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A homemade graham cracker crust recipe for baked pies and no bake pies is the best graham cracker crust you’ve ever had! NEVER buy a store bought crust again – this one is easy and tastes SO MUCH BETTER!
Why Use My Recipe
Graham cracker pie crust is one of my favorite pie crusts – a good graham cracker crust is a must have in your baking arsenal. So many pies can be made to pair with the graham cracker flavor because it’s so versatile. You can fill it with creamy s’mores chocolate pudding, no bake cheesecake, or anything you want.
Can you buy a store bought crust? Yes. But homemade tastes so much better and it stands up to pre-baking or baking better than the store-bought crusts.
This easy graham cracker crust recipe works without baking OR baked and it works with baked pies, like chocolate chess pie. It’s tried and true and the only graham cracker crust I make!
4 Ingredients Needed
- Graham Crackers: You have two different options when starting with graham crackers: whole and crumbs. One is cheaper, one is easier. Should you buy whole graham crackers? Or crumbs? Use what you prefer.
- BROWN SUGAR: 99% of recipes you see use granulated sugar. That’s fine, you can use that if you want. I like using brown sugar. Brown sugar is my favorite kind of sugar, and graham crackers are very brown sugary. It fits.
- BUTTER: I used unsalted butter in all my recipes, but you can substitute salted if you need too. You won’t notice a huge difference.
- Cinnamon gives the crust a little secret flavor that goes with just about everything. Adding some spices gives so much flavor! But, if you’re not a cinnamon person, you can leave it out.
How to make a Graham Cracker Crust
- Grind: grind or crush your crumbs. You can use a food processor or crush with a rolling pin in a plastic bag. Both turn out the same – so use what’s easiest.
- Mix: stir the crumbs with sugar, cinnamon and melted butter
- Press: press crumb mixture into pie plate. A secret to the perfect graham cracker or cookie crust is compacting the crumbs. You need to really, really compact them. I use the bottom of a glass for the bottom of the pan. Press it good!
- Chill in fridge at least 10 minutes then use in your pie recipe!
How to use your crust
- No Bake Pie: Chill the crust for at least one hour before filling with your no-bake filling. Chill according to the recipe directions, then cut and serve. The crust is semi-crunchy and perfectly sweet. It may crumble a little more on cutting than the baked version, but it’ll hold together nicely. Perfect with no bake cheesecake!
- No Bake Filling Pie with crunchier crust: Bake the crust for 10 minutes at 325°F. Let it cool completely, then fill and chill according to the recipe directions. A baked graham cracker crust will be more crunchy and be less crumbly, but you have to use your oven.
- Baked Pie: Fill it with your liquid/baked pie filling and bake the pie as directed in the recipe you’re using. Perfect with chocolate chess pie!
Either way you make it, this graham cracker crust is the best base for your pies. It’s easy, comes together in mere minutes, and tastes way better than packaged.
Tip From Dorothy
Expert Tips
- Use real butter for best results. Butter substitutes and low fat butter will cause the recipe to be oily.
- Remember that 3 graham cracker sheets = approximately 1/2 cup crumbs.
- This recipe is written for a 9-inch pie plate. It’s a thick pie crust. Anything smaller and it’ll be too thick, so either make two or use a portion of the crumbs.
- If making a cheesecake you can use a springform pan but it won’t go all the way up the sides.
- When this pie is made for a no bake pie it can be hard to slice the first piece. After that the pieces will come out easy.
- Use any kind of filling for this pie, like coconut cream, banana, peanut butter, or lemon.
FAQ
No – with this recipe you can just fill it unbaked.
If you don’t have graham crackers, you can substitute digestive biscuits or any other simple cookie. Graham crackers aren’t very sweet, which is why we add sugar, so be mindful when substituting other cookies.
You can use granulated sugar if you prefer in equal amount of the brown sugar called for.
I’m not sure if graham crackers themselves are vegan but if they are you can substitute vegan butter sticks for the regular butter.
Yes! Cinnamon graham crackers or chocolate graham crackers would be fantastic with this same recipe.
Graham Cracker Crust Recipe
Recipe Video
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (154g) graham cracker crumbs (from about 9 whole graham crackers/18 squares)
- ¼ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon optional
- Pinch of salt
- 6 tablespoons (84g) unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- If you’re using whole graham crackers, finely crush them in a food processor or place them in a ziploc bag and roll with a rolling pin.
- Stir graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt together in a large bowl. Add melted butter and stir with a fork.
- Press mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a 9” pie plate. Press hard to compact. You can use a glass to press the bottom, but use your fingers to press the sides.
- To make a no-bake pie: Chill pie crust for at least one hour before filling. Cover if chilling longer. Make pie as directed.
- To make a baked graham crust: Preheat oven to 325°. Bake crust for 10 minutes, until it just starts to brown. Cool completely before filling.
- To make a baked pie: Preheat oven to 325°. Bake crust for 10 minutes. Fill with pie filling and bake according to recipe directions.
Recipe Notes
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- Use real butter for best results. Butter substitutes and low fat butter will cause the recipe to be oily.
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- Remember that 3 graham cracker sheets = approximately 1/2 cup crumbs.
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- When this pie is made for a no bake pie it can be hard to slice the first piece. After that the pieces will come out easy.
- I have changed the amount of butter listed from 7T to 6T because graham cracker structure and size has changed a bit over the years.
Thank you so much for this simple pie crust! I needed a base recipe for my pumpkin cheesecake! Easy and very basic! Thanks!!
I’m so glad you liked it!
One more thing…maybe if I send you a piece of my Graha-Pum Crunch Pie, you would consider adding a “Thanksgiving” category? I love grilling and cooking, but I almost never bake, except on, you guessed it – Thanksgiving!
Good things & Happy Holidays to you & your family!
😀
Thanks for this write-up Dor, very helpful. I do have two quick questions I’m hoping you could help with:
1. Have you ever made a 9×13″ pie, and if so, what are the ingredient ratios. Like you, I love crust. A little coat of graham isn’t enough.
That being said, I plan to upgrade my traditional PumCrunch pie, which I currently make with NO crust, to a Graha-PumCrunch Pie. This bad boy sauna’s in the oven @ 350° for close to an hour, which brings me to my 2nd question.
2. Will, say, a 1/4″ graham crust hold up to the heat w/out charring or burning? Maybe using more butter or coating a Pyrex tray with grapeseed or peanut oil?
Please say it’s doable? 😉
Great work btw, I can’t remember the last time I drooled at the mere sight of pie. 😛
Thanks Cesar! I have a Thanksgiving category – it’s under Holidays > Fall (https://www.crazyforcrust.com/holidays/thanksgiving/). Also, check the pie listing under my recipes. That’s where all the pies live.
To answer your questions, I’ve made slab pies or pie bars in large pans like 9×13 or 10×15. For this crust, I would double the ingredients for a 9×13 pan. I’ve never baked this crust, but I have baked graham cracker crusts before (for cheesecake, etc.) In the past for cheesecake bars (in 9×13 pans) I’ve just pressed the crust into the pan, poured in the filling, and baked until the cheesecake was done. I’ve never made a pie like you’ve described, but it should work okay (after all, regular cheesecakes are in the oven for an hour and you often pre-bake the crust for 10-20 minutes, and they’re fine). If you’re worried about the filling seeping through the crust at all (if it’s a thin juicy filling) you can pre-bake the crust for about 8 minutes.
Enjoy! let me know how it works out!
Thanks for your reply Dorothy. I guess I should’ve looked more thoroughly but figured it had been forgotten as more “trivial holidays” had been showcased in a category on their own. Thanksgiving to me, is the most important holiday of the year, but that’s just me. 🙂
Anywho..
With a little research and testing, I’ve learned how to keep the crust sog-free or crunchy. I’ll let fill you in on a more definitive note after their cooling period in the frig. Basically either chocolate coating or egg white/water brushed on a 3min-baked crust. Cuts and transports well. Tastes great. Use chocolate for sweeter pies, egg white for more savory or salted ones.
Something worth noting, I was able to make a spicy crust as well. Mixed some Pumpkin spice into the crust mix, then added a pinch of cayenne pepper and coarsely ground coffee to taste. I adjusted the pumpkin spice ratio to the pie mix accordingly and added a tiny bit of ginger and nutmeg as well.
Thanks again Dorothy.
I need a bit of clarification. I started making sweet potato pies about a year ago and I wanted to step my baking skills up a notch. I think your recipe is just what I need to bring that delicious homemade taste to my pies. My question is, if I will be baking the pie for 40 minutes, when I make the pie crust, do I still bake that before I fill it?
Thanks for sharing this recipe! I will let you know how my pies turn out for Thanksgiving!
Hi Patti! I haven’t used this crust as a bake crust, but depending on how liquidy this pie is you might want to bake it for a few minutes first, so that the filling doesn’t soak through!
Loved the brown sugar idea and the thicker crust. Unfortunately, I found this was too much butter. After baking 10 minutes I had a soft, wet and shiny crust. Sprinkled more crumbs on top and then used paper towel to absorb more butter to save it. Wonder why. Maybe Canadian brands of butter are different.
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