Coconut Oil Pie Crust

I’ve been using coconut oil in place of shortening or butter for a long time. I recently tried a sourdough crust with bread flour. Worked fine and was so delicious! You are correct in having the correct texture of the coconut oil. Too chunky and you will have hard lumps of oil. Too runny and you will have an oily mess. I used an emersion blender with the whisk attachment to get the correct texture.

I just made this pie crust. Mostly because I didn’t want to go into the big store and buy more than what I needed… I cannot believe how easy it was and how well it came together using the coconut oil. I’m chilling it because i’m unsure of what type of quiche I’m making..

I have used coconut oil whenever I make pies. I don’t roll them out anymore because I use different kind of flours just press into the pie pan because I like my crust thin. just want to share.

I am on a KETO diet and I made this crust substituting Almond flour for the wheat flour and it turned out great. Used it on a quiche and the flavor was nice and the crust was flaky. Also, I use 1/2 vodka and 1/2 water. The vodka will dissipate when it’s heated so no worries for people avoiding alcohol. Nice recipe, thank you.

Amazing! Used this for chicken pot pie and it was delicious! Thanks! Will definitely make it again!

This pie crust is great… when it works. I have baked professionally for many years. But I was thrown for a loop, thinking this recipe would be simple and straightforward. This recipe is very temperamental. If it is not done to a T, it will fail tremendously. It is nearly winter here and I was having trouble fully mixing the coconut oil in. (Having experienced this, my suggestion for those in colder seasons/climates is to mix the dough by hand. Not a pastry cutter. So the oil can soften a bit and mix in better. Or use a microwave to warm it up. Your call.) The next hiccup came when I was adding water to the dough. It needed twice the amount of water the recipe calls for. Following the recipe, I end up with dry, crumbly dough that is in no way rollable or possible for lining a pie tin. I did not use GF flour. I don’t understand how it worked for the creator of this recipe, but something as simple as a pie recipe should be relatively consistent and easily adapted for anyone who reads it. This is a major inconsistency in my book. I have a few tried-and-true pie recipes that work for whatever ingredient amount is listed, regardless of brand. I had this recipe work once and it was delicious and flaky. The other times, not so much. The dough became patchy during baking due to coconut oil blobs not being fully mixed in (after having used a pastry cutter for 10mins) and because of that the filling oozed out and soaked the bottom of the pie, giving me not just a soggy bottom, but also a RAW one. Upsetting when I am trying to juggle several things during the holidays and the simplest pumpkin and pecan pies I whip up are inedible… certainly not pies I would bring to a celebration. Now I am nearly out of time and need to remake pies with store-bought crust. The recipe does work at times. But don’t put too much stock and faith into it. Make sure you have a plan B. Or have made this recipe many, many times and know exactly what you are doing. Definitely not a foolproof recipe.

I’ve been using this recipe for years and it was one of my first crust recipes I ever tried. It’s so good for every type of pie. It’s even good with the vegan quiche I make! It is the absolute best with pineapple pie though. The coconut oil goes so well with the pineapple! Especially with some coconut whipped cream! Even after all these years I still never remember the recipe so I just google “coconut oil crust minimalist” and it pops right up! Thank you so much for introducing me to this recipe, which led to my love of making pies and baking in general!

Followed the metric ingredients list and it turned out too salty, not even savoury but tastes like too much salt (0.5 teaspoon added). There may be a mistake in the recalculations.

This was the flakiest pie crust I’ve ever made! I used refined coconut oil so the flavor of the crust would not compete with the flavor of my pie filling. I also added a bit more water and rolled it out between sheets of plastic wrap.

Hello again,
I left a comment a day or so ago.
I think it would be best NOT to post it!
I rolled them too thick!
I believe that’s why they took so lo-o-o-ong to bake!!
Good warm but too much pastry when cold.
Would not want anyone else to follow my lead and have a disaster.

As far as the 1/2 spelt and 1/2 whole wheat, it was a little “crunchy” when cold. The bran no doubt in the whole wheat. I liked it but that’s me.

I stand by my appreciation for the basic recipe.
And look forward to trying more of your ideas.
Glen

I made this pie crust for apple pie turnovers. So delicious! The crust to me has a very slight coconut taste which I love. Maybe it was the coconut oil i used. Its very flaky and better than any crust I have made with butter. I am not the greatest baker, but this is a game changer. Thank you so much for this recipe!

My go-to coconut oil pie crust recipe :)

This is a fantastic recipe! I used a mix of KA measure-for-measure GF flour blend and whole wheat flour (weird combo, I know!) and it turned out perfectly. I made little tart cups in muffin tins and I got 19. Next time I’ll measure better and make 20 because a couple of them were a bit thick. I completely baked them first, then filled with quiche filling. They are so flaky and the perfect crispiness. Thank you for all your detailed, delicious recipes 😋

I followed the recipe to a tee. I have been making pies for years using crisco. This time I tried coconut oil. (The solid kind) it turned way too brown on the bottom, + difficult to remove from my glass pie pan. I will try butter next time,not coconut oil.

It works! I made a nice crisp pastry, no salt and filled my patties and tarts with mince meat and jam, some of each. I had a bit left over and made a covered tart, brushed it with yoghurt and commercial breadcrumbs – not the yellow ones and it came out extra crispy.

Oh goodness gracious- this crust is fantastic!!
I usually buy a vegan pre- made crust and disappointed. Crust can be such a hassle sometimes- I try to avoid it or do a cookie crust. However, I wanted to make a coconut cream pie for a small gathering. I’m usually never disappointed with a recipe from minimalist baker and reviews were good, so why not. I like that it’s not a stick of butter and also some shortening. I made the recipe as is, it was a little messy to roll out, but not too bad. I could definitely eat the whole pie! I will always be making my own crust from now on!!!! Thanks for another great recipe!!!

As a proud country girl baker for over 50 years, 20 of which have been wheat-free due to a food allergy, here are the best tips I can pass along for a successful pie crust:
1) Before you start baking, put your oil in the refrigerator for at least half an hour. Whether you’re using coconut oil, butter, margarine, or shortening, you want it cold. The little clumps of flour and oil and air pockets from the cold ingredients is what gives you the nice flaky crust. Warm ingredients just give you a globby mess that can bake up tough.
2) Sift your flour into the measuring cup to get your two cups. For wheat-free flour, my favorite is Bob’s Red Mill 1 for 1 GF flour.
3) You can mix in a food processor on pulse. First flour with oil. Then ice water a tablespoon at a time until the consistency you want.
4) If your wheat-free/ gluten-free flour doesn’t want to stay together (a pain we deal with for losing the gluten) simply roll and place into the pie pan in pieces, but handle it as little as possible to keep your hands from warming up the dough.

I love this recipe, and have used it many times. Most recently, I made mini currant pies. The simple ingredients and quick prep are ingenious, however sometimes the ratios are a bit off, making the dough fall apart while you’re rolling it out. If you’re having trouble with this, I recommend:
1. throwing a few pinches of flour under and on top of the dough
2. pouring some more water on top of the dough
3. rubbing it in and balling up the dough
4. rolling it back out
Hope this helps!

The first time I made this recipe a few weeks ago, I think I followed the recipe as exactly as I could, however the crust came out super super hard! SO hard that when I tried to bite into my pie with a fork, I cracked the plastic container I was eating out of. However, a few days ago I tried the recipe again and the crust came out SOO nice and flaky! It broke apart really easily (which I think is good), and paired so well with my vegan chocolate mousse tart :). I’m not entirely sure how come the second time it worked out better, but I would say, even if it doesn’t turn out the first time, keep practicing :D- this recipe is a real gem!

Hi! My family and I are doing Veganuary, so I am on your website daily for ideas. I made this pie crust in my KitchenAid mixer, like I do my normal butter pie crusts. I needed 8 Tbs of water instead of 6, but it came out perfectly. Thank you!

I tried this with Trader Joe’s Gluten Free flour and the pie looked perfect, but the crust was hard as a rock! It was so hard that we could pick the pie up out of the dish and transport it to a cutting board, and couldn’t even cut it with a sharp knife. I’m guessing gluten is needed with this recipe?

I really wasn’t expecting this to work, but I took you seriously about the fluffiness. I’m in Florida, if the coconut oil is out it is liquid, if it’s in the fridge it’s rock solid. I got silicone butter molds and poured the liquid in there and refrigerate. I measured out the amount and kept checking it until I could stir it to fluffy. Dumped in the flour, salt, and blended it with a pastry cutter. Put in a total of 5 tbsp. of ice water. Rolled it out on parchment paper and put it in the pie pan and into the fridge. I could tell the coconut oil was getting too warm. Made my pie and OMG a flakey crust! Thanks

I made it with whole spelt flour, turned out great! Had to add 30% more water. Made a vegan mushroom, onion and coconut cream pie

THANK YOU! For years I’ve bought store ready made crust cause I was too intimidated to try to make my own. This recipe turned out beautifully and I’ll probably never by store bought crust again. Thank you for the tips. Very helpful. This dough does stretch back quite a bit when pre baking. I made it for your vegan pot pie recipe.

I made this with a savoury vegetable curry pie filling and it came out perfect. I first baked the mini pie crusts for 20 minutes and then added the filling and baked for another 10-15 minutes.

I just finished taking an apple pie out of the oven that I made using this coconut oil recipe and it turned out very well. I used the convection bake option hoping that it would help the crust brown and be flakey. One change I made was to use almond milk instead of water. Both my mother in law and my grandmother used to use dairy milk to make their excellent pie crust so I thought I’d use almond milk and see how it turned out. I’ll have try another pie to see what water is like for comparison – maybe one of those lovely blueberry pastry “packages” I watched in the little video that shows recipes being made, lol! Anyway, the pastry rolled out well, transferred to the baking dish well, didn’t collapse although there was room for it to do and was acceptably flakey. Yay! Vegan pie crust! Thank you so much! :-)

This didn’t work for me, unfortunately. It was a crumbly mess. Fell apart as soon as I took a rolling pin to the dough. I put it back together and chilled for 30 minutes, and it still fell apart. I was about to just throw it out from frustration, but flour is scarce these days and food is expensive. I ended up adding way more water to make it gooey and just pressed it into the pie dish. Will see how it turns out.

Disaster…Followed the recipe (except for 1/2 c w.w. pastry flour, 3/4 c unbleached all-purpose). It seemed like 2/3 c coconut oil wasn’t enough. The whole thing just fell apart when trying to roll (ended up with 6 TBS ice cold water). I put the whole crumbling mess in 2 pie plates and patched it up as best as I could. I will be making a pecan pie later today, I wonder how it will hold together. Regardless, I wasn’t about to waste the ingredients (flour in short supply during pandemic!)

Thanks so much for this excellent pie crust recipe! Have always used Crisco vegetable shortening only to find out its still comprised of hydrogenated oil so turned to coconut oil and went hunting for a recipe to replace my no fail dough and this one was perfect. Used the 6 TBSP water (noted someone said they used only 4 and had problems) and it rolled out easily with a floured pin. Coconut oil is so much better for a pie crust as unlike the Crisco which was absorbed into the apple filling causing it to become mushy, the coconut oil actually caused the apples to puff up and added great flavour to the pie. Wish I had tried it before and have now incorporated it into all my baking. Perfect recipe and wouldn’t change a thing.

I tried this recipe for the first time today, and hooboy was it a drastic experiment! I’ve been making pies since I was a child and it was an utter disaster….I rolled it out between two sheets of floured wax paper as I normally do and it just fell apart at the edges and all but shattered when I laid it in the pie plate. I have a feeling I need to give it another try with more ice water (I did use 4 TBSP, having always been wary of using too much water with shortening crusts). I’m curious how much of the results depended upon the altitude here in Utah and/or the humidity levels today (about 40% humidity)? I’m currently dairy-free for baby, but always interested in discovering cooking methods that require less processed ingredients. I haven’t tasted the pie yet, but it does appear delectable. Just super beat up.

I love this recipe. It was super easy to put together and didn’t use any of the very little butter I have left! We made little apple pies (with top crust) and they taste so yummy. I mean this in the best best way. It reminds me of how McDonald’s apple pies used to taste. It’s sandy and flakey and a touch salty. Ahhh-mazing.
I did use whole wheat pastry flour instead of AP and I mixed vodka in with my water (about half and half) before I scooped out what I needed. I would do the exact same thing again. So good.

I have made enough pie doughs in my life to say this is the best pie crust recipe out there. Tasters couldn’t believe the flakiness and delicious buttery taste- and not a dot of sugar. Perfection!! Thank you :)

I love how flaky the crust is! I have used buckwheat, all-purpose and combination of Indian flours. I have used the dough for a variety of recipes… including empanadas most recently. Yummy yum!
I no longer put the dough in the fridge — haven’t tried the freezer — because it takes HOURS to become pliable again. I seal and put the prepared dough in the coolest part of one of my kitchen cabinets (temp around mid-50s in winter). Stays fine but I haven’t left it in there for more than 36 hours.

So I made this and subbed the flour for Bob’s Red Mill 1 to 1 Gluten Free flour. I do NOT suggest this for someone who is unfamiliar with working with GF dough, because it WILL throw you off lol.
GF dough does not come together like regular dough. It is impossible to roll it onto your roller and put it in the pan.
I first attempted to make the mini pies, but when I would cut the dough and attempt to add it to the muffin tin it would break and I didn’t have time to mess with each (24 minis) one with the schedule I was on. I ended up making a 9″ pie.
I have saved my entire recipe to my Recipe Keeper app. I made a GF, dairy free, AND sugar free pumpkin pie tonight for the dessert contest at my job’s company Christmas party and I didn’t tell anyone it with GF, DF, or SF and it WON. :D Thank you so much for this pie crust recipe. It will now be my go-to for pies.

I swear I’ve made this before without a problem but this time around … well, let’s just say I tested my sister’s fire alarms at her new condo, I’m sure the neighbors loved that.

Three things to learn:
1. I typically keep my GF flour in the freezer (we use enough of it now I probably have no reason to do this anymore, but old habits for keeping rarely-used flours fresh die hard). Do not use frozen GF flour with this – it freezes the coconut oil and prevents adequate mixing in the first step. I had large chunks of coconut oil that just melted in the oven and dripped everywhere.
2. Do not overtop the pie plate with this crust. It will drip everywhere. Put a pan underneath it, just in case.
3. Coconut oil has a smoke point of 350*F. Set the oven at 345*F max.

And finally, if you drip coconut oil all over your sister’s oven – be a champ and clean the oven thoroughly or she’ll never be able to use it again without setting off the smoke detectors.

This is all at sea level.

Love this crust! I can’t believe how easy it is to make something so delicious and flaky. I’ve made it twice now, once for sweet mini tarts and once for Minimalist Baker’s Simple Tofu Quiche (instead of the potato crust, which I’d still like to try someday), and both times, the crust worked beautifully. I like this recipe so much, I printed it out and stuck it in my copy of the Minimalist Baker cookbook. :-)

Must have been me because it was an ultimate disaster; I hate wasting quality ingredients and had to trash this batch. So, I don’t think I will be trying this again. It sure seemed simply. But then again I can’t tie my shoes without peeking.

Really, really excellent crust. amazing flake and really tasty – sometimes I find coconut oil makes things taste a bit empty or greasy, but not here. I added a pinch of arrowroot powder to the flour/salt (egg stand-in), and a splash of lemon juice to the ice water, like I do with butter crust. I didn’t use a significant amount of either because I didn’t want to mess with the recipe too much, but old habits die hard. :) Not sure if it made any difference, but the end product was great.

One issue: when I first made the dough it was the perfect balance of soft and firm, then I put it in the fridge overnight – don’t recommend. The dough took forever to get soft again and kept falling apart when I tried to roll it out. I added a bit of water to the really bad spots and it worked out fine in the end, but if I’d made the dough the day of, rolling would’ve been much easier.

I wanted this to work so badly and I followed the recipe to a T but the dough was hard to work with. I could not get it rolled out and it stuck to the floured counter so much I finally just put it in the pie pan by hand piece by piece. I live in a humid, hot climate so maybe thats why.

I used whole wheat pastry flour and turned out amazing! Didn’t really measured the water. I kept adding it until I had nice elastic dough that was very easy to put on big pie dish without tearing.

I used gluten free flour with xanthan gum. IT IS SO YUMMY AND FLAKY!

I have recently gone vegan and I am trying to bring my 5 and 9 year old boys along with me. I have had some serious fails with vegan recipes I have tried for them – not tasting as good as the “original”. I am happy to report this crust turned out perfectly! I used the Target store brand of organic coconut oil and Bob’s Red Mill all purpose flour. I made berry hand pies with the main crust and then did simple cinnamon and sugar pinwheels with the pie crust scraps. My kids loved both. Yeah/phew.

This recipe saved my life (or the kiddo’s happiness, anyway)! The summer camp was making mini-pies using pillsbury. We’re vegan, so they checked the ingredients for me: no milk, they assured me.
Not having had a good track record with Pillsbury, I double-check their package. Lard.
Whipped this up, rolled it out on parchment paper and got it back to camp in time for the kiddo to cookie-cut and bake with everyone else. Thank you!

I made this with buckwheat flour & coconut oil for the first time using a brand new pie maker. It worked! I will do it even better next time. But I was very happy with the result.

I don’t know if it is just because I made this recipe at a higher elevation but it absolutely did not work… I tried it a few different times, in a few different muffin/pie/baking tins… the dough just sort of collapsed into a big doughy disk… The top layer seemed flaky enough… but not usable…

I made this as the crust for a vegan pot pie I was making so I added some thyme and rosemary to dough. I was really impressed with how this came out. I have never used coconut oil before for a pie crust. It cooked really well and came out nice and flaky. I will be using this recipe again for sure. Thanks Dana!!

I’ve attempted to make this crust 3 times. The first time was for an apple pie and it turned out amazing. Flakey and crispy. The second attempt was for a vegan pumpkin pie and I made the dough according to the recipe so I can save half the dough for a second pumpkin pie I planned on making a couple days later. This time, the dough would not hold up well at all and I added so much water to make it stick together but it kept cracking and the cracks wouldn’t mold back together. My oil was stored in the kitchen pantry. After baking the first pumpkin pie the crust shrunk a lot in my dish and was very thick and stiff. The other half of the dough I left in the fridge for the next pie was a rock and I had to throw it out because I definitely couldn’t roll it out. I made a new batch of dough for my second pumpkin pie and I kept the coconut oil jar in my basement which was a bit cooler than my basement. It needed a lot more water again but turned out flakey and crispy.

My recommendation is to ensure your oil is very cool, use ice cold water, and make your dough fresh when you’re going to bake it same day.

Bloomin supermarkets with all butter pastries. They don’t even do rubbish pies.
Should have known to visit this page.
Made for mince pies, absolutely delicious, perfect!!
Short!

Love it! I used this recipe for Cbristmas Eve dinner — and it was my first time making a pie crust! I was scared for a second because it needed a lot more water than the recipe indicates but I persevered and just kept adding water. The crust was tasty and flaky! Thank you!

I made four batches of this pastry for savoury curry pasties. Turned out flaky and delicious! Very easy too. I used half spelt flour for one of the batches and that was also yummy although required less water.

I made this with plain flour and chick pea flour because I ran out of plain flour and it turned out well. Thank you for the recipe :)

I made this crust using ap flour and made a vegan French apple tart. While I am not vegan, my son recently became vegan so I am learning with him how to prepare vegan meals. I wanted to prepare a healthy dessert for him and thought this pie crust will be perfect for my tart and it was! This is definitely staying in my saved recipes for future reference!!

My neighbor gave me some golden delicious apples and noticed this recipe on your site. Love the idea of coconut oil. The crust was easy to put together and roll out but I was not too keen on the final product. Although it looked good, I found the crust doughy in the centre under the apples. The rest of the crust was baked but not golden. I used a glass pie plate. If that part had cooked it would have been better.

I just made this for the second time because my gluten free, dairy free teenage daughter loves it and requested it for her “birthday pie.” No issues with rolling or consistency. Turned out great both times. Thank you!

I made this with Bob’s Red Mill Whole Wheat Pastry Organic Flour and in order to get the right texture of the dough I had to add more ice water.