Bourbon Pecan Pie – a homemade classic pecan pie spiked with a little bourbon. This pie is decadent, rich and delicious, the perfect dessert for your Thanksgiving dinner.
One of our favorite pies, if not our favorite pie is pecan pie. And this pecan pie is special, and I say special because it’s spiked with some booze, bourbon specifically. You know that anytime you spike anything up with bourbon, it’s going to be good.
Because this pecan pie is about satisfaction, pure indulgence. But how do we make this decadent morsel? Well first things first you’ve got to have a great crust. One that’s buttery, flaky, and tried and true. Check out my fool proof pie crust recipe for more information.
This pie crust is my trusted recipe for pie crust that I make every single time I make any type of pie. The pie filling is where things get interesting. Eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, pecans as the main ingredients and of course let’s not forget the bourbon! You don’t need a lot, I just added a tablespoon of bourbon but it’s enough to flavor the filling nicely.
Get The Most Out Of Those Pecans
To bring out the flavor of the pecans even more, toast them in the oven for about 5 minutes at 350 F degrees or until you start to smell them. You can even brown the butter before incorporating it into your filling. I know I’m crazy, but aren’t we all a little?
Never Tried Blind Baking?
Blind baking basically means baking your pie crust before filling it and baking the entire pie. This is necessary when making a pie with a custardy filling like ours today as it prevents the crust from becoming soggy. Don’t forget to read the post on making the perfect pie crust and all about blind baking!
Ingredients
Crust
- Dry ingredients – All purpose flour, salt, and white granulated sugar.
- Wet ingredients – Ice water and cold unsalted butter cut into cubes.
Pecan Filling
- Pecans – We want both chopped up and halved pecans. The chopped up ones are going into the filling and our halved pecans are going to be artfully lined up on top.
- Sugar – Some packed dark brown sugar is all we need, that molasses flavor is going to add complexity and depth to our filling.
- Flour – Just a bit of all purpose to help keep our filling from getting too liquidy, it’ll bind the filling and help us achieve a custardy consistency.
- Eggs – We want whole eggs for richness and to help us bind our filling.
- Butter – Unsalted is best to control the sodium content of our pie.
- Orange – Some fresh grated orange zest to add brightness and acidity.
- Corn syrup – This ingredient offers both sweetness and texture to our filling.
- Seasoning – A bit of salt is necessary to all baked goods, it’ll help balance out all the rich and sweet flavors we have going on.
- Bourbon – Hence the name! We want those caramel and vanilla notes that bourbon will offer us in our filling, don’t worry it will cook off.
Bourbon Whipped Cream
- Whipping cream – Be sure to pick up the right kind of cream otherwise we won’t get those fluffy desired results.
- Sugar – We’re using some powdered sugar today, this will ensure we get a super smooth grain free whipped cream.
- Bourbon – We want to carry that flavor through from the filling to our whipped cream. We aren’t cooking this whipped cream so the booze won’t cook off – keep this in mind if serving the pie to kids.
How To Make Bourbon Pecan Pie
Crust
- Place the butter in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Combine dry ingredients: Add the flour, salt and sugar to a food processor and pulse a couple times.
- Combine wet ingredients: Add the butter to the food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds to a minute until the mixture resembles peas. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time and continue pulsing. The dough should start to hold together.
- Form the dough: Remove the dough from the food processor and place it over your working surface. Form the dough into a flat disc, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 2 days before using.
Prep
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
- Toast the pecans: Spread the pecans evenly on a baking sheet and place them in the oven. Toast the pecans for about 5 minutes, but as soon as you smell them, take them out.
- Roll out the dough: In the meantime, take out the dough from the fridge, if you’ve left it in the refrigerator longer than 30 minutes take it out 15 minutes before using so that it becomes malleable, and roll it out so that it’s about 14 to 15 inches in diameter. Place and arrange the dough into a 9″ pie plate and pinch the dough between thumb and forefinger to crimp the edge of the pie crust.
- Bake the pie crust: Place a piece of parchment paper, that’s bigger than the surface of the pie and place it over the dough. Add pie weights or dry beans on top of the parchment paper, and bake for about 15 minutes.
Filling
- Prep the pecans: In the meantime make the filling. Take about half of the toasted pecans and chop roughly.
- Combine the filling: Add the eggs and brown sugar to the bowl of your mixer and mix those together for a minute. Add the corn syrup, melted butter, salt, orange zest and bourbon to the mixer and mix for another minute until everything is well incorporated. Stir in the chopped pecans.
- Cool the crust: Once the pie crust is done, carefully remove the weights from the crust by pulling up the ends of the parchment paper. If you’re using dry beans don’t throw them out, reuse them next time you’re making pie. Let the pie crust cool slightly, for about 5 minutes.
- Finish the pie: Pour the pie filling over the pie crust and arrange the rest of the toasted pecans over the top of the pie filling. Place in the oven and bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, until it puffs up and if you jiggle it there’s no wiggle to it.
Whipped cream
- Assemble the whipped cream: In the meantime make the bourbon whipped cream by adding the whipping cream, icing sugar and bourbon to the bowl of your mixer and mix until soft peaks form.
- Finish the dish: Let the pie cool completely before slicing into it. Serve with a dollop of the bourbon whipped cream.
Get The Most Out Of Your Crust
- Always use very cold butter or any other fat such as shortening or lard. This is the secret to a flaky crust. I always cut my butter into small pieces and chill it in the freezer for about 15 minutes prior to adding it to the recipe. You can also use a box grater to grate the butter.
- Don’t over knead the pie dough, especially once your transfer it to your work surface and work the dough with your hands, as your hands could melt the butter.
- Always chill the dough for at least 30 minutes and up to 2 days, which makes this crust perfect for make ahead.
Prefer To Bake Booze Free?
That is perfectly alright, and this pie won’t suffer at all for it. Ax it from the filling and you won’t even know it was ever supposed to be in there! Don’t think I forgot about the boozy topping, just whip up the whipped cream but nix the bourbon and you’ll have a perfectly alcohol free baked delight.
Patience Is A Virtue
You have to let the pie cool completely before slicing into it, tough job but you have to do it. I find it the most difficult part of putting this whole recipe together! While it cools whip up your whipped cream, at least it’ll keep your hands busy.
Storing Leftovers
Pecan pies are great because they can easily be made a day or two ahead. You can bake it, cool it, then wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge until ready to serve. The whipped cream won’t keep long so make it fresh as you need it!
Freezer
These can definitely be made ahead of time and frozen! Just wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and seal in an air tight container before popping in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before warming on the counter before slicing and serving!
Developing A Pecan Addiction? Get Your Fix With These Recipes:
- Pecan Pie Cheesecake
- Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars
- Butter Pecan Dulce De Leche Poke Cake
- Bourbon Pecan Pie
- Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookies
- Cinnamon Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookies
- Soft Oatmeal Cookies
- Banana Nut Muffins
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Bourbon Pecan Pie
Equipment
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 2 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp granulated sugar
- 1 cup unsalted butter cold and cut into cubes
- 6 to 8 tbsp ice water
For Pecan Filling
- 3 cups pecan halves
- 1 cup dark brown sugar packed
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup light corn syrup
- 4 tbsp butter melted
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp orange zest
- 1 tbsp bourbon
For Bourbon Whipped Cream
- 2 cups whipping cream
- 2 tbsp icing sugar
- 1 tbsp bourbon
Instructions
- Place the butter in the freezer for 20 minutes.
- Add the flour, salt and sugar to a food processor and pulse a couple times.
- Add the butter to the food processor and pulse for about 30 seconds to a minute until the mixture resembles peas. Add the ice water one tablespoon at a time and continue pulsing. The dough should start to hold together.
- Remove the dough from the food processor and place it over your working surface. Form the dough into a flat disc, cover in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes up to 2 days before using.
- Preheat oven to 350 F degrees.
- Spread the pecans evenly on a baking sheet and place them in the oven. Toast the pecans for about 5 minutes, but as soon as you smell them, take them out.
- In the meantime, take out the dough from the fridge, if you’ve left it in the refrigerator longer than 30 minutes take it out 15 minutes before using so that it becomes malleable, and roll it out so that it’s about 14 to 15 inches in diameter. Place and arrange the dough into a 9″ pie plate and pinch the dough between thumb and forefinger to crimp the edge of the pie crust.
- Place a piece of parchment paper, that’s bigger than the surface of the pie and place it over the dough. Add pie weights or dry beans on top of the parchment paper, and bake for about 15 minutes.
- In the meantime make the filling. Take about half of the toasted pecans and chop roughly.
- Add the eggs and brown sugar to the bowl of your mixer and mix those together for a minute. Add the corn syrup, melted butter, salt, orange zest and bourbon to the mixer and mix for another minute until everything is well incorporated. Stir in the chopped pecans.
- Once the pie crust is done, carefully remove the weights from the crust by pulling up the ends of the parchment paper. If you’re using dry beans don’t throw them out, reuse them next time you’re making pie. Let the pie crust cool slightly, for about 5 minutes.
- Pour the pie filling over the pie crust and arrange the rest of the toasted pecans over the top of the pie filling.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, until it puffs up and if you jiggle it there’s no wiggle to it.
- In the meantime make the bourbon whipped cream by adding the whipping cream, icing sugar and bourbon to the bowl of your mixer and mix until soft peaks form.
- Let the pie cool completely before slicing into it.
- Serve with a dollop of the bourbon whipped cream.
Recipe Notes
- See more information for making the pie crust, including tip, tricks and how to video on the pie crust recipe post.
- Pecan pies are great because they can easily be made a day or two ahead. You can bake it, cool it, then wrap it in plastic wrap and store it in the fridge until ready to serve. The whipped cream won’t keep long so make it fresh as you need it!
- These can definitely be made ahead of time and frozen! Just wrap them tightly in plastic wrap and seal in an air tight container before popping in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge before warming on the counter before slicing and serving!
- Please keep in mind that nutritional information is a rough estimate and can vary greatly based on products used.
jimmie says
I would love to make this pie, but would like to know how much Pecans it calls for, I do believe you forgot to put the Pecans in the recipe… is there any other ingredient missing?
Nicole Beaulieu says
The pecans were listed in the wrong spot- we’ve moved them!
Kathleen says
This looks so gorgeous! Just pinned 🙂
jo says
Thanks!
Patty says
This pie looks beautiful AND delicious! I’ll be adding this to my Thanksgiving menu for sure!
Carol Van Gorp says
Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips and you will have a perfect Kentucky Derby pie. If I think of it ahead of time, I soak the pecans at least overnight in Bourbon. However, if you do this, use fresh Bourbon in the pie. The liquid you soaked the nuts in has changed flavor.
Leigh says
You had me at bourbon! Thanks Jo I’m going to give this pie a try. I’m sure mine won’t look as beautiful.
jo says
It’s hard to screw this up Leigh 🙂
Bella B says
Yum what a great pie. I love the patter you created on top with the pecans! Perfect for the holidays 🙂
xoxoBella | http://xoxobella.com
jo says
Thanks Bella, hope you try it. 🙂