Name: Easy And Delicious 3 Ingredient Pie Crust
Prep time: 2 h
Cook time: 45 min
Total time: 2 h 45 min
Yield: 8
Ingredients: 1 ¼ cup flour; ½ cup cold butter, cubed or grated; ¼ cup ice-cold water; 4 cups fresh cherries, pitted; ½ cup sugar; 2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice; 1/3 cup tapioca starch or cornstarch; 2 tbsp butter, chopped; 1 egg white, beaten, for brushing the pie

*This post may contain affiliate links. Please see my disclosure to learn more.

Jump to Recipe

Looking for the best butter pie crust? This is a 3-ingredient pie crust made with butter — no shortening! It is a no-fail crust, perfect for sweet and savory pies.

Pie crust is something we do not think too much about. We usually get one in the store and hardly ever try to make it at home.

Frozen pie crusts are sometimes a lifesaver, but with so many different options, I know I have come across some bad pie crusts. They were either chewy or just fell apart and ruined my entire pie.

The pie crust for many pies is very important. The filling is important and must be good, but the pie crust is what holds everything together.

With this simple recipe, you can make your pie crust in no time and with minimal effort. Plus if you double the recipe, you will have an additional pie crust to freeze and use whenever you want!

What Is A 3 Ingredient Pie Crust?

A 3-ingredient pie crust is exactly what the name states — a pie crust made with only three ingredients: flour, fat (I prefer butter — more below), and water!

Some like to add a pinch of salt, but that is completely up to you. This pie crust has no sugar in it, so it is perfect to be used for both sweet and savory pies.

What To Use For Fat When Making Pie Crust

Pie crust is a mix of flour, fat, and water. The type of fat you want to use is completely up to you, but here are some of my thoughts on this.

With this info, I hope you will choose your favorite type of fat for your pie crust and create something amazing!

Shortening

Shortening is a popular shelf-stable alternative to butter. Shortening is a great option if you want to make a vegan pie crust.

When it comes to pros and cons, the pros of shortening are that it is easier to incorporate it into the dough, as it has a higher melting point than butter or lard. Additionally, pie made with shortening will keep its shape better while baking.

The cons of shortening are that it lacks flavor and has a slightly greasy mouthfeel.

Oil

Oil is another popular type of fat that is used in pie crusts (especially coconut oil), so this is another great option for vegans.

Oil can be very easily incorporated into the dough, and rich oils, such as coconut, can add unique flavor to the crusts.

The cons of using oil are that the dough will be very breakable, therefore more difficult to roll out and transfer into a pie pan. The resulting crust will be crumbly and tender, and not as flaky as crusts made with other types of fat.

Lard

Lard is an old-fashioned type of fat used in pie crusts, but it is a perfectly good fat to use for pie crusts in the present day.

Lard produces an extremely crispy flaky crust, and it is also easy to work with. It has a higher melting point than butter so it does not melt as easily as butter and will not dissolve on flour as quickly as butter before baking.

The downside of the lard is that quality rendered leaf lard is hard to find. Much of the lard available in the stores has been hydrogenated and filled with preservatives, and usually comes with a strong scent.

Butter

Butter is my first choice when it comes to pie crusts! Butter has the best flavor and creates deliciously light, flaky layers in the pie crust.

Butter is also the flavor everyone knows and loves as it pairs amazingly with any type of filling, be it sweet or savory.

However, butter can be harder to work with than lard or shortening because of its lower melting point — this is the reason why we chill the dough before rolling it out.

Your dough (if using butter) for the pie crust should be chilled or left on the counter depending on its features; if it is sticky and falls apart, then chill the dough.

If the dough is too hard to roll it out, then leave it on the kitchen counter to sit for a while until you can roll it out.

What To Use For Pie Filling

When I make pies with my family, they are usually sweet instead of savory (especially when we pair them with ice cream). That’s not to say we don’t also love savory pies at my house!

During the summer, my favorite pies are:

For the fall/winter seasons, I like to make:

Apple pie
Chocolate pie
Pumpkin pie

Here are some of my favorite savory pies:

Now I know I said these are my favorite, but these are still only some of the ideas you can try. The only limit is your own creativity, so go have fun — the filling is completely up to you!

Easy And Delicious 3 Ingredient Pie Crust

Preparation time: 2 hours

Cooking time: 45 minutes

Servings: 8

Ingredients

For the crust:

1 ¼ cup flour
½ cup cold butter, cubed or grated
¼ cup ice-cold water

For the filling:

4 cups fresh cherries, pitted
½ cup sugar
2 tbsp freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/3 cup tapioca starch or cornstarch
2 tbsp butter, chopped
1 egg white, beaten, for brushing the pie

Instructions

1. Make the crust; in a food processor or a high-speed food blender, blend flour with butter until you have a coarse mixture.

2. Transfer the mixture into a bowl and add ice-cold water. Stir using a spatula until you have a smooth dough.

3. Shape the dough into a disc and wrap it in plastic foil. Refrigerate the dough for 2 hours.

4. In the meantime, make the filling; place cherries, sugar, and lemon juice in a saucepot. Cook until the cherries release their juices. Remove cherries from the saucepot, using a slotted spoon, and set them aside.

5. Whisk the cornstarch into the cherry juice and cook over medium-high heat for 2-3 minutes. Stir in the cherries and leave everything to cool down.

6. Assemble the pie; preheat the oven to 400°F.

7. Roll out the chilled pie dough to a 12-inch diameter. Brush your 8-inch pie crust with some butter, just a light coat.

8. Place the rolled dough gently into the pie pan and trim the edges. Fill the pie shell with cherry filling.

9. Take the trimmed edges and roll them out again. You can use that to make a thin top layer or a rich pastry layer; just double the recipe of the pie crust.

10. Lay strips of the rolled dough over the cherries and pinch to seal the edges. Brush the top dough with the beaten egg — you can additionally sprinkle the dough with some sugar.

11. Bake the pie for 40-45 minutes.

12. Cool the pie before serving and slicing.

Notes

If you want to blind bake the pie crust, then cover the crust with parchment paper, weigh it down with rice or pie weights, and bake for 15 minutes at 375°F.
You can also freeze any unbaked pie crust and store it like that for up to 2 months.