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Free Printable: Low Carb & Keto Food List
Get It NowI Use This Almond Flour Pie Crust Recipe For Every Pie
This almond flour pie crust has been one of my favorite almond flour recipes for years. It’s buttery and flaky, and works well in many kinds of low carb recipes — from sweet keto desserts and to savory meals. I’ve had it here on Wholesome Yum since 2017, but it was actually one of the first healthy baked goods I ever made, long before that. Here’s why I use it for practically every pie I make:
- Buttery, rich, and flaky – I love the texture of this almond flour crust. No, it doesn’t taste quite the same as a white flour version, but it reminds me of a shortbread cookie. You’re going to love it!
- Quick and easy – You need just 5 simple ingredients, plus salt. And it only takes about 15 minutes.
- Healthy and keto friendly – This crust is low carb (just 2g net carbs per serving), grain-free, and gluten-free, with a dairy-free option. It’s also just a healthier choice with clean ingredients and no refined sugar.
- Make it sweet or savory – I’ve used variations of this keto pie crust in so many recipes, from sweet lemon meringue pie and pumpkin pie to savory chicken pot pie and spinach pie. You can use it for any kind of pie! Even my low carb cheesecake has a similar base.
- Option for a top crust – This is often a challenge for almond flour pie crust, but I’ve got top crust instructions below by just adding an extra ingredient.
If you’re looking for a keto pie crust or just want a healthier alternative for your baking, this is it. Make it with me and just add your favorite filling!
Ingredients & Substitutions
Here I explain the best ingredients for my almond flour pie crust recipe, what each one does, and substitution options. For measurements, see the recipe card.
Almond Flour:
I recommend Wholesome Yum Super Fine Blanched Almond Flour, which has the finest consistency and will give you the best texture. You can make this pie crust with almond meal, but the texture will be more grainy since it’s more coarse.
I do not recommend using coconut flour in this recipe — it will be extremely dry. Make my coconut flour pie crust instead.
Sweetener:
You only need this for a sweet almond flour pie crust — omit for savory. My keto sweeteners guide covers the differences between alternatives, but here’s a summary of what you can and can’t use for this recipe:
- Besti Monk Fruit Allulose Blend – My top recommendation, because it measures just like sugar, has 0 calories and net carbs, and has no aftertaste. Most importantly, it helps lock in moisture (unlike other sweeteners), for a flaky keto crust that isn’t dry.
- Erythritol – I used to make this almond flour crust with it, but no longer recommend it. It’s more drying than Besti and can taste a little gritty and minty. Because erythritol is less sweet than Besti, you’ll need more to achieve the same sweetness.
- Allulose – Similar to Besti above, but less sweet. You have to use more, just like erythritol.
- Coconut Sugar – A paleo option. It’s not keto friendly, but works if it fits your lifestyle.
- Liquid Sweeteners – Avoid these, they make the crust too runny. I’m working on a different recipe for these.
Use my sweetener conversion calculator if you use something other than Besti.
Even for sweet recipes, I’ve varied the amount of sweetener in this keto pie crust, depending on how sweet the filling is:
- If your filling is super-sweet, then 2-3 tablespoons of sweetener in the crust might be enough.
- If it’s more tart, you may want to use as much as 1/2 cup of sweetener.
- Most often, 1/4 cup of Besti is a good amount, so that’s what I put in the recipe.
Other Ingredients:
- Fat – Fat adds flavor, prevents dryness, ensures the correct wet/dry ingredient ratio, and gives you that golden edge. I use unsalted grass-fed butter most often and it’s delicious! If you need an alternative, you can use ghee (dairy-sensitive) or coconut oil (dairy-free, but imparts a mild coconut flavor). If you want to keep that buttery flavor, I love butter flavored coconut oil.
- Egg – Provides structure and gets you the right wet/dry ratio. If you need a substitute, the easiest is to increase the amount of butter (or other fat) in my almond flour pie crust recipe by 2 more tablespoons. It will be a little more crumbly, but still tastes great. You can also use a flax egg, my go-to egg substitute when I’m recipe testing for my dairy-free readers.
- Salt – Salt brings out the sweetness, so don’t leave it out. For a savory almond flour crust, omit the sweetener and double the amount of salt. I use sea salt for all my recipes, but any kind is fine.
- Vanilla Extract (optional) – I highly recommend it for a sweet crust. I like this brand.
How To Make Almond Flour Pie Crust
I have step-by-step photos here to help you visualize the recipe. For full instructions with amounts and temperatures, see the recipe card below.
- Mix the dry ingredients. In a large bowl, combine almond flour, Besti (if using), and sea salt.
- Add the wet ingredients. Pour in the melted butter (mixed with vanilla, if using) and egg. Stir until well combined. Your almond flour pie dough will be crumbly, which is normal.
- Press into a pie pan. Transfer the dough to a greased or lined pie pan and press in, fluting the edges if you like. Poke holes in the surface with a fork to prevent bubbling.
- Bake until golden. Let your almost flour pie crust cool for at least 10-15 minutes before adding filling.
My Recipe Tips
- Use a food processor for even faster prep. It’s a little more cleanup, but makes it easier to incorporate the ingredients well. Plus, it’s less fuss: you basically dump everything in the food processor and spin. I have this food processor and love it. You can also use a hand mixer, but keep the speed low because the dough tends to go flying.
- Make sure your dough is mixed well. Mix the dry ingredients well to start (if doing it by hand, I like to use a whisk to break up any lumps). Then, mix very well again after adding the wet ingredients.
- The dough consistency can vary a bit. It depends on how you measure, and whether you include the sweetener (for a sweet almond flour pie crust) or not. This recipe is pretty forgiving, so as long as you can press the dough together between your fingers without crumbling apart, you’re good. You can add a little extra melted butter if it seems super dry.
- This almond flour pie crust recipe is for a shallow 9-inch pie pan. I use and love this glass pan. If yours is a different size or material, you might need to adjust the amount of dough and/or oven time.
- Do you still have to pre-bake if your filling is baked? Yes! The crust will get soggy if you don’t. But see my other tips below to avoid burning.
- If your pie filling needs baking, cover the crust edges. Since we blind bake this crust (that means bake it before filling), it will get too dark when you bake your pie if your edges aren’t covered. I usually just cover the edges with foil, but you can also use a non-stick pie shield or a silicone shield.
- Be careful not to over-bake. If the edges get dark golden when you blind bake, they will burn by the time your baked pie is done, even when covered. I aim for just the slightest hint of golden during the blind bake step if I’ll be baking it again, but let it get darker if I’ll be adding a filling that doesn’t need baking.
- Let the crust cool a bit before adding fillings. This helps it set, so that it doesn’t get soggy. It doesn’t have to be completely cool, but do wait at least 10-15 minutes.
- Want extra flavor? This almond flour pie crust is a neutral base that works with just about any filling. You can mix some garlic powder or Italian seasoning with the dry ingredients for a savory crust, or cinnamon (with the dry ingredients) or maple extract (with the wet ingredients) for a sweet crust.
Almond Flour Pie Crust (Keto, 5 Ingredients)
My almond flour pie crust is buttery and flaky, with 5 minutes prep, 5 ingredients, and 2g net carbs. It's a gluten-free, keto pie crust, too.
Instructions
[ See my tips ]Tap on the times in the instructions to start a kitchen timer.
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Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C). Line the bottom of a 9 in (23 cm) round pie pan with parchment paper, or grease well.
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In a large bowl, mix together the almond flour, Besti (if using), and sea salt.
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Stir in the melted butter and egg, until well combined. (If using vanilla, stir that into the melted butter before adding to the dry ingredients.) The "dough" will be dry and crumbly. Just keep mixing, pressing and stirring, until it's uniform and there is no almond flour powder left. (Alternatively, you can use a food processor to mix it all together.)
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Press the dough into the bottom of the prepared pan. You can flute the edges of desired; if it crumbles when doing this, just press it back together. Carefully poke holes in the surface using a fork to prevent bubbling.
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Bake for 6-12 minutes, until the edges are slightly golden — the time can vary depending on your pan, your oven, and the sweetener you use (or don't use).
Add fillings only after pre-baking. If your fillings will require baking again, you'll want to parbake the crust for the shorter end of the time spectrum, around 6-8 minutes, and use a pie shield or foil to cover the edges when baking again with filling.
Did You Like It?
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Maya’s Recipe Notes
Serving size: 1 slice, or 1/12 of entire recipe
- Almond flour note: You can make this pie crust using almond meal, but the texture will be more grainy since it’s more coarse. I recommend Wholesome Yum Super Fine Blanched Almond Flour, which has the finest consistency and will give you the best texture.
- Sweetener note: The amount of sweetener that is best will vary based on the filling. Use 1/4 cup for a sweet crust, 2-3 tablespoons for a very lightly sweet crust (if your filling is super sweet), up to 1/2 cup for a very sweet crust (if you like a sweeter crust or your filling is tart), or omit sweetener for savory crust.
- Recipe tips: See my tips here! I’ve got a time-saving shortcut, notes on dough consistency and pie pan size, how to ensure your almond flour crust is not too dark or soggy, and add-ins for extra flavor.
- Making a top crust: This almond flour pie crust recipe won’t work for a top crust as written, but you can modify it by adding gelatin powder and water to make it sturdy enough for a top crust. See my top crust instructions.
- Make ahead: You can wrap the dough in plastic, press it into the pan, or pre-bake it ahead. With any of these options, store in the fridge covered in plastic for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months. See more details in the make ahead section above.
- Pie fillings: Try my sweet keto pecan pie, sugar-free pumpkin pie, keto apple pie, keto key lime pie, keto lemon meringue pie, or keto coconut cream pie. You can also make savory chicken pot pie, spinach pie, or keto quiche.
I provide nutrition facts as a courtesy. Have questions about calculations or why you got a different result? Please see my nutrition policy.
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Almond Flour Pie Crust
How To Make A Top Crust
I get this question a lot, and it’s important to know that you can’t use this almond flour pie dough for a top crust as written. But you can modify it to make a top crust! Here’s how:
- Multiply the crust ingredient amounts by 1.5. I can do this for you if you just update the number of servings on the recipe card above from 12 to 18! Or you can just see the amounts in my keto apple pie recipe.
- Add 1 tablespoon of unflavored gelatin powder + 2 tablespoons of water. Mix well. This doesn’t work well mixing by hand (you may end up with lumps of gelatin), so I recommend using either a food processor or hand mixer.
- Blind bake the bottom crust. Press half of the dough into the bottom and sides of the pie dish. (Leave thinner sides than you would if you were fluting an almond flour pie crust without the top.) Bake for 6-8 minutes, until set but not really golden.
- Add the filling and top crust. Fill your pie shell with your favorite filling. Roll out the remaining dough between sheets of parchment paper, flip over onto your pie, then peel off the paper. Seal the edges and cut slits on top to vent.
- Bake your pie. The baking time will depend on your filling, but I usually recommend an oven temperature of 350 degrees F.
Alternatively, check out my gluten-free pie crust, which is also almond flour based but more sturdy for a top crust.
Pie Filling Options
This almond flour pie crust works for all kinds of pies! Here are some of my recipes you can use it with:
- Sweet – I use this keto pie crust for sweet pies most often. It’s the base for my keto pecan pie, sugar-free pumpkin pie, and keto apple pie for Thanksgiving and throughout the fall. You can also use it for my healthy apple pie (as long as you don’t mind not having a lattice top). In the spring and summer, I love it for keto key lime pie, keto lemon meringue pie, and keto coconut cream pie.
- Savory – Try the savory version with my chicken pot pie, spinach pie, or keto quiche.
You can even use this crust for tarts, like my pear tart or tomato tart recipe.
Do you have other pie fillings you like? Let me know in the comments below how you use this almond flour crust!
Make Ahead Options
You can easily make this almond flour pie crust in advance. There are several different ways:
- Just make the dough: Wrap it in plastic and store in a ball in the fridge for up to 5 days.
- Press into the pan: Instead of wrapping the ball of dough, you can press it into the pan and cover that in plastic.
- Pre-bake the crust: My go-to option, since this almond flour pie crust is best pre-baked anyway. Cover and store in the fridge. It’s also fine on the counter for a day or so after baking.
- Freeze: You can freeze a ball of dough, raw crust pressed into a pan, or pre-baked crust. It will keep in the freezer for up to 6 months. Whether or not you can freeze this keto pie crust with filling inside will depend on the specific filling. Like any crust, it can get soggy upon thawing with certain fillings. You can thaw on the counter or in the fridge overnight.
644 Comments
Kara Cleary
0I loved this, it came out great and was delicious. My 5 yr old daughter actually pushed aside the pie filling and picked up the crust and ate that on its own – and I didnt put any sweetener in! I used melted butter, mixed by hand, and pressed bout 1/2 cm thin w back of spoon into glass pie dish. I buttered the dish well and didnt use parchment paper and it cut well, and held together perfect. I prebaked prob for a bit longer as i got distracted maybe 15-17 mins and i lowered the temp as my oven is very hot. This was super quick, easy and tasty, i dont know if I’ll ever bother w flour pastry again!! Thank you!
Donna
0Can this crust be made a day before you fill it with the pie filling?
karin miller
0So if I am making an apple pie using fresh uncooked apples, I would normally piled the apples in an unbaked pie crust and bake everything for about 45-60 mins. With this recipe if I prebake the crust, wont the apples be undercooked…or the pie crust over cooked?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Karin, Baking the crust for that long should be fine (in addition to pre-baking). My only suggestion would be to cover the crust edges with tin foil so they don’t burn, and be prepared to cover the top of the crust in foil if it starts to get too golden uncovered. Best wishes!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Donna, Yes, that will work just fine. Enjoy!
Gillian-Louise Smith
0Added psyllium husk, finely ground to bind together. Perfect sweetness. Thanks. Have made it twice now, and works perfectly with Maria Emmerich’s Chocolate pudding as a filling. 1/4 cup of psyllium husk. Hope I haven’t offended you, adding to your recipe.
Lindsey Parsons
0This crust was to die for. Loved it, and I’ve tried some real losers in the world of gluten-free crusts. So happy to be pleasantly surprised!
Jennifer Johnson
0Amazing!
Anna Clark
0This crust is AMAZING!!! I wanted to make a quiche but with a low carb crust. A friend gave me some ultra fine whole almond flour so I tried this out. I didn’t have ghee, so I just used melted butter. I added some seasoning as well. The crust was easy to blend with a hand mixer and very easy to spread. No problems pre-baking it. The quiche came out perfect and the crust complimented it wonderfully. I look forward to using it again!
Gia
0Hello, my pie recipe says to fill uncooked crusted with filling.
Should I still bake crust ahead of time? And again with filling? :/
Thank you
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Gia, The pie shell needs to be baked before you add filling. It will bake for 10 minutes empty, then you can remove it from the oven, add the filling, and then bake again. If the crust edges start to get too dark, you can cover them with foil. Enjoy!
Meena Ugra
0Recipe is good. My only comment is that the crust was very thick. May be I made a mistake. Cutting it was tough. Next time I will proportionately reduce ingredients.
Thanks.
Sue Defran
0Best pie crust I ever tasted and easy to make I made this tons of times it’s delicious
Brenda
0Used as a crust for pumpkin pie bars. Followed the recipe and they came out great! Baked in a 11×7 glass dish with parchment. I didn’t prick the crust when I par-baked since a wet filling was going on top and my filling covered the crust edges so I didn’t need to worry about edges burning. Thanks for this recipe!
Sue Nightingale
0I’ve been looking for a low carb pie crust. I haven’t made this yet but rest assured it’s on my to do list. My question is would this particular pie crust be suitable for a Meat pie aka Tourtiere. Thanks
Gen
0Did you try the tourtiere? Tourtiere has a top. I see the other recipe with the geletin, but can i just add this dough/crust as the top and freeze without baking the top first?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Sue, Yes! Just remember to par-bake it before adding any fillings.
Tamara TerBurgh
0Can this be used as a top crust as well? Trying to make a pot pie with turkey leftover.
Maya | Wholesome Yum
0Hi Tamara, Not exactly as written, but close – you can add gelatin like I do in my keto apple pie. I’ll have a keto pot pie recipe coming up next month, too.
Tammy
0I used the almond pie crust for my Keto Pumpkin Pie. i was really impressed with how well it turned out. I used ghee which made the crust a bit oily, I typically follow the recipe to the tee the first time. I will try with butter next time. Still a great crust.
Jeff
0Loved this crust. Although next time I’ll press it thinner as it was very thick (delicious though); this makes a lot of dough for the one pie. I did the food processor method – worked very well. I have to confess I did make one little goof: I got the pumpkin pie recipe confused with the crust recipe and put in a teaspoon of the molasses and it was so tasty! I recommend putting in that little bit of molasses; it really adds so much flavor. Will hang on to this one!
Bonnye
0Having some trouble with this crust, after about ten minutes there was a lot of oil in the crust, but I used the ingredients and steps listed exactly. Any ideas? The center isn’t baking well either, I’ve had to cover the edges and the center has taken over 5 more minutes and still doesn’t look done.
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Bonnye, The center will not brown like the crust along the edge of the pie plate, so don’t be too concerned about the coloring. Did you fully incorporate the ghee (or butter) into the dough for the crust? If you had visible lumps of ghee in your dough, then it would cause the oily pooling you are talking about at the bottom of the pie plate.
Renee McMichael
0Easy and delicious! Thank you!
Tamara
0I’m not sure what I did wrong, but my crust was sooooo greasy. I even used paper towels to soak up the oil before baking! I also used allulose and didn’t care for the consistency of the crust. It was too soft like a really soft cookie, not flaky at all like pie crust. The flavor was ok. I just ate it plain without putting the filling in because I knew it wasn’t going to be what I wanted. I love most of the other recipes on this site, however this one fell short. I have it one star but it wouldn’t accept my rating!
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Tamara, I am sorry you weren’t happy with the recipe. Keto pie crusts generally aren’t flaky like a traditional wheat flour pie crust. Did you use finely sifted almond flour or almond meal? The more coarse the texture is, the more oily it will be.
Tamera
0This is my new go to crust recipe. Thank you.
Gretchen H.
0I’ve used this recipe repeatedly to make quiche. Today is my first time using it for pie–pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving!! I’ll be using that recipe too. Thank you!!
Tina Robillard
0Where did the video go?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Tina, The video is still located in the recipe card. Please make sure you don’t have any blockers installed or are viewing the website in ‘Reader Mode.’ This can be verified in your browser settings.
Julie
0I would like to use this for Thanksgiving. Can lard be used instead of oil?
Wholesome Yum M
0Hi Julie, I have not personally tested this recipe with lard, but I believe it should work.