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.
Deborah Quinn
Sorry ———-I followed exactly to the instructions -but I hate to say -this was the worst pie crust I have made . Not sure what went wrong –but it was unedible. Even after it was baked.
Sam
Hi Deborah! I’m sad to hear this. Can you give me some more detail about what went wrong and what made it the worst? Maybe I can help troubleshoot, it’s really quite a lovely crust and the only one my family uses, I’d love to help you get the same results!
Louise
Thanks SO MUCH for this recipe. I have not tried it yet, but it seems to make sense. I use sour cream in a rice flour gluten-free pie crust, so I have high hopes that my future wheat flour crusts will be way easier to handle. I’ve tried guessing at how much ice water is too little or too much, and it has been hit or miss. Your posts are much appreciated:)
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
You’re going to love it, Louise! Enjoy 🥰
Shawnee
I’ve been using this recipe for 2 years now. I will say the food processor isn’t necessary but a game changer and time saver! Simple instructions, simple ingredients and the texture when baked is perfect!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for trusting our recipe, Shawnee 🥰
Ellie- Rose
OMG!! this is THE best pie crust recipe I’ve ever made!! i used the crust to make my mini pumpkin pies….
so good thank you!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Sounds so yummy, Ellie-Rose! Thanks for using our recipe 🥰
Marie
This is definitely a keeper. Yes, mine turned out a little dry from the food-processor (and I have a scale that I will use the next time -duh). But I just added a little cold water to just barely bind it together – and I made your Apple Turnovers – and they were a huge hit.
Any recipe with flour in it has to be done perfectly – especially breads and pie crusts – and I appreciate that you’re trying to make everyone understand that.
Thank you for a perfect pie crust recipe!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
The scale should definitely help with the dryness. We’re so glad you enjoyed the turnovers Marie! ❤️
Bill Kolegraff
Wow. This crust recipe is so good!! Since the Crust Fiasco of 2011 I have been banned by my family from making my own pie crusts. That year I could not get my dough to come together, and when it did, it was a gooey mess. Sadly the gooey mess went airborne in front of the family. Not once. But twice. And there were un-holiday-like words yelled in front of the children. And then, I went online and got a crust recipe from Emeril, that famous pastry chef. Not. The pies looked beautiful, but needed a pick axe to break into the filling.
But THIS RECEIPE is AWESOME!!!!! I had to do it when the house was empty, but it was so simple, easy, and FOOL-proof. And then it passed the taste/texture test. So much better than the frozen box ones. So my crust-making days are back!!! And now, no need to go airborne!! Thank you!! And yes, I was concerned my crust would remind me of an everything baked potato, but the sour cream just added a hint of tanginess in the background.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
😂 thank goodness you found our recipe, Bill! We appreciate the review! ❤️
Bill
And I took your advice and followed your Amazon link and bought a scale. I have never been a baker, and felt following a recipe and measuring was for the weak. But baking humbled me (kind of) so now I will submit and measure/weigh from this point forward. Actually tomorrow, as the scale arrives on Nov. 1. How dare Amazon take 24 hours to deliver a product. LOL. And again, thanks!!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Wonderful! It will be a major game changer for you!!
Mary
I have searched for years a pie crust recipe that works. I have made this twice now and it’s perfect. Thank you for sharing!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
So happy you love it, Mary! Enjoy ❤️
DeeDee
Watched the video numerous times before attempting actual making. My results, both times, were an epuc FAIL! The “dough” was just a crumbly mess…no sticking together whatsoever! All my ingredients were brand new as well, so nothing was “old!” The apple filling was delicious, though!! I ended up buying frozen ready-made pie dough.
Sam
I’m so sorry this happened! It sounds like there may have been too much flour in the dough causing it to be crumbly. 🙁 I do have a post on how to measure flour to make sure this doesn’t happen in the future. 🙂
DeeDee
OMG…I know how to measure flour, sugar, water, etc! Please don’t insult me! How condescending!
Sam
Hi DeeDee, My response was not intended to be condescending. Any time someone has a problem with a recipe I try to help troubleshoot so that they (or anyone else who may have the same issue) don’t run into the same problem in the future. I stand by this recipe and am confident in the measurements and technique used. It’s been used by people all across the world with success and I very much want to help you have the same results!
There are many bakers from many different backgrounds and areas of expertise who use my recipes; I don’t know you personally and certainly am not trying to insult you, but not everyone does know how to measure flour properly (and that’s OK, that’s why I provide a detailed resource on how to do so ☺️). Typically the problem that you describe would most likely caused by accidentally over-measuring flour and that is why I mentioned it, though it sounds like you are confident that is not the issue in your home. Without being in your kitchen I can’t pinpoint exactly what went wrong, but I do try my best to be helpful and with more feedback maybe we can figure out together what went wrong. You did mention using water in your response and this recipe does not use water but does use sour cream.
Alex G
If you wanted a savory crust could you use this recipe and omit the sugar? I’m looking for a good quiche crust recipe.
Sam
Hi Alex! That should work just fine. 🙂
Christina
Such a great and easy recipe! Plan on using multiple times for the holidays, can you tell me if this recipe can be doubled?
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy you think so, Christina! Yes, it absolutely can 😍
Terry Hanusik
I have tried this recipe twice and it has been a fail for me both times. It’s always rubbery, not flakey as it should be. Any helpful hints as to why it turns out this way?
Sam
O no! I’m so sorry this happened, Terry! The most likely culprit here is an over-worked dough. 🙁
Bruce
So many things to say about this recipe!
It’s easy to make in the food processor, and no guessing when you’ve added enough liquid.
The sour cream adds a richness, and the little bit of sugar softens the tang without making the crust too sweet. The sugar helps with browning, too.
The dough is pretty firm, which is great. You have to press a little harder with the rolling pin, but the firmness of the dough makes rolling it out evenly much easier. With this crust, I don’t have thick spots and thin spots.
There’s also the amazing smell of the butter, while the pie is baking, which leads me to the wonderful taste and texture of the finished crust.
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We appreciate this review, Bruce! So glad the crust is a hit for you 🙂
Jody
Would subbing shortening for butter work in this recipe?
Sam
Hi Jody! I think that should work here.
Erin
I’ve only attempted pie crust a few times and every time it was a crumbled mess. This crust came together so easily and rolled out perfectly. Tastes amazing as well!
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
We’re so happy to hear that, Erin! Thanks for trying our recipe ❤️
Andrea
Pie Crust is Incredible!! Love the Taste and Texture!! Everything is Delicious in this Crust!! Please make a Sour Cream Biscuit Recipe!! Thanks for this A-mazing Recipe!!
Sandra Eaton
great instructions, pie crust is great I will use this crust often,
Emily @ Sugar Spun Run
Thanks so much for your comment, Sandra! We’re so happy you liked the crust 😊