This truly is the best all-butter flaky gluten free pie crust recipe. Oh so tender, flaky, and it holds up well enough you can pick up a piece of pie with your hand. Buttery pie perfection right here!
Flaky Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe
If you are like me, you have probably searched hi and low to find the perfect gluten-free pie crust for your holiday pies. I’ve made my own pie crust the last few years, and I’ve been semi-satisfied.
Just semi-satisfied. I seemed to either be missing the buttery flake, or result in a pile of crumbs.
I like my pie crust to be sturdy enough that I can pick up the slice of pie with my hand. It makes it easier to sneak a slice out of the fridge the day after…
I hadn’t figured out how to get a pie crust that could hold up AND have that buttery flakiness AND tender bite all at the same time. Until now!
The ultimate flakey gluten free pie crust!
This is the Gluten Free Honey Pumpkin Pie that I made using this recipe. I based the recipe on a pie my dad would make for me when I was a little girl. It is my favorite!
When making a gluten free pie crust, the flours make all the difference. Please don’t try and use an all-purpose gluten free flour for this recipe.
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my rice flour blend. It is still my go to for cakes, cookies, muffins, and the like. For pie crust you need a lower starch content. I tried my friend Megan’s Dairy Free Gluten Free Pie Crust and I was won over!
(p.s. Megan has an amazing blog with tons of great recipes, you should follow her blog, Allergy Free Alaska)
On to the flaky gluten free pie crust recipe!
I don’t personally have any issues with dairy, so I adapted Megan’s recipe to create my perfect flaky gluten free pie crust by adding ALL THE BUTTER.
I’ve also made this gluten free pie crust recipe with half butter and half lard. I know, lard may sound gross if you haven’t used it before, but give it a shot. Lard makes the pie crust even more flaky!
The baked gluten free pie crust is full of butter, has a tender bite, is super flaky, and just pure amazing!
Tips for the perfect flaky gluten free pie crust
One secret to making the perfect flaky crust is to make sure your butter and water are VERY cold, and then be careful to only lightly work the dough. Leaving larger chunks of butter in the dough also helps the crust to have that flakiness that we all desire.
Add the apple cider vinegar and ICED water (literally- it should have ice cubes in it) just a little at a time and work it just enough for it to come together into a ball. You want to have a really gentle hand to keep those chunks of butter.
Another one of my tips is to use plastic wrap to form the dough into a disc (so that your hands don’t melt that beautiful butter.) Chill it all the way through before rolling it out to keep those chunks of butter. Those butter bits melt as the gluten free pie crust bakes and THAT is what makes the pie crust flaky.
Butter chunks = flaky crust
Roll the dough out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap! I want to avoid adding any extra flour to my pie crust, that can quickly make a flaky gluten free pie crust a crumbly mess. Also, plastic wrap makes clean up a breeze!
Then just move the dough to the pan and fill with your favorite pie filling. If you want to make a pie with a top crust, or are making several pies at once just multiply the recipe by the number of single layer crusts you need, and then divide the dough into that number of discs.
This really is the best all butter flaky gluten free pie crust around!
- ⅓ cup sorghum flour
- ⅓ cup millet flour
- ⅓ cup tapioca starch
- ⅓ cup rice flour
- ¾ teaspoon xanthan gum
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup cold butter (see note RE dairy free subs)
- 1½ teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 3-5 tablespoons ice cold water
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, and salt.
- Add the butter and using a pastry cutter or 2 knives cut the butter into the flours until it looks like very coarse crumbs with some large chunks of butter about the size of your fingernail(see picture).
- Add the apple cider vineagar, and then add the ice water 1 Tbs at a time, mixing lightly with a fork until it starts to pull together into a crumbly looking dough. If you pinch in between your fingers it should easily come together into a dough. It took me 3 Tbs of water, but depending on your climate, your flour, and the weather you might need more.
- Dump the mixture onto a large square of plastic wrap, and use the plastic wrap to form the dough into a disc, handling it as little as possible.
- Wrap the disk tightly in the plastic wrap and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes. (Don't let it rest much longer, it will dry out.)
- Roll out the disc of dough between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper until it is ⅛-1/4" thick.
- Remove the top sheet of plastic wrap and transfer the crust to your 9 inch pie pan buy lifting the crust up, using the bottom sheet of plastic wrap, and then flipping it over into the pan. Gently press the crust into the corners of the pan, repair any tears, and then trim the edges and crimp as desired. I like using a small cookie cutter to cut shapes to decorate the edge of my pie.
- Fill and bake according to your favorite recipe OR...
- To Pre-bake without filling:
- Preheat your oven to 375F and prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Bake for 20-30 minutes, or until the pie crust is golden brown. Cool completely before filling.
Megan | Allergy Free Alaska says
November 5, 2014 at 12:51 pmI’m SO happy you enjoyed my Best Gluten-Free Flaky Pie Crust recipe! I’d imagine your butter version tastes rich and amazing. Hugs to you, my friend!
flippindelicious says
November 5, 2014 at 1:30 pmThanks Megan!
Sharon @ What The Fork Food Blog says
November 7, 2014 at 11:16 amOk Brianna, I NEED to try this. I’ve never been good at pie crust, even before trying to make them gluten-free!
flippindelicious says
November 7, 2014 at 2:30 pmPie crust can be tricky, you just have to be patient and make sure you work with cold ingredients and don’t overwork the dough. I hope you try it!
Jenne says
November 8, 2014 at 8:45 amThis is awesome! I am going to save this one for sure.
sarah says
November 11, 2014 at 5:36 pmYour directions mention egg but not the ingredients – is one necessary for the dough? Would love to try this for the holidays
sarah says
November 11, 2014 at 5:42 pmOops, my bad, sorry I read it wrong 🙂
flippindelicious says
November 15, 2014 at 10:08 amNo worries Sarah. Thanks for commenting!
Shirley @ gfe & All Gluten-Free Desserts says
November 12, 2014 at 9:04 amGorgeous and no doubt absolutely delicious! I love how you did the edging!
Shirley
flippindelicious says
November 15, 2014 at 10:09 amThanks Shirley! I can’t make a pretty crimped edge to save my life. Cookie cutters are the way to go!
Jodi says
November 14, 2014 at 4:00 pmHi Brianna! Your crust looks amazing. I have yet to get a pie crust to work out (“easy as pie” seems to mean easy for everyone else but me 😉 so thank you for the tip about using plastic wrap!
flippindelicious says
November 15, 2014 at 10:04 amThanks Jodi! The plastic wrap makes a world of difference.
Ali the Skinny GF Chef says
November 17, 2014 at 9:05 amI love trying new recipes and this looks wonderful! Pinning for my Thanksgiving menu. Thanks!
flippindelicious says
November 17, 2014 at 1:49 pmThanks Ali!
Laura @Petite Allergy Treats says
November 18, 2014 at 7:56 amPie crust and me don’t get along…. I absolutely love Allergy Free Alaska’s version and I know your will be amazing too. Such gorgeous photos too! Pinned to my large GF pumpkin board!
flippindelicious says
November 18, 2014 at 6:22 pmThanks Laura! Pie crust can be so tricky, until recent history I hadn’t had a good gf one.
Megan says
November 21, 2014 at 2:53 pmCurious what the difference is between tapioca flour and tapioca starch???
flippindelicious says
November 21, 2014 at 3:19 pmHi Megan,
There is no difference between tapioca flour and tapioca starch, they are the same thing. Sometimes they are labeled one way, and sometimes another.
Just be aware that potato starch and potato flour are very different.
Hope that helps!
Joellyn says
November 25, 2014 at 9:09 pmAny substitution for millet flour? Don’t have any on hand and none at our grocery store:( live in a pretty remote area!
flippindelicious says
November 26, 2014 at 11:06 amI’d try substituting more rice flour or sorghum flour. The results won’t be exactly the same, but you should end up with a delicious crust.
Rich says
October 19, 2016 at 8:45 amI bought my millet flour on Amazon. Come to think of it, that’s where I got the Xanthan gum, too.
flippindelicious says
October 19, 2016 at 11:02 amI often buy flour on Amazon. Xanthan gum too! Amazon has everything!
Amy says
November 27, 2014 at 3:02 pmSo I messed it up by asking hubby to cut in the butter. By the time I got there, he had it all into a ball already! So we attempted to get the ACV mixed in, but didn’t use hardly any water. I had all the flours (I grind fresh). I used this with my GF, DF, soy free pumpkin pie (yes, the crust wasn’t DF!) and it’s the best GF crust I’ve ever had! I used to use the almond flour recipe, but it ends up soggy and falling apart. This was perfect! Definitely saving this.
flippindelicious says
November 30, 2014 at 3:45 pmI’m so glad you enjoyed it Amy. My husband would have done the very same thing. I’m glad that it turned out. 🙂
Debbie Reed says
December 3, 2014 at 4:59 pmTried this pie crust today was excellent. It is my new recipe for pie crust. No need to look any further. Used it for turkey pot pie topping . Will use for my chocolate pie, coconut pie. and all my pie crust needs. Thank you so much..:)
flippindelicious says
December 5, 2014 at 9:18 amI’m glad that you liked it. I’ve actually been thinking about making turkey pot pie. Sounds delicious!
claudia says
January 15, 2015 at 1:22 amThis crust looks like it might replicate a regular flour based ‘flaky butter crust’ recipie called for in making a quiche??…Will try it and let you know…:)
Jennifer says
March 10, 2015 at 4:57 pmI can’t wait to try this!
What type of rice flour do you use? White rice? Brown rice? Brand?
Thank you so much!
flippindelicious says
March 11, 2015 at 9:35 pmI’ve used white rice and brown rice flour and both have worked fine. Just depends on what I have on hand.
I normally use nuts.com or Bob’s Red Mill flours, but any high quality rice flour should be just fine, no matter the brand.
Lela says
August 25, 2015 at 4:11 pmGluten Free or not, I’ve been looking for the best pie crust recipe all my life. I don’t have a gluten allergy but I feel so much better when I don’t eat it. Can’t wait to try it! Thanks for sharing at Inspiration Thursday! Have a great day.
shelley says
December 4, 2015 at 12:03 pmlooking for your ENCHILADA sauce recipe
flippindelicious says
December 5, 2015 at 11:21 amHi Shelley, My enchilada sauce is in my 10 minute Enchilada post. I hope that you enjoy it.
Laura says
December 9, 2015 at 2:03 amI made a double of this, two pies for thanksgiving! Oh my! I am hooked, just like real crust, could not tell the difference, flaky, light, holdable!
flippindelicious says
December 9, 2015 at 9:46 amIsn’t it a great feeling to eat pie like before going GF? I’m so happy that you loved it!
Tanya Brown says
December 22, 2015 at 1:57 pmI don’t know how to thank you enough! Ever since I found out I was celiac, I have been searching for a recipe for pie crust. I have used store bought mixes from Glutino, but they are not always available. I have tried making my own with different flour mixes but they always crumble, leaving me so frustrated. Today, I decided to try yours for traditional French Canadian Tortiere. I doubled our recipe as I needed a top and bottom. All I can say is that it was so easy to work with and I now have a very flaky buttery crust which reminds me of my mom’s gluten filled crust. THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU!
flippindelicious says
December 23, 2015 at 12:14 pmYou are so very welcome Tanya! I am so glad that you have used my recipe with such success!
Susan says
December 28, 2015 at 8:55 amThe pie crust was better than I hoped. I have been baking GF for about 8 years now and forgot how flakey a crust could be. I used it for a turkey pot pie (a variation on your chicken pot pie).
Thanks for the recipe!
flippindelicious says
December 28, 2015 at 11:00 amI am glad that you loved it! I made a cherry pie this weekend with it. It is great to have a flakey crust again. Turkey pot pie sounds delicious!
Alicia says
January 1, 2016 at 9:51 pmI’ve been on the hunt for GF recipes I can actually eat! This sounds great! My small problem, though, is that I’m also allergic to sorghum and tapioca. Any suggestions for substitutes? I’d love to be able to eat pies again! 🙂
flippindelicious says
January 4, 2016 at 3:08 pmI can give you some similar flours to try substituting, but I haven’t made this recipe with different flours.
I would try more millet or rice flour instead of the sorghum and potato starch or cornstarch for the tapioca. Good luck! If you try it be sure to come back and let me know what did/didn’t work. It may be helpful to others.
Happy Baking!
Deborah Boylan says
October 24, 2016 at 6:38 amWill a GF all purpose flour mixture be alright to substitute for all the other flours in the recipe?
flippindelicious says
October 25, 2016 at 9:52 amHi Deborah,
For this specific recipe I don’t recommend an AP GF blend. Whenever I used an AP blend it my crust wasn’t tender and flaky. The particular balance of starches and proteins makes a big difference in this particular recipe.
Kim says
November 3, 2016 at 6:55 pmI’d like to make a few pies and freeze them. How well does this crust freeze and defrost?
flippindelicious says
November 9, 2016 at 9:44 amHi Kim! I haven’t ever tried freezing this crust, so I do not know how it would work. I have only refrigerated the pie dough for several days before rolling out the crust, which worked great. You probably can freeze a pie and then bake it, I just don’t know what your results would be since I have never done that.
If you try freezing pies before baking them please comment back so that everyone else can know how it worked out.
Happy Baking!