Flaky pie crust with a hint of coconut flavor that’s still easy to work with.

Confession: my favorite pie crust recipe contains shortening. You may not care, but I usually keep it secret. I avoid shortening in my baking at all costs. It’s a personal choice, like how I keep trying to find a way around sweetened condensed milk.

But the Williams-Sonoma Essentials of Baking cookbook is my baking bible. Their pie crust was the first I ever made. It’s still one of the best pie crusts I’ve ever made. It’s so flaky and delicious, without that greasy film you I usually notice from desserts with shortening.

This recipe is a fun, tropical alternative to my beloved butter/shortening crust. My husband made it on a whim one day, and I ended up helping a bit and liked how easy it was to work with. I also loved the hint of coconut flavor it left, which so far has been delicious with a lemon merengue pie and a chocolate mousse pie.

This crust still uses some butter, so it’s not paleo or vegan or dairy free. Like I said, it was a whim that turned out nicely so I had to share it. I’ve seen recipes that straight up use all coconut oil, so I’m in the process of testing those for you.

For now, try this crust and enjoy the subtle, tropical shoutout to summer.

Tips for this recipe

Follow my pie crust tips here

Most of what I have to tell you about pie crust is in this post. It’s a finicky thing to master, so I compiled all I know for your pie-baking education.

Freeze the butter 5-10 minutes, but not the oil

You want cold butter, but you want the oil more pliable. Freezing the butter after you dice it into cubes helps it not get lost in the blending process, leaving small chunks of butter in the dough that translate to a flaky finished crust.

Chill in the fridge 20-30 min only

Because you don’t want the coconut oil hardening too much, you don’t need to chill this as long. Chilling is more for the butter, although you can forego it if you’re in a rush.

Don’t trim edges too much

The coconut oil causes this crust to shrink into the pan a little more than all-butter crusts. You always want to leave more of an edge than you think you’ll need, due to shrinkage, but that’s even more so the case here. Make sure whatever design you’ve made (if any—unstructured edges can be fun and whimsical) is laying moderately flat against the pie pan edge. Also aim for it extending to the very edge of the lip you’re resting the edge on. Otherwise, you’ll get shrinkage like you see here.

Don’t over bake

I’ve give you times for pre-baking (i.e. blind baking) and par-baking (used with filling like merengue that only bake 20 minutes or so). If your filling goes in raw and bakes longer, be sure to cover the edges (and top, if doing a lattice or double crust) loosely with foil. Be sure to remove as soon as your filling is done (usually when it starts bubbling throughout) so the crust doesn’t harden.

Coconut Oil Pie Crust

prep time: 15 minutes

chill time: 30 minutes

total time: 45 minutes, plus bake time

Servings: 1 pie crust

Single Crust:

1 ⅓ cups (181g) all purpose flour, sifted

1 tablespoon sugar, optional

¼ to ½ teaspoon fine ground sea salt (or to taste)

2 tablespoons room temperature coconut oil (not liquid)

6 tablespoons unsalted European style butter, cubed and frozen for 5-10 minutes

2-4 tablespoons very cold water or flavorless vodka, or as needed

Lattice Crust:

2 cups (272g) all purpose flour, sifted

1 ½ tablespoons sugar, optional

¼ to ½ teaspoon fine ground sea salt (or to taste)

3 tablespoons room temperature coconut oil (not liquid)

9 tablespoons unsalted European style butter, cubed and frozen for 5-10 minutes

3-6 tablespoons very cold water or flavorless vodka, or as needed

Double Crust:

2 ⅔ cups (362g) all purpose flour, sifted

2 tablespoons sugar, optional

½ to 1 teaspoon fine ground sea salt (or to taste)

4 tablespoons room temperature coconut oil (not liquid)

12 tablespoons unsalted European style butter, cubed and frozen for 5-10 minutes

4-8 tablespoons very cold water or flavorless vodka, or as needed

Instructions:

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in a mixing bowl or large food processor. Whisk or mix on low 15-20 seconds to combine.

Add coconut oil and cut into flour using a pastry blender or by pulsing 20-30 times, until sandy. This coats the flour so that it won't develop as much gluten later on and will remain flaky.

Add butter and pulse or cut in with pastry blender until the butter is the size of small peas. You want a variety of butter sizes, to create those flakes, but none larger than peas.

Dump everyting into a bowl and sprinkle water or vodka, one tablespoon at a time over the mixture. Stir gently after each addition, in a tossing motion to help distribute but not press down the dough. Only add enough liquid to create a ball that pulls away from the sides of the bowl then stop. (Note: you can also do this in the food processor, but you need to be very careful not to over-mix it.)

Turn out onto a floured surface and form into a smooth disc with no cracks in the edges (using your hands to gently do this). For lattice crust, divide into two discs, one twice the size of the other. For a double crust, divide into two even discs (it’s okay if one is very slightly larger than the other). Wrap tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Do not freeze.

Once chilled, unwrap and place one disc at a time on a floured surface. Lightly spread a small sprinkling of flour on the top as well. Roll each disc to about ⅛ inch thick (don’t let it be thinner), adding more flour as needed. Keep it evenly circular by rolling from the center outward and alternating directions.

Sprinkle a small bit of flour on bottom of pie pan. Transfer crust by wrapping it around the rolling pin until about half is wrapped up, then lift and set over the pie pan. Gently center and fit crust into pan by wiggling from the edge. Avoid pressing bottom too hard. Trim and shape edges as desired.

For lattice or double crust: I recommend an egg wash and sugar. Simply whisk 1 egg with 1 tablespoon milk. Brush over entire top crust or lattice. Sprinkle with a tablespoon of sugar mixed with a pinch of salt.

For pre- and par-baked crusts: Chill dough in the pan for one hour. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 400 degrees. Optional: Brush edges with egg wash (one egg whisked with 1 tablespoon milk). Gently line crust with foil, loosely covering edges to prevent burning. Fill with pie weights or dry beans. Bake for 15-20 minutes, until foil pulls away from bottom easily. For a par-bakes crust, remove at this point if baking filling for a short amount of time (20-30 minutes max). For a fully pre-baked crust, continue baking another 5-10 minutes, until the edges are golden brown.

Enjoy!