Since I always love a good culinary challenge, I decided to wing it and just make one up based on some of the grain-free baking I’ve done so far.
My first attempt was good but not amazing.
My family was pretty gracious about it and everyone had Pumpkin Pie on Thanksgiving but I couldn’t leave it alone.
I had an idea of what could make both the crust and pie filling recipe amazing and kept making both all weekend until I got it perfect!
I am so excited to share this paleo pie crust with you.
It is light and flaky, holds together beautifully, doesn’t crack when cut, and tastes like a traditional pie crust.
You can grab the Pumpkin Pie filling here!
Did you make this recipe? Please give it a star rating below!
This popular Paleo Pie Crust is so versatile. Free of gluten, grains and dairy, stays crispy and doesn't crack or break when filled and cut.
- 1.33 cups blanched almond flour
- .33 cup tapioca flour / starch
- 1/2 tsp finely ground sea salt
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup organic palm shortening
- 3/4 tsp pure vanilla extract
-
Preheat oven to 350F.
Combine almond flour, tapioca flour and sea salt in the bowl of a food processor (or blender). Pulse a couple of times to get out any lumps. (You can also use a hand mixer).
Add egg, palm shortening and vanilla extract.
-
Pulse until dough starts to come together in the processor. It won't form a ball, you will have to scrape it together to get it out.
-
Scrape all of the dough out, making sure that all of the egg and shortening were incorporated thoroughly. Place into a pie pan and begin the press the dough with your fingers from the middle out.
Keep pressing until the center is thin enough that you can see a shadow of the pan but the dough is not ripping or breaking. You need to be gentle and press slowly in short strokes.
-
As you press the dough from the center and up the sides, you should begin to have a bit extra come up the sides and over the top. Use your finger to scrap this off.
Keep pressing until dough has a pretty even thickness all around. Take special care to flatten the "seam" or crease of the pan so you don't wind up with a thick doughy bite at the seam.
-
Use a fork to poke several holes on the bottom and to gently indent the rim of the crust.
Place on a baking sheet and into the oven on the center rack for 12 minutes. Remove and place pie pan on a wire cooling rack.
Allow to cool and use in your favorite pie recipe! Enjoy!
- Almond meal (ground raw almonds with their skins on) and blanched almond flour (finely ground blanched and skinless almonds) are different. This Pie Crust used blanched almond flour and will not work with almond meal.
- I usually use Bob's Red Mill Tapioca Flour and have good results. I have heard that some tapioca flours can have a strong or bitter taste. This crust shouldn't have any off-taste, if it does, I would look at the brand of tapioca flour.
- Since every filling is different, I can't say for sure how this crust will hold up to every pie but with the Pumpkin Pie it stayed light, crisp, firm, and flaky after cooking for an additional hour at 350F, cooling, being refrigerated, and even later that night. It wasn't until about 24 hours later that I noticed the crust had gotten soggy.
Did you make this recipe? Tag @EverydayMaven on Instagram with the hashtag #EveryDayMaven and please give a star rating below.
Update Notes: This paleo pie crust recipe was originally published in December 2013 and was last updated in November 2018.
Susan says
Hi. I haven’t tasted it yet but the pie is in the oven. I just wanted to say the dough was beautiful! I couldn’t believe how awesome it was. The first one – the bottom one I pressed into the pie pan but the top one I put the ball of dough between two sheets of parchment and rolled it out and then turned it over on top of the filling. It looked okay. Like I said, it isn’t done yet and maybe I need to work more on it (I’m not a good cook) but I’m excited so far! The palm shortening and the tapioca I think make a big difference. Thank you
EverydayMaven says
Hi Susan! I can’t wait to hear how it turned out. I haven’t used the crust as a “top” yet and would love feedback on if that worked or not. What type of pie did you make?
April says
Have you tried using coconut oil instead of palm shortening?
EverydayMaven says
Hi April,
No, I have not. If you try it, let me know if it works!
Diane says
I used refined coconut oil and it worked just fine. I did tweak my recipe just a bit because I use a larger pie pan. I used 1.5 cups of almond flour and about 1/3 cup of tapioca flour (cassava flour is another name for it). So I used 2.5 tablespoons of oil in my recipe. I also stirred it together with a fork and it clumped into a ball which I pressed into my glass pie pan. Baked at 350 for 12 minutes just like the original recipe. It looks dry and crisp. I plan to fill it with a paleo pumpkin filling and will cover the edges so they don’t burn as it bakes.
Susan says
Thanks so much! You know it is because of folks like you who take the time to share your wonderful recipes online that really, (for me anyway) make Paleo a wonderful way of life for me. Thank you again!
Susan
EverydayMaven says
Thank you so much Susan – that really makes me feel happy. Have a great weekend!
Susan says
Hi. I want to try this recipe to use for a quiche. It sounds as though (from your instructions) that I need to bake the crust before I put the quiche liquid in and bake it again? I’m kinda confused. Help please??
Thank you.
Susan
EverydayMaven says
Hi Susan,
I have used this crust for a Quiche (leave out the vanilla and add in a pinch or two of dried herbs!) and it works great but YES, you do have to precook it just like in the directions posted. Allow it cool completely before putting in the Quiche liquid. Enjoy!
Anna says
Tapioca flour is acceptable, at least to me, but I was hoping to make this for Passover and since tapioca is a grain it’s not acceptable for the duration of the festival.
However, I think if I can get the ingredients I’ll try to make the crust “as is” first to see how it turns out, and then I’ll experiment. As I said, I’m always looking for a wonderful pie crust recipe and I love this one because it has simple ingredients (flour, sugar, eggs, etc.), nothing unpronounceable like some store-bought crusts have. My only questions for the as-is recipe are:1) what is palm oil and 2) if I can’t find it, is butter or margarine acceptable substitutes?
Thank you again!
EverydayMaven says
Hi Anna! Tapioca is not a grain – it a grain-free flour made from cassava (a starchy tropical vegetable). http://www.bobsredmill.com/tapioca-flour.html
Palm Shortening is different than Palm Oil – I like this brand
If you can’t find it, try real unsalted butter and make sure it is ice cold when you add it to the food processor (PS. I haven’t tried this with butter so I can’t vouch for it but it should work). The Shortening makes it crispy without being greasy – the butter may be more greasy.
I hope that all helps you and Happy (early) Passover 🙂
Anna says
I’m diabetic and always trying to find an excellent pie crust recipe. This one sounds delicious; I love almond flour. My only question is, if I want to make this for Passover, would potato starch be an acceptable substitute for the tapioca flour, and if so is it a 1/3 cup-to-1/3 cup substitute or should I use less of the potato starch? Thank you in advance!
EverydayMaven says
Hi Anna,
I haven’t tried this recipe with Potato Starch so unfortunately, I can’t be of any help. I do know that they perform differently so I would recommend a test run in advance. Is tapioca flour not acceptable for diabetics?
Erica Price says
Some interesting ingredients in this pie crust.