An almond flour pie crust recipe, perfect for many kinds of pies! If you’re looking for a gluten free pie crust that tastes like the real deal, this is the best one!
The Perfect Gluten Free Pie Crust
Going gluten free means you end up doing a lot more food preparation at home than you might otherwise! While gluten free options are growing, many of them aren’t really worth eating. Often, they are filled with starches and gums to give them a similar look and texture to traditional versions.
Almond flour is my favorite gluten free flour to work with. It looks like white flour in baked goods (a win if trying to give a healthier dessert to a kid!), plus it bakes very similarly and can often be used 1-1 in gluten free recipes.
To develop this recipe, my first attempt was just to mix almond flour and a pinch of salt with cold butter, then add a bit of water, exactly how my mom makes pie crust. I sprinkled it with cinnamon and sugar (LOVED it when my mom baked extra pie crust like this when I was a kid!), and baked it, and to my surprise, it tasted exactly like I remember pie crust. Flakey, buttery, light — I knew I had a winner.
The only issue with it was that when filled, the crust got soggy, and crumbled when cutting the pie.
A few trials left, and I have found that using a binder (here I use coconut flour) and an egg white, plus partially baking the crust before filling, makes all the difference.
This almond flour pie crust takes time and patience — but not to worry! It’s not hands-on time. It’s chilling time! So when you make this, plan ahead, so both the dough and the finished pie have time to fully chill.
How to Make an Almond Flour Pie Crust
The ingredients in this easy paleo pie crust are simple, and very similar to a regular pie crust.
You will need:
- Almond flour (kind of essential here!)
- Coconut Flour (I like Bob’s Red Mill because the taste is totally neutral)
- Chilled butter (I chop and freeze it to help everything stay as cold as possible!)
- Psyllium husk
- 1 egg white
- Honey – or you can sub date syrup or maple syrup.
- A pinch of sea salt
There are a few steps here — none which take long on their own, but there is waiting time between them!
To make this crust:
- Chop butter in small chunks (smaller than dice), and place in a dish in the freezer. At the same time, put a pie plate in the freezer. WAIT TIME: About 30 minutes – but you can definitely leave it it longer if necessary!
- Add almond flour, arrowroot, coconut flour and sea salt to a food processor and process just enough to mix it together. Once the butter is chilled, add the chopped butter, and pulse until the mixture looks like cornmeal. The butter needs to be well mixed in, but not smooth. There still needs to be some texture left. Add the egg white and the honey, and then pulse until it starts to come together in a ball. Then, place it between two large sheets of parchment, and roll it into a disk about the same size as your pie plate. Then, there’s — WAIT TIME: About 1 hour to allow the crust to really chill firm.
- Remove the top part of the parchment, then very carefully invert the crust over the top of the chilled pie plate. Allow the crust to just sit on top of the pie plate and slowly it will start to fold into the pie plate. Once it’s mostly settled into the plate, use slightly wet bands to press it down and repair any cracks along the bottom of the crust. Then, use slightly wet fingers to form a rim around the edges of the pie plate.
- Bake! If you’re making a cream pie or something with a filling that you will add after it’s baked, this crust takes about 18 minutes to bake and brown. If you’re filling it with a filling that needs baked (like apple or pumpkin), read the tips below before attempting to use it! WAIT TIME: After filling/baking your pie, be sure to fully chill it again before cutting and serving. If the crust is still warm, it’s very crumbly. Once it’s chilled, it will come out of the plate, softer than a regular pie but with all the rich buttery flavor and flakey texture!
How to Use this Paleo Pie Crust
Almond flour browns and burns a lot more quickly than regular wheat flour. Traditional pie crusts bake at a high temperature, like 425. This crust will burn at that temperature.
I highly suggest buying a pie shield if making this pie crust more than once. It will save you time and keep your pie crust looking it’s best! If you don’t have time to get one, use foil, and cover just the edge of the crust prior to baking.
For a Cream Filled Pie: If you’re making a pie with a filling that needs to be chilled rather than baked (like a cream based pie or a fresh strawberry pie), pierce the crust with a fork or use pie weights, and bake for 18 minutes, or until the crust is lightly browned and firm on the bottom.
For a Baked Fruit Pie: If you directly fill the raw pie crust with fruit, the crust will get soggy even after baking. Par bake the crust for 8 minutes. This will very lightly brown the crust and give the bottom of the pie a barrier to prevent it from getting soggy. This crust needs to be baked at 325, which means that fruit like apples will take a lot longer to bake than if you were making a regular pie crust and baking it at 425. I use this crust for an apple pie, and it took 1 hour 20 minutes to bake. Because I used a silicone pie shield, the crust came out beautifully and perfectly browned!
Other Pie Recipes to Use with this Crust:
- Peach Pie, by The Endless Meal
- Strawberry Crumble Pie, The View from Great Island
- Mini Pumpkin Pies, by Sunkissed Kitchen
- Gluten Free Apple Pie, by Sunkissed Kitchen
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Almond Flour Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1 1/2 cups almond flour
- 1/4 cup arrowroot
- 1 tablespoon coconut flour
- 1/4 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 egg white
- 1 tablespoon honey
Instructions
- Cut butter into small chunks and freeze. Also put a pie plate in the freezer to chill. Freeze both for at least 30 minutes.
- In a food processor bowl, add almond flour, arrowroot, coconut flour and sea salt. Pulse to combine dry ingredients.
- Add chilled butter to the food processor, and pulse until the mixture looks like corn meal. The butter needs to be very finely chopped, but not to the point where it is melted or becomes smooth.
- Add the egg white and honey, and pulse until the mixture begins to form a ball.
- Put the dough between two large sheets of parchment paper, and roll out to a disk the size of your pie plate, or slightly larger. Place the dough in the freezer for an hour.
- Remove the top layer of parchment, and very carefully invert it over the pie plate. Allow the pie crust to settle on it's own into the pie plate. Once it starts to settle, use slightly wet hands to fix the cracks and to form an edge around the pie plate.
- Preheat oven to 325º F.
- If using this pie crust with a cold filling, like pudding or fresh strawberries, bake the crust for 18 minutes, until it's lightly golden brown.
- If baking a fruit pie, first par bake the crust for 8 minutes prior to filling. Use a pie shield or foil to cover the edges of the pie crust to protect it from over browning. This is especially important for pies that bake a long time, like apple or pumpkin.
What to do for Savory Pastry
That’s a good question! I have never used it as a savory crust, but honestly, I think I would leave the recipe as is. It has only a small amount of honey and a little sweetness is a good thing, even with a savory filling. Please let me know if you try it!
Have you tried this with coconut oil or non dairy “butter “
I haven’t, but I can’t see why it wouldn’t work. I also imagine that using coconut oil solid would work. I’ve been making this with coconut flour (1 tablespoon) instead of psyillium husk this year, and I think it’s a bit easier to work with. I will add that to the recipe right now!
The instructions call for Psyllium husks, but there is no amount given in the I ingredient list! Also, the ingredients calls for Coconut flour, but the instructions say nothing about it. Is it either coconut flour OR psyllium husks? I can’t wait to try this for Thanksgiving, but unclear on the psyllium husks.
Happy Holidays to you and yours!
Hi Jody! I am sorry about the confusion – I just went in a changed the recipe instructions. I used to make it with psyllium husks, but I’ve found that coconut flour works a bit better and it’s also a more common ingredient. Enjoy this! Happy Holidays – thank you!