How to Make Pie Crust in a Food Processor
Learn how to make pie crust in a food processor for the easiest homemade pie crust ever!
There are times when I just don’t have the energy or patience to go through all the steps of my foolproof flaky pie crust. I need a shortcut so I can get it done fast, throw it in the fridge to chill and move on to other things.
Food processor to the rescue!
This pie crust method saves time and effort, but still yields a perfectly flaky all-butter double pie crust.
It’s not entirely foolproof— you can accidentally add too much water or overwork the dough if you’re not careful. But if you pay attention and follow my instructions below you can have your pie crust together in almost no time at all with the help of your food processor.
Table of Contents
- What You’ll Need
- How to make pie crust in a food processor
- Use right away or store for later
- My favorite pie recipes
- Recipe for making pie crust in the food processor
What You’ll Need
- All-purpose flour
- Cold unsalted butter, cubed
- Granulated sugar (optional)
- Salt
- Cold water
- A food processor
How to make pie crust in a food processor
Step 1— Add ingredients to food processor
Put the dry ingredients— flour, salt and sugar (if using)— into a large food processor and pulse a few times to combine.
Step 2— Pulse to break up the butter
Add the butter and quick pulse 3-5 times until the smallest butter pieces are the size of large peas, it’s okay if you have some bigger pieces at this point. You don’t want them any smaller than that as the butter will be further broken up in the next step.
Step 3— Add liquid
Begin to add the cold water (or buttermilk if you are using my buttermilk pie crust recipe) and then turn on the food processor while continuing to add all of the liquid.
Step 4— Let dough start to come together
Let it run until the dough begins to come together (the food processor will actually start making a louder sound when this happens). Once you’ve added all the liquid, you should only need to let it run for a few seconds more, less than 10 seconds total.
Do not over process, use the photo above as a guide to what it should look like. It looks loose, but holds together when pinched. The dough should not come together completely into a ball.
Step 5— Form into disks
Dump the dough out onto a clean surface and gather into 2 equal disks.
Use right away or store for later
Cover in plastic wrap and chill for 1-2 hours before using. If making pie crust ahead of time, you can store it in the fridge for up to 5 days or freeze it for a few months or more. If freezing, double wrap in plastic wrap first. When ready to use, let thaw in the fridge overnight.
My favorite pie recipes
Now that you’ve mastered pie crust, here are a few pie recipes you should definitely make!
- Cranberry Blueberry Pie (pictured below)
- Mile High Apple Pie
- Sweet Cherry Pie
- Strawberry Rhubarb Pie
- Classic Pumpkin Pie
Recipe for making pie crust in the food processor
How to Make Pie Crust in a Food Processor
Ingredients
- 2 ½ cups all-purpose flour (300 grams)
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (optional)
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter , cold and cut into cubes (226 grams)
- ⅓ cup ice cold water (80 ml)
Instructions
- Put the flour, sugar (if using) and salt in a large food processor fitted with the metal blade and pulse a few times to combine. Add the cubed butter and quick pulse 3-5 times until butter is broken up into pieces the size of large peas.
- Slowly begin to add ⅓ water and then while still pouring, run the food processor until all the water has been added and mixture begins to come together (mixer will actually begin to make a different sound), but stop before it forms a complete ball. Some crumbs are okay.
- Turn dough out onto a clean surface and form into 2 equal disks. Cover in plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 1 hours and up to 5 days. Pie crust also freezes very well, up to 2 months.
- Proceed with pie recipe as instructed.
Notes
NOTES
- Makes two 9-inch pie crusts (for 2 single crust pies, or 1 double crust pie).
- Be sure to also check out my full tutorial on how to make the flakiest pie crust.
- You can find my buttermilk pie crust variation here. It’s my favorite for fruit pies!
- I have only used this method for traditional all-butter pie crusts. It’s possible that other types of pie crust will have different results.
- Nutritional info is for one entire pie crust (approximately 10 servings).
Are you using the plastic dough attachment or the metal blade?
The metal blade. I’ll add a clarification in the recipe.
I am using a metal blade. Thanks again.
I have wanted to know how to make a pie Crust using my Food Processor and I am happy I found this. Sounds so easy and I bet the pie crust will turn out very good. Thanks for sharing this great way to make a Pie Crust.
Barbara
This method worked beautifully! Easiest pie crust I’ve ever made! Thanks so much for sharing. I’m only using this recipe ever again.
So glad you liked it, thanks for the feedback!
What is a good food processor to buy? Mine is old & I almost burned it up when I made a pie crust in it
I currently have a Magimix, but I would also trust Cuisinart and KitchenAid brands. I like large food processors with smaller bowl sizes so I have options. Hope this helps!
I have A Ninja and love it
Using the Cuisinar food processor made it so quick and easy. The easiest pie crust ever made! Used the Cuisinar plastic dough attachment.
Why does the crust have to sit for 2 hours? This is my first attempt ever and I can’t believe how easy it was. Later Pilsbury!
The crust needs to rest in order for the gluten in the flour to relax, if you roll it out right away it could shrink in the oven. And the crust needs to stay cold so the butter doesn’t melt and incorporate into the flour. You want there to be pockets of butter throughout the dough for a flaky crust. So, if you chill it in the fridge for about 2 hours that should do the trick! 🙂
Thanks for getting back to me! I let it sit for about an hour and then I assembled my pot pie. It rested in the fridge till the next day. It baked to perfection. Thank you for sharing this recipe! It’s going to be a permenant addition to my collection.
Yay! So glad it turned out great. Thanks Ashley!
I am VERY new to the pie world, so please forgive me if this is a stupid question. But…the two discs of dough, the second one is for the top of the pie correct? Thank you so much in advance!
Yes! One for the bottom crust and one for the top! Not a stupid question at all. 🙂
After you take the dough out of the fridge, do you knead it at all or just roll it as it is?
Just roll it as is! 🙂
How many times should I multiply this recipe to get enough for a double crust slab pie? I am thinking 3 times? I have a standard jelly roll pan.
Hi Christa! I think doubling the recipe actually should be enough. That would normally make 4 total crusts, and I think 2 each for the top and bottom will work. Hope this helps!
Great recipe. Very easy to make. It will save lot of time and we will get a testy pie. I will prepare it soon with my new food processor.
I burned up my new kitchenaid 14 cup food processor. I wrote to the company and told them what happened when I tried to make pie crust. They told me that the 14 cup processor should not hold more than 2 1/2 cups of dough. Your recipe should be fine; I just tried to double it.
So as you said I don’t need a dough attachment just use the blade attachment that came with my processor?
Yep! That’ll work just fine.
Does this make two crusts?
Yes.
Made a meat pis. Crust was delicious.
Oops pie crust its really amazing… Mouthwatering dish and seriously food processor helps a lot to make it more easier
What size cup food processor do you need to make pie crust dough? I notice you say “large” in your instruction.. I am in the market for a food processor but wondering what cup size to get. Any info is appreciated thank you.
I think mine is a 16-cup, but you could get away with a 14 or even maybe a 12-cup. Hope this helps!
yummm.. pie crust is awesome… Thanx for sharing this recipe with us Annalise.
Wonderful and super easy. Thank you! My food processor is 11 cup Cuisinart and it was perfect!
Thank you so much! I have been trying to make a flaky crust forever and to no avail until I tried your recipe. I will definitely be bringing a pie to Thanksgiving dinner this year!!! God Bless you!
Yay!!
I have a kitchen aid 13 cup. I found that the flour wasn’t mixing altogether? Aim I doing something wrong? Also I always use shortening would that be ok?
Well, I only every use butter in my pie crust so that may be the issue as I’ve never had that problems with flour not mixing in. If you try it with butter and still have issues, I’d be happy to help you troubleshoot!
hello, can you please tell me, Are you using the plastic dough attachment?
Just made this, I did however have to add more water because it was not coming together. With that said it finally did but I may have a smidge too much. Do you think it will come out okay still?
H, How long do I bake the Pie Crust before I fill the crust with the apples? Thanks
Follow your apple pie recipe for specific instructions, this post is just how to make pie crust! If you need an apple pie recipe, this one is my fave. 🙂
thanks for sharing
its rather unfortunate im not good at it, this is a plus , and a news . Will pass it on.
Wow yumie, just sent the link to my wife. I like it and please do well to update others of suchs.
Would have some too please. Just like mum did.
I have tried it in 3 different ways . But now ima try this and give the feedback. Thanks.
What speed do I use with kitchen aid. And for how little long. Thank you
You can’t make pie crust in a stand mixer, sorry! If you don’t want to use a food processor, check out my traditional pie crust recipe.
Wow yumie, just sent the link to my wife. I like it and please do well to update others of suchs.
very nice one
Hello. I am planning on making crusts for chicken pot pies..could you tell me is your receipe for deep dish pies or regular size pies, since my food processor is a 10 cup. I have determined that I would have to make several crusts separately. I want to make sure that dividing your receipe in half would be enough for my deep dish pie pan
The pie crust recipe makes enough dough for 2 regular pies or 1 regular double crusted pie. Hope this helps!
very nice one
What are some of the adjustments you would make if using Bob Mills 1 to 1 Gluten Free flour?
I’ve never baked with gluten free flour so I can’t recommend any adjustments, so sorry!
So glad my hubby and I came across your pie crust recipe. This is a sure keeper. So easy and delicious. The family enjoyed all the pies!
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Look delicious will try this for sure
Thanks for sharing 🙂
amazing ,thanks for sharing.
Having never tried food processor pie crust before I have to say it’s amazingly easy! Your pictorial steps were great instructions.
Having only small cuisinart I had to half recipe and make it x2 but it was good practice.
I will make my pie tomorrow so fingers crossed it rolls out well.
Bye bye store bought crusts!
Many thanks!
I’ve been baking pies for over 30 years, but after a car accident left me with bad wrist, I’ve been looking for a food processor pie crust recipe because I can no longer blend the pastry by hand. This recipe did not work for me at all. It was way too dry and made a crumbly, perpetually cracking crust. It was really frustrating trying to patch and repatch the crust enough to hold together. I finally just pressed a bunch of the larger cracked pieces into the pie dish and went to the store to buy a prepared crust for the top. It was a very dry day here, so maybe that made a difference, but in 30+ years I’ve never had a crust turn out like this. I don’t know, but I won’t be using this recipe again. Flavorwise, my husband said the bottom crust (this recipe) tasted way better than the top (boxed one from the grocery store) so that’s a plus. It was just too aggravating to try and work with this dry pastry to bother with this again.
Thanks for this recipe – first time I have ever been successful making pie crusts.
Is this recipe enough for the top and bottom crust of the pie, or just the shell?
It makes 2 pie crust rounds, enough of a double crusted pie.
This is the easiest pie dough I have ever made. What a wonderful recipe, I won’t use any other!!!
Super quick and easy!
This was my first time making pie crust from scratch. I used it to make a pumpkin pie and a peach pie for Thanksgiving. This crust is phenomenal! Highly recommend it. It was super easy to make.
The US measure for water is wrong, 118 ml is half a cup not a third. Once I made that adjustment the crust came out PERFECT!
Please adjust your recipe to reflect the correct ml for the 1/3 cup of water. It is listed incorrectly in the recipe. Think it should be 78 or 79 ml of water not 118. Thanks
Thanks for catching my mistake, done!
OMG I absolutely love this recipe. It reminds me of my grandmothers pie crust. So good and easy!
I made this today. December 18, 2020. It looked exactly like the posted shots in your recipe. I used LARD instead of butter. I didn’t put in the optional sugar. The crust rolled out beautifully! I must make thinner crust. I made a 9 in. pie and had enough leftover to make a small (6 in.?) single crust pie.
My pie crust was too sticky I had to add a little flour on the board. I added the right amount of water. Will my crust come out too sticky when I try to roll it. I will let it in the frig, will this help?
It sounds like you added too much water, or maybe not quite enough flour. You can always compensate by adding more flour to the surface as you roll it out to prevent sticking.
I have a question? What size food processor do you need to make this pie crust. I have an old food processor that is maybe 15 years old. I think it might be 11 cups. But my dough doesn’t mix well. The butter/crisco gets clogged in the bottom outside edges. It doesn’t mix it well when I start to add the water. I have been searching for a new reasonable priced food processor but not sure what size I need.
I have a 12 cup Cuisinart and it is absolutely wonderful…
I love, love, love this recipe. I use it all the time, making more pies, pot pies. It’s a miracle pie dough. I’ll never use another!!
thank you so much!
Okay. Thanks for the instructions and recipe. I bought my Cuisinart FP11 (11 cups) so I could use it for pie crusts, to do just as instructed here. I mixed the flour and salt in the processor. I added the cup of cubed butter, but the machine could not “reach” the butter up on top. I opened the top and tried to “introduce” the butter, with no luck. I failed! Ack! Whahoppen?
Found this recipe today, worked brilliantly, made a pithivier style pie with it.
I had to use 2/3 cup of water to hold the dough together but the crusts still came out great. This was my first attempt at homemade crust and I will use this recipe again. Thanks for sharing!
Omg, always hated making traditional pie crust. Always found it tedious. This was so easy and absolutely amazing. My daughter told me she didn’t k ow what I did but this was the best crust ever so buttery and flaky. This will be my go to crust recipe from now on! No mixing by hand required the processor did it all. Start to finish maybe 5 min. Thank so much!
So happy to hear you loved this method Joanne! I agree, such a delicious crust for minimal effort. Happy pie baking!
Hi – I just tied to make pastry in my food processer, I think I had too much as i doubled the recipe. It didn’t go into ‘breadcrumbs’ but became a big lump. What can I do, or is it just garbage?
Hmm yes a double batch may have been a bit ambitious. If it’s one big lump it might have been overworked, which would produce a tougher crust, but it’s hard to know without trying it.
Wow, Pie Crust looks amazing, thank you!
Wonderful and super easy. Thank you!
Honestly, I haven’t made a pie crust from scratch for a very long time. I just got some apples from upstate NY so of course a pie was in my near future. I choose your recipe because it used the food processor and the instructions were thorough with pictures. It was easy and delicious. I had forgotten how much better a real pie crust tasted and I had a few leftover pieces to make a tasty treat for my dogs.
Wowzer! Super easy and fast! The only thing that took a little time was cubing the butter. I have a medium sized food processor and it worked great.
Have the dough resting in the fridge. Made two batches for tarts.
Thanks for sharing this. I loved it.
Is it okay to triple or quadruple the recipe? Or is it better to do several small batches?
Depends on the size of your food processor!
It worked!! It came out great. I was very surprised. Thank you.
i made one first time but fell apart at time i dont think i had enough ice water could that be the reason for fallen apart also the food processer has blad and a atachment on ablack and decker not sur ewhich one to use it has 2 atachments
Amount of ingredients?
The full recipe is in the recipe card at the bottom of the post.
The crust came out like rubber. VERY difficult to roll out and handle. I made a pumpkin pie and while cooking the crust pulled back into the shell so we had less on the sides and an extra thick bottom. All butter is just too much. You really need shortening. As for a food processor, you can put any recipe into a food processor.
The crust did taste good. It was not flakey in consistency.
FYI I am a part time baker
Hi Lucy! I’m sorry you had trouble with this recipe. It sounds like too much liquid was added to the crust, which is easy to do in the food processor because everything happens so fast. I have made literally hundreds of successful pie crusts using this all-butter recipe for the last 15 years. I’m happy to help you troubleshoot next time if you want to send me an email completelydelicious@gmail.com. Or if you’re more comfortable using shortening, you can always substitute some of it in this recipe, or stick to a recipe you know and love. We all have our favorites that never fail us! 🙂
This sounds so much easier than the traditional way. I cant wait to try it. Thank you for the idea and I will comment after I try it out. Thanks so much because I could never make a nice crust before.
Awesome recipe. I believe you have the wrong amount of liquid as it should be 1\2 a cup just like your buttermilk recipe. It works out exactly as promised with that amount of liquid and is so quick and easy. Thanks for the great recipes.
Buttermilk is thicker than water, so I use more of it in pie crust. If I make pie crust with water, I only use about 1/4-1/3 cup. And I always start with the lesser amount and add more if needed. I hope this helps! 🙂
I’ve used this recipe a couple of times and am delighted with how easy it is and how well it turns out!
One note of caution to anyone considering adjusting the ‘serving size’:
If you change the number of servings from the default value of 10, the ingredient volume measurements change, but the weights do not! For example, the weight of the flour will remain at 300g regardless of how many cups are specified. As one who prefers weight measurements over volumetric ones, I’m glad that I noticed this!
Thank you for this feedback! Yes, with the current functionality of my site, only the volume measurements will be automatically adjusted. But I will look into how to make this more user friendly.
I had never made pastry crust in a food processor before, but have always been curious. Thank you so much for this recipe! It was sooo simple to do and turned out perfectly! I had 20 cornish pasties to make and making the pastry in the food processor made my chore an absolute breeze….plus the pastry turned out so good. I will be making pastry so much more now! I am thinking tarts next.
Tried this recipe many times but I use shortening instead of butter. Turns out great every time…..so easy in the food processor…..don’t make pastry by hand anymore….thanks for the great recipe !!!!
NEVER have I ever been able to make homemade pie crust. My mother was a whiz at it and tried to teach me, only to have me in tears. I’d even throw the crust across the room and face a whipping. I am 75 1/2 years old, and today I made my FIRST successful pie crust. I went online to see if I could make one in my food processor and I came across this. Where were you so many years ago. It is wonderful, so buttery, crusty and delicious. I was making lemon merigine pies and I usually bought the already made crusts, but I did not feel like going out in the heat to buy one. Thank you so very much. I will be making lots more pies now. THANK YOU
Hi Sharon! Wow, what a review. 🙂 I’m so happy this recipe was so helpful, and worked so well for you!! Thanks so much for taking the time to leave the feedback.
For the first time I made a Pie crust that I am happy with! No mess, perfect pie at the end! I will keep this recepie forever!
They are delicious, I appreciate the formula. Thanks for the content
There’s too much shortening in this recipe making the crust a sandy texture rather than a flaky one.
It also makes it too fragile to use for a lattice too or decorative edge— even after being in the freezer both before and after shaping.
When i took the disk of pie dough out of the refrigerator it was so hard I couldn’t roll it out. It has now been a half hour and it is still hard. Why?
Thank you hope it works
can you us the none stick butter for a pie crust
Absolutely perfect crust. I am 70 years old. This is the easiest recipe I have ever used. Goodbye premade refrigerated crusts!
nice
Help!! Mine came out sticky! What did I do wrong, chilled. I did use ice water only 3 tablespoons are very sticky. How can I fix this?
Hi Gail! Sorry it’s sticky. It could be that it was processed too long? Or it could have been a measurement error. You can try to add flour as you shape the dough disks, and again when you roll out and see if that helps. You can also always try again and start over, but I know that’s such a bummer.
can i use frozen butter
Sure