Easy Gluten-Free Pie Crust (Dairy-Free)

This easy gluten-free pie crust has a beautifully light and flaky texture you’ll love! No chilling time required, this pie dough comes together in only 15 minutes with just 5 simple ingredients and is also dairy-free! Keep this handy to bake up all your sweet or savory pies (think pumpkin pie or pecan pie), because you’ll be making this over and over again!

Homemade Gluten-Free Crust Recipe

Since we started cooking gluten-free at home because my husband Juan was diagnosed with Celiac disease, I’d been reluctant to make my own homemade gluten-free pie crust.

It was much easier to buy pre-made pie crust, but most of the store-bought versions have milk or lactose in them. Since Juan developed a lactose intolerance earlier this year and we went dairy-free too, I decided that it was finally time to try my hand at making my own crust.

How to Make Pie Crust Flaky

I remember learning how to make pie crust at my cooking class a long time ago before we started eating gluten-free, and one thing my professor Pelusa Molina told us was that we had to cut the chilled butter into the flour. The reason for “cutting in” the solid butter into the flour is to create a flaky texture, which is developed as small pieces of solid butter remains in the flour, keeping the butter separate from the dry ingredients when baked – and this is what creates the flaky texture.

In this case, we’re making a dairy-free pie crust, so I’m using chilled coconut oil instead of butter (you could also use chilled palm shortening). It’s highly important that the oil or shortening or butter you are using is chilled and hard, so that you can cut into it without it melting.

Why This Recipe Works:

As you can see from the photo of the ingredients below, you only need 5 ingredients (including water!) for this recipe. You probably already have all these on hand, which means that making this pie crust doesn’t require fancy or expensive ingredients.

This gluten-free pie crust recipe also only requires 15 minutes of hands-on time, and zero chilling is required once assembled, which is a double win (for me at least)!

Ingredients You’ll Need:

Ingredient Notes/Substitutions:

• Gluten-free All-Purpose Flour: I recommend that you use a gluten-free flour blend made with lighter flours or starches such as white rice flour, corn starch, or tapioca starch.

• Sugar: I used light brown sugar in this recipe, but you can also use normal white sugar if you prefer. If you are diabetic or insulin-resistant, I recommend that you use Lakanto Monkfruit Sweetener (a 1:1 susbstitute for normal sugar) or you can leave out the sugar completely.

• Coconut Oil: I prefer using refined coconut oil in my cooking as it has a more neutral taste compared to extra virgin coconut oil. If you are not lactose-intolerant, feel free to use chilled butter in equal amounts. You can also use chilled palm shortening. I do NOT recommend substituting coconut oil for other vegetable oils that do not solidify when chilled as you need the coconut oil to be solid when cutting it into the flour.

• Egg: The egg is necessary as a binder for the dough. I personally have not tried making this pie crust dough using an egg-substitute, so I don’t know if it will work without the egg.

• Water: It’s important that the water is cold when you use it to keep the coconut oil solid. This will help make the crust flaky.

Step by Step Instructions:

1. Whisk

In a large mixing bowl, whisk the gluten-free flour and sugar until fully combined.

2. Cut Coconut Oil into Flour

Add chilled coconut oil and cut the coconut oil into the flour (either with a pastry cutter, two knives, or use the back of a fork to press the coconut oil into the flour). You’ll get an off-white crumbly mixture with the texture of coarse sand.

3. Add Egg

Add the beaten egg and mix well. The mixture will still be crumbly, but will be slightly pale yellow now.

4. Prepare the Dough

Add cold water 1 tablespoon at a time, mixing with a spoon until you get a dough that holds together (better to have a dough that’s a little too moist than too dry).

5. Roll out the Dough

Shape dough into a disc and then roll out the dough between two pieces of parchment paper until the dough is slightly larger than your pie tin.

6. Press Dough into Pie Tin

Remove the top parchment paper and then place your hand below the bottom piece of parchment to flip the dough onto your pie tin, then slowly peel off the remaining parchment paper as you press the dough into the tin. Note that the dough may break, but don’t worry as you can easily press the dough back into place (it will still look beautiful once baked).

7. Par-Bake the Crust Dough

Par-bake the pie crust dough for 5 minutes at 425F to firm it up slightly before adding your filling. Alternatively, if you need a fully-baked pie crust for the recipe you’re making, simply bake for 30 minutes at 425F until the crust is firm and the edges are golden brown.

Helpful Tips/Tricks:

• Savory Pie Crust: If you plan on using the crust for a savory pie, simply leave out the sugar and add 1/2 teaspoon of salt instead.

• “Cutting In” The Coconut Oil: You can either use a pastry cutter or two knives to cut at the solid coconut oil until it disintegrates into the flour. Alternatively, I’ve found that using the back of a fork to press down into the coconut oil also does the job, and is less tiring than using two forks.

• Pie Tin: I like using a 9-inch pie tin with a removable bottom as it makes removing the entire pie from the tin much easier. The ridges of the pie tin also make it easier to shape the edges of the pie crust (all you need to do is press the crust into the tin’s edges, no need for any fancy techniques)!

• Brush Edges with Egg Wash: Since this dough doesn’t use butter and tends to bake pretty pale in color, I like to brush the exposed edges of the unbaked crust with beaten egg so that as it cooks it turns a light golden brown.

Recipe FAQs:

Other Basic Recipes You’ll Find Handy:

• 5-Minute Homemade Almond Meal
• 5-Minute Homemade Cashew Flour
• Homemade Cashew Milk (Gluten-Free, Vegan)
• Homemade Almond Milk (Gluten-Free, Vegan)
• 10-Minute Microwave Lemon Curd (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)
• Homemade Pumpkin Puree (Gluten-Free, Vegan)
• Homemade Applesauce (Gluten-Free, Vegan)
• Soft, Fluffy Gluten-Free Bread (Gluten-Free, Dairy-Free)

Dessert Recipes to Enjoy:

P.S. If you try this recipe, I’d love for you to leave a star rating below, and/or a review in the comment section further down the page. I always appreciate your feedback. Be sure to check out my entire Recipe Index for all the recipes on the blog. You can also follow me on Pinterest, Facebook or Instagram! Sign up for my Email List to get fresh recipes in your inbox each week!

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