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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!

graham cracker crust in glass pie plate.


Easy Crust Recipe for Pie

Graham cracker pie crust is one of my favorite pie crusts. I don’t think I can choose an absolute favorite, because I love all of them too much. But 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.

ingredients in a graham cracker crust - bowl of graham cracker crumbs, bowl of melted butter and bowl of brown sugar

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.

All About Graham Crackers

3 rectangular graham cracker sheets = approximately 1/2 cup graham cracker crumbs

I recommend Nabisco brand graham crackers. They taste better and have better coloring, but in a pinch you can use generic.

How to make a Graham Cracker Crust from scratch

  1. 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.
  2. Mix: stir the crumbs with sugar, cinnamon and melted butter
  3. 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!
  4. Chill in fridge at least 10 minutes then use in your pie recipe!

Mixing Tip

I mix all my crumb crusts with a FORK. I like how a fork works for mixing together the crumbs, and then again when adding the butter. It makes it more crumbly somehow.

It’s the texture of very coarse sand. You pour this mixture into a 9″ pie plate. Make sure you measure your plate. 9″ is standard, and I think this would even do well in a 9 1/2″ pie plate. But anything over (or under) that and you need to edit the recipe.

graham cracker crust in glass pie plate.

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.

2 graham cracker crusts in glass pie plates.

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

Do you have to bake a pre-made graham cracker crust?

No – with this recipe you can just fill it unbaked.

What can you use instead of graham cracker crust?

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.

What sugar can I substitute?

You can use granulated sugar if you prefer in equal amount of the brown sugar called for.

Can I make vegan graham cracker crust?

I’m not sure if graham crackers themselves are vegan but if they are you can substitute vegan butter sticks for the regular butter.

Can I use flavored graham crackers?

Yes! Cinnamon graham crackers or chocolate graham crackers would be fantastic with this same recipe.

graham cracker crust in a clear pie container.

Perfect Graham Cracker Crust Recipe

4.38 from 93 votes
NEVER buy a store bought pie crust again when you can make this easy 4-ingredient Graham Cracker Crust. Use it for ANY pie recipe – bake or no bake!
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Yield 1 crust
Serving Size 1 slice

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
  • 7 tablespoons (99g) unsalted butter melted
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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 Video

Recipe Notes

  • 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.
  • 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.

Recipe Nutrition

Serving: 1slice | Calories: 1448kcal | Carbohydrates: 151g | Protein: 10g | Fat: 92g | Saturated Fat: 52g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 4g | Monounsaturated Fat: 25g | Trans Fat: 3g | Cholesterol: 211mg | Sodium: 857mg | Potassium: 324mg | Fiber: 5g | Sugar: 82g | Vitamin A: 2452IU | Vitamin C: 1mg | Calcium: 179mg | Iron: 6mg
Nutritional information not guaranteed to be accurate
Course Dessert
Cuisine American

Favorite No Bake Pies

Last Updated on March 27, 2024



Dorothy Kern

Welcome to Crazy for Crust, where I share recipes that are sometimes crazy, often with a crust, and always served with a slice of life.

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182 Comments

  1. Hello,
    I am very excited to use this recipe for a thanksgiving pie tomorrow.
    Question, is the sugar in the recipe essential? There’s already sugar in the graham crackers not to mention the filling. Just wondering and hoping to skim off a bit of that sugar rush where I can.

    I will definitely report back with a review afterwards!

    P.S. Being a vegan I’ve used Earth Balance butter for my other flour pies with much success. I also hear Miyoko’s is good. Thx again!

    1. You don’t have to add the sugar if you don’t want, graham crackers just aren’t very sweet so I add it. But feel free to leave it out if you prefer!

  2. I needed to make a graham cracker crust for a no bake blueberry pie, this crust was WONDERFUL!! I chose to bake it as I thought my graham crackers may be a bit stale and WOW this crust totally stole the show for my pie! The only thing I noticed when I baked the crust was that the sides did shrink a bit, BUT easy fix I just pushed the crust back into place. I would recommend this crust to anyone! Thank-you for making our pie amazing!!!

  3. Hi, i didn’t see anywhere the amount of butter you use. Maybe i just missed it. it looks like you have about 7 tablespoons in the picture. Is this right? i made the crust from a similar recipe which only called for about 4 or 5 Tbs of butter and I found the crust was a bit dry.

    1. If you use vegan butter (i.e. earth’s balance vegan butter sticks) that will work. I think you can use coconut oil but I haven’t tried it.

  4. I have made this twice in the last two weeks for malted milk pie. It is perfect! I like the idea of using brown sugar. It keeps its shape and cuts nicely. Fantastic recipe.

    1. It depends on the pie recipe you’re using. And if it’s a completely no bake pie recipe, then it’s your choice if you wan’t the crust a little crunchier.

  5. Thanks a lot for all the explanations. But a still have a question. 😳I want to use the crust for a cheesecake that has to be in the frizzer for at least 6 hours. Can I freeze this crust or should I just freeze the cheesecake and when it’s done jut put it on top of the crust that it’s been In the refrigerator for an hour. ? Please give me your opinion. Thanks

  6. Will never buy another Graham cracker crust…this is super tasty & incredibly easy.
    Now need to invest in some nice glass pie plates.

  7. Made this in a pinch for my peanut butter pie since I didn’t have a Graham cracker crust, but had a box of Graham crackers.
    Easy recipe. I left out cinnamon because I don’t think it would go well with peanut butter, but other than that followed to the letter. Don’t know how you’d make this with less butter as someone else stated, the crumbs wouldn’t stick together.