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A blind baked pie crust with a parchment filled with dried beans in the background.
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How to Blind Bake a Pie Crust

A simple but important, here's how to blind bake a pie crust to ensure a tender and crispy crust.
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 30 minutes
Freeze Time 30 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 10 minutes
Servings 1 9-inch pie
Calories 791kcal
Author John Kanell

Equipment

  • Pie pan
  • Parchment paper
  • Pie weights, dried beans, or rice
  • Baking Sheet

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Prepare the crust as directed in the recipe until it’s ready to use.
  • Roll the pie crust into a 14-inch circle and line a pie pan with the dough. Fold the ends under and crimp the edges as desired. Poke the bottom all over with the tines of a fork. Freeze for 30 minutes.
  • Meanwhile, position an oven rack in the bottom third and preheat the oven to 425F.
  • Once the oven is hot, remove the pie from the freezer and place on a rimmed baking sheet. Line with a square of parchment paper. Add enough dried beans or pie weights to fill the center.
  • Bake for 20 minutes. Take a peak under the parchment by carefully lifting up an edge. If the bottom of the crust is pooled with melted butter, cook for another 5 minutes. (It should still appear wet and underbaked.)
  • Remove the pie crust from the oven. Carefully lift out the parchment paper and pie weights and set them aside to cool. At this point, your pie crust is parbaked and could be used in recipes that call for partially baking the crust before filling. (If a shiny crust is desired, you can brush the crust all over with egg wash.)
  • Return the crust to the oven and continue baking until the bottom appears dry and begins to brown, about 10 more minutes.
  • Let the pie crust cool completely before filling.

Notes

  • Freezing the pie crust is essential. As the homemade pie crust is made with butter and not shortening, it shrinks more in the oven as it bakes. Keeping the pie crust cold will keep the crust from shrinking.
  • You must line the pie dough with parchment paper. This will prevent you from baking the pie weights into the dough.
  • If you do not have parchment paper on hand, you can also line the pie dough with foil.
  • Make sure to use enough weights to hold down the dough, as the pressure against the sides of the dough will keep it from shrinking.
  • While an egg wash helps keep the pie crust from becoming soggy from a pie filling, I recommend following the instruction of the pie recipe you’re following if you're not sure if you should make an egg wash.
  • If you use a store-bought pie crust, keep in mind that they’re usually on the thinner side, so they’ll bake faster. I recommend following the directions on the package if using a frozen store-bought crust.

Nutrition

Calories: 791kcal | Carbohydrates: 84g | Protein: 11g | Fat: 45g | Saturated Fat: 14g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 5g | Monounsaturated Fat: 21g | Sodium: 708mg | Potassium: 168mg | Fiber: 4g | Vitamin A: 2IU | Calcium: 33mg | Iron: 5mg