This is the only pie crust recipe you’ll ever need! Buttery, flaky, and foolproof, my easy homemade recipe is perfect every single time, thanks to a key secret ingredient. No messy pastry cutter needed! Recipe includes a video tutorial.
Why You NEED to Make This Pie Crust Recipe This Year
- It’s easy. No heavy lifting with this recipe as a food processor makes quick work of the dough, no pastry cutter needed (and I’ve include notes in case you don’t have a pastry cutter).
- It’s flavorful. And flaky, and buttery, and I could go on…. My secret ingredient (sour cream, trust me on this) adds beautiful depth of flavor to the pie, without revealing its origin to the taster. This pie crust is truly tasty enough to eat on its own.
- It makes enough. This recipe will fit easily in a 9″ or a 10″ pie plate. It makes enough that you won’t have to worry about fussing with a paper-thin, fragile sheet of pie dough. It folds under itself on the edge of the plate for a sturdy, substantial crust (which you’re going to want, once you taste it). I’ve been using this recipe for over a decade, but several years ago bumped up the ratios a bit to make sure I had plenty to work with, without it being too much excess to handle, either.
- Great for blind baking, too. Or making a lattice pie crust, or pie crust cookies, or just using anywhere you need a pie crust. Oh, and did I mention it doubles like a dream?
This shockingly simple pie dough works perfectly for blind baking (great for making apple pie or pecan pie), and can easily be doubled for two-crust pies or a lattice pie crust.
What You Need
You don’t need anything fancy or complicated to make my homemade pie crust recipe–just five common ingredients you probably already have:
- Flour. Use all-purpose flour, and make sure you’re measuring your flour properly, or you may end up with a dry, crumbly crust.
- Sugar. The small bit of sugar in this recipe can be eliminated, but I like that it adds a subtle flavor to the end result.
- Salt. Just a little salt flavors this homemade pie crust without making it salty.
- Butter. Your butter should be very cold when you drop it into your dry ingredients. You can pop it in the freezer for a few minutes before you are ready to start making your crust to make sure it’s cold enough. Use unsalted butter since we are adding salt ourselves. For an even more flavorful crust, splurge for European-style butter.
- Sour cream. Yep, sour cream! Sour cream is the secret ingredient in my pie crust recipe (and in my sour cream pound cake, among others!). Using sour cream takes a lot of the guesswork out of this recipe and there’s no fussing with various amounts of ice water. It gives this homemade pie crust a lovely depth of flavor that is not overwhelming or obvious, but does add an extra special subtle touch to the finished product. Mostly, though, I just love it because it makes this recipe so easy! If you don’t have sour cream, full-fat Greek yogurt will also work, but try to use sour cream if you can!
SAM’S TIP: That’s right, you don’t need ice water to make my pie crust recipe! I use an exact amount of sour cream instead. No more guessing how much ice water to use or worrying if your water is cold enough.
Remember, this is just an overview of the ingredients I used and why. For the full recipe please scroll down to the bottom of the post!
How to Make Homemade Pie Crust
- Pulse dry ingredients together in the bowl of a food processor. Add cubed cold butter and pulse a few times until your mixture is combined and resembles coarse crumbs, but note that you should still have distinguishable pieces of butter remaining in the food processor, aim for chocolate-chip-sized bits!
- Add sour cream, and pulse a few more times until mixture is still crumbly but beginning to cling together.
- Transfer dough onto a clean surface and gently, quickly work into a ball before flattening into a disk. Wrap disk in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for 45-60 minutes.
- Remove dough from fridge and roll out to a 12″ circle. Arrange in pie plate and crimp/flute the edges before blind baking or filling.
SAM’S TIP: Making a pumpkin pie or a chocolate pie? You’ll need a blind-baked crust! While I share some notes on blind-baking in this recipe, I will be sharing an entire post dedicated to blind-baking very soon. Stay tuned!
Tips for Success
While this recipe is designed to be straightforward, here are a few things you can do to guarantee your success:
- Make sure your ingredients are cold. This is so important, the butter should be ice cold (I place mine in the fridge for up to 30 minutes before beginning). Cold butter = flaky, tender pie crust. Warm butter could even leak out of the dough.
- Don’t overdo it. Don’t overwork the dough. The food processor is a boon to the pie making process but can quickly overdo it if you’re not careful. You want to have some pieces of butter remaining, go just until the dough will cling together. If it’s overdone, the crust could be too tough or it won’t be flaky.
- Pulse means pulse. Do not simply blend the dough nonstop. Pulse in 1-second intervals, otherwise you’ll end up with a wet, overworked dough.
- Don’t let it stick. As you roll your dough, it will warm and becomes prone to sticing to the counter surface. To avoid this, generously flour your surface before beginning and, periodically, turn the dough. If it sticks, slide a thin spatula to pry it free and add more flour beneath the crust.
- Move it carefully. This is a sturdy crust, but kitchens get warm, especially if your ovens are blazing cooking Thanksgiving side dishes and whatnot. Take care when transferring your dough, gently wrap it up around the rolling pin and use that to carry it to the pie plate and gently unroll it (I demonstrate this in the video).
- Chill the dough. Again, cold dough is key to perfect pie crust. However, if yours is cracking as you try to roll it, it may be too cold. Let it rest at room temperature for 5 minutes, then try again.
Frequently Asked Questions
If you don’t have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender, knife, or a grater to cut your butter into your dough.
I highly recommend investing in a food processor though–it will make your baking so much easier and less messy!
Yes! Just make sure your pie dough is tightly wrapped before freezing. It will keep for several months in the freezer. When you’re ready, let it thaw overnight in the fridge before using.
I know it seems like an unusual pastry ingredient, but I’ve found that sour cream yields an exceptionally tender, flaky, and shockingly flavorful (it’s delicious even on its own, or as pie crust cookies) crust. Plus, using sour cream means this pie crust recipe is much easier and less fussy to make than many traditional recipes. Worried about the flavor? Don’t! Sour cream adds flavor without making your crust taste like sour cream (no one will be able to tell what the secret ingredient actually is).
If you’re looking for pie crust alternatives, try my graham cracker crust or puff pastry.
Enjoy!
Let’s bake together! Subscribe to my newsletter and make sure to follow along on YouTube where I have over 500 free video tutorials! 💜
Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar optional
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 8 Tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter very cold and cubed
- ¼ cup (60 g) sour cream
Recommended Equipment
Instructions
- Combine flour, sugar (if using), and salt in the canister of a food processor and pulse briefly to combine.1 ¼ cups (156 g) all-purpose flour, 2 teaspoons granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon table salt
- Scatter butter pieces over the top of the flour mixture and pulse again until butter is mostly combined and mixture resembles coarse crumbs (there should still be discernible pieces of butter remaining in the mixture, some as large as a chocolate chip).8 Tablespoons (113 g) unsalted butter
- Add sour cream and pulse again until mixture just begins to cling together. The mixture may still seem dry, but if you pinch it between your thumb and forefinger and it clings together, you’re ready to move on — don't overdo it!¼ cup (60 g) sour cream
- Transfer dough to a clean surface and work into a ball (try not to over-handle the dough, you want it to stay as cold as possible to keep the butter from melting and your hands are very warm!). Flatten into a disk, wrap tightly in plastic wrap, and transfer to refrigerator to chill for at least 45-60 minutes before proceeding/using as desired.
- If arranging into a pie plate, remove the dough from the refrigerator once it has chilled and transfer to a clean, lightly floured surface. Use a rolling pin to roll into a 12” circle (add flour as needed and be sure to lift the pie dough and add flour beneath it while rolling to keep from sticking, if needed) and arrange into a pie plate, crimping or fluting the edges (I provide a visual on fluting the edges in my video above).
- Transfer to pie plate and use according to your pie filling recipe’s instructions, or see my detailed tutorial on how to blind bake pie crust.
Notes
Sour cream
Full-fat sour cream is your best bet for this recipe, but in a pinch you could substitute full-fat plain Greek yogurt.Making without a food processor
If you do not have a food processor you may use a pastry cutter, grater (freeze the butter for 20 minutes then grate it into the flour mixture), or even a knife to cut the butter into the flour mixture before stirring in the sour cream.Blind baking:
To blind bake this pie crust (that is, bake it completely without any filling so it can be cooled and filled with a filling that does not need to be baked), see my detailed tutorial on how to blind bake a pie crust.Lattice crust
I have a detailed tutorial on exactly how to do a lattice pie crust. You will need to double this recipe in order to do so.Making in advance:
This pie dough may be made up to 5 days in advance of rolling out and using. Store tightly wrapped in the refrigerator. If chilling for this long, you will likely need to let the dough soften on the counter at room temperature for 15 minutes or possibly longer to make it soft enough to roll without cracking.Freezing:
This pie dough may be frozen and will keep for several months in the freezer if tightly wrapped. To use, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and then use as desired.Nutrition
Nutritional information is based on third-party calculations and should be considered an estimate only. Actual nutritional content will vary based upon brands used, measuring methods, cooking method, portion sizes, and more.
Dee Ann Frodl
I have been using two favorite pie crust recipes for 50+ years. From now on, this will by my “go to” recipe! Delicious and flaky! I found this recipe making your apple turner over recipe. I used a pastry blender, but will try the food processor next time. Also I like to make several crusts at a time, to put unbaked single crusts in the freezer for quick pumpkin, lemon meringue, french apple, etc. Thanks for great recipes!!!
Sam
That is so awesome! I’m so glad you enjoyed the crust so much! 🙂
Kalena
I don’t have a good processor will a blender work?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Kalena! If you have a pastry cutter, I would reccomend using that instead. 🙂
Ron
I’m a Bakery Baker of 49 years. I sold my bakery a year ago and retired. My passion is baking and my recipes are for bulk not individual product. My pie dough recipe called for 50 # of flour etc. l tried your recipes and loved them. Here’s a tip for blind shells of which l’ve made countless. Instead of freezing the shell, lining it with foil and filling it with sugar, we simply draped the already docked dough over an inverted aluminum pie tin,covered it with another tin and used a “pizza wheel” to cut around the shell. Keep it inverted ( up side down) if you will and bake it until 3/4 s done, remove the lid pie tin and continue until golden brown.Cover with pie tin lid when removing from oven cool on rack right side up removing the inside pie tin. Makes perfect pie shell for creme pies,lemon meringue, Shepard’s pie etc. Happy Baking!
Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for sharing, Ron, and congrats on your retirement. 🙂
Cindy
Could use use plain yogurt to replace the sour cream?
Sam
Hi Cindy! That should work here. 🙂
Kellie
Amazing pie crust! So flakey and buttery and absolutely perfect! I’ve tried making pie crust and always thought I was doing something wrong! So good! Thank you
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed them so much, Kellie! 🙂
Mary
Can you use a KitchenAid instead of a processor?
Sam
I wouldn’t recommend it, you’d end up creaming the butter and over-working it when you really want to just cut it into the flour mixture. You can use a pastry cutter or a pair of knives instead.
Charina
I have tried several different pie crust recipes and I think that I like this the best. It was so easy and was surprised by the flakiness of the crust.
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Charina! 🙂
Liliana
Very interesting this idea of adding the cream. Do you think I could try and use this recipe for the base of a crumb bar? The base comes out always a little hard and I think a little flakey maybe would be better.
Sam
Hi Liliana! It would probably need some adjustments so I’m not quite sure how it would work. 🙁
Tracy
Hi Sam…Just wanted to let you know that this was my first ever homemade pie crust. I always make homemade filling for my pies and use commercially made crust. This took my pies to a new level and everyone was impressed and the pies were gone in no time. The fact that I can make the dough in a food processor or blender is a definite benefit and then the ingredients for the crust are much healthier makes this a trifecta IMHO. Thanks so much Sam, I will be making all my own crust using this recipe from now on!!
Sam
I am so glad you enjoyed it so much, Tracy! I agree that a homemade pie crust really makes the pie soooo much better. 🙂
Terri
Can I make these ahead and freeze them for Thanksgiving?
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Terri! Yes, you can! 🙂
Cindy
Do you just freeze the crust disk & roll it out after it thaws?
Sam
Yup that will work just fine. 🙂
Josephine Bertelsen
Hi there. You are a sweetheart to share with us. However, I do not have a food processor. Will mixing by hand produce the same results? Love the sour cream idea❣️ Thankyou “Shoog”❣️
Sugar Spun Run
Hi, Josephine! If you don’t have a food processor, I would recommend using a pastry cutter. It can also be mixed by hand but will require more work. Enjoy! 🙂
Pat Mauder
Very good pie crust . I want to know if you can make a double batch in the processor?
I also want to know the reason for blind baking ? I have always baked my pie crust in covered.
Sam
Hi Pat! I’m so glad you enjoyed! So long as your food processor is large enough that is totally fine, I often make a double batch in my processor. You’d only need to blind bake if the recipe you’re using calls for it, which is usually if the pie filling itself is not baked.
Kj
Ive tried many pie crust recipes over the years. This one is by far THE BEST!!!!!!!
Sam
Yay! I definitely think so too, but am so happy to read this, Kj! Thank you so much for commenting, I appreciate it!
Brenda
Sam,
What do you think about subbing plain greek yogurt for the sour cream?
Sam
I think that should be fine 🙂
Kelly
I did this when I made it and it was great!
Kelly
I’ve NEVER been able to make a pie crust that was flaky and wasn’t tough and overworked. But when your five year old begs you to make a pie with her…you do whatever it takes to make it happen. This recipe is magical and turned out perfectly! I will never use ice water again. Thank you!
Sam
I am so glad everyone enjoyed it so much, Kelly! 🙂