Flaky Paleo Pie Crust (gluten-free, grain-free, vegan option)

This paleo pie crust recipe rivals a wheat crust! Almond flour, cassava flour, and tapioca flour build a smooth, pliant dough that you can roll, fold, flute, and weave. Gluten-free, grain-free, dairy-free, egg-free, with vegan and nut-free options. Use this grain-free pie crust in any pie recipe: pumpkin, apple, pecan, sweet potato - the pie's the limit. Thanks to Bob's Red Mill for sponsoring this post! 

When I started a pesky grain-free elimination diet earlier this year, I feared that pie would be a thing of the past. As a former pastry chef, I have strong opinions about pie crust: it needs to be buttery, flavorful, tender, and flaky or it isn't worth the calories.

Most paleo pie crust recipes use a single flour and they tend to turn out pale, crumbly crusts that don't feel or taste like the real deal. I set out to see whether I could make a paleo pie crust that rivaled my favorite gluten-free pie crust.

Using that recipe as a starting point, I tested three versions: one with all cassava flour, one with almond flour, and one with tiger nut flour. While all versions were good, the version made with cassava, almond, and tapioca flours was the clear winner.

My Best Paleo Pie Crust

This paleo pie crust recipe tastes and feels shockingly like a wheat flour dough. A few techniques borrowed from classical pastry create a smooth, pliable dough. The crust bakes up tender and flaky, just the thing to encase your favorite galette, quiche, pie, or tart.

PLUS! Sarah and I made a stop-motion video to show you exactly how to do it.

Grain-Free Pie Crust Ingredients and Substitution Suggestions

• Flours: A blend of cassava flour, almond flour, and tapioca flour create a pie crust that feels and tastes surprisingly like a wheat crust. Bob's Red Mill flours are milled in certified gluten-free facilities. Their fine grinds join forces here: cassava flour's sticky quality replaces the need for gluten, tapioca flour makes the dough extensible (stretchy), and blanched almond flour adds richness, tenderness, and browning. These mild-flavored flours make a neutral dough that pairs well with any recipe, sweet or savory. You can swap in almond meal, hazelnut flour, tiger nut flour, or more cassava flour in place of the almond flour. You could also try using Bob's Paleo Baking Flour in place of all of the flours; it has a similar blend of ingredients.
• Ground chia seed adds more sticky goodness to the dough, helping to make it pliable and flaky. I use white chia seed, which I grind in a coffee grinder, as the color blends in with the dough. But any chia seed will work. Alternatively, try this with ground flax seed or omit the seeds and use 1/2 teaspoon xanthan gum instead.
• Butter adds richness and flaky layers. Some paleo-dieters include butter in their meals, preferring grass-fed butter, while others stick to ghee or plant-based butters. Butter seems to be ok for me in moderation, so I use it here. If ghee is your preference, follow the method in my ghee pie crust recipe to chill and incorporate the ghee. For a vegan almond flour pie crust, use vegan butter, coconut oil, or palm oil instead.
• Salt sharpens the flavors.
• Ice water brings the dough together while keeping the butter cold.
• Lemon juice or apple cider vinegar help tenderize the dough.

Method

The key to this gorgeous grain-free pie crust lies not only in the blend of ingredients, but also in the method.

Hydration

First, we make sure to hydrate the dough properly. Proper hydration helps activate the sticky qualities of the tapioca flour and chia seed to mimic gluten. This dough needs to feel slightly more moist than a wheat flour dough. When squeezed, it should easily come together, but it shouldn't feel wet or sticky.

Butter Size and Temperature

Next we start with cold butter and we leave lots of nice butter chunks in the dough. There should be some chunks that are the size of large peas or small hazelnuts, with some butter worked into the dough.

Turning the Dough

After the first chill, we give the dough a couple of "turns" meaning we roll it out and fold it up. This technique is traditionally used to make puff pastry and croissants. In fact, this paleo pie crust recipe is similar to a "rough puff pastry." As the dough is rolled out, the butter chunks elongate into sheets. When we fold up those sheets, we get many thin layers of butter and dough. When the cold dough hits the hot oven, the butter gives off steam which lifts the layer of dough above it.

If the butter gets worked into the dough more, the resulting crust will be more tender and soft, while more large chunks of butter make a crisper, flakier dough.

How to make paleo pie crust: step-by-step photos and instructions

Paleo Pie Crust Variations

Grain-Free Nut-Free Pie Crust

Omit the almond flour and use either all cassava flour, or tiger nut flour (also made from a tuber and not a nut) in its place. Sub by weight if you can, and add 1-2 more tablespoons of ice water as needed to bring the dough together. This version doesn't brown as nicely as the version with almond flour, but it gets the job done!

Vegan Almond Flour Pie Crust

For a paleo vegan pie crust, swap in a good plant-based butter for the dairy butter. Miyoko's butter is the closest I've found to dairy butter in terms of flavor, firmness, and workability. Alternatively you can try this with chilled coconut oil or palm oil. These oils are more solid when chilled, so you'll want to let the dough soften up more before rolling it out. Omnivores can try this with lard. You can also use 50/50 butter and lard or shortening.

Almond Flour Double Pie Crust

You can use a double batch of this paleo pie crust dough to make a double pie crust, lattice crust, or cut-out crust, as shown here. The cut-out version, which I learned from Laura of Tutti Dolci, is my favorite and the method that graces the cover of my cookbook. This easy paleo pie crust method uses rounds of cut dough to form a pretty tiled top. You can cut the rounds into any shape you like: rounds, fluted rounds, stars, hearts, leaves, squares – the options are limitless. Overlap the shapes atop the filled crust, leaving some windows for steam to escape. Gently brush and dab the top with plant milk and sprinkle with a little coarse sugar or maple sugar.

Paleo Apple Pie Crust / Paleo Pumpkin Pie Crust

Use this almond flour pie crust with any pie, galette, or quiche recipes you like. Try my recipe for paleo apple pie, sweetened with maple syrup and kissed with cinnamon and lemon. Or use my favorite pumpkin pie recipe with coconut milk swapped in for the dairy for a paleo pumpkin pie.

I hope this post was ins-PIE-ring! Please let me know what you make with it in the comments. 

*Bojon appétit! For more Bojon Gourmet in your life, follow along on Instagram,  Facebook, or Pinterest, purchase my gluten-free cookbook Alternative Baker, or subscribe to receive new posts via email. And if you make this paleo pie crust recipe, I’d love to know. Leave a comment and rating below, and tag your Instagram snaps @The_Bojon_Gourmet  and  #bojongourmet.*

More favorite pie recipes:

• Gluten-Free Apple Pie
• Silky Smooth Pumpkin Pie 
• Salty Walnut Pie with Nocino
• Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie
• Pecan-Topped Sweet Potato Pie
• Apple Quince Pie
• Gluten-Free Apple Galette with Walnut Frangipane
• Goat Cheese Fig Galettes (shown with paleo pie crust)
• 16 Holiday Pies, Tarts, and Galettes
• Gluten-free pies for all seasons (and more!) in my cookbook Alternative Baker

More Paleo Dessert Recipes:

• Paleo Vegan Banana Bread
• Paleo Vegan Fruit Cobbler
• Vegan Paleo Chocolate Chip Cookies
• Paleo Vegan Zucchini Bread
• Cassava Flour Crackers
• Grain-Free Chocolate Tart

More Crust Recipes:

• Gluten-Free Pie Crust
• Classic Flaky Pie Crust
• Sourdough Pie Crust
• Ghee Pie Crust
• GF Vegan Tart Crust
• Gluten-Free Pizza Crust
• Whole Wheat Puff Pastry