All-Butter Pie Crust Recipe (One 9-Inch Crust)

A good pie starts with the crust. This one uses only butter, so it tastes rich and bakes up flaky. It makes one crust for a 9-inch pie, which is exactly what our classic pumpkin pie needs.

You don't need a food processor. A bowl, a fork or pastry cutter and a rolling pin are enough.

Making our pumpkin pie?Make this crust first, then go back to the pumpkin pie recipe for the filling. ← Back to the pumpkin pie recipe

The one rule: keep it cold

Flaky crust comes from little pieces of cold butter. In the oven they melt and leave thin layers in the dough. If the butter gets warm before baking, those layers disappear.

So use butter straight from the refrigerator, add ice water, and chill the dough before you roll it. If your kitchen is warm, chill the bowl and flour for 15 minutes too.

How much water to add

Add the water slowly. Flour absorbs water differently from one bag to the next, so the amount changes a little every time. Stop as soon as the dough holds together when you squeeze a handful. Too much water makes the crust tough and makes it shrink in the oven.

How to pre-bake the crust (blind baking)

Some pies need a crust that's baked before the filling goes in: cream pies, no-bake fillings and pies with a very wet filling. For our pumpkin pie you don't need this step.

1. Chill the shaped crust. After you crimp the edge, put the crust in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. Cold dough shrinks less.
2. Heat the oven to 375°F.
3. Weigh it down. Line the crust with parchment paper or foil and fill it with pie weights or dried beans, pushed up against the sides.
4. Bake 15 to 20 minutes with the weights, until the edges look set and start to brown. Lift out the paper and weights, then prick the bottom all over with a fork.
5. Finish the bake.
   • Partly baked (the filling bakes in it later): 7 to 8 more minutes, until the bottom just starts to brown.
   • Fully baked (the filling doesn't go in the oven): 15 to 25 more minutes, until the crust is golden all over.

Let a fully baked crust cool completely before you fill it.

Make it ahead

Wrap the disc tightly and keep it in the refrigerator for up to 5 days, or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen dough in the refrigerator overnight before you roll it.

For the holidays, make two or three discs at once. They're ready whenever you need a pie.

Step by step

1. 
   Cut in the cold butter

   Work the butter into the flour until it looks like coarse crumbs, with some pea-sized pieces left. Those pieces make the crust flaky.

2. 
   Shape a disc and chill it

   Press the dough into a disc about 1 inch thick, wrap it tightly and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour.

3. 
   Roll it out

   Roll from the center outward, turning the dough a little as you go, until it's about 1/8 inch thick.

4. 
   Trim and crimp the edge

   Trim to about 1/2 inch past the rim, fold the edge under and crimp it with your fingers.

All-Butter Pie Crust

One flaky all-butter crust for a 9-inch pie plate.

Prep15 min

Chill1 h

Total1 h 15 min

Makes1 crust (9-inch pie)

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus a little for rolling
• 1 teaspoon granulated sugar (optional)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
• 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water, plus more only if needed

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar and salt.
2. Add the cold butter cubes. Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter or two forks until the mixture looks like coarse crumbs with some pea-sized pieces of butter left.
3. Sprinkle in the ice water 1 tablespoon at a time, tossing with a fork after each spoonful, until the dough holds together when you press it. It should feel moist but not wet.
4. Shape the dough into a disc about 1 inch thick. Wrap it tightly and refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
5. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough from the center outward into a circle about 1/8 inch thick, turning it a little after every few rolls.
6. Lay the dough in a 9-inch pie plate. Trim the edge to about 1/2 inch past the rim, fold it under and crimp it with your fingers or a fork.
7. Fill and bake as your pie recipe says. If the dough gets soft while you work, chill it for 10 minutes before baking.

Tips:

• Keep everything cold. Warm butter melts into the flour and the crust turns out tough instead of flaky.
• For a deep-dish pie plate, roll the circle a little larger so it covers the sides with dough to spare.

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Nutrition per slice (1/10 of the crust)

Calories

140

Fat

8 g

Saturated fat

5 g

Carbs

12 g

Fiber

0.4 g

Sugar

0.5 g

Protein

2 g

Sodium

60 mg

Cholesterol

25 mg

Estimate for the crust only, calculated from USDA FoodData Central values.

Make ahead: the wrapped dough keeps up to 5 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer. Thaw frozen dough overnight in the refrigerator.

Questions people ask

Sources

Recipe checked on November 9, 2026, against these published recipes:

1. Sally's Baking Addiction, "All Butter Pie Crust" (amounts, chilling, storage and freezing). sallysbakingaddiction.com
2. Taste of Home, "Classic Butter Pie Pastry" (single-crust amounts, rolling thickness, trimming). tasteofhome.com
3. King Arthur Baking, PJ Hamel, "How to prebake (blind bake) pie crust," September 1, 2026, and Sally's Baking Addiction, "How to Blind Bake Pie Crust" (blind-baking temperature and times). kingarthurbaking.com, sallysbakingaddiction.com
4. USDA FoodData Central, for the nutrition estimate (flour, butter).