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Home » Recipes » Dessert Recipes » Pie » The Best Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

The Best Homemade Pie Crust Recipe

By Lynette on November 10, 2017 · 32 Comments

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pie crust
pie crust
pie crust
pie crust

I’m sharing my grandma’s homemade pie crust recipe!  This is the perfect pie crust whether you’re making a strawberry pie, blueberry pie – or really, any pie!  It’s a forgiving recipe, that creates a flaky delicious crust every single time.

pie crust with topper and bowl of apples

I’m passionate about pie crusts. Yes, I said that. I grew up with a mom who made homemade pies for every occasion which means I’m spoiled and I cannot buy the stuff at the store and pretend it’s pie. Pie snobby? Maybe. But I think that everyone and anyone can learn to make a good pie crust with the right pie crust recipe. And it will knock your socks off.  It will have everyone singing your praises.  It will make you feel like Martha Stewart and Betty Crocker all in one.  And, you’ll gain confidence in the kitchen you never knew you had.

Why Make Homemade Pie Crust

If you think store bought is just as good.  Stop right there.  You’ve not had a good pie crust like the one I’m sharing with you today.  It’s my great-grandma’s recipe and I wouldn’t just share it with anyone – I’m sharing it with you.  Because I believe you can do it!  You can make that awesome cherry pie or pumpkin pie or apple pie that you’ve always wanted to make.  The pie crust MAKES the pie.  Repeat after me.  The PIE CRUST MAKES THE PIE.

I told you I was passionate about this subject.  😉

If you’re still with me, let me walk you through making a pie crust.  If you can make cookies, you can make a pie. This recipe is fool proof – it’s a start over I rolled that wrong –  kind of pie crust that forgives all mistake and loves you to the very first bite.

dry ingredients for pie crust in green bowl

Ingredients

You make it with love and all the right ingredients. And pies include the simplest of ingredients that you probably already have on hand.  The key is using vinegar in this recipe.  Why?  Grandma always did and it works really well.

  • all-purpose flour
  • sugar
  • salt
  • shortening
  • egg
  • vinegar

How to Make Pie Crust

  1. First, in a large bowl combine all the dry ingredients of flour, sugar, and salt.
  2. After combining your dry ingredients you’ll cut in the COLD shortening.    You want to cut in the shortening until it almost looks like you’re working with a floured ball of shortening.  It will all stick together.
  3. Measure out your cold water and add the egg.  Add your vinegar and mix until the egg is completely dissolved.
  4. Add the wet egg mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a spoon until just evenly combined.
  5. Wrap it all in plastic wrap and place in the refrigerator.

Shortening vs Butter

In this recipe, I prefer using shortening.  Pies don’t need the added flavor of butter simply because your pie fillings are the star of the show.  However, it’s very important to chill your shortening before adding to the dry ingredients to make it easier to incorporate.  Placing it in the refrigerator the night before does the trick.  If you’re like me and always forget, I throw it in the freezer for about an hour.

adding egg to pie crust ingredients

How to make a flaky crust

This is a pretty flaky pie crust but if you really want to up your flakiness, use pastry flour.  I think the perfect combination for this recipe is ½ pastry flour and ½ all-purpose flour.  Although most of the time I use all-purpose flour as that’s what I have on hand.

roller with pie crust dough

How to Roll Out Pie Dough

Step 1:  Once your dough is chilled, you’re ready to roll it out into your pie crust.  First, add a little flour to the surface you’ll be rolling dough onto.  You’ll also need to flour your rolling pin.  When rolling out the dough, you want to start in the middle and use even pressure towards the outer edges moving around like a clock.  A pie crust should be about ⅛ of an inch thick.  Get out the ruler if you’re not sure.  If you mess up, this pie crust recipe is forgiving.  Just start over.  Once ready to add the crust to your pie plate, use the roller to roll it up so that you can move it easily.

flour on rolling mat

Side note.  I prefer using a rolling mat like this one to make this entire process easier.

pie crust dough on pie plate

Step 2: When you place your pie crust dough on your pie plate, you want to do so gently.  No tugging needed.

lifting pie dough up over pie plate

Step 3: In fact to make your pie crust fit, you don’t want to push it down.  You want to lift with one hand on the outside edge of the pie plate and then let the pie crust fall into the pie plate into place.  If you push it down you can cause the dough to stretch which leads to uneven baking.

knife cutting around edge of pie plate

Step 4: Use a simple kitchen knife to trim away the excess pie dough.  You can add it back into the main dough to make your next pie crust and topper.

for making detail around pie crust

How to Design Pie Edges

There are many styles you can go with.  The fork method is probably the easiest and I enjoy the simple look of it.  My mom says the fork method looks store-bought.  Blasphemy!  I say I don’t care because once you eat the pie, you know it’s homemade.  You can also pinch it as you make the edges to give it a bit of a swirl.  Pinch around one finger all the way around the pie. I tried to take a picture of this process but unfortunately, I don’t have three hands – two for the pie and one for the camera.

trimming around the pie dough to make pie topper

How to Make the Pie Topper

Roll out your dough as usual.  Then use a bowl that is the size of the pie plate minus about 1 ½ inches around.  You can use a knife to cut it or a pastry wheel as I did.

pie topper on mat

The pastry makes you feel all fancy.  Make sure to make a few wiggles to allow the pie to release steam during baking.

How long to bake the pie crust

How long you bake the pie crust depends on the pie directions.  Some pies will call for your pre-bake the pie crust but most recipes will have you baking the pie crust along with the filling.

sticking a fork into the pie crust dough

How to keep the pie crust from getting soggy

My grandma always poked holes in the bottom and added a tablespoon or so of flour.  So, that’s what my mom and I do.  I think that helps.  I also always look at the bottom of my pie crust when baking to make sure it’s a light golden brown before removing it from the oven.  Obviously, this can only be done when using a glass pie dish.

pie topper with wax paper and pie crust

Can pie crust be frozen?

Yes.  In fact, I have this frozen pie crust recipe in my freezer right now.  I actually recommend you make the pie crust on a different day than you make the pie.  It just makes life easier.  This pie crust makes two pie crusts and two pie toppers so into the freezer one goes.  All you need to do is freeze the crust in the pie pan.  Put the topper on wax paper on top of the pie crust and make sure you use plastic wrap and a large freezer bag to protect it.  The night before you’re going to make your pie, pop the frozen pie crust into the refrigerator to thaw.

slice of pumpkin pie on plate

If you’re never tried to make pie crust, this is your year.  Have questions?  Leave me a comment!  One of the things I’m most looking forward to this Thanksgiving holiday is spending it with my husband’s family in Tennessee and making pies with my nieces.  I’m excited to pass down this recipe to them.

And just in case anyone has a gluten-free member in their family.  I have tried this recipe as is with gluten-free flour and while it’s not as good as regular flour (what gluten-free recipe is?), it was pretty good.

Pie Recipes to Make With This Pie Crust

  • Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
  • No Bake Peanut Butter Pie Recipe
  • Fresh Peach Pie Recipe – one of my personal favs!
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sticking a fork into the pie crust dough

Pie Crust Recipe

★★★★★ 4.6 from 7 reviews
  • Author: Lynette
  • Prep Time: 2 hour
  • Cook Time: 1 min
  • Total Time: 2 hours 1 minutes
  • Yield: 8 1x
  • Category: Pie
  • Method: Oven
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

This old-fashioned fool-proof double pie crust recipe made with shortening is the very, very best!


Ingredients

Scale
  • 4 Cups of all-purpose flour
  • 1 heaping Tablespoon of sugar
  • 1 teaspoon of salt
  • 1 ½ Cups shortening, chilled
  • 1 egg
  • 1 Tablespoon vinegar

Instructions

  1. In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar and salt.  Blend together with a whisk.
  2. Using a pastry cutter, cut in 1 and ½ cups of chilled shortening.  Shortening and flour should be well distributed.
  3. Crack an egg (cold from refrigerator) into ½ cup of cold water. Add 1 Tablespoon of vinegar and mix well with a fork.
  4. Make a dip in the center of flour mixture and pour in the egg/water mixture.
  5. Stir with a fork gently to blend wet and dry ingredients until just moistened and dough leaves side of bowl.  Chill in the refrigerator.
  6. Roll onto a lightly floured pastry mat and create your pie crust.
  7. Bake according to pie directions.

Notes

Chilled Shortening: Make sure to chill your shortening.  It needs to be cold.

Flaky Crust: To make a flakier crust, use ½ all purpose flour and ½ pastry flour.

Freezer Ready: To freeze the pie crust, roll out and place in pie plate as directed.  Cover completely in plastic wrap and if possible in plastic bag.  Freezer.  When ready to use, place at room temperature as you prepare your pie filling.  Bake as directed.


Nutrition

  • Serving Size: 1 slice of pie crust
  • Calories: 583
  • Sugar: 1.8
  • Sodium: 302.5
  • Fat: 39.6
  • Carbohydrates: 49.3
  • Protein: 7.2
  • Cholesterol: 23.3

Keywords: homemade pie dough, the best homemade pie crust recipe

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Homemade pie crust recipe made with shortening.
« How to Make Crockpot Mashed Potatoes
Pumpkin Pie Recipe From Scratch »

About Lynette

Lynette is the home cook, recipe tester and photographer for Cleverly Simple which she created in 2010.  Most of her recipes come from the treasured recipe box passed down from her great-grandma, grandmother, and mother.

Lynette’s recipes and projects have been featured in Country Living, Good Housekeeping, House Beautiful and others.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. john warren

    October 06, 2020 at 9:55 am

    I use this recipe exclusively but forgot it was for 2 pies – wife said I was making crust too thick – she was right. It’s delicious. Next time I’ll divide it in half. Thank you so much.

    Reply
    • Lynette

      October 14, 2020 at 7:28 pm

      Too funny! It would be thick – but with the time you invest in making it, it’s nice to get two pie crusts out of it! 🙂

      Reply
  2. Yvonne Mills

    July 11, 2020 at 4:34 pm

    I followed your instructions but I found the pastry was too wet even after I refrigerated it for an hour. Do you use the whole egg? My shortening wasn’t really cold maybe that was the problem. I would like to try it again.
    \

    ★★

    Reply
    • Lynette

      July 21, 2020 at 1:29 pm

      Hi! I hope you try again. I’ve made it many times with success. Let me know if you try again or if you have any other questions.

      Reply
  3. Jody H

    November 30, 2019 at 3:30 pm

    This was the first time I ever attempted to make a pie. The crust was amazing and the Dutch Apple Pie recipe was so good and easy to make. My 12yr old helped and it was so fun to make this with her. We usually buy our Apple pies from a Apple orchard but this recipe was just as delicious if not better. No more buying pies for this family. Question, how long can the crust be frozen for?

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  4. Mary

    November 10, 2019 at 2:31 pm

    I love baking but for some reason pies were not my strength. I never liked how the crust came out until I tried this recipe. Thank you so much. I have been making perfect apple pies since! It is the best!!!!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
    • Lynette

      November 12, 2019 at 6:23 pm

      Awesome!! So glad you enjoyed it.

      Reply
      • Ed Howell

        October 14, 2021 at 9:20 am

        Hi Lynette, just wondering if I can use butter instead of shortening in your receipt. Can you explain why some many pie receipts call for shortening over butter?

        Reply
  5. Cassandra

    September 17, 2019 at 5:35 pm

    Thank you! Turned out beautifully!

    ★★★★★

    Reply
  6. Cassandra

    September 08, 2019 at 10:20 am

    Hi! Im so excited to try this recipe! I’ve never made a pie crust before. Do I put my apple mix in the unbaked pie shell or do I bake the shell first????

    Thanks for any help!

    Reply
    • Lynette

      September 08, 2019 at 8:49 pm

      It depends on the recipe but most baked pies, you’ll place the filling in before you bake the shell. Here’s the links to the two apple pies I make, I hope it helps. And let me know if you have any questions!
      Dutch Apple Pie (my favorite)
      Apple Pie

      Reply
      • Cassandra

        September 24, 2019 at 7:28 am

        Thank you!! My pie turned out amazingly! The receipe and instructions worked out so well. My husband says its the best pie he’s ever had. I’ll be using this receipe forever 🙂

        Reply
  7. Kim P

    August 16, 2019 at 9:21 am

    I have tried to make pie crust so many times and it never works well for me. I have given up and leave the pie making to my sister. If your recipe works, you will be my absolute favorite person!!

    Reply
    • Lynette

      August 21, 2019 at 8:39 am

      Yay! Let me know how it goes. 🙂

      Reply
  8. Michael c blaser sr.

    July 05, 2019 at 9:51 pm

    You will find that if you Lard instead of crisco , that your
    Crust will be lighter, flakier, and have a much more desirable over all flavor.

    Reply
    • Lynette

      July 13, 2019 at 10:45 am

      Hi, I’ve not tried lard but I have used pastry flour before to get a flakier crust. I’ll have to give lard a try. Thanks!

      Reply
  9. Joan Baker

    December 03, 2018 at 9:38 am

    What kind of shortening do you use?

    Reply
    • Lynette

      December 03, 2018 at 10:03 am

      I use these Crisco sticks. I find them the easiest to use to bake with, especially since the sticks make it easy to measure.

      Reply
  10. Elena

    November 25, 2017 at 10:48 am

    I always make pie crusts from scratch and I can’t wait to try your recipe next time. It looks so easy!

    Reply
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Lynette Rice head shotHi, I’m Lynette. My desire is to help women who feel uninspired weave time honored recipes into their routines to create a sense of simplicity. Most of my recipes come from the treasured recipe box passed down from my great-grandma, grandmother and mother. And I want to share them with you.  Learn more.

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