Easy Flaky Gluten Free Low Carb Keto Pie Crust Recipe
This Easy Keto Pie Crust recipe is perfect for either sweet or savory pies! It’s quickly made in your food processor and pressed into to your pie dish, no rolling required! It is also perfect for those who have tree nut allergies or need to avoid almond flour.
Easy Keto Pie Crust Recipe
Have you struggled to find a healthy, nut free, keto, low carb pie crust you can literally use for anything?
Don’t you wish there was just one type of pie crust that was fool proof and picky family approved?
SEARCH NO FURTHER!! The Struggle is OVER! I bring you the BEST Keto Low Carb Pie Crust for your favorite pie recipe, sweet or savory, using coconut flour for a wonderfully flaky texture like regular pie crust!
It’s taken me plenty of time but it’s been worth it experimenting because I FINALLY can share this perfect pie crust dough I’ve been using for years from everything sweet to savory.
My family never gets sick of it. It’s a perfectly flaky delicious low carb pie crust recipe!
Carbs in Traditional Pie Crust
Most traditional pie crusts that you purchase at your local grocery store often contain all purpose flour, wheat flour or graham crackers.
According to the app Cronometer, a single layer refrigerated pie crust has 14.5 grams of carbs and that’s just for the pie shell, not the filled pie. That’s a bit too high for anyone on a keto diet who usually has under 25 grams of carbs in a whole day.
I think my keto version is a good pie crust that everyone will love as I’ve tested it with all my family and friends who are not on a keto or low carb diet.
Once slice of our keto pie crust has just 2 g net carb. All nutritional information is in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post.
Since my youngest sone has a tree nut and peanut allergy I didn’t want to make an almond flour pie crust recipe because then he wouldn’t be able to enjoy my pie recipe.
I try to avoid as much as possible using nut flours and stick with sesame flour, sunflower seed meal or coconut flour.
Basic INGREDIENTS FOR KETO NUT FREE PIE CRUST
The simple ingredients are eggs, extra virgin olive oil, salt coconut flour, and butter. I did not use any xanthan gum in this recipe as it doesn’t need it.
For Sweet Pies: add vanilla extract and low-carb sweetener
For Savory recipes: add any spices you like, onion powder, garlic powder, etc.
Someone in your family doesn’t like coconut? No worries because I have tested this with the worst coconut detector of all, my youngest child.
You know the one with the tree nut allergy I’m always making recipes for? Yep. He’s eaten this 3 times and still has no idea it’s made with coconut flour!
Here is my Coconut Cream Pie!
HOW TO MAKE KETO PIE CRUST
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla extract in a food processor or stand mixer.
In another bowl whisk the remaining ingredients together until combined.
Pour the dry into the wet mixture into a food processor.
Add the cold cubed butter and process and pulse until it looks like crumbles.
Allow it to start pulling away from the sides of the food processor and form a ball of dough.
Spray a pie plate with cooking spray and place in pie plate.
Press with hands to form dough right in the pie plate. Alternately you can also roll out dough between two pieces of parchment paper and flip over into a 9 inch pie plate.
Using a fork randomly make holes into the bottom of the crust.
Bake the crust 10 minutes or until golden.
Cover the crust edges with aluminum foil or silicone crust cover, if using this for a savory or sweet pie that needs to be baked again, otherwise it will burn.
CAN THIS KETO CRUST BE MADE AHEAD?
Yes you can certainly prepare this pie, cover it with plastic wrap and refrigerate for up to 3 days prior to baking. You can also freeze the crust for up to one month.
CAN I SWAP COCONUT FLOUR WITH ALMOND?
I know there are many of you who hate coconut flour. It’s taken me a long time to learn how to work with coconut flour. I’ve had a love hate relationship with it forever. I think we are finally beloved friends!
Although my youngest has a tree nut and peanut allergy, he also really hates the taste of coconut.
Disguising it, hiding it, whatever I can do I do, but I must use it as I am so limited on making low carb recipes without it. I do also use sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and sesame, but the coconut flour color is the perfect one for a flaky pie crust.
For this keto pie crust you can not swap coconut flour for almond flour or almond meal as they just need too many changes to make it work well.
I have plenty of other pie crusts as well, not using coconut flour as the main ingredient:
Grain Free Chocolate Pie Crust
Cream Cheese No Roll Pie Crust
I do love those no bake crusts, but still right now this pie crust is our favorite!
Here is my Lemon Cream Pie!
Quick TIPS FOR THE BEST FLAKY KETO PIE CRUST
Cold Butter- Cold butter is a must for this recipe. This will help create that nice flaky pie crust we want.
Room Temperature Eggs-I always use room temperature eggs since I have chickens in my backyard. If they are too cold, it makes it more difficult to incorporate as well with the either ingredients.
Glass Pie pan- I find that glass pie dishes work best for baking the pie crust evenly as opposed to metal.
Silicone Crust Cover- A Silicone crust cover will prevent any burning of your pie crust, especially helpful if you are making a filling like my pumpkin pie and the crust has already been pre-baked or sometimes referred to as blind baking.
BEST FILLINGS FOR KETO PIE CRUST
When my Italian mother who is NOT low carb told me my low-carb pie crust and this Lemon Cream Pie was phenomenal and perfectly flaky, I knew it was a winner!
Recipes I’ve made with this crust so far:
Sugar-Free Chocolate Cream Pie
EASY KETO LOW CARB PIE CRUST
Low Carb Coconut Flour Pie Crust
Ingredients
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil or room temperature coconut oil or avocado oil
- 1 tsp vanilla extract eliminate for savory pies
- 1/4 cup Monk Fruit Allulose sweetener -eliminate for savory pies
- pinch of salt
- 1 cup coconut flour
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter cold cut into cubes
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Whisk the eggs, oil and vanilla extract in a food processor or stand mixer.
- In another bowl whisk the remaining dry ingredients together until combined.
- Pour the dry into wet mixture into a food processor.
- Add the cold, cubed butter.
- Process by pulsing until it looks like crumbles.
- Spray a pie plate with cooking spray and place in pie pan.
- Press with hands to form dough right in the pie pan. Alternately you can also use a rolling pin and roll out dough between two sheets of parchment paper and flip over into a 9 inch pie plate.
- Using a fork randomly make holes into the bottom of the crust. You can also cover crust with a piece of parchment paper, add some pie weights and blind bake.
- Bake the crust 10-15 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cover the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil if using this for a savory or sweet pie that needs to be baked again, otherwise it will burn.
- Once cooled out of the oven, add your favorite pie filling.
Video
Notes
- I’ve also used softened butter instead of cold butter the first time I made this. I found the cold butter and food processor method worked better and provided a less crumbly dough to place in the pie plate.
- The third time I made this I added the oil simply because, even with the butter I felt the coconut flour can be so absorbent and dry that little bit of oil really helps.
- My youngest HATES all things coconut and never noticed it any of the times I’ve made this crust! I never told him either!
- This pie crust recipe was first published in March of 2016 and updated in 2018 with a video.
Nutrition
About Brenda
Brenda Bennett is a certified Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, certified Sugar Detox Coach, certified Keto Coach and certified Life Coach. She has been Sugar Free & Refined carb free for 17 years and has written 2 cookbooks, Sugar-Free Mom, and Naturally Keto and her 3rd book The 30-Day Sugar Elimination Diet, is a four part program to help you detox from sugar, eliminate cravings, balance blood sugar and lose weight all while eating a delicious, nutrient dense whole foods. Meal plan offers two tracks to follow, low carb or keto. She is the founder of the Sugar Free Fresh Start course and Sugar Free Tribe weight loss membership. Learn more.
Curious, I’ve never used swerve and live in a remote area. Would you have a suggestion for substituting stevia baking blend in this recipe? I’ve found it to be sweeter than sugar and have had to half it in most of my recipes. Btw, I love love your recipes!! My son is diabetic and your recipes have been a real life saver.
If using a stevia baking blend just use half the amount I used for Swerve. Swerve is much less sweeter than most granulated sugar free subs. Thanks!
swerve is just erythritol
Help! It looks like the recipe was changed and I don’t see the amount of coconut flour to add. I’m just mixing the ingredients now. :-O
glitchy recipe plug in issue at the moment sorry working on fixing it
Hi, I would really like to try this recipe, but am I missing something? I don’t see the dry ingredients listed for this recipe.
Can this be adapted some way to make a traditional two crust apple pie?
I’ve not doubled the recipe but I’m pretty sure doubling it would work.
I was thinking of using this pastry on top of a low carb chicken pot pie recipe that I have. I would place it on of the mixture for the last 10 to 15 minutes of oven cooking. I know that coconut flour can absorb a lot of moisture. Do you think this will work? Can’t wait to try it!
It smells and tastes really good, but wouldn’t roll out at all. Very crumbly and dry. I added some cold water and just pressed it into the pie plate. Wonder why it wouldn’t roll out??
I had the same experience. Very dry and fell apart. I am thinking I need to measure my ingredients a little better and possibly adjust the liquid. I live in a dry climate and I know coconut flour varies in performance. My result was very hard to work with, I did manage to roll it out between two pieces of wax paper, but it broke apart when I put it in the pie dish. I had to press it back in. The end result wasnt very tasty because it was VERY dry after cooked. I made the savory version, even the absence of the vanilla (liquid) may have made a difference. I will try it again, but my advice to anyone reading this is that if it falls apart like mine did…throw it back in the mixer and add more liquid.
I live in a very humid climate, and had the same results….it was not at all what I had hoped…my family was not thrilled with it at all either…but I tried it…. it’s dry, gritty, coconuty tasting…not at all what I look for in a pie crust…crumbling as I attempted to roll it, I love coconut flour…but not in pie crust…lol….but hey, I gave it a shot…
Can you freeze it in a pie shell and cook later? Or if I bake it ahead of time do I just refrigerate it or freeze it until I’m ready to use it?
I would bake it an then freeze it till you’re ready to fill it.
This was wonderful, thank you so much!!! The only crust that resembles the flakiness and “cookieness” of the traditional ones! I will never try another LC pie crust recipe!
I added a flavouring called “new sugar cookie” and it totally made it taste like a shortbread crust! I made a gorgeous strawberry chocolate pie and I can’t wait to make an apple one! Thank you again!
I see people asking about fruit pies where you don’t pre bake the crust and do have a top or lattice. I used this for a blueberry pie: make the crust and half again as much. I used melted butter and patted 2/3 of the crust into the pie plate, since there’s no gluten to cause toughness. Also I’m lazy. Bake. Then I cooked my blueberry filling on the stove (I use swerve, cinnamon, and just a couple teaspoons of tapioca starch). While it’s coming to a boil, I grate a little lemon zest into the rest of the uncooked crust and crumble it up. Then just fill the baked crust with the blueberry filling, put the crust crumbles on top, and run it under the broiler for just a few seconds, until brown. I burned it a little because I’m forgetful that way. It was still good.
Ok, I never leave comments, but I must show gratitude for your hard work. This crust is amazing.
My wife is low carb, some friends and relatives are gluten-free, and both me and my son normally despise low-carb and glutenless items. But I must say your hard work has paid off and you have made the base for a lot of low-carb, gluten-free recipes that we are all enjoying because of this crust. Looking forward to trying some of your other Recipes
Thank you so much Marc! Glad to see approval from others who aren’t low carb, like my hubby too!
Can I use a substitute for the eggs like Flax or chia seeds? I have an egg allergy
Can coconut oil be used in place of the butter?
yes
How important is the sweetener for this crust. Could you leave it out say for a fruit pie? I don’t usually use any sugar in a regular crust. Thank you.
You can leave it out.
I have a couple questions. First, I have never in my life added any sweetener to a pie crust, why did you? Second, I notice you only talk about this as a prebaked shell. Does that mean it would not work for say, a pumpkin pie or a pot pie?
I only use sweeteners for a dessert pie because my youngest is a great detector of the flavor of coconut so the vanilla helps mask that and I leave it out for a savory pie. I’ve tried not baking it and didn’t like the results so even if you want it for a pumpkin pie I would still say prebake and just cover the crust so it doesn’t burn.https://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/sugar-free-lemon-cream-pie-low-carb-gluten-free/
and https://www.sugarfreemom.com/recipes/mini-low-carb-shepherds-pot-pie/
thanks Brenda. sorry I didn’t say that sooner but my puter went wonky and i just got back online last night.
Does using coconut flour lower the carb count over using all purpose white flour? I also don’t like artificial sweeteners and live in Canada where we don’t have the sweetener you use so think is try a low glycemic sugar like Coco Natura. Thanks!
I’m not sure if replacing the coconut flour with white flour would reduce the carb count, you would need to input the ingredients into a calorie counter, like myfitnesspal.com. I’m gluten free so I do not use white flour. As far as the Swerve sweetener, that is not artificial, it is a natural sugar alcohol that has both granulated or confectioners to replace sugar, so if you can find something that is sugar free in granulated form that would work to replace the Swerve.
Coconut flour has almost no carbs. Regular all purpose flour is all carbs. They are not interchangeable in this recipe if you want low carb and probably won’t behave the same because coconut flour absorption a lot of liquid
Hi. I’m dying to try this recipe however I have 2 questions:
1. I’m from Canada and have never heard of Swerve sweetener. Is it liquid or crystals? Can I substitute another sweetener?
2. I don’t own a food processor. Can I use my stand up mixer or blender instead?
Thanks
Swerve is a sugar free sweetener that is granulated or confectioners and I used the granulated kind. So another type of sugar free sweetener would work, although Swerve is not as sweet as many so maybe use less than I have then taste it. A stand mixer might work, I don’t think a blender has enough room in it for processing the flour properly.
Buy an old-fashioned pastry cutter. I think Walmart sells them and I know Amazon does.
All I have is a hand mixer. Can I use it and get one of those pastry cutters as mentioned above?
You could.
@Linda, Swerve is quite readily available in Canada now, I have even seen it at Superstore (Loblaws) in BC. If it is not locally available to you, it can be ordered at the low carb grocery:
http://www.thelowcarbgrocery.com/catalog/swerve-natural-sweetener-g-329.html
I would also think you could try either cut in the butter with a pastry blender manually or just rub it by hand till you get the right texture before adding the wet. Just a thought.
I can’t wait to try this.
can i use cocnut sugar in place of artifical sweetner
You can use any choice of sweetener you prefer, just add a small amount then taste and adjust.
I was finally able to give this a try, with a pumpkin pie recipe, and was pleased with the results. I’ve made the pie in the past but didn’t like the almond flour crust. This coconut crust is a keeper 🙂 Thanks!!
Awesome thank you!
For a low carb it is perfection, there is a flaky texture I never found in a low carb crust.
Thanks!
Awesome! SO glad you liked it!
This crust was amazing! I made it for a sugar free lemon cream pie. Everyone thought it was either a sugar cookie or short bread crust. Made a delish easter desert!
Thank you! That’s so awesome!
Does this have a coconut taste? My husband doesn’t like the flavor of coconut.
No my son hates all things that taste like coconut and he’s had this many times without complaint.
Thanks so much for sharing this. I can’t wait to give this a go.
Do you think this would work to make a quiche?
yep!! I will be sharing a savory quiche on Wednesday!!
Can this crust also be used for baked pies? Guess I could wait until your lemon meringue pie recipe comes out, but…I’m impatient. That is, could I fill it and then bake it? Or does it have to be baked first before it’s filled?
I have pre-baked it each time I’ve made it so with any filling savory or sweet, just need to cover the around the crust when you need to make something that the filling needs to be baked.
Confused about the net carbs. Doing math from the post is 6.9 carbs – 4 fiber for a net of 2.9. However, when I print it, it clearly says 4.3gms net carb??????
My mistake, all fixed now sorry! I subtracted the protein instead of the fiber, rushing my work sorry!
This looks amazing and easy. What more could we ask for?! I wish I had had this recipe last August when I baked a lemon meringue pie for my oldest son’s birthday. The filling was amazing, but the crust was awful, and that is putting it politely. I will definitely be trying this soon.
I think if my very picky hubby and mom said it was a great crust you will love it too!
Wow! Impressive! Wondering if I could sub lard for butter…dairy allergy. Looks so good.
Hi, I’ve been on a dairy-free diet recently and I’ve been using the clarified butter which is said to be allergy friendly. You may want to try that.
The recipe looks amazing, can’t wait to try it! Thank you!
Yes I like clarified butter!
yes I think that would work, let me know.
would this pie crust work for chicken pot pie?
I used it for a quiche so yes I think it would be great for a pot pie.
Hi, this recipe seems great, is it always necessary to bake the crust for 10 min even if it is a quiche
or a pie that you have to bake for 30 min.
I have always baked the crust for a non-cooked filling. Is it because of the coconut flour that you do it this way.
Thanks for all your information
Suggestion for pot pie: if making chicken or beef, substitute 2/3 of the butter for chicken fat or beef tallow.
If using this to make a blueberry pie where the crusts are uncooked on a standard pie crust, would you still bake the crust before adding the filling? And would the top crust burn in the oven since it won’t be pre cooked?
I’d still partially bake the bottom and no the top crust shouldn’t burn, but you could always cover it with aluminum if it’s getting too browned on top.
How would you add a top crust to a partially baked bottom crust?
I would just add the filling of whatever pie you’re making onto the bottom baked crust as you normally would and use another crust to top and bake covered at first so it doesn’t burn. Once you have the pie half way baked according to the recipe your using, uncover and allow it to brown but keep an eye on it.
Looks amazing! Perfect timing for easter! Question: is your net carb count off? The nutrition info on the right says 6.9 carbs and 4 fiber which would mean 2.9 net carbs, right?
It was my mistake, I subtracted the protein instead of the fiber count sorry!