Five ingredient almond flour pie crust – easy to make with dairy free and egg free options! Use in sweet or savoury pies, quiches and more! Gluten Free + Low Carb + Vegan Options
Question:
What’s your favourite type of pie? Do you like a sweet pie? Savory pie? Is it a no bake or maybe fruity?
If you’ve got any requests just let me know! I’ve been testing all kinds of allergy friendly/diet flexible pie crusts these past few weeks.
In addition to this almond flour pie crust recipe I’ve also made a flaky gluten-free pie crust recipe and a coconut flour pie crust to cover all your potential pie needs!
In the mean time I’m excited to finally be able to share this one! It’s:
✔️almond flour/almond meal (instead of wheat flour or regular white flour makes this grain free and low carb – suitable for a keto diet)
✔️made with only a handful of ingredients
✔️much easier to make than a traditional pie crust – no pie weights, no food processor, stand mixer, pastry cutter or special equipment needed
✔️is egg free, dairy free & vegan adaptable
So let’s get to it!
How to Make this Almond Flour Pie Crust
Altogether this pie crust is super easy to make. It’s a simple recipe made only made with five simple ingredients that you probably already have stocked in a gluten free or low carb kitchen. You could even argue that it’s easier to make than a regular pie crust for a few reasons.
- No gluten mean no worrying about over mixing or over working the dough (makes for tough crusts).
- This recipe uses melted butter (or melted coconut oil) so you don’t have to wait for the dough to chill or fuss over cold butter.
- Melted butter/oil also makes the mixing SO easy compared to classic pie crust recipes.
What to Make with this Crust
The Steps
- Whisk together the dry ingredients (flour and salt).
- Mix in the coconut oil or butter. The dough will be soft and crumbly at this point.
- Add the egg. For an egg free alternative add water until a soft dough forms that can be pressed into a ball.
- Press the dough into your prepared baking tin.
- Prick a few holes across the bottom to prevent the crust from bubbling and puffing up as it bakes.
- Bake, par bake or freeze for later!
Tips & Other Things to Keep in Mind
- If you’re using coconut oil make sure you grease your baking dish well before using.
- Ideally you want to use a pie dish or tart pan with a loose bottom that allows you to easily lift the pie out. For some reason that I can’t yet figure out, whenever I make this with coconut oil the crust really wants to stick to the sides. Once it’s out the crust is fine, but getting it out without breaking can be tricky. If you use a loose bottom pan you can just run a knife around the edges and that will take care of the problem.
- The egg free crust will be a little more crumbly without the egg for binding. If you don’t need this to be a low carb crust you can replace 1/2 cup of the almond flour with tapioca flour or arrowroot starch. So that would mean you use 2 cups almond flour and 1/2 cup starch.
- Almond flour crusts tend to brown quickly so I recommend covering your crust with foil or baking paper after 20 minutes baking to prevent it from going too dark.
Freeze for Later
Freeze Un-Baked Raw Crust:
- Wrap the dough up well in plastic wrap or aluminium foil, and store in a freezer safe bag. Make sure to label the bag and note the date. You can save this up to three months in the freezer. To use: let the dough thaw in the fridge overnight and then use as you normally would.
Freeze the Pre-baked Crust
- You can also freeze the dough already pressed into your baking plate. Just make sure you wrap it up well to keep any air from getting to it.
- Make sure to store the dough in the bottom and back of the freezer so less warm air gets to it as the door opens. The more warm air that gets to your crust the more ice crystals will form.
Bake with It:
- Almond Flour Tomato Tart
- Bacon & Cheddar Jalapeño Quiche
- Spinach Feta Pie With An Almond Flour Crust
If you’re interested trying a nut free and grain free pie crust you might also like my Cassava Flour Pie Crust as well. It’s flaky, easy to roll and great for making a lattice top crust!
Almond Flour Crust
Five ingredient almond flour pie crust - easy to make with dairy free and egg free options! Use in sweet or savoury pies, quiches and more! Gluten Free + Low Carb + Vegan Options
Ingredients
- 2 1/2 cups almond flour (240 g)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons maple syrup (leave out if you're making a savoury pie/quiche)
- 3 tablespoons melted or softened coconut oil or butter/vegan butter (see notes for coconut oil)
- 1 egg (see notes for egg free)
Instructions
- Add the almond flour and salt to a large mixing bowl and whisk to combine.
- Stir in the maple syrup (if using) and coconut oil or butter. Mix until you get a soft, sandy-like texture. I find it easy just using my hands here.
- Add the egg and mix until a soft dough comes together. See notes for egg free version.
- Transfer the dough to a 9 inch pie plate. Use your hands to press dough into the pie dish to form your crust. The dough may feel a little oily at this point.
- To par bake the crust: Preheat oven to 350°F/177°C. Bake 10 minutes. To fully bake the crust without any filling bake for 20 minutes.
Notes
- Egg Free Version: Add 2-3 tablespoons of water in place of the egg
- If you use coconut oil: Make sure to grease your pan well - ideally you want to use a loose bottom pan for an easy release.
- The egg free crust will be a little more crumbly without the egg for binding. If you don't need this to be a low carb crust you can replace 1/2 cup of the almond flour with tapioca flour or arrowroot starch. So that would mean you use 2 cups almond flour and 1/2 cup starch.
- Almond flour crust tend to brown quickly so I recommend covering your crust with foil or baking paper after 20 minutes baking to prevent it from going too dark.
- This recipe makes enough for one 9inch pie crust. To make enough for a top and bottom crust, you will need to double the recipe, but add 3 tablespoons arrowroot or tapioca starch to the dough. The starch will help the top crust absorb the steam fro your pie filling which would make it greasy.
Freeze for later:
- Freezing the dough as a ball: Wrap the dough up well in plastic wrap/foil, and store in a freezer safe bag. Make sure to label the bag and note the date. You can save this up to three months in the freezer. To use: Let the dough thaw in the fridge overnight and then use as you normally would.
- Freezing the formed crust: You can also freeze the dough already pressed into your baking plate. Just make sure you wrap it up well to keep any air from getting to it.
- Make sure to store the dough in the bottom and back of the freeze so less air warm air gets to it as the door opens. The more warm air that gets to your crust the more ice crystals will form.
Irene says
Hi Sarah. I am going to try your Almond Flour crust. What is the purpose to “par bake the crust”? Should I do this before adding my filling which also needs to be baked?
Sarah Nevins says
Hi Irene,
You typically would only need to par bake your crust if you are using it for a recipe/filling that asks you to do so. Some recipes benefit from you partially baking (hence the ‘par’ bake) the crust before you add the filling. Usually these type of recipes are custard based or fresh fruit pies. The goal is to get a head start on cooking/drying out the crust so it doesn’t end up soggy.
If you are following a recipe for the filling that asks for a partially baked crust then I would recommend doing it. If your recipe doesn’t say anything about pre-baking or par-baking the crust, then don’t worry about it.
I hope that helps and I hope you enjoy it!