Learn how to make the great American classic Pecan Pie, with a quick video tutorial! A flaky all-butter pastry with a perfectly set, soft custardy filling with beautiful pecans, this is arguably the mother of all pies.
Pecan Pie
One might ask what this Japanese born Aussie gal is doing, determined to master this great American classic.
Well, it goes back to the story of this website.
This great big wonderful online world known as the internet. This former corporate gal never expected to be blessed with this wonderful opportunity to share the food she loves with people in the far corners of this big wide world.
From Denmark to Iceland, Mongolia (seriously!) to Argentina, and many from my home country of Australia. And many MANY from America.
I put that down to my taste in food. Southern Fried Chicken – swoon. Fall apart brisket makes me want to cry. I’m a disgrace to my country because I regularly declare that America does the BEST burgers in the world. I believe Buffalo Wings are one of the greatest inventions ever, and that Gumbo was brought onto this earth just for me.
And thus with Thanksgiving fast approaching, it had to be that I’d share a great American holiday classic especially for my American readers.
My friends. Pecan Pie. Be still my beating heart. The glorious nutty pecans, that caramely-custardy filling. That flaky buttery pastry. It’s heaven in the form of a pie.
You’ll find an extensive list of credits in the recipe, all of whom I referenced in a bid to come up with my version of a great Pecan Pie. And it all starts with the pie crust.
Store bought? Sure, go ahead. I don’t even know if we can get store bought pie crusts here in Australia, I’ve never looked.
When I make pie, it’s always entirely from scratch. Not from snobbery, it’s just that we don’t have nearly as much ready made things here in Australia (like bread doughs etc), so I’ve been brought up learning how to make these kind of things from scratch.
I know there are recipes out there that swear by using shortening in pie crusts to make them flaky. And it’s not that I’m adverse to it as such – it is sold here (butter section, for fellow Aussies reading this). But the fact is, it just doesn’t add flavour. And using only butter still yields a fantastically flaky crust. So I opt to stick with butter. And when I was researching around about Pecan Pie, I saw that Deb Perelman from Smitten Kitchen said the same thing, and I felt validated.
So all butter it is.
And my food processor. To make it quick work. Watch the video. (Below recipe)
As for the pecans. Well, it’s hard to go wrong with these nuts. Except one little tip. Gotta toast the nuts that go INTO the filling. It really truly brings out the flavour. I promise you won’t regret the extra 3 minutes it takes to do this before you chop them up.
Keep a handful of them whole to decorate the top. No need to toast these ones. Unless you don’t want to decorate your pie. Just go ahead and toast and chop them all.
The Filling is pretty straight forward. There are many Pecan Pie variations – chocolate, maple, etc etc – but if you’re sticking with the classic, the ingredients are fairly standard. Egg (which sets it like custard), sugar, corn syrup (don’t worry, there are subs if you can’t find corn syrup), butter, pinch of salt and vanilla. Oh – and bourbon, if you want to keep it real. 🙂 Though if not, just leave it out.
And this is how it looks after the most difficult step of all – leaving the Pecan Pie until it cools completely.
And I’m serious here – you need to let it cool COMPLETELY in order for the filling to set. Don’t get impatient. Now is not the time.
The filling should be set so you can slice it without it oozing everywhere, but it’s soft and custardy. It does not look like a smooth set caramel, like in my Salted Caramel Tart, and it’s not meant to.
Pecan Pie.
How I love thee.
I may not be a Star Baker.
My pie crust looks… err… rustic. 🙂 There are more perfect looking ones out there.
But it’s buttery and flaky, crumbly and delicate, just as it should be. That filling is set but it’s soft and custardy. And those pecans are so… well, pecany.
It’s obscene how much of this I can inhale in one sitting.
– Nagi xx
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Pecan Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust (or 9" store bought) (Note 1):
- 1¼ cups plain white flour (all purpose flour)
- ¼ tsp salt
- 2 tsp white sugar
- 115 g / 1 stick unsalted butter , cold, cut into 1cm/ ⅓" cubes
- 2.5 - 3 tbsp ice cold water
Pecans:
- 1 1/4 cups pecans , enough to decorate top
- 1 1/4 cup pecans (for filling)
Filling:
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup / 200g brown sugar, packed
- 60 g / 4 tbsp unsalted butter , melted
- 3/4 cup / 185 ml light corn syrup (Note 2 for subs)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 3 tbsp bourbon (or rum or marsala, or other liquor of choice, or omit)
Instructions
Pie Crust:
- Place flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse twice.
- Scatter over butter. Pulse 5 times or until the largest pieces are the size of peas.
- Turn food processor on low and add 2.5 tbsp water, keep blitzing for 7 to 10 seconds until it forms crumbly clumps (see video). Pinch with your fingers - it should come together - if not, add 1/2 tbsp water until it does. Don't blitz longer than 20 seconds.
- Turn out crumbs onto work surface, use hands to bring together into a ball then pat into a 1.5cm / 1/2" thick disc. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Pecans:
- Preheat oven to 180C/350F (standard) / 160C / 320F (fan / convection).
- Scatter 1 1/4 cups pecans on baking tray and bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until you smell them.
- Remove from oven and roughly chop. Set aside.
- Remaining 1 1/4 cups don't need toasting - they are for the top.
Pie Crust Rollling Out (video helpful):
- Dust work surface with flour.
- Place dough on work surface, dust top with flour. Roll out into 25cm/12" circle, patching up cracks as required. Remember: the crumblier the dough, the more flaky your pastry which is GOOD!
- Roll the pastry onto your rolling pin, then roll it out onto a 22cm / 9" pie tin. Press in, then trim edges with scissors with a 1cm / 0.3" overhang.
- Turn the edges under and press down neatly. Crimp if desired (see video).
- Place 2 large pieces of baking paper over the pie crust then fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice. Weight is essential to avoid shrinking pastry.
- Bake 20 minutes, then remove pie weights and let the pastry cool for 5 minutes before filling.
Filling:
- Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add remaining Filling ingredients and whisk until smooth.
- Stir through chopped pecans.
- Pour into crust - it should fill it about 1 cm / 2/5" from the top (you may have excess if your pastry shrank).
- Top with whole pecans in desired pattern.
Baking:
- Place pie in oven. Bake for 50 minutes, checking at 40 minutes, until it doesn't jiggle much when you shake it but the centre is still soft when you touch it (see video).
- It will be puffed and cracks will look extreme, but it will deflate as it cools. If your pastry / pecans are browning too quickly, cover with foil.
Serving / Storing:
- Cool completely before serving, to allow the custard to set - 2 - 4 hours.
- Slice, and serve with ice cream or cream if desired - I don't need either!
- Store in an airtight container - great for 2 days, but I'm perfectly happy with mine even after 4.
Recipe Notes:
Nutrition Information:
WATCH HOW TO MAKE IT
One of the most painful recipe videos I’ve made. Can’t tell you how many stops-and-starts and hand washing between handling dough / camera was required for this!!!
LIFE OF DOZER
What to do with left over pie crust….
I made this for Christmas dinner and it was a huge hit!
Hi Nagi, I can’t wait to try this. Dumb question – do you know roughly how many grams of pecans for the 2 1/2 cups?
Great recipe for a delicious pecan pie! Using dark corn syrup and toasting the pecans will really enhance the flavor. Thanks for sharing!
Want to make this for Christmas but want to get ahead so could this recipe be frozen after adding the filling? Then defrost and bake when needed?
Do you serve thus at room temperature Nagi?
Can’t wait to make this for my Canadian housemate for thanksgiving on Monday! In the UK we have dark and light options for brown sugar – which would you recommend?
Nice recipe. Pecan trees are so common in Georgia and they grow everywhere . I use Karo dark corn syrup. I sometimes add Khalua coffee liquor.
I made this last night to have it as a dessert today for Father’s day (my husband loves pecan pie and I never made it before). Sooooo delicious and simple to make as well!
Yes, prepared sweet pie crusts are available in the freezer section at any supermarket.
We don’t drink bourbon so I bought a 50ml mini bottle. Recipe called for 60ml but the 50ml was fine.
I couldn’t find corn syrup so substituted it with golden syrup as suggested and was very happy with that.
Delicious pie. Thanks for the recipe. 😋
You are welcome Lexie – so glad that you enjoyed the pie! N x
Would this work with nuttelex ’buttery’ as a butter substitute? I have to eat dairy free while breastfeeding but am dying to make this. I know it won’t be anywhere near as delicious but would it potentially work?? 🙊
Hi Nagi and Dozer, thank you for doing the hard work for us so we wouldn’t have to experiment. My husband and I made the pie on Christmas Eve and they loved it. It wasn’t heavy like some recipes and i used your recipe bc I know you don’t like sweets with too much sugar in it so it was perfect for my family. God bless
I made this recipe yesterday for a belated Thanksgiving dinner with some American and Australian friends. They LOVED it and I got many comments that this was the best pecan pie they had ever had. I have to agree, so thank you! The addition of the bourbon just added to the flavour. This will be my go-to recipe from now on, so good!
LOVE your recipes!
Make a few substitutes that worked so well – pecans were waaaay too expensive and for some reason the local shop had no brown sugar.
Subbed in walnuts for pecans, caster for brown sugar and to make up for the sugar flavour difference subbed treacle for corn syrup.
It was GOOD!
Good thinking Carmel! Glad it worked out for you! N x
Hi Nagi, I’m going to make this for thanks giving this year. Do you think I can sub corn syrup with maple syrup?
Hi Channy – maple syrup won’t thicken like corn syrup so will change the texture and taste of the filling and it will be runny. N x
Thanks Nagi! Ok noted, I will make sure I use corn syrup, I appreciate the response.
Hi Nagi! You’ve been all over tasting delicious foods, but have you been to Canada? We’re more than poutine 🍁
I made your pecan pie and it tasted wonderful. I am American so as you know our country is young but we have our traditions and Pecan pie seems to show up for every celebration. I think I can make a Pecan pie in the dark. Although I have never had it with Bourbon in it, it was delicious. I also added some golden syrup in it, and of course, it tasted great. There was a difference in the texture, but no problem. Thank you, for all the wonderful recipes. You and Dozer please stay safe.