This is the absolute BEST gluten free pie crust recipe. So flaky and light, you'd never know it was gluten free! Make it today for any of your pie needs!
I have been baking pies for years. There's something about rolling out pastry that is so calming and therapeutic to me. When I became gluten free, I truly thought those days were over. Then I started getting a little more experienced with the whole gluten free baking thing and tried my hand at making a gluten free pie crust. It was a disaster! The crust was so hard we couldn't even cut it with a knife.
Fast forward a few years, I have finally created the BEST flaky all butter gluten free pie crust recipe ever!! It rolls out beautifully, maybe better than regular (gluten) pie crust. It doesn't break apart constantly and doesn't stick, and it bakes up so flaky, it's almost like a rough puff pastry! You seriously will have a hard time believing it's gluten free 🙂
What Creates Flaky Pie Crusts?
When cold butter hits a hot oven, it melts and creates steam. The steam then lifts the pastry, which is what makes the flakiness! So it's essential to keep your ingredients cold for the best flaky pie crust you could imagine. Every time I make my crust, my family and extended family always rave about the crust. They say it's better than a regular (gluten) pie crust!!
What You'll Need to Make Gluten Free Pie Crust
Homemade pie crust looks like it's daunting, but it's really so easy to make! And this gluten free pie crust will change your mind forever. I personally think it's even easier than any gluten version I've made. One of the reasons for this is we don't have to worry about overworking the dough to develop gluten, cuz there is none! Here are the ingredients:
- Kim's gluten free all purpose flour blend - a store bought blend may be substituted, but hasn't been tested.
- Kosher salt
- White vinegar -- helps keep the crust tender.
- Butter -- this is an all-butter pie crust, but if you feel the need to make it half and half, you can try to sub ½ the butter with an equal amount of shortening.
- Egg -- an egg is what revolutionizes this pie dough. It's an essential ingredient because it binds everything together. I haven't tried an egg replacer here so I honestly can't tell you if it would work or not. I have tried it without an egg, however, and it doesn't hold together quite as well.
- Ice water -- your water needs to be as cold as possible to keep the dough cold when mixing it.
Mixing the Dough
Cold dough is crucial to making flaky pie crust. I prefer to cut the butter into large chunks more than cubes because chunks are less likely to melt or over soften, which can lead to a tough pie crust. We want the butter in large pieces throughout the dough so that when it melts in the oven, the steam created will cause those wonderful layers of flakiness that make pie crust so addictive!
You can make this pie crust by hand and flatten the chunks of butter with your fingers. Or use a pastry blender. But if you have a food processor, it goes so quickly and I prefer this method. Place the gluten free flour blend and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse to mix briefly.
Add the butter chunks and pulse a few times to break up the chunks.
Add the vinegar, followed by the beaten egg, and pulse again. With the food processor on low speed, slowly add the ice cold water, a little at a time, until the dough begins to ball up. You may not need all of it, or you may need a little more. It all depends on your climate.
Remove the lid and the blade and divide the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, pressing it together into rounds about two inches thick. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
Rolling out the Dough
You really won't get over how easy this dough is to work with! I was amazed myself when I first made it, and after making it for over years I'm just as amazed. If your dough has been in the refrigerator for more than 30 minutes, take it out of the refrigerator about 15-20 minutes before you plan on rolling it out. It's super hard when it comes out of the fridge (because of all that butter), so it needs to come to a cool room temp first.
Place it on a lightly-floured surface and roll it one way forward, then roll it back towards you. Lift the dough and move it a quarter turn and do the same thing. Constantly lift and turn the dough, checking for sticking and sprinkling more flour as necessary. Don't overdo it with the flour, but if you did you can always take a pastry brush and brush off the excess.
Gluten Free Pie Crust FAQs
I like to roll it up onto my rolling pin, place it over the pie pan, and then unroll it. Another trick is to fold it in half and then again in half, place the point of the fold in the middle of the pan, and then unfold it.
You can get two normal-thickness pie crusts from one recipe, or you can roll them thin and get 3.
Don't throw away the scraps of dough! When you're trimming your crusts, there's bound to be some scraps. There are a lot of things you could do with those scraps, but my favorite is to put them on a baking sheet and sprinkle cinnamon sugar all over them. Place them in the oven with the pie and bake for a few minutes, just until puffed and golden. Soooo good, a little sweet flaky treat!!
Recipes That Use This Flaky Gluten-Free Pie Crust
- Incredible Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie
- Gluten Free Chocolate Chess Pie
- Amazing Gluten Free Apple Pie
- The Best Gluten Free Sweet Potato Pie
- Perfect Gluten Free Peach Pie
- Gluten Free Peach Crumb Pie
- Triple Layer Gluten Free Coconut Cream Pie
- Gluten Free Blueberry Pie
- Gluten Free Apple Crumb Pie
- Best Ever Gluten Free Pecan Pie
- Easy Gluten Free Fresh Strawberry Pie
- Gluten Free Quiche Lorraine
- Gluten Free Apple Dumplings
Flaky All Butter Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe
Equipment
- food processor, if desired
Ingredients
- 3 cups (420 g) Kim's gluten free flour blend, plus extra for dusting (or your favorite blend that includes xanthan gum)
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ cups (339 g) butter, cut into ½ inch pieces and chilled
- 1 large egg, beaten and cold
- 1 tablespoon white vinegar
- ¼-⅓ cup (or more) ice water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, add flour and salt. Pulse to combine. Add butter and pulse several times until butter is the size of large chunks. Alternatively, place flour in a large bowl and add salt. Add butter and using your fingers or a pastry blender, blend into butter until the size of large peas.
- Pour the vinegar and beaten egg into the bowl and pulse to combine (or combine with a fork if not using a food processor).
- With the food processor running, slowly add water through the chute, a few tablespoon at a time. You may not need the full amount of water, depending on your climate. When the mixture comes together in the bowl, stop mixing. Of note, gluten free pie crusts do better when they are slightly wetter (because the flour will soak up some of the liquid).
- Divide the dough between two sheets of plastic wrap, flattening each into a round disk. Chill in the refrigerator for about 20-30 minutes.
- Roll out the dough onto a lightly floured surface into approximately a 12-inch round, moving constantly to avoid sticking. If it does stick, lightly sprinkle more flour. Roll dough onto rolling pin and carefully lift and unroll into the pie plate. Trim the edges of the dough and crimp the edges.
TO BLIND BAKE:
- Prick the bottom and sides of the dough all over with a fork. Place the crust in the refrigerator and chill for at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425° F. Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and line it with heavy duty foil (my preferred method) or parchment paper. Fill it with pie weights, beans, rice, any combination of those, or granulated sugar (it will get slightly toasted and you can use it again for recipes).
- Bake for approximately 12-15 minutes, or until the edges look set, but are still "blonde". Carefully remove the foil and beans and continue to bake for about 5 more minutes, or until the bottom and sides are no longer shiny. Cool the crust completely before proceeding with your recipe.
FOR DOUBLE-CRUST PIES:
- Roll out the bottom crust and add your filling of choice into the crust. Roll top crust out and place on top of filling. Crimp as desired to seal. Vent and proceed as per your recipe instructions.
Notes
Adapted from Perfect Pie Crust by The Pioneer Woman.
This recipe was originally posted in November 2018. It has been updated with new photos, a video, and several tips.
MG
This is hands down the best GF crust I've ever had/made... it rivals the best gluten crust I've ever had, which is my moms! I'm not one to write reviews, but I had to for this recipe because it was out of this world. I used Cup 4 Cup since it had the most similar ingredients to the recipe's blend. Made one for a pot pie, and one for a blueberry pie. My entire family was blown away. I made the blueberry pie after the 20 min chill; the pot pie after a couple hours in the fridge; the 20 min chilled dough was WAY easier to work with... next time I will make sure I don't chill the dough as long or take it out to let it come up to temp a bit. THANK YOU SO MUCH!
Kim
So glad you liked it!!!!
Ellen
I was going to use this recipe until I literally could not find it on my phone. I mean, I could find all your absolutely maddening and unnecessary text, as I am not a novice baker -- maybe you could make the recipe easier to find for experienced bakers, and use a link for those who HAVE NEVER BAKED ANYTHING IN THEIR LIVES? I am absolutely infuriated and all your PRINT buttons do not help as I cannot print anything. HOW ABOUT MAKING THE RECIPE ITSELF ACCESSIBLE, EVEN ON A PHONE?
Kim
Wow! You know, for someone getting a recipe for FREE, why not be a little kinder about it? If it were me, I would send a quick question, "Hi, I can't seem to find the recipe. Can you help please?" I just don't get why some people are such jerks online. I guess because they're hiding behind a keyboard. I just read this to my husband as I was so flabbergasted, I had to let him hear it, and neither one of us could believe how someone could be so rude.
Now, to address your "concerns", at the top of every single one of my recipes you will find a "jump to recipe" button that you can simply tap on and it will bring you right down to the bottom, where the recipe is. Right after I read this, I got on my phone and tried it myself with this very recipe you're talking about (pie crust). I even showed my husband how I tapped on the search button and typed pie crust and it immediately came up. So I tapped on it, then tapped on "jump to recipe" and it brought me right down to the recipe (the whole thing took me maybe 4-5 seconds tops). So Idk why you're not getting it. Maybe it's your internet connection. Of note, the "maddening and unnecessary text" that you describe is actually very necessary and REQUIRED by Google (and all search engines for that matter) by those of us who share recipes on the internet, whether the person we're sharing with is a novice or an expert.
Next time you want to leave a comment like this on anyone's website, you should really check your attitude first. I am as pleasant as the next person (and maybe more so) and was always taught to be kind to others, but there comes a point where I will not be so pleasant if I get messages like you just sent to me.
Amber
Pretty much all recipes I find on Pinterest have the Jump to Recipe option. I find your recipe so helpful bcuz I have started to do everything by grams so you adding that to the page saved me a lot of time THANK YOU!! Also I can not believe something so little can enrage someone to the point they are flipping out on someone they don’t know and frankly don’t have to get the recipe from you there are many out there so if your not happy Ellen look up another recipe but I’m sure you will find that they are all somewhat similar in the formatting!
Ale
Well Ellen, you are complaining about accessibility and at the same time you don't want this recipe to be accesible to people who don't know everything about baking as you do.
Also, as Kim said there is a very pretty button at the top of the page to jump to the recipe, so maybe take some time to do some reading comprehension instead of telling random people about how experienced you are at baking but not at skipping print buttons.
Oh, and the most important thing, Kims recipes are incredible and I am so thankful to her for sharing them for free. So, your loss, hun
Doris
Having an Allergy to Potato Starch , What Substitution can be made ?
I know you said there isn't one but what can the next best...
Thanking you in advance
Doris
Samantha
Don’t 3 star something you’ve never made… FFS
GinPhil
This IS one of the best GF pie crusts I've ever made! Once you get a hang of it, you'll know how to work with it. Definitely a keeper for GF or non-GF baking.
Georgina Suarez
Delicious crust! Only problem is that as soon as it's warmed up I have to work fast rolling it out and placing in the pie pan. If I worked with it sooner then it would break up. Pinching was a disaster after it warmed up. I'll most likely use the recipe again because it is a fantastic tasting recipe....even with the hiccups. 😋
Margaret Krug
I had a Valentine function to go to so I made your pie crust and made these little hand held heart pies. The only problem I had with them was getting the dough soft enough to roll out. I had to leave them out of the frig for about 45 min so I could roll them. They were easy to handle and came out beautifully. Usually these little pies have filling coming out of them but these held together and the filling stayed in the. Very good recipe, will make them again someday. Thanks for the recipe. I made no substitutions in the recipe.
Bekky
Can't wait to try this, thank you 🙂 !!
Would I be able to replace the 1 tablespoon of white vinegar with for example, 1 tablespoon of lemon?
Thank you for your help 🙂
Kim
Yes, lemon juice should also work well!
TrisKit
Excellent crust! It does bake up rather like rough puff pastry. Is it necessary to blind bake for a double-crust pie? I did that, and my bottom crust got a bit browner than I would have preferred. My pie was still good, though. Thanks for this great recipe! 🙂
Kim
Thank you so much! I never blind bake for a double crust pie. I sometimes don't do it for a single crust pie either, depending on the pie recipe itself.
Liz
Since being gluten free the past few years, I'd pretty much given up the thought of being able to sink my teeth into a gluten free pie with a crust that I'd be proud to serve my (non gf) family. Thank you!! I just made this recipe into an apple pie for Christmas dinner and it's truly amazing! I'm tickled that the flavor and texture is so so so yummy! ❤️❤️🥰
Kim
Awe, that's wonderful that you can enjoy pie again, Liz!! Believe me, I completely understand wanting to give up on gluten free baking. That's the reason I created this blog, so I could share my successes with others like me 😍😍😍
Michelle Berger
I've had awful experiences with g/f pie crust in the past and not all that much success with regular pie crust either. I was skeptical about this recipe when I read through it because the amount of butter seemed extreme. I thought the crust would just melt butter all over the place. However, given the number of positive reviews, I thought I'd give it a try. I'm really glad that I did! It mixed up easily and rolled out beautifully. The crust was light and flaky in my apple pie. Really delicious! The only warning I would give is that because it has so much butter, it can take a long time to soften enough to roll out after refrigeration if you leave it in the fridge overnight as I did.
Marci
Hi Kim, thank you for this recipe—and all your recipes. This pie crust recipe is by far our favorite GF pie crust recipe ever. We did run into one issue last Thanksgiving that I want to try to trouble shoot this year: the crusts leaked butter while they baked. We are experienced pie bakers and make sure to keep the dough cold, cut the butter the right size, etc. We put the pie plate on a tray so it was not a disaster, but who wants to lose all that delicious butter? I looked through the comments above and don’t see that anyone else had that issue, though I saw it on another one of your pie recipe pages. Please let me know if you have any ideas! Thanks so much and Happy Thanksgiving to you and yours.
Kim
Hmmm. That is odd, Marci. Are you perhaps baking at a lower temp than usual? Are you prebaking the crust before adding any filling to it? If the recipe you're using (mine or someone else's) doesn't call for prebaking, I would go ahead and try that anyway and see if it solves your problem. That way you can partially bake the crust at a higher temp so none of your butter leaks out. I recently got a cookbook from Erin McDowell on Pies (she's a very well known pastry chef), and she says to partially bake (prebake) all pie crusts, so maybe this will really help.
I hope you and your family have a wonderful Thanksgiving as well 🥰
Marci
Hi Kim, thanks for the reply! We are baking at the usual temp. We have not tried pre-baking. This would work for the pumpkin, but since the apple is a 2-crust pie I don’t think we can pre-bake…unless you know something I don’t? I will look into Erin MeDowell!
Kim
Oh, gotcha. Yes, that would be quite hard to prebake it for a double crust pie. The only thing I can think of is the butter isn't getting mixed in enough? What type of butter are you using? The water content in the butter could be an issue, too. I tend to try to get a better quality butter when I'm making pie dough or pastry of any kind because it plays such a huge part.
Marci
I usually buy the organic unsalted butter from Costco.
OK so Erin Jeanne McDowell has a method for par-baking a double-crust pie! I’m going to try it! Also she says if your butter leaks out, your oven is too cool (or your dough is too warm!). Thanks for the tip to check her out. I am committed to making your recipe work for us this Thanksgiving!! It is the best GF pie crust we’ve ever had, so if we can just troubleshoot this one issue I think we will be golden. Thanks for working on it with me 🙂
Happy Thanksgiving!
Pat Newhouse
Did I miss what’s in the flour or do you order it ♥️
Kim
I don't sell it, but the link to the flour blend recipe is right in this recipe card. Just click on Kim's gluten free flour blend and it will take you there 😊
Andrea
I just made this for blueberry pie and it is absolutely amazing!!! Tender and perfect. My family didn't even realize it was gluten free.
Pamela price
I’ve made several pies now. ALL have been sweet pies. Excellent BTW…. Can you make chicken or Turkey pot pies and do you have recipes?
Kim
Hi, Pamela! I am not a fan of pot pies, but yes, I know of people who have made them with my pie crust dough 🙂 Unfortunately, I don't have a recipe for either.
Mark Vlosky
Nice pie dough recipe, but I make tarts, which use a sweeter dough. Can you post a tart dough please?
Kim
I have tarts with pate sablee (shortcrust pastry dough) on my long list of things to tackle in the gluten free world. I'm hoping this will be on the blog very soon as fruit tarts are my favorite for spring time 🙂
Steve
This crust was a BIG HIT for my Thanksgiving pumpkin pie. Light, flaky, and no soggy bottom!