Buttermilk Pie

By Samantha Seneviratne

Published Oct. 31, 2024

Buttermilk Pie
Armando Rafael for The New York Times. Food Stylist: Yossy Arefi.
Total Time
1 hour 40 minutes, plus cooling
Prep Time
30 minutes
Cook Time
1 hour 10 minutes, plus cooling
Rating
4(94)
Comments
Read comments

Buttermilk pie is one of those desserts that can be made with pantry staples whenever the fancy strikes: a make-do pie, if you will. It belongs to a category of pies, also called desperation pies, that home cooks turned to when ingredients were scarce. Start with a store-bought crust or your favorite pastry and then fill it with a deliciously simple custard flavored with the appealing tang of buttermilk and lemon and the creamy richness of butter. Blind baking, or baking an empty crust with pie weights, is an important step for many custard pies. The baked custard slightly softens the underlying crust, but blind-baking sets the crust and gives it a head start towards crispness. Be sure to fill the empty, chilled crust with enough pie weights, beans, or rice to come all the way up to the top so that the edges don’t slump down while it bakes.

  • or to save this recipe.

  • Subscriber benefit: Give recipes to anyone

    As a subscriber, you have 10 gift recipes to give each month. Anyone can view them - even nonsubscribers. Learn more.

    Subscribe

  • Share this recipe

  • Print this recipe

Advertisement

Ingredients

Yield:One 9-inch pie
  • 2tablespoons all-purpose flour, plus more for rolling
  • 1disk flaky pie crust, or store-bought refrigerated pie crust
  • ½cup/114 grams salted butter (8 tablespoons), melted
  • 1¼cups/250 grams sugar
  • 2large eggs, at room temperature
  • 3large egg yolks, at room temperature
  • 1cup/240 milliliters buttermilk, at room temperature
  • 1teaspoon finely grated lemon zest
  • 2teaspoons fresh lemon juice
  • 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract
  • Pinch of kosher salt (such as Diamond Crystal)
Ingredient Substitution Guide

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Heat the oven to 375 degrees. On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into an 11-inch circle. Transfer it to a standard 9-inch pie plate, pressing the dough against the walls of the dish. Trim any overhang to about ½ inch and crimp the edges as desired. Freeze until firm, 10 to 15 minutes.

  2. Step 2

    Line the frozen crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights. Bake on the middle rack until the edges are light golden and the bottom is dry, 20 to 25 minutes. Remove the parchment and weights and bake until the bottom crust is light golden, about 5 minutes. Transfer to a rack to cool slightly. Adjust oven temperature to 350 degrees.

  3. Step 3

    In a large bowl, whisk together the butter, sugar, eggs, egg yolks, flour, buttermilk, lemon zest, lemon juice, vanilla and salt until smooth and emulsified.

  4. Step 4

    Place the prepared pie crust on a rimmed baking sheet. Pour the filling into the crust and bake on the middle oven rack until the custard is puffed, golden brown on top and set, 40 to 50 minutes. The center will still have a bit of a jiggle. Tent with foil if the edges are getting too dark.

  5. Step 5

    Transfer to a rack to cool to room temperature to serve. Store leftovers in the fridge for up to 3 days.

Private Notes

Leave a Private Comment on this recipe and see it here.

Ratings

4 out of 5
94 user ratings
Your rating

or to rate this recipe.

Have you cooked this?

or to mark this recipe as cooked.

Comments

Kate Nolan

Buttermilk pie is one of my favorite pies. I have a very old recipe and no desire to experiment. Just wanted to mention that it calls for baking the pie at two temperatures - very hot for ten minutes, and then turn it down to medium for the balance of the time. I use 400 degrees and then 350 which seems to work fine.

Susan

My mother always separated the whites, beat them until stiff and folded them in to make the pie filling lighter. I encourage you to try it.

Sarah B

Buttermilk pie has always been ubiquitous in our Texas family. We use cinnamon instead of lemon.

essa

Is it served with unsweetened whipped cream, sweetened whipped cream, or soft vanilla ice cream? I couldn't tell from the photo.

Shepha Vainstein

This was an instant family favorite. And it was so easy to make!

Tracey P

Delish, especially with vanilla ice cream. Note you need a high pie plate or it’ll spill off the sides. I skipped the lemon and used cinnamon instead. I also decreased the sugar to 1 cup and honestly I think it could be decreased even more but I don’t like my sweets too sweet.!

Private comments are only visible to you.

Recipe Tags

or to save this recipe.