No food processor? No problem! This all butter dough has gazillions of layers of melt in your mouth goodness. It's so easy to make pie dough by hand you'll be making pies every dang day! Grab your coffee and let's do it!
If you have a food processor try this easy food processor pie pastry!
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❤️ Why you'll love it
- Make this pie dough without a food processor or pastry blender.
- Get a light and flaky crust every time
- No awkward cutting in the butter
I always had trouble with pie crusts until I saw this grated butter method done on a cooking show about a million years ago. Honestly - it was pre-cable ...I think it was PBS.
You can use this buttery dough with any pie recipe. Just leave out the sugar for savory pies.
It's so easy - y'all will love it!
🧾 Ingredients
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When you're looking for the best pie crust out there keep in mind that it's not so much the ingredients that make the difference -- it's the techniques used. You won't find any secret ingredients here.
- All-purpose flour is used to keep things easy. If you prefer to use pastry flour that's fine.
- Salt should be finely ground. It gives the pastry flavor.
- Sugar helps the pie crust brown in the oven and it gives it a little sweetness. You can leave it out if you prefer - or if you're making a savory dish.
- Butter can be salted or unsalted as you prefer. Make sure it's fresh because this is where most of your flavor is going to come from.
- Water should be icy cold. You can use vodka that's been in the freezer in place of the water - it actually makes the pastry a little more flaky.
🔪 Instructions
The full instructions for this homemade pie crust recipe are in the green recipe card at the bottom of the post.
- Chill all ingredients. Use a cheese grater to grate the frozen butter into the flour, sugar, and salt mixture.
- Stir to cover with flour.
- Add water a little at a time.
- Form dough into a disk, chill as instructed, then roll out and bake.
How to roll out the pie crust
- Remove the chilled dough disk from the refrigerator and let sit for 5 minutes or so to soften up a tiny bit.
- Spread a little flour on your work surface.
- Gently roll the dough out from the center, turning after each roll.
- Flip the dough over, add a bit more flour if needed to keep it from sticking and roll from the center, turning after each roll, as before.
- Continue until your homemade pie crust is the size you want - usually 8 or 9-inches.
Baking instructions for a single crust pie
You'll always defer to your recipe for how to bake the butter pie crust but if there aren't instructions, or the recipe states a baked pie crust then here's how you do it.
- Fit the dough into your pie plate, gently pressing down.
- Cut off excess dough hanging over the sides.
- Crimp the edges between your forefinger and your thumb.
- Using a fork, poke small holes all over the crust bottom and sides.
- Lay parchment paper over the dough and gently press down.
- Fill with pie weights or dried beans. This holds the crust down so it doesn't puff up.
- Freeze for 15 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 400F.
- Bake 20 to 30 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
- Remove the parchment paper and pie weights.
- Put back in the oven and bake 5 to 10 more minutes until the crust is golden.
- Cool before filling.
🥄 Equipment
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You'll need the following items to make this recipe successfully.
A good grater is a must for so many different kitchen chores! This one has a no slip bottom and is much easier to use that the one that I used in the video.
🥫 Storage
Pie dough can be stored in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Just make a disk and cover it with plastic wrap then put in an airtight container or zip top storage bag.
You can freeze it baked or unbaked, too. Unbaked pie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months and baked pie dough for up to 6 months as long as the freezer is free of odors.
Either way, wrap the crusts in plastic wrap before freezing.
💭 Tips
Expert Tip: When you feel the dough start to warm up or the butter seems to be softening stop what you're doing and put the pie dough in the freezer for 5 minutes.
- Make sure the butter is well chilled
- Once you've grated the butter into the flour and given it a stir go ahead and put the bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm it all back up.
- Use the iciest ice water possible!
- Freeze the dough for about 10 -15 minutes at least... or refrigerate for 30.
- Use the least amount of flour to roll out the dough and keep it from sticking.
- Roll lightly from the middle - turn - and repeat.
- Place it in the pie plate and put in the freezer for 10 minutes before using.
- Unbaked pie crusts can be frozen for up to 3 months, baked for up to 6 months.
👩🍳 FAQs
You either overworked the dough... or you added too much water... or you added too much flour... or you let the butter get warm enough to melt into the flour.
1. Keep everything icy cold and chill the dough for 30 minutes before baking. 2. Don't use too much water. 3. Don't overwork the dough.
Is pie crust better with butter, lard, or shortening?
When it comes right down to it rendered leaf lard is absolutely the best fat to make the flakiest pie crust because it has a higher melting point than butter. BUT it can be super hard to find and expensive. The regular lard you'll find in most grocery stores is NOT a good substitute.
Butter has the most flavor, in my opinion, and it gives you the potential for the buttery, flaky pie crust you're craving. This is an all butter pie crust recipe and it's my favorite.
Since it is about 80% fat and 20% water the water evaporates during baking and creates more layers. More layers = flakier. The downside is that butter has a very low melting point and you have to keep it icy cold to make that flaky magic. My vote, though, is always butter for pie crust.
Shortening is 100% fat, like lard, but it has no flavor at all. I also find that it feels greasy as you chew it. It has a higher melting point and is much easier to work with than lard or butter. You can use ¼ cup shortening and ¾ cup butter in this recipe if you like.
📚 Related recipes
Once you've made the crust what are you going to do with it? Here are some of my favorite pie recipes!
- Chocolate Chess Pie is an iconic Southern dessert recipe that’s ridiculously easy, chocolate chess pie is like eating gooey brownie batter in a butter crust.
- Classic Pecan Pie is perfectly rich and gooey with tons of pecans in every bite.
- Easy Pumpkin Pie is the old fashioned classic that is required on every Thanksgiving table. One bite and you'll remember why.
- Old Fashioned Lemon Meringue Pie is tangy and sweet with a mile high cloud of fluffy meringue.
- Dutch Apple Pie has a thick layer of sweet streusel over a mound of cinnamony-sweet apples.
📞 The last word
Buttery. Golden brown. Pastry that simply disappears on your tongue in a burst of glory. A flaky pie crust recipe is worth it's weight in gold when it works - and this one does! !
So I will be totally honest with y'all. It took me almost 15 years to learn to make a decent pie crust -- and then it took me another several years to level up to amazing.
I tried hundreds of recipes and followed endless instructions. In the end I always seemed to end up with a crust that was heavy and chewy or so crumbly it was unusable
I mean, when a recipe tells you to cut in the butter until it looks like pebbles, or is the size of small peas, what does that even mean?
I don't remember when I first started grating the butter into the flour but from that point on I was hooked.
So easy.
So flaky.
Welcome to the world of perfect pastry every single time! You'll love this easy recipe! Be sure to check out the crumb crust recipe, too.
If you click on the number of servings in the recipe card you can adjust the measurements up or down for the exact number of servings you need. Don't forget that you can click on "add to collection" to save it to your own, private recipe box!
If you love this recipe please give it 5 stars! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
All Butter Pie Crust
Print Pin Recipe SaveEquipment Needed
- Rolling pin
- Grater
Ingredients
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Instructions
- Double the ingredients for a double crust pie.
- Chill the butter for 10 minutes or so in the freezer.
- Mix the flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl.
- Use the big side of the grater and grate in the butter, stopping to stir every once in awhile to cover the butter shreds with flour and keep them separate.
- Return the butter to the freezer for a few minutes when it starts to get warm. This is important!
- Stir the butter and flour mixture to make sure all the butter shreds are coated in flour.
- Slowly add the water, a little at a time, stirring with a fork.
- The dough is ready when it holds together without crumbling. You may need a little more or less water. If you need more water add it a teaspoon at a time.
- Form into a ball, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze for 10 minutes.
- Dust the counter with flour and roll out the dough to about ⅛-inch thick.
- Add to pie plate and crimp edges.
- Freeze for 10 minutes before using as directed in your recipe.
Notes
- Make sure the butter is well chilled. Stop whenever you feel the butter warming up and put it in the freezer for a couple of minutes.
- Once you've grated the butter into the flour and given it a stir go ahead and put the bowl in the freezer for 5 minutes to firm it all back up.
- Use the iciest ice water possible!
- Freeze the dough for about 10 -15 minutes at least... or refrigerate for 30.
- Use the least amount of flour to roll out the dough and keep it from sticking.
- Roll lightly from the middle - turn - and repeat.
- Place it in the pie plate and put in the freezer for 10 minutes before using.
- Unbaked pie crusts can be frozen for up to 3 months, baked for up to 6 months.
Nutrition Facts
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We'll never share your email or send you spam. Pinkie swear.First published November 19, 2019. Last updated December 1, 2021 with better images and instructions.
Barbara E Burnett
What causes meringue to weep on cream pies?
Marye
Usually because the meringue is undercooked. You have to put it right on the hot filling as soon as it comes out of the oven and make sure that bottom layer of meringue gets cooked.
ell
absolutely the WORST pie crust ever-
Marye
I'm sorry it didn't work for you. Since you didn't say exactly what didn't work I'm going to assume it was hard and tough. If that's the case you added too much water/overworked the dough/didn't chill everything at each step. This crust has worked well for many people and some people not so well. Sorry you were one of them. In the future if you feel the need to leave a negative comment it would be most helpful if you let me (or another blogger) know exactly what went wrong. That way we can double check your method and check the recipe with our recipe testers to make sure there isn't a typo.
Terrie
do you have to blind bake before putting filling in
Marye
Not if it's a baked filling. If it's a refrigerated filling then yes.
renee pearman
I'm just curious....are any of those beautiful children adopted??
Marye
Nope. They're all birthed.
Kathy
All my pies turn out to wet. The bottom crust is always wet. What am I doing wrong?
Marye
It's hard to say without knowing what kinds of pies we're talking about. You can try starting the pie in a 425F oven and turning it down to the temperature called for in the recipe after 10 minutes or so. Try baking pies in a cast iron pie plate - it heats hotter and more evenly. Make sure fillings are thick when they go in the pie. There are a lot more possibilities depending on a lot of things but these are some ideas.
Pat D. November 14 2022 at 3:45 pm
Do you fill the crust and put the top crust on before you chill it?
Marye
no. In a 2 crust pie chill the bottom crust, then fill and put the top crust on and bake.
Barbara Seamster
I have two pies to make a chocolate meringue and apple can I use a food processor and should I make all the pie crust at once
Marye
I'd make them all at once ... but if you're going to use a food processor use this recipe https://www.restlesschipotle.com/food-processor-pie-crust/
Mary
Can gluten free flour such as A Cup to A Cup be used as a substitute for regular flour?
Marye
I've never used it but I'm sure it could.
Phyllis Dodson
I haven’t tried this but I USE ALL BUTTER in my pie crust so I’m sure this would be good.
My comment to make this better would be to use only King Arthur flour as it has more protein and makes all baked recipes even better. I don’t work for KA or am I associated with them. This.is from my own 60 years of baking and I didn’t learn this until 3 years ago.
Deb
I wonder if you could use GF flour and it would turn out ok?
Marye
I've never tried but it should.
Susan Bagoly
I use a pampered chef pie plate and I believe if I put it in freezer and then oven, it will crack. can that step be skipped?
Marye
Yes... but it's best to have it chilled when it goes in the oven.
Rebecca Franklin
I've wanted to try this method ever since I'd seen it on America's Test Kitchen and today after watching your video I finally did. Yay! I used vodka for the liquid but did everything else exactly as directed. It was easier than using my pastry cutter or food processor. I doubled the recipe. Thanks for the nice video too. Very real.
Julian Child
The video! THIS is what I like to see in a cooking video. She's real, she's not trying to sell herself, she's here to educate. Very modern-day Julia. The video is a straight shoot, unedited, you see it with everything that could go wrong in your kitchen AND she's just naturally entertaining.
Marye
Wow... thank you! Made my day!
Suzy
By the time you shred all the butter with the heat of your hand, doesn’t it end up in a big pile that’s started to stick together and then you need to cut it in anyway?
Marye
You stir it in as you grate.
Julian Child
Keep everything in the freezer. Your butter, your grater, your rolling pin (my favorite is the same shape as her's but heavy, cold marble) and your surface, if possible. If you have naturally warm hands, dip your hands in a separated bowl of ice water for a minute or two before touching any pastry. And, regarding your surface, if you're not fortunate enough to have a marble surface, which tends to be cold even in a hot climate, the next time you're at the hardware store go to the flooring section and pick out a nice large tile keeping in mind that you might want to be able to make space it in your refrigerator. And, lastly, if you DO live in a warm climate and you find you aren't working fast enough and your crust starts to soften, cover it with a food wrap, throw it in the fridge and work on something else before returning to it ten or fifteen minutes later.
Lan
I want my pie to have a top crust—is there allowance for this or shoikf i double the recipe?
Marye
You'll need to double the recipe.
Lynda
Tried the recipe today… the worst recipe I have ever tried! I did not miss one step of the recipe and the crust was like a stale cracker, my husband asked for a pick ax! I told him
He could use mine after I released it from the crust! I now will not deviate ever again and always use the tried and true food processor recipe. Super perfect every time. Your recipe went in the rubbish can with great haste!!!!!
Marye
I'm sorry it didn't work for you Linda. Usually when it's tough like that you've used too much water.
Larry Davidson
Great crust.
Karen
So how do I know if I have added enough water? Is there a certain feel I should be looking for? My mom has always made crusts with Crisco but for some reason I can't. My crusts are never great but the husband's side of the family only buys pies for holidays and I can't stand them. I usually make them but I can't say they were great, but I've never liked a store bought pie anyway.
Marye
The pie crust will hold together but not be slimy or "wet".
Miriam Sicilia
WOW! This is a keeper! Flaky, tasty and full of flavor. Thank you so much for this awesome recipe and the tips and tricks!
The grater is a must!
rebecca
do i have to cook the crust before I add filling to bake or can I just fill it and bake altogether?
Marye
If you have a baked pie filling just fill and bake together. 🙂
Kathleen Cole
What did she spread on the bottom of the pie crust,it does.not say in recipe
Marye
I always sprinkle sugar on the bottom of the crust.
Susan McFarlin
How long and at what temp do you bake the crust? I am going to fill it later
Thanks!
Marye
425 for 10-15 minutes.
Anne Dial
Looks amazing
Teresa Higgins
Can you use frozen butter? Just wondering if it might have too much moisture from freezing.
Marye
I freeze the butter before I grate it.