-bake and others will not. This simply means baking the crust solo before adding any filling. Different recipes will also require varying oven temps.
Important Tips
- The key to a flaky crust is cold butter! Don't take your butter out of the refrigerator until you are ready to use it. Or, even better, place it in the freezer for a few minutes while you measure out dry ingredients! Use ice cold water in your dough. When pressing into a ball, work quickly and handle it as little as possible.
Flaky Homemade All Butter Pie Crust
Delicious, flaky, homemade all butter pie crust! Yield: qty 2, 9" pie crusts
Ingredients
- 2 & ¼ cups all purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter *see note below
- 8-10 tablespoons ice water *see note below
Recipe notes:
Unsalted butter / Ice water: keep your butter cold by leaving it in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it and by using ice water in your dough rather than cold or room temperature water. Keeping your butter cold will make the crust flakier once baked!Instructions
- Measure flour & salt into a mixing bowl and whisk them together.2 & ¼ cups all purpose flour, ½ teaspoon salt
- Take butter out of the refrigerator and cut into small cubes. Add cubes to dry ingredients.1 cup unsalted butter
- Use a pastry cutter or two forks to cut butter into the dry ingredients. When the mixture looks like coarse crumbs you can begin adding ice water.8-10 tablespoons ice water
- Add ice water a little at a time and stir the mixture with a spatula after each addition.
- Once you have a shaggy mess of dough that contains little to no dry ingredients, dump the contents out onto a clean, dry surface or pastry mat and press into a ball using your hands.
- Cut in half with a knife or bench scraper and make two smaller balls of dough. Each ball makes a 9 inch pie crust. You can also use one ball for crust and the other for lattice work or decorations.
- Roll dough out and transfer to a pie baking dish. If making ahead, wrap balls of dough in cellophane and store for 2-3 days in the refrigerator or freeze for up to 3 months.
Baking Pie Crust:
- For baking instructions, reference your pie recipe. Some require par-baking (baking crust solo without filling) and some don't. Different recipes will also require varying oven temperatures.
Par Or Blind Baking:
- Check your pie recipe for par or blind baking instructions. If required, you'll generally be directed to line raw crust with parchment paper and fill with dry rice, dry beans or pie weights to prevent shrinking. Some recipes may instruct you to poke small holes in the bottom of the raw crust to prevent puffing. I use dry rice to blind bake this crust for my Eggnog Pumpkin Pie.
Did you make this recipe?!
Thank you so much for trying it out – would you leave a rating? Simply click on the stars in the recipe card above.
Use Your Pie To Make
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Sydney says
What about baking instructions?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi, Sydney. That will depend on the pie you're making. I'd recommend checking the pie recipe instructions to see what's advised!
Tara says
I’ve read the entire blog and there are no baking instructions.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi, Tara! It's kind of confusing, but baking instructions should be included with the pie recipe you want to make. Some pies require par-baking (baking the crust for a brief period at a given temperature before adding the filling and completing the pie). Other pie recipes do not require this at all. Find the pie recipe you want to make and see what that recipe suggests, then follow it using any raw crust! Hope that helps!
Dedra says
You must bake before adding filling
Garlic Salt & Lime says
It will depend on the pie recipe whether or not you need to bake it before adding filling, but yes! Sometimes this is required.
Christi says
Baking instruction
Elise says
I made this crust recipe to make pop tarts with! It was so delicious and flaky!!
Just put a dollop of strawberry jam inside and once baked topped with simple frosting drizzle!
This crust recipe took them to the next level!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Love the idea of using homemade crust for pop-tarts! I'm so glad this recipe worked well for your treat!
Donna says
Easier than expected. Thanks
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm so happy to hear that! Thank you, Donna!
Mary Ann says
UTTERLY FABULOUS 👌 IMPRESSIVE! the best pie crust I have ever made!
Madelyn says
Hands down the BEST pie crust I’ve ever made! Used it last night for an apple pie and can’t wait to make it for a chicken pot pie next! So flaky and yummy!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm SOO glad to hear that! Thanks for the comment and review, Madelyn!
Arianna says
The best! Thank you so much, very easy to make, very quick to make, and it’s delicious! Made it for chicken pot pie. I’ve tried about three pie crust recipes and yours was the only one that came out right for me! Thank you for also providing step by step pictures so it was easier for me to know if I was making it right. Definitely a keeper.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Thank you for the comment and review, Arianna! I'm so glad this recipe was helpful and the photos were good for guidance!
Sherrie says
Best pie crust recipe I have ever tried. I have shared this recipe several times. Turns out tender and great tasting. The only recipe I will use from now on.
Jen says
Haven’t rolled it yet but I only put 4 tablespoons of ice cold water in and the pie crust was almost too wet. I couldn’t imagine 8-10 tablespoons of water!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi, Jen. How'd it work out with 4 tablespoons of ice water once rolled out?
Vanessa says
Once you transfer the dough into the pie mold how to you make the crust have that pattern all around?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Hi, Vanessa. This is such a great question! I roll the dough out just enough that it overhangs the pie dish slightly then pinch between my knuckles. I'm going to try and make a video to upload to the recipe card at some point in the near future. Thanks!
Judy says
This worked great! The crust was beautiful!!!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm so glad to hear this. Thanks, Judy!
Dave says
Simple, easy. My first ever attempt at pie making and it came out great. This will be my go-to pie crust recipe.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Thank you, Dave! That is so wonderful to hear!
Nicki Gary says
Best pie crust I've ever made & tasted!
I made apple,cherry,blueberry, & pumpkin pies using this recipe and everyone loved them! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe. I kept my butter frozen and I used a grater to sprinkle the butter, it made it much easier to mix into the flour.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Thank you so much, Nicki! I'm so happy you loved the recipe and that your pies turned out perfectly. I LOVE your idea to grate the butter, that's so smart! Happy Thanksgiving!
Sally says
That is a great idea.
Lynn says
Thank you for sharing . My pie dough came out beautiful. It’s the nicest one I’ve made. I wish I could post a photo, it’s not baked yet but I still wanted a photo.
Thanks again.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm so happy to hear this, Lynn! Thank you so much for the rating and comment.
Rebecca says
Making this for the second time and it’s sticking to everything! The first time was fine! Any suggestions if it happens again?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm so sorry to hear this! It's really hard to say what went wrong without being there. Sometimes if the crust is too wet this can cause sticking. Or perhaps sugary filling leaked between the crust and pie plate? This can happen, especially if overfull. What type pies did you make?
Peggy says
I’ve been making pies for 60 years and this is hands down the best crust I’ve ever made. Easy to work with and comes out great every time!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
That makes me so happy, Peggy! Glad you enjoyed the recipe. Happy Thanksgiving!
Erin says
Any changes for high altitude baking?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I don't believe so, though check your pie recipe to see if any adjustments are suggested there. I live in Denver, CO at high altitude and have not had to make adjustments.
Tara says
This dough rolled out beautifully!!! I was so excited to use it, but when I went to blind bake it, the dough slide down the sides and shrank so much?! Any advice for this? I’ve never had that happen!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm sorry that happened, Tara! You could try rolling the crust out, putting it in the pie plate, and then sticking the whole thing in the refrigerator or freezer to chill again before blind baking. You can also try using pie weights (this is an affiliate link). But I usually just use uncooked rice instead of pie weights! I put a piece of parchment paper over the raw crust and fill it with rice before blind baking. I have a pumpkin pie recipe that shows a photo of this method: Eggnog Pumpkin Pie.
Jennifer says
Mine also slid down and is literally a greasy heap in the pie plate. Very disappointing! A complete waste of ingredients. And I kept everything cold.
Margie M says
The crust was delicious! I followed the recipe exactly. When I put my pumpkin pies in to bake, the butter was dripping down the outside of my pie plates causing that burned butter stench in the oven. My whole house was smoky. It also bubbled up into the pie and the top looked like butter had dripped on it, but it came from underneath. I’m at a loss for what happened! It’s not the first time I’ve used butter in the crust for my pies, but this is the first time I’ve had this happen! Any ideas?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm so sorry that happened, Margie. I'm not sure what would have caused that - it's so hard to say without being there. Did your pie recipe ask you to blind bake the crust before adding the filling? Just trying to brainstorm what could have gone wrong, I've never had this happen either!
Ash says
Can the extra dough be frozen for later use?
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Yes! You can freeze the dough for later use.
Kimberlee says
1) cutting in the very cold butter was exhausting. 2) very solid after chilling and impossible to roll out completely. 3) had to press into the pie dish since I couldn't roll it out. 4) flavor was good, but a bit hard. 5) next day it was like cement. I followed directions EXACTLY. ☹️
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I'm sorry things didn't turn out, Kimberlee. It sounds like maybe the crust was a bit too wet? So hard to say without being there, though. Thanks for giving the recipe a try.
Kathy says
I have always struggled with “Crisco” pie crust. With this butter pie crust recipe it turned out absolutely perfect, flaky delicious and easy. Followed the recipe exactly and I didn’t have my usual struggles of the crust being dry and breaking apart. I will always use this crust recipe in the future! Thanks , Kathy
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Thank you, Kathy! I am so happy to hear this. Glad you enjoyed the recipe.
L says
Perfectly flaky! I used this recipe for chicken pot pie and quiche. It turned out great!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
So glad you enjoyed the recipe. Thank you!!
Coreen says
Foolproof recipe! Come back each time for the instructions. Thank you!!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Thank you so much, Coreen!
Brenda says
My first attempt at pie crust it turned out great this will be my go to recipe! Perfect, thank you!
Cay says
This has been my go-to recipe for 2 years now. It has never failed me.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
That makes me so happy, Cay! Thank you!
Marc says
This is my favorite pie crust recipe. I use it often, now.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
That's so awesome! Thank you, Marc!
Morgan says
I use this recipe all of the time! Great with fresh milled flour also and super quick and easy!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
So glad you enjoy this recipe, Morgan! Thank you for sharing about your success with freshly milled flour, I appreciate that!
Ana says
Can I replace sugar for the salt.
Garlic Salt & Lime says
I haven't tried that but assume it'll work fine. Will probably just alter the flavor slightly!
The Faithful Little Pantry says
Love this pie recipe! I make it every time I make homemade Chicken Pot Pie and it's always delicious. I also usually have leftover dough, so I sometimes I'll make mini blueberry pies or cinnamon poptarts! Thanks for sharing!
Garlic Salt & Lime says
Yummm. That's so awesome! Love that you repurpose leftover crust for dessert pies.