Our easy homemade 3 Ingredient Pie Crust uses Crisco (or butter) to make the most Flakey, Buttery Pie Dough by Hand for Pot pies, Sweet pies and more! Perfect for the holidays, so be sure to save this recipe.
3 Ingredient Pie Crust
I have always been better at cooking than baking. Something about the science of baking and the need to follow a recipe exactly made me weary and quite frankly suck at it. Until I discovered the easiest homemade buttery pie crust recipe ever. A family friend shared this amazing recipe with me and said "don't be scared! It is easier than you think." How hard could it be? After all, it's only 3 ingredients: Flour, Crisco or Butter, Hot Water. That is it.
Making our Easy Homemade Pie Crust
To my surprise the pie recipe calls for less ingredients than I thought it would AND as long as you treat the Crisco or butter the right way, you are golden! (pun intended)
I chose to use butter flavored baking Crisco for this crust.
What you need for this Crisco Pie Crust Recipe:
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 10 tablespoons VERY COLD Crisco or butter ( 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons), cubed
- 5 tablespoons HOT water
- Pastry cutter, Fork OR Food processor
Edit- the photo shows salt. We did not use salt in this pie crust recipe because the Crisco or Butter was salted. This photo was taken before I realized.
Home to Make Pie Dough by Hand
Homemade Pie Crust: First, add the flour to a large bowl.
Cube the Crisco or butter, the easiest way to do this and to ensure that the cubes are small enough, is to cut each tablespoon (which is a perfect square) in half and half again. You should get 4 cubes from each tablespoon.
Add the butter to the flour.
NOTE* It is very important to use COLD Crisco or butter for your homemade pie crust. Like straight from the freezer, but not frozen cold.
Use the pastry cutter or fork to break up the butter. Turn the flour over as you work the butter. Do not mash and make sure to work quickly. The more the butter warms, the softer the dough, less flakey crust.
If using a food processor (much easier, but not necessary) add the flour and butter, pulse until crumbly. This is the method I recommend. It takes seconds and the blades quickly pulse the butter down to a size you just can't get by hand (me, I can't get by hand).
Pour the water evenly around the bowl. Mix.
Press down on the mixture, fold it over and press again right in the bowl. Keep kneading by pushing down and folding over for about 5 minutes.
Shape into a ball, cover with plastic, let rest for 30 minutes.
Dust a hard flat surface with flour, roll the dough out to about ¼ thick.
Proceed with your pie recipe as needed! This easy recipe makes two 9" pie crusts or enough for 4-6 mini pot pie ones in a muffin tin (with a little dough left over). Crust should be baked at 350 degrees or as your individual pie recipes state.
Is this Pie Crust Sweet or Savory
Both! Feel free to use it for savory pies like chicken or beef pot pie or sweet ones. My favorite sweet version is chocolate cream pie. I just love how the regular crust tastes with the chocolate and whipped cream.
That Is It, We Are Done
It was SO easy to make this 3 Ingredient Pie Crust and I absolutely could not believe how delicious it was. I will whip this up from now and never buy store bought again. Ok, I will probably still buy store bought on occasion, but at least I know this is achievable!
Amazing Recipes to use this Pie Crust
- Keto Pecan Pie Bars
- Pork Pie- Grandmas Tourtiere Recipe
- Apple Pie Sugar Cookie Cups
- Mini Dutch Apple Pies
Easy Homemade Pie Crust Recipe
EASY homemade 3 Ingredient Pie Crust uses Crisco (or butter) to make a Flakey, Buttery Pie Dough by Hand for Pot pies, Sweet pies and more!
Ingredients
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 10 tablespoons Crisco or butter ( 1 stick plus 2 tablespoons), cubed
- 5 tablespoons hot water
- Pastry cutter, Fork or Food Processor
Instructions
- First, add the flour to a large bowl.
- Cube the butter, the easiest way to do this and to ensure that the cubes are small enough, is to cut each tablespoon (which is a perfect square) in half and half again. You should get 4 cubes from each tablespoon. Add the butter to the flour. Use the pastry cutter or fork to break up the butter. Turn the flour over as you work the butter.
- If using a food processor (much easier, but not necessary) add the flour and butter, pulse until crumbly.
- Once the butter is broken down enough, the flour will be crumbly and appear yellow.
- Pour the water evenly around the bowl. Mix. Press down on the mixture, fold it over and press again right in the bowl. This will help the dough come together.
- Shape into a ball and let rest at room temp for 30 minutes.
- Dust a hard flat surface with flour, roll the dough out to about ¼ thick.
- Use as desired
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 8Amount Per Serving: Calories: 150
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Owner & Lead Recipe Developer for It's Simple! since 2015, where you will find our best Family Favorites & Keto Low Carb Dishes with Helpful Cooking Tips & Hints in each post. Many Thanks for Stopping By, Enjoy!
In your blog post it says 5 Tbsp of hot water and in the recipe it says 5Tbsp of water. So what should the temperature of the water be. Also when you let the dough rest, do you let it rest at room temperature or in the fridge.
Hot water is best, that has been edited. Thank you!
Dough rests best at room temperature.
This recipe has been an exceptional recipe for me. Those who haven't tried the recipe should try it now.
Thank you for letting us know! We are so glad you liked them.
New to baking, so this may be a silly question, but is it salted or unsalted butter?
Not silly at all! I am not a baker at all, I always use salted butter for everything.
Thanks for sharing this recipe, but I have a question, what temp do you bake the pie crust ? Or did i miss that ? Lol. Thanks again.
Oh! Let me look. It for sure should be listed. But, 350.
Hi, I am going to attempt (I am dough-challenged) to make this crust with your quiche recipe this coming week. I was wondering if there was a printer-friendly version of this available. I would rather not print out 5 pages of text and images and I don't like to scroll on my phone/tablet when I'm busy mixing ingredients. Thanks!
Hi Angela,
If you scroll down to the recipe card there is a print icon that will allow you to print!
For some reason, the recipe card doesn't show up for me on this page. (It did for your quiche recipe so I do know what it should look like.) I will just have to make do. Thanks so much for your response!
I am so sorry!!
I used your recipe for my first ever made pie! Super easy and delicious. I didn't have a pastry cutter so I had to use a fork. I purchased one a few days later(money well spent). I do have one question, is this recipe enough to get 2 crust out of? I did a crumble on top of mine but I had a good bit of dough left over.
That's fantastic congratulations! Yes i get two 9" crusts.
I was wondering what temperature to bake it and for how long? I am going all home made and this summer I made some bags of sliced apples and in just pouring the apples into the crust. Thank you
HI Cheslie!
The baking time and temperature will depend on your pie recipe. Typically an empty pie shell like this would bake at 400 for about 15 minutes. But, it really will depend on your individual pie recipe. Hope that helps! 🙂
Hi Melissa, I am from South Africa. How much butter is a stick & 2 tablespoons butter and does the butter have to be soft.
HI Maria,
The butter should be as cold as possible. It helps make the crust more flaky.
10 Tablespoons is 1 stick plus 2.
How many pie crusts will this recipe make. I want to make some pot pies , do I need to double this recipe?
Hi Cyndy, I got 2 9" crusts out of this recipe. So you would double it for a second pie unless you only use a bottom crust and an alternate topping.
First off, this totally works! I've been crust challenged all my life but this one came out wonderfully!
The only thing wrong with mine was that it was REALLY thick. That was my bad. I was in a super rush (had already started the filling and it was overcooking on the stove) so I just rolled until it would fit my pie pan and didn't refer to the recipe. That 1/4 inch thickness is important! Hahaha! Well it was still delicious and I'll know to roll it thinner next time.
Thank you for such a great recipe!
I love butter and I love pie....this looks SO good. I enjoy trying out new pie crusts from time to time just to mix things up. Thanks for linking up with Delicious Dishes Recipe Party!
Hi Melissa,
I will need to convert the recipe to meteic as i live in Australia, but this loks like a very easy recipe to make.
Would this suit sweet fillings or is just for savoury ones?
Thank you for an easy home made pie crust.
Cheers
Rita
HI Rita,
I use this recipe for sweet and savory pies, if you want to sweeten it up I would add 1 tablespoon of sugar.
It certainly would be easier to make your own pie crust than worry about running to the store! Can't wait to try your recipe! Thanks for sharing at Merry Monday!
This looks good, and sounds easy enough! I'm pie-crust-challenged, though, so we'll see if I can pull it off. We have fluffy egg layers, too, and I'm always on the hunt for good egg recipes. I'll try this with a quiche...or "egg pie" as my Papa called it. He says real men don't eat quiche, but they'll eat egg pie all day long. Thanks for sharing! 🙂
I understand completely ! I have always been so scared to make my own pie crust, but this recipe was so easy. Thank you!
Ha! You had me at "easiest homemade buttery pie crust"!! 🙂 I always get nervous making my crusts. Thank you! Pinned and will try!