Pecan Pie Recipe
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Deep, buttery Pecan Pie Recipe with a glossy crackled top and toasted pecan halves across the whole surface. The filling is gooey in the middle, rich enough that a small slice is plenty, and the pastry underneath stays crisp. Serve it at room temperature with whipped cream, or warm with a scoop of ice cream.
The Pecan Pie I’ve Made Every Thanksgiving
My mom never made pecan pie. We came over from Romania when I was 13, so I kind of grew up with it being around, just never at home. The first slice I ever had was at a restaurant, and the minute I was old enough to make one myself I did. I’ve made it every Thanksgiving since, and it’s still Remo’s favorite thing on the table.
Pecan pie is an old fashioned dessert made with pecans folded into a batter of butter, brown sugar and eggs, which bakes down into a filling somewhere between caramel and custard. The top crackles, the middle stays gooey, and it’s the richest thing on the table by a wide margin.
If you want a twist on it, there’s my Bourbon Pecan Pie and my Chocolate Pecan Pie. And the Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars if you’d rather have squares than slices.
Ingredients in Pecan Pie
- Pie crust (½ recipe): Half a batch of my Pie Crust Recipe, which is what I use and what the from scratch version means. Store bought rolled crust works and I won’t say a word about it.
- Brown sugar (1 cup, packed): Light or dark, and dark will give you more molasses flavor. This is where most of the sweetness comes from, with the corn syrup doing the rest.
- Salt (1½ teaspoons): Yes, really. Written down it looks like a mistake and it’s the single most important thing in the filling.
- All purpose flour (1 tablespoon): One tablespoon, and it’s there so the filling sets firm instead of staying loose. You won’t taste it.
- Unsalted butter (6 tablespoons, softened): Softened, not melted, so it mixes in smoothly. If you want to go further, brown it first and let it cool a little. It takes 4 minutes and the whole pie tastes nuttier.
- Eggs (4): More than most pecan pies use, and that’s on purpose. Four eggs plus the flour are what let you cut a clean slice.
- Vanilla extract (2 teaspoons): A generous amount, and it rounds off all that sugar.
- Corn syrup (¾ cup, light or dark): Light is neutral, dark has molasses in it and tastes deeper. There’s a whole section below on swapping it out, since plenty of people would rather not use it.
- Pecans (½ cup chopped, plus 1½ cups halves): The chopped ones go into the filling and the halves get arranged over the top. Toast them all first if you have 5 minutes, at 350°F until you can smell them, and the difference is bigger than you’d think.
How To Make Pecan Pie
Make the crust: Make up half a batch of pie crust, or unroll your store bought one. If you’re using homemade dough straight from the fridge, let it sit on the counter for up to 10 minutes so it rolls out without fighting you.
Roll it out and line the plate: Oven to 425°F. Roll the dough to about ⅛ inch thick and lay it into a 9 inch pie plate. I roll it onto the rolling pin and unroll it over the plate, which feels fussy the first time and then becomes the only way you’ll do it. Crimp the edge and trim off the extra.
Blind bake the crust: Parchment over the shell, pie weights on top, 15 minutes at 425°F. Dried beans work perfectly if you don’t own weights. Then lift out the weights and the parchment. There’s more on blind baking here if you’ve never done it.
Pecan pie filling is wet and it sits in the oven for nearly an hour, so a raw crust underneath never gets a chance to crisp. Fifteen minutes now saves you from pale soggy pastry later.
Make the filling: Turn the oven down to 350°F. In a large bowl, combine the brown sugar, salt and flour first, which breaks up any lumps. Then add the butter, eggs, vanilla and corn syrup and whisk or mix until everything is smooth and well combined. Stir in the ½ cup of chopped pecans.
Assemble it: Pour the filling into the blind baked crust, then arrange the pecan halves over the top. I go around in rings from the outside in, which takes 2 minutes and makes the whole thing look like you fussed far more than you did.
Bake it: 50 to 55 minutes at 350°F, until the filling has puffed up and there’s no wiggle left when you jiggle the plate.
Cool it completely: This is the hard part and there’s no way around it. The filling keeps setting as it cools, so cutting it warm gets you a slice that collapses. Give it at least 3 hours, or make it the day before.
How To Tell When Pecan Pie Is Done
The surface will have puffed up and lost its shine in the center, and when you nudge the pie plate the filling moves as one piece rather than sloshing.
Check the edges first. They set well before the middle does. If the outer 2 inches are firm and risen and the very center still has a slight tremble to it, you’re there or very close.
If you’ve got an instant read thermometer, the center should read between 185°F and 200°F. That takes the guessing out of it completely, and it’s the same thermometer you’d use for the turkey.
What you’re avoiding is overbaking. A pecan pie left in too long cracks across the surface and the filling goes grainy and can weep a little liquid. If the top is starting to split, it’s done and then some.
The filling firms up a lot as it cools, so a pie that looks slightly underdone coming out of the oven usually slices beautifully 3 hours later. If yours comes out loose in the middle even after a full cool, it needed another 5 to 10 minutes.
Can I Skip The Corn Syrup?
You can, and plenty of people would want to. Corn syrup keeps the sugar from crystallizing, which is why the filling comes out smooth and glossy rather than grainy. Any replacement needs to be a thick liquid sugar, not granulated.
- Maple syrup is my substitute. Use the same ¾ cup and add 1 tablespoon of flour on top of the tablespoon already in there, because maple syrup is thinner than corn syrup and the filling sets softer without the help. Flavor is lovely, and more noticeable than corn syrup, which tastes of almost nothing.
- Golden syrup is the closest match for texture if you can find it, and it goes in cup for cup with nothing else changed.
- Honey works and tastes strongly of honey, so use it if you want that. It also browns faster, so keep an eye on the top in the last 10 minutes.
- Brown rice syrup is mild and thick and behaves a lot like corn syrup.
- What I wouldn’t use is molasses on its own, which overwhelms everything else in the pie. A tablespoon of it alongside maple syrup is lovely though.
And if you are using corn syrup, light is neutral and dark has refiners syrup in it, which brings more color and a faint molasses note. I use dark.
Does Pecan Pie Need To Be Refrigerated?
Yes. Pecan pie is made with eggs, which makes it a custard pie, and custard pies belong in the fridge once they’ve cooled.
Cool it completely on the counter first, which it needs anyway for the filling to set. Then cover it and refrigerate, and don’t leave it sitting out longer than about 2 hours before it goes in.
It keeps 3 to 4 days covered loosely with foil or plastic wrap. Loosely, so condensation doesn’t collect on the surface and soften your pecans.
Take it out 30 to 60 minutes before serving. Cold from the fridge the filling is very firm and the flavors are muted. At room temperature it’s exactly right.
One useful side effect: a chilled pecan pie slices far more cleanly than one at room temperature. If you want neat pieces for a table, cut them cold and then let the slices come up to temperature on the plates.
The pecan pies sold unrefrigerated on grocery store shelves are made with preservatives and a different formula. Yours isn’t one of those.
Can You Freeze Pecan Pie?
Yes, and pecan pie freezes better than almost any other pie, up to 3 months. Let it cool completely, then wrap it tightly in a few layers of plastic wrap and a layer of foil on the outside. Thaw it overnight in the fridge and then let it come to room temperature on the counter before you slice it.
You can freeze it in slices too, which I do more often than whole pies. Wrap each one individually and you can take out exactly as many as you need.
To bring the crust back, 10 minutes in a 275°F oven after thawing crisps it up again. Not essential, but nice.
And if you’d rather just get ahead by a day or 2, bake it, cool it, wrap it in plastic and keep it in the fridge until you need it. No freezer required.
More Incredible Pecan Recipes To Try
- Pecan Pie Cheesecake
- Chocolate Pecan Pie
- Pecan Pie Cheesecake Bars
- Bourbon Pecan Pie
- Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookies
- Cinnamon Chocolate Pecan Pie Cookies
- Banana Nut Muffins
- Canadian Butter Tarts
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Pecan Pie Recipe
Video
Ingredients
- ½ recipe pie crust
Filling
- 1 cup brown sugar (packed)
- 1½ teaspoon salt
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- 6 tablespoons butter (unsalted, softened)
- 4 eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ¾ cup corn syrup (light or dark)
- ½ cup pecans (chopped)
- 1½ cups pecans (halves)
Before You Begin! If you make this, please leave a review and rating letting us know how you liked this recipe! This helps our business thrive & continue providing free recipes.
Instructions
- Make the pie crust according to this pie crust recipe. You can also use store bought pie crust.
- Preheat oven to 425°F.
- If using your own homemade pie crust, remove the dough from the refrigerator, and let it sit at room temperature for up to 10 minutes. This is required to soften the dough a bit, so that you can roll it out.
- Roll out the disc using a rolling pin. If your dough is sticking to the surface or to the rolling pin, add a bit more flour as necessary. Roll it until it’s about ⅛ of an inch in thickness. Place the pie dough lightly into a 9 inch pie plate. I usually roll it onto the rolling pin and unroll it over the pie plate (see video). Crimp the edge and cut off excess dough.
- Place a piece of parchment paper over the pie shell and fill it with pie weights. If you don’t have pie weights, you can use dry beans. Place the pie shell into the oven and blind bake it for 15 minutes. Read more about blind baking here. Once done, remove the pie weights and the parchment paper from the pie shell.
- Reduce temperature to 350°F.
- To a large bowl add 1 cup packed brown sugar, 1½ teaspoons salt and 1 tablespoon flour, and combine. Add 6 tablespoons softened butter, 4 eggs, 2 teaspoons vanilla and ¾ cup corn syrup, and whisk or mix with a mixer until everything is well incorporated. Stir in the ½ cup of chopped pecans.
- Pour the pie filling over the pie crust, then arrange the 1½ cups of pecan halves over the top of the filling.
- Place in the oven and bake for about 50 to 55 minutes, until it puffs up and when you jiggle it there’s no wiggle to it.
- Let the pie cool completely in order for the filling to set, before slicing into it.
Notes
- Toast the pecans to bring out their flavor even more. About 5 minutes in the oven at 350°F, or until you start to smell them.
- Pie crust. Check out the recipe to make this easy pie crust with video and step by step instructions here.
- The salt is correct at 1½ teaspoons. It sounds like a lot and it’s what keeps the pie from tasting like straight sugar.
- Brown the butter before it goes into the filling if you want a nuttier, deeper pie. Let it cool slightly first.
- Make ahead. Pecan pies are great made a day or 2 ahead. Bake it, cool it completely, then wrap it in plastic wrap and keep it in the fridge until you’re ready to serve.
- To freeze, wrap the cooled pie tightly in a few layers of plastic wrap and seal it in an airtight container for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge, then let it come to room temperature on the counter before slicing.
- Keeps 3 to 4 days covered loosely in the fridge. Take it out 30 to 60 minutes before serving.
Nutrition Information
Notice: Nutrition is auto-calculated for your convenience. Where relevant, we recommend using your own nutrition calculations.
Why did my pecan pie crack on top?
It was in the oven too long. The filling sets, then keeps going and splits. Pull it while the very center still has a slight tremble, because it carries on setting for a good while after it comes out.
Do I really have to blind bake the crust?
I would. The filling is wet and sits in there for nearly an hour, so raw pastry underneath never dries out and crisps. Fifteen minutes with parchment and weights is all you need to do and dried beans stand in perfectly well for weights.
Why are all my pecans floating on top?
That’s what happens, and it’s what you want. The nuts rise as the filling sets, which is why this recipe puts chopped pecans into the filling and arranges the halves on top. You get nuts all the way through and a tidy surface.
Can I make it ahead?
Yes, and I’d encourage it. A day or 2 ahead in the fridge is ideal, since it needs hours to set anyway. It also freezes for up to 3 months.
How long does pecan pie last?
3 to 4 days covered in the fridge. Up to 3 months in the freezer.
Light or dark corn syrup?
Either. Light is neutral and dark has more color and a faint molasses taste. I use dark, but nobody at your table will be able to tell you which went in.
Is the salt really 1½ teaspoons?
It really is. It sounds like far too much and it’s the reason the pie tastes like brown sugar and butter rather than straight sugar. Trust me on this one and taste it before you decide I’ve lost my mind.
