This 3 Ingredient Pie Crust recipe uses baking staples for a sweet or savory pie crust option that’s so easy to make! We provide a dairy-free option, too.
3 Ingredient Pie Crust vs. Traditional Homemade Pie Crust
Traditional pie crust recipes are made with a combination of all-purpose flour (gluten-free, for us), sugar, butter, and shortening. This mixture creates a dough that is then rolled out and baked until golden.
Meanwhile, this 3 ingredient pie crust is made with a base of bread instead of a flour mixture. Really! It is combined with a few other ingredients in the bowl of a food processor, rolled out, and baked.
As a result, it’s often a lot quicker than traditional recipes. However, we admit that calling it a pie crust is a bit of a stretch. Instead, think of it as more of a pie crust hack.
It’s more delicate and slightly crumblier than traditional crusts and doesn’t work with every recipe. That said, it’s a great way to use up leftovers and is super tasty!
What’s in a 3 Ingredient Pie Crust?
As the name suggests, this crust comes together with just three primary ingredients. However, we add a fourth option so you can have either a savory 3 ingredient pie crust or a sweet one!
- Gluten-Free Bread – Make sure your bread is a type of fluff, soft, white bread such as sandwich bread. Think of it like a white flour. We want the fluffy white bread because it’s versatile and soft. Whole-grain-style varieties or those with added nuts, flax, etc. won’t work well.
- Butter or Oil- Use unsalted butter or refined coconut oil for a dairy-free version. You don’t want to use cold butter like other pie recipes. Instead, allow it to soften first.
- Large Egg – This helps create a richer flavor and acts as a binder, holding the ingredients together. We haven’t tested this recipe with egg substitutes, but don’t think they would work well.
- Cold Water – Adjust as needed.
- Optional Sweetener – If you want a sweet crust option for gluten-free pies, include a dash of sugar or your favorite sweetener of choice.
How to Make an Easy 3-Ingredient Pie Crust Recipe
Still super tasty, this recipe is ready with minimal prep time and a total time that’s less than creating a traditional pie crust with no pie weights, beans, pastry cutter, or pastry blender required. Take a look at the steps below, and don’t forget to scroll down to the recipe card at the bottom for the complete instructions!
- Create bread meal. Cut the bread into pieces, and place it in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse until a crumbly texture is formed.
- Combine. Add the whisked egg, and pulse a few times to incorporate. Then, add the butter (or coconut oil), and blend again until well combined.
Note: If the batter is too thick and not coming together, add very small amounts of water at a time, and blend. Be very careful not to add too much, or your pie crust will fall apart!
- Chill. Roll the pie dough into a ball, wrap it in plastic wrap, and transfer it to the fridge on its own or in a large bowl to chill.
- Roll. Transfer the chilled pie plate or pie dish to a lightly floured surface, and place a sheet of plastic or parchment paper over the crust. Use a rolling pin to roll it out evenly until it is roughly ⅛ to ¼ inch thick.
Note: This amount of crust will make enough for one 8-inch pie crust or 4-5 hand pies. Adjust according based on the recipe you’re making!
- Form the crust. Fold the dough over an 8-inch pie pan, and gently press the crust against the sides and middle of the pan. Use a sharp knife or scissors to remove any excess dough hanging off the edge, and patch any tears as needed with the extra dough.
- Flute the edges. Use two hands to flute the edges of the pie, and poke holes in the center with a fork.
- Bake. Transfer the 3 ingredient pie crust to a preheated oven, and par-bake or bake completely, depending on your needs.
Pro-Tip: If you plan on using this easy pie crust recipe to make sweet or savory pies with pie filling, brush the pie with egg wash before baking. This will help create a seal, preventing it from becoming soggy!
Video: How to make a 3-ingredient pie crust
Here’s a super quick video, just so you can watch how easy the crust comes together.
What Can I Make with This Recipe?
- Gluten-Free Quiche
- Pot Pies
- No-Bake Pies
- Hand Pies
Can I Use This Recipe for a Top Crust and Bottom Crust?
No, this recipe is too delicate to make a double crust pie. You’ll want a traditional butter pie crust to create a fully enclosed pie.
More of Our Favorite
Gluten Free pie Recipes
3 Ingredient Gluten Free Pie Crust Recipe
- Total Time: 2 hours 35 minutes
- Yield: 1 9-inch crust 1x
- Diet: Gluten Free
Description
Learn how to make an easy 3 ingredient pie crust recipe for a baking trick that saves lots of time in the kitchen for tasty sweet and savory “pastries!”
Ingredients
- 7 pieces (230 -250 grams total) gluten free soft white bread, diced
- 2 ½ Tablespoons butter or refined coconut oil, softened (not melted)
- 1 egg, whisked
- 1–2 Tablespoons water, as needed
- Optional – 1-2 Tablespoons sugar or sweetener of choice (for dessert pies)
Instructions
- Cut the bread into smaller pieces. Place the bread pieces in a food processor and process until a bread-meal texture is formed. Add in the whisked egg and pulse a few times.
- Add the coconut oil or butter and blend again. If the batter is still too thick, add a bit more water, ONLY as needed. Then, process again to blend into a dough.
- Pour the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap, form into a ball, and wrap tightly in the plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 1 hour.
- After chilling, move the dough to a work surface on a sheet of plastic or parchment paper. Place a sheet of plastic or parchment paper over the pie crust dough and use a rolling pin to roll the dough to ⅛ to ¼ inch in thickness. This size will make enough for one 8-inch pie crust or 4-5 hand pies.
- Fold dough over an 8-inch pie pan. The dough should begin to slowly slump into the middle of the plate. Gently press the edges of the crust against the sides of the pan and middle. With a sharp knife or scissors, remove the excess dough that is hanging off the edges. Patch any tears in the crust, as needed.
- Flute the edges and poke the middle sections with a fork (dock the dough).
- Place in a preheated oven according to the pie recipe instructions. To par-bake, bake at 400F for 10-12 minutes. To bake completely (blind bake), bake at 350F for 25-35 minutes (depending on the thickness of the dough), or until lightly brown (baking times depend on the oven and type of bread, check at 30 minutes).
Notes
Prep Tip – To make a 9 inch gluten free pie crust, prepare 2 batches of this recipe and combine the dough. Roll the dough out into a 10-inch circle for a 9-inch pie. Save the remaining dough for future recipes.
- Prep Time: 2 hr
- Cook Time: 35 min
- Category: dessert, brunch
- Method: oven
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: ⅛ of a pie crust
- Calories: 125
- Sugar: 1.7g
- Sodium: 158.4mg
- Fat: 7.5 g
- Saturated Fat: 4.1g
- Carbohydrates: 12.6g
- Fiber: 1.1g
- Protein: 3.2g
- Cholesterol: 26.7mg
Keywords: gluten free pie crust, gluten free desserts, dairy free pie crust, healthy pie crust
very easy and very nice crust I would like to know I saw an apple thing in for the microwave and I don’t know where I found it do you know anything about that
★★★★★
Hi lynn! Glad it worked out well. What type of bread did you use? And I’m not sure what you are referring to for the apple and microwave. Is that in the blog post or recipe card? We’re actually in the middle of updating a lot of recipes and content, including this one.
I love this!! So perfect for me!! Love that it is so easy to make too!
Thanks, Toni!
This is the easiest pie crust to make!!
★★★★★
Thank you, Laura!
This comes out perfectly every time! I just made a delicious quiche!
★★★★★
I love thinking out side of the box – even in cooking – live your ideas- will try this dough this week –
Awesome! KEep me posted Cat!
What a cool idea! I always find homemade pie dough so hard to work with and I always end up with a big mess–but it sounds like, at least, making the dough is really easy. I’ll have to see if my roommate will let me borrow her food processor so I can try it sometime.
I so agree! Let me know if ou give a shot Joyce. Be sure to try and patch it up in the pie pan. It’s pretty easy to do. The dough will be a little thicker and less flexible than real pie dough. But so good and easy!
This is SO creative Lindsay. I’ve never thought of or even SEEN using bread to make pie crust! So great for savories like pot pie, too.
Well… this is 100% GENIUS!!! What a great little life hack!!!! Love how pretty your pie is too.
it’s so awesome! I swear
A super simple dough is always a good thing to have in your arsenal. I have one too for quiches that freezes well, although it’s not gluten free. Yours looks amazing and full of delicious and simple ingredients. I love it.
Every time I see a quiche (or cheese) or a banana I think of you. LOL!
As if I didn’t already think you were a genius… you can use BREAD to make a pie crust?! Lawd, I love you. Definitely crashing Utah. 😉
scrappy chef cotter at your service!
My mind is blown! This is amazing!
haha thanks friend
OMG, I love this trick! How simple! Now I’m wondering if this would work with aquafaba or flax egg instead of the real egg. I’ll have to give it a go! Looks beautiful!
I actually made this without egg on accident and it still worked. Just a little crispier. YOu might add a tad ACV. But i bet flax egg would work too!
THIS IS SO FANCY!
haha hardly. I like shortcuts! LOL!
You, my friend, are a GENIUS! I cannot wait to try this! Looking forward to seeing those 3 recipes you made with this GF pie crust!
Ahhh well I get my genius factor from being friends with you!
This is SOOOOOOOO clever! I need to try this ASAP!
I LOVE EASY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Can you make this with gluten bread too? I am passing on the my youngest stepdaughter. Her hubby has to be careful of gluten.
yes! this is gluten free bread from Udis gluten free. So easy!
What a great idea to use bread!! I love that seriously every single diet type can be accomodated these days!
totally agree! <3
i am so amazed at how this is possible! Never would I thought to use bread as the main ingredient in pie crust! Maybe I’ll actually start liking pie crust…….
Wow, this is a genius idea! I love how simple it is to use any bread you may already have on hand. I would love to enjoy quiche in this yummy crust 🙂
Never would have thought of making it this way! maybe, just maybe I could make a cherry pie from scratch this year!
you know I made an egg free version for you! xxoo
I won’t lie to you – I’m pretty dang stingy with my Udis bread. That stuff is NOT cheap and for someone who is a major penny pincher, it’s hard for me to use it so quickly! This pie crust is just too good to resist though. And I bet it makes using half a loaf so worth it.
Haha I feel ya! Totally gonna covet it!
This is literally the best idea I’ve ever heard! So creative!! I can’t wait to try it out 🙂
Oh I’m intrigued by this! I even have that loaf of bread in the freezer and those pie pockets look delicious! I need to find time to try this!
Awesome idea!
thanks friend! p.s how are you feeling?
All great comments but what is the taste and the texture like ?
The texture is thicker than normal pie crust dough. It bakes up pretty well and taste a little like crust/buttery toast. I loved it! Let me know if you try it
Also, it depends on the bread you use. I think a white bread or rice flour bread works best , gluten free
THIS IS GENIUS!!!!!! (insert 10 thumbs up emojis here!)
THIS IS AMAZING. WOW. WOW. Thank you Lindsay!
anytime friend!
Ok Lindsay this is genius! Perfect for our favorite savory dishes!
What an awesome idea!
This is so crazy creative! Totally takes the intimidation out of pie crust!
right? My plan exactly!
This is genius and it looks delicious!
Oh snap! When I read the recipe, I was not expecting to see that it called for bread. But that’s such a genius idea! Love it, Lindsay!
i like to shock people on a monday. LOL!
Mind BLOWN! Such a genius idea! I can get behind this kind of baking! 🙂
half lazy half genius, right?LOL!
You deliver, right Linds?
for you,yes!!
This is genius and life changing!
OMG you will love this megan!