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When it comes to Thanksgiving pies, it seems pecan pie is less divisive than pumpkin pie.
Some people hate pumpkin pie.
But pecan pie doesn’t seem to invoke much love or hate. It’s kind of just there. But this is no ordinary pecan pie!
While my recipe isn’t revolutionary, there are a few tricks I’ve used here, to make the classic pecan pie recipe a little more special.
First, I use my all-butter Best Ever Pie Crust recipe and blind-bake it to ensure it stays nice and crispy.
Second, I use corn syrup to create a perfectly set candy-like filling, along with dark brown sugar to give it a complexity of flavor. I also add a generous amount of butter to the filling for extra flavor and richness.
Lastly, toasting the pecans and sprinkling in a pinch of cinnamon seals the flavor deal.
Don’t forget a scoop of vanilla ice cream on top!
How to Make Perfect Pecan Pie
The Pie Crust
I highly recommend using my Best Ever Pie Crust for this traditional Pecan Pie. It’s buttery, ultra flaky, and easy. If you’re intimidated by pie crusts, check out the full pie crust recipe post for loads of tips and tricks.
How to Blind Bake Pie Crust for Pecan Pie
While some recipes don’t call for blind-baking the pie crust, I personally much prefer the texture of the crust when it’s baked first. It’s crispier and stays that way for longer.
- Line the chilled crust in the pan with foil, pressing all the way to the edges to ensure they don’t slump down. Fill the crust completely with pie weights, granulated sugar, rice, or dried beans. You must completely fill to the top edge of the crust to prevent the crust from shrinking or slumping.
- Place on a rimmed baking pan. This will help catch any butter that might bubble over.
- Bake for 18 to 20 minutes at 400°F, or until pale and just beginning to brown but not raw. The higher baking temperature allows the crust to set quickly, preventing it from losing its shape or flute.
- If you typically have soggy crust problems, try baking the pie on the bottom rack of your oven or on top of a baking stone.
Check out my full article for How to Blind Bake Pie Crust here.
How to Toast Pecans
Place pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in a 350°F oven until fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. Toasting first is an extra step, but I promise it’s worth it! It intensifies the pecan flavor and creates a crunchier texture.
How to Prevent Watery or Runny Pecan Pie Filling
We want the filling to be gooey, not runny. This all comes down to baking:
- The edges should be set but the center should wobble a bit, kind of like gelatin.
- Cook pecan pie too much and it’ll crack and be dry. Underbake it and it will be watery and runny.
- You want to cook pecan pie to an internal temperature of 200°F. Use a digital thermometer to make this easy.
Do I Have to Use Corn Syrup?
In this recipe, yes, corn syrup is necessary. I used light corn syrup, but you can also use dark corn syrup. I’ve heard golden syrup can work well, but I haven’t tested that. If you’re looking for a pecan pie without corn syrup, give my Browned Butter Maple Pecan Pie recipe a try instead!
Can I Use Light Brown Sugar Instead of Dark Brown Sugar?
The dark brown sugar in this pecan pie recipe creates that toffee-like sticky sweetness without being too cloying, bringing a beautiful richness and depth of flavor. If you need to, light brown sugar will work in a pinch – or make your own dark brown sugar! Learn how here.
What is the Best Pie Pan to Use?
I recently used my Best Ever Pie Crust recipe to experiment with different pie pans, to determine which pie pan is best. Check out my Best Pie Pan article here to see my side-by-side experiments and learn which pie pans I recommend.
Does Pecan Pie Need to be Refrigerated?
Yes. Since pecan pie contains egg, it should be refrigerated after sitting out for about 2 hours.
How to Store Pecan Pie
Store the cooled and baked pecan pie loosely covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil in the fridge. Pecan pie lasts for up to 3 days.
How to Freeze Pecan Pie
- Place the baked and cooled pecan pie in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months.
- This is easiest done with a disposable aluminum pie tin (learn more about pie pans here).
- When ready to serve, thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before slicing.
- Refresh in a 300°F oven for 5 to 10 minutes to re-crisp the crust, if desired.
More Thanksgiving Pies:
Check out ALL of my Thanksgiving recipes over at my Thanksgiving Headquarters.
-
1
batch pie dough
-
2
cups
(227 grams) pecan halves
-
4
large eggs,
at room temperature
-
1
cup
(312 grams) light corn syrup
-
3/4
cups
(150 grams) dark brown sugar
-
1
teaspoon
vanilla extract
-
1/4
teaspoon
fine salt
-
1/4
teaspoon
ground cinnamon
-
4
tablespoons
unsalted butter,
melted and cooled
Prepare the pie crust:
-
Roll the dough out on a generously floured work surface. Keep turning the dough after every roll to ensure it doesn’t stick to the counter and is of even thickness. Add additional flour to the dough, the counter, and your rolling pin as needed. Roll out into a 12 to 14-inch circle, depending on how deep your pie tin is.
-
Gently roll the dough up and around the rolling pin then unroll and drape over a 9-inch pie tin. Gently press into the pie tin, being careful to avoid stretching the dough. Use scissors or a knife to trim the excess dough, leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold the overhang under itself and crimp or flute. Pierce the base of the dough with a fork.
-
Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
-
-
Line the chilled crust with foil, pressing all the way to the edges to ensure they don’t slump down. Fill the crust completely with pie weights, granulated sugar, rice, or dried beans.
-
Place on a rimmed baking pan. Bake for 18 to 20 minutes, or until pale and just beginning to brown but not raw. Remove from oven and set aside to fully cool. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F.
Make the filling:
-
Place pecans on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in a 350°F oven until fragrant, about 8 to 10 minutes. Set aside to cool completely. Maintain oven temperature.
-
In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs until well beaten. Add the corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt. Gradually whisk in the melted butter until combined.
-
Place pecans evenly in cooled pie crust. Pour egg mixture over the pecans into crust.
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Bake for 40 to 50 minutes, or until the edges of the filling are set but the center is still slightly wobbly. Your pie should have an internal temperature of 200°F when finished. If the crust begins to brown too much, cover with foil or a pie shield and continue baking. Remove from the oven and let cool completely before slicing and serving.
How to Store Pecan Pie
Store the cooled and baked pecan pie loosely covered with plastic wrap or aluminum foil in the fridge. Pecan pie lasts for up to 3 days.
How to Make Pecan Pie Ahead of Time
Place the baked and cooled pecan pie in an airtight container and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before slicing and serving.
This post was originally published in 2019 and has been updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
If you are using frozen pie shells, should you still blind bake them? Not a very good pie maker
Hi Lisa! It would depend on your type of pie shell, but if it’s raw, then it would be best to blind bake it beforehand. Check out all of Tessa’s great tips for this recipe, in the pink tip box above the recipe 🙂 Let us know what you think of this pie once you have given it a try! 🙂
This pie was absolutely delicious I think I would recommend is to not toast the pecans as long because they get a little crispy.
I’m making this piefpr Thanksgiving. I already made the pie crust and it was so easy to handle. so, you don’t chop the pecans after roasting?
Hi Sheryl! I’m so glad to hear that the crust was easy to handle! There is no need to chop the pecans after toasting. Let us know what you think of this recipe once you’ve given it a try 🙂
I’ve made this recipe a few times and I love it but didn’t it used to call for dark corn syrup instead of light corn syrup?
Hi Alexandra! As Tessa mentions in her tips above the recipe, you can use either light or dark corn syrup! Glad you enjoy this recipe!! 🙂
Do I have to bake the crust first
Hi Norman! Yes, as specified in the recipe, the crust will need to be blind baked beforehand. You can read all the reasons why Tessa prefers this in the Tip Box, above the recipe 🙂 Let us know what you think about this recipe once you have given it a try! Happy baking!
For baking the pie crust….it says to add beans, weights, etc and to bake until pale and beginning to brown….then it says to turn down to 350°. I’m assuming I need to take the pie crust out before continuing with the remaining instructions. But does it need to fully cool?
Hi Naomi! Yes, at that point (when the crust is just beginning to brown), you will remove the crust from the oven and allow it to fully cool. Apologies that the recipe wasn’t clear on that. We have updated the recipe to reflect this instruction. Thank you, and happy baking!
Hi Tessa,
Made this pecan pie, thank you for the recipe, unfortunately my filling was too runny, it would not set. I cooked it for 50 minutes on 100F & 8 minutes on150F to get it set a little more. Left it to cool overnight. Where did I go wrong I don’t know. I have made other recipes twice before & they both asked for 1-2 tbs flour in the filling. Or the other thing is… I’m writing you from Australia we don’t have corn syrup in our supermarkets the closest I can get is the glucose syrup the clear one like yours. The taste was fantastic though. Please advise.
Myda
Hi Myda! It’s possible that the glucose syrup could have been the issue, but I can’t say for sure! I’m wondering if the pie wasn’t baked enough. You want the internal temperature of the pie to be 200°F. What did your pie look like when you took it out of the oven? The edges should have been set, but the center should have been slightly wobbly, as it continues to bake once it’s taken out of the oven. Can you please also confirm your temperature? The filled pie needs to be baked at 350°F, or 177°C.
Hello Emily,
Thank you for your email. You know I read your instructions… ‘with an internal temperature of 200F’ as the oven temperature, not the internal pie temperature. I thought it was a little low heat but it made me think it needed to be cooked slow.
Now that I’m reading again your indicating the internal of the pie not the oven. (Tricky wording) My pie was wobbly all around, the crust was cooked but the base was a little raw.
It tasted delicious though. Anyhow I will try it again one of these days.
Thank you so much for getting back to me. Have a wonderful festive season
Kind regards
Myda
Oh no!! I just tweaked the wording in that section to clarify it a bit better. I’m glad it still tasted delicious but can’t wait for you to enjoy it fully baked 🙂 Glad we were able to figure it out. Have a wonderful holiday season as well!
Outstanding pecan pie! Most pecan pies are overly sweet, this one isn’t. It’s got the right balance of sweetness and flavor, you can taste the pecans and all the spices. I’ll make this one again.
I made sure to follow it to a ‘T’ – no substitutions, no, “well I did this instead”, just followed the recipe and it came out perfectly!
Wonderful! So happy to hear you loved this recipe, thanks for sharing! 🙂
I have 2 questions on the above recipe –
The recipe shows:
Fold the overhang under itself and crimp or flute. Pierce the base of the dough with a fork.
Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, or overnight.
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Do I need to refrigerate the dough in the pie plate or is that a typo?
Pie TIN or ceramic pie plate?
Hello! Nope, you read that correct! Refrigerating the dough after it’s been placed in the pan and before filling will help to ensure that the dough doesn’t shrink in the oven. The pie pan you use can be purely whatever your preference is. We used a glass pie pan for this recipe and suggest that if you’re a beginner baker as you can see how brown whatever you’re baking is getting, but I’m guessing you’re a little more advanced based on your name 😉 Ceramic, glass, aluminum, whichever you’d prefer is fine 🙂 Let us know what you think of this recipe!
Thanks. I’ll be doing this next week for Thanksgiving. I’ll let you know how everything goes.
Can i use a frozen pie crust for this or does it have to be a made from scratch crust?
You’re more than welcome to use a store-bought crust, but I hope you give our Best Ever Pie Crust recipe a try! It’s really easy to put together (check out all our tips and step-by-step pics in the pink box above the recipe!), and the results are super flaky and so much more flavorful than the store-bought kind 🙂
Love this recipe, I also used your pie crust recipe as well!
Due you have nutrition info on this recipe. Calories ?
I don’t, I’m sorry!
You said to use one batch of pie dough, but the recipe for the dough isn’t on the list. Thank you.
Hi Gisela, here’s the link to my pie dough recipe!
What can I use instead of corn syrup?!