This post may contain affiliate links. For more information, read my disclosure policy.
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 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 anything you want!
- You could buy a store bought crust, but homemade tastes so much better and it stands up to pre-baking or baking better than the store-bought crusts.
- Just 3 ingredients – with options for what you have in your pantry
- Use it for a totally no bake pie or bake it to make it crunchy
- You can use this for a baked pie (like chocolate chess pie) or baked cheesecake
- It’s tried and true and the only graham cracker crust I make!
How to make a Graham Cracker Crust
- Graham Crackers: You have two different options when starting with graham crackers: whole and crumbs. One is cheaper, one is easier. Regardless, buy the name brand – they taste better.
- Sugar: You can use granulated sugar, powdered sugar, OR brown sugar.
- 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.
SAVE THIS RECIPE
We'll email this post to you, so you can come back to it later!
Dorothy’s Expert Tips
- To 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.
- 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 and incorporates the butter better.
- Once mixed, it will have the texture of very coarse sand.
- A secret to the perfect graham cracker or cookie crust is compacting the crumbs. You need to really, really compact them. Start with your hands to get it around the edges of the pie plate and then you can switch to a glass if you want to really compact it.
- Pan Sizes: This recipe is written for a 9-inch pie plate. It will also work in a 9- or 10-inch springform pan (for cheesecake) or either an 8-inch or 9-inch square pan. You can use it in a 9×13-inch pan but it will be much thinner, so personally, I double it for that size pan.
How to use Graham Cracker Crust
- Any no bake pie recipe, like butterscotch pie, no bake pumpkin pie, or no bake cheesecake.
- No Bake 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 with a Key Lime Pie or my classic cheesecake recipe.
Graham Cracker Crust Recipe
NEVER buy a store bought pie crust again when you can make this easy 3-ingredient Graham Cracker Crust. Use it for ANY pie recipe – bake or no bake!
Recipe Video
Prep Time 10 minutes
Total Time 10 minutes
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups (170g) graham cracker crumbs (from about 10 or 11 whole graham crackers)
- ¼ cup (50g) packed brown sugar
- 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.
Recipe Notes
- You can also add 1/4 teaspoon each cinnamon and salt
- This recipe is written for a 9-inch pie plate, 9-10″ springform pan, or 8-9 inch square pan. I recommend doubling the recipe for a 9×13-inch pan.
- You can bake in this crust; just follow the recipe for whatever pie or cheesecake you’re making. Sometimes it will need pre-baking, sometimes not; it just depends on your recipe.
- This pie crust can be made up to 48 hours in advance and stored in the fridge wrapped well in plastic wrap.
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
No bake. Great for hot summer days.
This is so easy and tastes great!!!
Please tell people they need a large 9 oz graham cracker crust.
This recipe didn’t work out for me as written, but it was salvageable. I had the same problem as a few other people who commented about it being much too wet (and I only used 6 tablespoons of butter instead of seven). That might possibly have to do with the type of butter I used, some butters have higher fat content and some have higher water content. Luckily I’ve made enough graham cracker crusts to recognize the issue and I just added a bunch more crushed graham crackers until I got the texture that I needed. My other problem was that I weighed out the brown sugar and used only 40g instead of 50g but when I tasted the crumbs they were way too sweet. This might have to do with the brand of graham crackers I use or just personal taste. I added a hefty dose of salt and that helped but it was still sweeter than I would have liked.
Overall, it worked well in the end as a base for no-bake cheesecake cups. They were a hit at the office potluck.
What brand of butter and graham crackers are you using? I always use Challenge Butter and have made this countless times with generic and Honey Maid grahams. As for sugar – I don’t find it too sweet but you can always use less if you prefer. Make sure to use the full amount of graham crackers – any less and it can be too wet. I prefer a crust that sticks together, whereas the box instructions usually is too loose and falls apart.
European style butter does have a higher fat content, but actually has less water than American sweet cream butter. Because of this difference, as baker extraordinaire Stella Parks has noted, using European style butter is not necessarily an upgrade to a recipe, but a fundamental change to the formula, which is crucial in baking.
Thank you, thank you, thank you!! I’ve been searching these here webs for many a moon tryin to procure me a easy good recipe for pie crust, now finally I founds it!! Thank you!!
Featured In
Rate This Recipe
Recipe Ratings without Comment