Easy gluten free pie crust recipe is flaky, buttery and doesn’t get a soggy bottom! It holds up well enough you can pick up a piece of pie with your hand. Buttery gluten free pie perfection right here!
Easy Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe
If you are like me, you have probably searched high and low to find the perfect gluten free pie crust recipe for your holiday pies.
So many pie crust recipes that are gluten free fall flat!
For years, I was just semi-satisfied with the gluten free pie crusts I found.
They 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.
Plus, making a gluten free pie crust needed to be easy enough to pull-off that I could swing it on a busy baking holiday, like Thanksgiving.
How to make a gluten free pie crust?
What gluten free flour should I use for pie crust?
When making a gluten free pie crust, the flours make all the difference. You need to use a well-balanced lower-starch gluten free flour.
One of the big mistakes I made in my early gluten free pastry recipes, was that I used a gluten free flour that had too much starch!
If you use my gluten free rice flour blend, straight (or another starchy gluten free flour blend) this recipe won’t be flaky!
Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE my gluten free rice flour blend. It is still my go to for gluten free sugar cookies, and gluten free chocolate cake (among other things).
For pie crust you need a lower starch content.
One day, I tried my friend Megan’s Gluten Free Dairy Free Pie Crust and finally got a flaky texture, instead of a hard and almost chewy gluten free pie crust. I was won over by the blend of individual gluten free flours Megan used in her recipe!
Can I make this gluten free pie pastry recipe without sorghum flour? (or Rice flour, or millet flour, or tapioca starch?)
Yes! You can easily swap out one flour for another, as long as they have a similar protein and starch content.
As written, this pie crust recipe calls for:
Sorghum, millet, and rice flour all have a similar protein/starch ratio.
If you don’t have sorghum (or can’t have it) try using 2/3 cup millet flour instead. Or use 2/3 cup rice flour. I still have best results if I mix two flours, instead of using all rice, or all millet, or all sorghum.
For example, when I updated the photos and created the video in 10/2019 I ran out of sorghum flour!
Instead, I used 2/3 cup millet flour, and 2/3 cup of my gluten free rice flour blend (which is equal parts brown rice flour, white rice flour, tapioca starch, and potato starch.)
It worked great, because the ratio of proteins and starches stayed the same, even though I used different flours!
What if you can’t use tapioca starch? (Or cornstarch, or potato starch?)
The nice thing about this recipe, is that you can use tapioca starch, potato starch, cornstarch or arrowroot starch in this recipe, and they’ll all work very similarly.
Use the starch that works best with your diet, or that you happen to have in the pantry.
Can I use an all-purpose gluten free flour to make pie crust?
Yes, you can use and all-purpose cup-for-cup gluten free flour to make pie crust, but not all gluten free flour blends will give you the same results.
I’ve tested, and absolutely love Jovial’s Gluten Free Pastry Flour in my pie crust recipe.
If you want to try the the flour blend you have in your pantry, try making a single batch of it to test how it works.
If it is too hard/chewy, try swapping out 1/3 cup of your cup for cup gluten free flour with 1/3 cup of rice flour, millet flour, or sorghum flour.
If it is still too hard, test another pie crust and swap out 2/3 cup of your cup for cup flour.
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If you test out your favorite cup for cup gluten free flour, please email me or comment below to tell me how it works. I’ll update this recipe so that other’s know what worked and didn’t work for you.
How to you make your gluten free pie crust flaky?
Using a chilled fat, and keeping it in big pieces goes a long way towards making a flaky pie crust.
To make a super flaky crust:
- Use cold butter, straight from the fridge. If you use a different fat, chill it before using.
- Keep your butter cold! Don’t work the pie dough with your hands, if at all possible.
- Use a pastry cutter, or a fork and knife to work your gluten free pastry. Avoid using a food processor or blender, they can heat up or overwork your pastry dough.
- Add ice cold water to your gluten free pastry dough. Literally, it should have ice cubes floating in it.
- Don’t over-work your gluten free pie crust dough. You should leave big chunks of fat in it. They should be bigger than you think they should be. Those butter bits melt as the gluten free pie crust bakes and THAT is what makes the pie crust flaky.
- Use plastic wrap to help shape your gluten free pie dough into a ball. Your hands will melt the butter.
- After you mix the dough, chill in for 30 minutes so the fat can firm up in the fridge.
- Roll your pie dough out between pieces of plastic wrap, parchment paper, or using a pie crust bag. This helps you avoid adding extra flour to your pie crust, which helps to keep it tender and flaky instead of getting tough.
- Don’t re-roll the dough, if at all possible. Re-rolling will work the fat into the dough, and you’ll lose flakiness. Of course, some patching is inevitable, but move pieces to fill holes without any folding or rolling back into a ball of pie crust dough whenever you can.
If you can have butter, use butter. Butter is better, just ask any real chef anywhere. USE ALL THE BUTTER.
But what if you can’t use butter?
Can I make a gluten free pie crust without butter?
I’ve also made this gluten free pie crust recipe using lard instead of butter, or using or half palm shortening 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! I especially love using lard when I am making a pie crust for gluten free pot pie.
You can make a gluten free pie crust with lard, and only lard. Or you can use half lard and half butter (my personal favorite)!
Just make sure the lard you are using is fresh so you don’t add any funky tastes to your pie crust.
Can I make a dairy free gluten free pie crust or vegan gluten free pastry dough?
You can use half chilled Earth Balance or Melt, and half palm shortening or other shortening.
Lard is also dairy-free, but it isn’t vegan. If you want to make a gluten free vegan pie crust, stick with the half earth balance or melt, and half palm shortening.
Steps to make a flaky gluten free pie crust
First, whisk together your gluten free flours, salt, and xanthan gum.
Add your cold butter or other chilled fat.
Cut the butter into the flour with a pastry cutter, or a fork and knife.
Don’t use your hands.
You want to have a really gentle hand to keep those chunks of butter. Butter chunks = flaky crust. You want your mixture to look like this…
Add the apple cider vinegar and lightly mix with a fork to combine.
Add iced water (literally- it should have ice cubes in it) 1 tablespoon at a time and work it just enough for it to hold together if you squeeze a handful.
Move the gluten free pastry to a large piece of plastic wrap and use the plastic wrap to gently shape it into a round disc.
Chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour.
Remove your gluten free pie dough from the fridge and roll the dough out between 2 pieces of plastic wrap, (Or parchment paper, or use a pie dough bag to make a perfect circle)
You want to avoid adding any extra flour to your pie crust.
Extra flour can quickly make a flaky gluten free pie crust a crumbly mess, or make your touch hard and tough, instead of flaky and tender..
As a bonus, plastic wrap makes clean up a breeze!
Using the plastic wrap, move the dough to your pan and trim off the excess.
You can crimp the edges, or cut small shapes out of your gluten free pie crust scraps and use them to decorate the edge of your gluten free pie crust.
You can blind bake your gluten free pie crust if you are filling it with something that doesn’t need to be baked, like pudding, or you can fill it with your favorite pie filling and bake it as directed.
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.
For example, if you want to bake a double crusted gluten free cherry pie, and a gluten free pumpkin pie, you’ll need to make three pie crusts.
Multiply each ingredient by 3, mix in a large bowl following the directions, and then separate your gluten free pastry into 3 balls or discs before chilling.
Use your gluten free pastry dough in these gluten free pie recipes:
- Gluten Free Pecan Pie
- Gluten Free Pumpkin Pie
- Gluten Free Cherry Pie
- Gluten Free Chicken Pot Pie
- Gluten Free Quiche
- Gluten Free Apple Pie
Gluten Free Pie Crust
Easy gluten free pie crust recipe that makes a tender and flaky, and it holds up well enough you can pick up a piece of pie with your hand. No soggy bottoms, crisp and buttery gluten free pie crust perfection right here!
Ingredients
- 1 1/3 cup gluten free flour (see note)
- 3/4 teaspoon xanthan gum
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold butter
- 1 1/2 teaspoons apple cider vinegar
- 3-5 tablespoons ice cold water
Instructions
- In a medium-sized mixing bowl whisk together the flours, xanthan gum, and salt.
- Add the butter and using a pastry cutter or two knives or two forks 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 vinegar, and then add the ice water 1 tablespoon 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. I usually use about 4 tablespoons of water, but it depends on how humid it that day. Depending on your climate, your flour, and the weather you might need more or less water
- Dump the mixture onto a large piece 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 chill in the fridge for 30 minutes to an hour. If you let it rest longer, it may dry out and be more difficult to roll out without crumbling.
- Roll out the disc of dough between 2 large pieces of plastic wrap or parchment paper until it is 1/8-1/4" 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. Either flip it over into the pan., or invert your pie pan on top of the pie dough, and flip it over together.
- 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 bake without filling by "blind baking" . Preheat your oven to 375°F and prick the bottom of the crust all over with a fork. Bake for about 20 minutes, or until the pie crust is golden brown. Cool completely before filling.
Notes
The gluten free flour you use makes a HUGE difference in the finished texture of your gluten free piecrust. Please use 1/3 cup millet flour, 1/3 cup sorghum flour, 1/3 cup rice flour, and 1/3 cup tapioca flour for best results. If you can't have these flours, or want to use a gluten free cup for cup flour blend, please read the section above about what flours to use in a gluten free pie crust.
If you do use a cup-for-cup flour blend for some or all of your gluten free flour, you may to to reduce or omit the xanthan gum if the flour you are using already has xanthan or guar gum in it.
I have since adapted this recipe to be dairy free, since my family's dietary needs have changed. My favorite substitute for the butter so far is half lard, half vegan butter spread like Earth Balance or Melt (I think I like the half lard have vegan butter even better than all dairy butter, so flaky!). You can use any combination of vegan butter , shortening, lard, or palm shortening as long as you keep the amount the same and CHILL IT.
Recommended Products
As an Amazon Associate and member of other affiliate programs, I earn from qualifying purchases.
- Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Xanthan Gum, 8-ounce
- Bob's Red Mill Finely Ground Tapioca Flour, 20-ounce (Pack of 4)
- Bob's Red Mill Gluten Free Brown Rice Flour, 24-ounce (Pack of 4)
- Bob's Red Mill Millet Flour, 23-ounce (Pack of 4)
- Bob's Red Mill Whole Grain Sorghum, 24 Oz (Pack of 4)
- Jovial Pastry Flour,Whl Grn,Gf 24 Oz (Pack Of 6)
- Jovial Pastry Flour,Gluten Free 24 Oz (Pack Of 6)
Nutrition Information:
Yield:
8Serving Size:
1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 179 Total Fat: 12g Saturated Fat: 7g Trans Fat: 0g Unsaturated Fat: 4g Cholesterol: 31mg Sodium: 225mg Carbohydrates: 16g Net Carbohydrates: 0g Fiber: 1g Sugar: 0g Sugar Alcohols: 0g Protein: 2g
I’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!
Thanks Megan!
Ok Brianna, I NEED to try this. I’ve never been good at pie crust, even before trying to make them gluten-free!
Pie 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!
This is awesome! I am going to save this one for sure.
Your directions mention egg but not the ingredients – is one necessary for the dough? Would love to try this for the holidays
Oops, my bad, sorry I read it wrong 🙂
No worries Sarah. Thanks for commenting!
Gorgeous and no doubt absolutely delicious! I love how you did the edging!
Shirley
Thanks Shirley! I can’t make a pretty crimped edge to save my life. Cookie cutters are the way to go!
Hi 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!
Thanks Jodi! The plastic wrap makes a world of difference.
I love trying new recipes and this looks wonderful! Pinning for my Thanksgiving menu. Thanks!
Thanks Ali!
Pie 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!
Thanks Laura! Pie crust can be so tricky, until recent history I hadn’t had a good gf one.
Curious what the difference is between tapioca flour and tapioca starch???
Hi 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!
Any substitution for millet flour? Don’t have any on hand and none at our grocery store:( live in a pretty remote area!
I’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.
I bought my millet flour on Amazon. Come to think of it, that’s where I got the Xanthan gum, too.
I often buy flour on Amazon. Xanthan gum too! Amazon has everything!
So 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.
I’m so glad you enjoyed it Amy. My husband would have done the very same thing. I’m glad that it turned out. 🙂
Tried 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..:)
I’m glad that you liked it. I’ve actually been thinking about making turkey pot pie. Sounds delicious!
This 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…:)
I can’t wait to try this!
What type of rice flour do you use? White rice? Brown rice? Brand?
Thank you so much!
I’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.
Gluten 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.
looking for your ENCHILADA sauce recipe
Hi Shelley, My enchilada sauce is in my 10 minute Enchilada post. I hope that you enjoy it.
I 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!
Isn’t it a great feeling to eat pie like before going GF? I’m so happy that you loved it!
I 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!
You are so very welcome Tanya! I am so glad that you have used my recipe with such success!
The 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!
I 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!
I’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! 🙂
I 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!
Will a GF all purpose flour mixture be alright to substitute for all the other flours in the recipe?
Hi 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.
I’d like to make a few pies and freeze them. How well does this crust freeze and defrost?
Hi 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!
I never did get a lightly brown crust and left it longer than 20 min. How do you tell when the crust is done, mine feels a little spongy😭
Hi Doris,
Were you baking your crust filled or unfilled?
If you were baking it unfilled, It probably just needed longer in the oven. Baking times do vary, especially if your oven runs a little bit cooler. Mine usually runs hot, and I have to adjust the temperature. Having a thermometer in your oven can help you figure out if this is the issue.
What gluten free flours did you use? That can also play a HUGE part in the final texture of the pie crust, and whether or not it browns correctly.
However, It sounds like your pie crust just needs to bake a little longer. Pop it back in the oven, and let it bake until it does get golden brown. If you have any other questions, send me a message on Instagram, I check those messages most frequently.
Hope that helps. Happy Baking! -Brianna
May I sub coconut oil for fats?
Hi April, I haven’t tried using coconut oil for this recipe. It may work, but I’d recommend using at least part shortening, because the coconut oil melts at such a low temperature.
Let me know how it turns out!
-Brianna