Simple Pie Crust

5 from 26 votes

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Thick, flaky, and easy to work with, this Pie Crust Recipe will be the recipe you know and trust for years to come. Extremely forgiving and the perfect complement to any sweet or savory filling. Fabulous for any dessert pie or Quiche! Pie crust or pastry of any kind may be viewed as intimidating, but I’m here to tell you that it’s not as hard as you think. Read on, friends! If you prefer an all-butter pie crust, try my All Butter Pie Crust.

Pie Crust Recipe

A Fail Proof Flaky Pie Crust Recipe

I LOVE pie…..and pie crust. It is just so irresistibly flaky and delicious. I’ve tested plenty of recipes over the years, trying all butter, all-vegetable shortening, all lard, combinations of all three, adding only ice water, trying a vinegar/egg slurry and the list goes on. After literally trying recipes for ten years, the be-all-end-all recipe for me ended up being an experimental version of the pie crust my Mom made from the Tenderflake packaging. Tenderflake is a brand of shortening found in Canada, comparable to Crisco. This recipe is a doctored up version of their recipe- it’s a great recipe as is, but I’ve tweaked it slightly to yield a crust that is slightly salty, can be rolled thick or thin and is consistently flaky every time.

unbaked Pie Crust

Pie Crust Tips For Beginners:

Please please please if you’re new to this pie-making business, don’t be scared! It’s not as hard to make pie crust as you think! Follow these tips and take a chance.

  • Cut the shortening into the flour until it’s the size of peas. You want it distributed pretty evenly.
  • Do your best not to knead the pie crust as you are forming it into balls or do anything to form gluten in the pastry. Gluten does not equal flaky crust.
  • Flour is key when rolling. Don’t shy away from flouring the board or lifting the pastry up, adding more flour underneath and/or flipping it while rolling. You want to avoid it sticking and flour is the way to do that.
  • If it cracks or rips, just press it back together. This recipe is very forgiving. Whether that is while you’re rolling it out or placing it into your pie plate, no one will know once it’s all filled and baked.

How to Make Pie Crust

Believe it or not, this pie crust recipe is quite simple to make. Don’t be nervous! The ingredients needed is short and the directions are even shorter. Roll and use as you’d like. The more specific increments and directions are found in the recipe card below.

Blend Flour + Salt Together

Blend flour and salt in mixing bowl. Add in both kinds of shortening. Using a pastry cutter, cut shortening into flour to create small lumps about the size of peas. Set aside.

Whisk Egg, Water + Vinegar

In a small bowl, whisk water, egg, and vinegar together. 

Slowly pour in the water-egg mixture into the flour mixture going bit by bit, using a fork to stir and moisten. You will most likely not use it all. Use just enough to form a dough. Form the dough into 5 balls. Do your best to not work or knead the dough.

Why Use Vinegar in Pie Crust

I know vinegar seems like such a random ingredient that might not seem necessary for pie crust, but it helps prevent gluten from forming, this giving you a flakier pie crust. While I have an all butter pie crust that uses zero vinegar, this is *the* recipe my mom swears by that she got off of an old Tenderflake package (a Canadian brand of lard). I’m not sure if the science backs this up, but there are plenty of recipes that call for a little vodka as well which works in a similar way. Give it try! You might be surprised just how good this pie crust is.

Form Dough Balls

Gently, combine together using your hands and form into a large dough ball. Next, divide into 5 thick crusts or 6 thinner crusts. Refrigerate an hour or two before rolling. You want to let the dough rest in the fridge for three reasons:

  1. It helps the dough stay tender and relaxes any gluten that may have accidentally formed.
  2. Cold dough is easier to work with, namely with rolling and transferring from counter to pie plate.
  3. Cold shortening helps with the flakiness of the crust.

Beginner Tip: I divide this recipe into five thick crusts because I like thick crusts and because it’s way easier to roll out that way. But you can definitely get six!  If you’re just starting, it’s better to have extra pie dough than not enough. So, divide it into five.

Roll Out Crust

Roll out, crimp, fill and bake! Or blind bake using the directions below for a pie that has a creamy, no-bake filling.

Storing Pie Crust

So, this pie crust recipe makes 5-6 crusts, total. Unless it’s a holiday, you may not need that many crusts. However, these freeze beautifully and taste just as good months later.

Portion and wrap extra pie crust in air tight containers (ziploc freezer bags work great!). As long as they’re wrapped well, they will last up to six months in the freezer. Defrost in the fridge for 24 hours before rolling.

If you’d like to make this ahead and store in the refrigerator, be sure to portion and store in airtight containers. Keep in mind that it will only last about 48 hours before it starts to turn grey and go bad. This is because of the eggs; they turn pretty quickly once they are out of their shell. So, note that you will have to use it before then.

pie crust recipe

What is Blind Baking?

Blind baking is simply pre-baking your pie crust before filling it. If you are making a cream-based pie (chocolate cream pie, pumpkin cream pie, banana cream pie, etc..) you’ll need a pre-baked pie crust because the filling will be made separately.

Blind Baking Instructions

Once you have your pie crusts made, roll out and fill your pie plate. Prick dough with a fork, add a square of parchment paper to the crust and fill with pie weights. If you don’t have pie weights, dried rice, beans or even flour can work! You just want to hold the crust in place to prevent shrinking.

Bake at 400 degrees for 10-15 minutes or until the crust is golden brown. Be sure to use a glass pie plate so you can keep a close eye on the bottom of the crust to ensure it’s baked before pulling from the oven. It may take less time if you’re using a metal pie plate.

Homemade Pie Crust

More Pie Recipes To Try:

I think that’s it for now! If you have any questions be sure to leave a comment and I’ll do my best to get back to you.

Have a great day, friends!

Pie Crust
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5 from 26 votes

Pie Crust Recipe

Thick, flaky and easy to work with, this pie crust recipe will be the recipe you know and trust for years to come. Give it a try once and be converted!
servings 5 crusts
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 0 minutes
Total Time 15 minutes

Ingredients

  • 5 1/2 cups all purpose flour
  • 2 teaspoon salt
  • 2/3 cup butter flavored Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening
  • 1 2/3 cups Crisco All-Vegetable Shortening
  • 7/8 cup cold water this is 1 cup of cold water minus 2 tablespoons
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 tablespoon white vinegar

Instructions

  • Blend flour and salt in mixing bowl. Add in both kinds of shortening. Using a pastry cutter, cut shortening into flour to create small lumps about the size of peas. Set aside.
  • In a small bowl, whisk water, egg, and vinegar together. 
  • Slowly pour in the water-egg mixture into the flour mixture going bit by bit, using a fork to stir and moisten. You will most likely not use it all. Use just enough to form a dough. Form dough into 5 balls. Do your best to not work or knead the dough.
  • Once your dough comes together into 5 balls, store wrapped in plastic wrap or small freezer bags. Refrigerate an hour or two before rolling. Store remaining dough balls in the freezer for up to six months. Defrost in the fridge for 24 hours before rolling.

Nutrition

Calories: 1361kcal | Carbohydrates: 105g | Protein: 15g | Fat: 97g | Saturated Fat: 24g | Cholesterol: 37mg | Sodium: 953mg | Potassium: 160mg | Fiber: 3g | Vitamin A: 55IU | Calcium: 26mg | Iron: 6.6mg
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American, Thanksgiving
Keyword: How to Make Pie Crust, Pie Crust, Pie Crust Recipe

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Recipe Rating




100 Responses
  1. Jan Elmore

    When it was time to teach me to cook, my mom said anyone can bake a cake; I’m gunna show you how to make a pie! It’s been pie ever since!
    However, I can still see my husband taking a flaming cake out the back kitchen door as the smoke alarm blasted away. Mind you this is the same women who……
    My dad came home from an overseas assignment, sees that we now have a dog, asks about it and mom simply stated to him that it was time to teach the girl to cook.

  2. Kay

    Adding water to egg mix to make 1 cup. Might not need all of that to hold dough together. Why not use half cup water and could probably use all of it and then. add more water if needed.

  3. Lisa

    I just made this and am also confused by the directions. I added enough cold water to vinegar/egg mixture to equal one cup and then used all of it. The dough was actually sticking together pretty well with no additional liquid. The dough seemed a bit sticky for pie crust. I will see how it rolls out after I refrigerate it. Did I do this correctly or should I have only added a little of that mixture to the dough as it was already sticking together? Thank you.

  4. Julie M. Vrana

    5 stars
    Thank you for posting the revised recipe for the pie crust in addition to the previous one! I have also enjoyed reading the other comments.

  5. d SCHMIDT

    I am going to try this recipe at the end of the week, I usually purchase all my pastry but I am going to be brave and hope I can make this. I definitely will listen to your advice about using cold items. Thanks!

  6. Serene

    Going to be using this recipe for sure! I have been experimenting with pie crust-last time I used all butter, next time I’ll try all shortening. 🙂

  7. Sonya Woodward

    Hi I love the look of your pastry but we don’t get butter flavoured shortening in Australia , what else could I use?
    Cheers
    Sonya

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  9. JJ

    Any suggestions for those of us in Australia that don’t have access to butter flavoured crisco? (We can get the plain version) can you use butter instead?

  10. M.P. Lotempio

    5 stars
    Just in time for the Holidays, I needed a good pie crust recipe. I can just buy flour and make my own, instead of buying ready made ones
    Thank you!

  11. Grace

    5 stars
    I’m so happy to know this can be frozen! Every time I come here and see the pie crust recipe, I think of the bloopers from that “Baked in a buttery, flaky crust” commercial. Ha ha!

  12. Linda Mc

    Pie Crust Recipe – The newly adapted recipe calls for 2/3 LB shortening and 1/3 LB butter shortening. Did you mean to say cup instead of pound? Also, adding water to the vinegar/egg mixture to make a cup but you only use enough until the flour clings or do you use it all?

      1. Sarah

        Hi, I don’t care for the vinegar taste in the crust. Can I leave it out, and still have a flakey crust?
        Thanks for all your amazing recipes!! 😀🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹🌹

      1. Janet Bullock

        Can this be made in a food processor? Thank you for the multiple crust recipe. I like the idea of making and freezing some.

  13. Gail Kienle

    I would love to try this recipe (I am a good cook but never could get the hang of pie crust). However, there is only 2 of us and I can’t imagine what I would do with 4 to 6 pie crusts. Is there anyway to cut this down to a double crust?

  14. Lori

    Have you ever tried this recipe with gluten free flour and if so, how did it turn out? I’ve been looking for a good gluten free pie crust recipe for my daughter who has gluten sensitivities.

  15. Martha

    I’m a bit confused. The newly adapted recipe calls for 2/3 LB shortening and 1/3 LB butter shortening. Did you mean to say cup instead of pound? Also, adding water to the vinegar/egg mixture to make a cup but you only use enough until the flour clings or do you use it all? Sorry but pie crusts are new to me and I’d love to try this one.

    1. Cheryl Pawliuk

      Seems like alot of shortening. I would make a combo adding up to 2 cups of shortening to 5 1/2 cup flour.. 1 2/3 c regular shortening and 1/3 c butter flavored shortening

      1. Lauren

        According to the crisco website, 1 pound of shortening is equal to 2 1/3 cups, so that’s why I have those funky measurements 🙂 Feel free to reduce as you’d like.

  16. Lianne Beck

    Quick question can you freeze this pie crust? I love your pizza dough recipe and how it bakes beautifuly everytime even after being frozen and would love to be able to have a supply of pie crust in our freezer as well. Thank you for any help.

  17. Beez

    I’ve always had trouble putting pie crust in the frig before rolling out. It becomes too hard! Then it cracks and looks terrible. I have the last couple of times rolled the dough right after making it, put it in the pan, THEN put it in the frig. Works just as well. But I would still like to know how you roll it out after taking it out of the frig with out it being hard???
    Thank you you in advance.

  18. Terry Sullivan

    I just visited your site and I wanted to commend you on your organization. I really like the recipe index since I was looking for a pie crust I had seen before. It was similar to yours so I will use yours. I have never made a pie so will give it a try. Wherever that other recipe I saw went I don’t know but it didn’t use a floured surface to roll out dough but put it between two sheets of waxed paper. That is what drew me to it:).

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  22. stephanie

    Hi Lauren,

    You mentioned cutting in the shortening in to the flour but, I didn’t see a mention of adding the butter at this point to..am I supposed to cut the shortening AND the butter in at the same time?

    Thanks!

  23. Mark and Tammy

    5 stars
    Made this pie crust for Blackberry pie and couldn't get enough of it. I love the buttery flavor and the flakiness of it. I rubbed a little milk on the top sprinkled sugar and it was 100% perfect and EASY. Thank you Lauren for making my first blackberry pie a success.

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