This Honey Walnut Pie starts with perfectly toasted walnuts, combined with a creamed butter and honey mixture, then baked inside a buttery flaky crust. It's delicious served as is, or with a big pile of whipped cream or ice cream.
Walnut Pie Recipe (Without Corn Syrup)
This Honey Walnut Pie is almost reminiscent of the flavors of baklava, with the nuts and honey together in a flaky pie crust. The recipe is inspired by the Chef who mentored me when I first made my way into the restaurant cooking scene, Charlie Redd. He served his Oma's Pecan Pie recipe at his first restaurant, Redd's in Rozzie (which he since closed down).
Though it contains very different ingredients, this Honey Walnut Pie is similar in technique to his Oma's recipe. Her recipe called for creaming the butter and the sugar before adding in the pecans and I always loved that unique take on the classic. You'll find this recipe calls for the same. Creaming the butter and sugar creates a lovely texture for the walnuts to hang out in, and it is absolutely delicious paired with honey.
So, let's get to making it, shall we? The text below offers tons of tips and helpful notes, or you can scroll to the bottom to grab the recipe and get started!
Walnut Pie Ingredients
Here is an overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The full recipe is listed below in greater detail.
- homemade butter pie crust (see below for other options)
- walnuts
- honey
- unsalted butter
- light brown sugar
- flour
- eggs
- vanilla
- salt
Tools Needed
Here is a list of some of the primary tools I used in this recipe. You won't necessarily choose to use them all, but they are exactly what I used here. The links may contain affiliate links.
- food processor (to make the pie dough)
- electric mixer (to make the filling)
- pie plate
- rolling pin
- kitchen essentials: kitchen scale, measuring cups/spoons, sheet pan, rubber spatula
Pie Crust Options
This pie tastes best with a homemade buttery pie crust. This All Butter Pie Crust or Cream Cheese Pie Crust is perfect here. This will also work well with this Gluten-free Butter Crust.
If you wanted something a bit more sweet, this Pâte Sucrée (Sweet Pie Crust) will work well, too.
You'll only need 1 pie crust here, and most of the above recipes yield two. You can either halve the recipe or put the other pie crust in the freezer for a future pie.
If you are making a homemade pie crust, I always suggest making it ahead of time, by a day. Check out this extensive recipe for the pie crust for more information.
How to Make Walnut Pie
Here is the overview of the steps needed to make this honey walnut pie:
- make pie crust
- roll out pie crust
- toast walnuts
- cream together filling
- bake
The instructions do not call for blind baking the pie crust, since the recipe as directed should fully bake the bottom pie crust as-is. But if you've had trouble with fully baking bottom pie crusts in the past, go ahead and follow the instructions in this Blind Baking Tutorial to ensure a crisp bottom crust.
Toasting the walnuts is one of those fussy steps that are worth the effort. Toasting the nuts first before adding to the filling essentially wakes up the flavor of the nuts by bringing the oil to the surface. It also crisps up the nut too, which improves the texture.
And be sure to use room-temperature ingredients for this recipe. It helps ensure the filling comes together!
The pie is going to puff up significantly during baking, so if you put any decorative design with walnuts on top it might not be worth the effort. Instead, the instructions instruct to sprinkle chopped walnuts on top of the filling before baking.
How to Store and Serve it
There is no doubt, this pie needs to rest before you slice into it. When first baked, the pie will be too loose to slice. Let it rest for at least 4 hours.
Want to eat it warm, though? You still need to let it rest, and then once it's set up, you can place it back in the oven (or place an individual slice in a toaster oven) to briefly warm it back up. It'll only need a few minutes.
Serve as is, or with whipped cream or a big scoop of vanilla ice cream for a pretty fabulous dessert.
This pie is best served within 3 days. To store it, leave it lightly covered at room temperature, for up to one day, or in the refrigerator for up to three. You can rewarm it in a 350ºF oven before serving.
More Sweet Pie Recipes:
I am so honored when you make a recipe from my site! If you make this Honey Walnut Pie, please leave a comment and a star rating with your experience! If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment here, too!
PrintHoney Walnut Pie
This Honey Walnut Pie starts with perfectly toasted walnuts, combined with a creamed butter and honey mixture, then baked inside a buttery flaky crust. It's perfect served as is, or with a big pile of whipped cream.
- Prep Time: 00:25
- Cook Time: 00:45
- Total Time: 1 hour 10 minutes
- Yield: Serves 8
- Category: Sweet Pie
- Method: Bake
Ingredients
- 1-9″ single pie crust, prepared
- 3 cups walnuts (10 ounces; 280 grams), chopped, plus more for garnish
- 4 ounces (113 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
- ¾ cup packed (150 grams) light brown sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- ½ cup (170 grams) honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- Egg wash (1 egg whisked together with 1 tablespoon of water)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400ºF and place the rack on the lowest part of the oven.
- Roll out prepared pie dough to an 11” circle and place in a 9” pie tin. Crimp crust as desired and let it chill in the refrigerator while preparing the filling. (see notes about blind baking)
- Place walnuts on a rimmed baking sheet and toast in the oven for 5 minutes, or until walnuts start to get fragrant.
- Add butter, salt, flour, and sugar to the bowl of an electric mixer. Cream together until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add in eggs, one at a time, beating after each addition until fully incorporated.
- Slowly pour in honey and vanilla while beating the mixture on low. Continue to beat on medium speed until the mixture has slightly increased in volume, about 3 minutes.
- Fold in walnuts.
- Pour the filling into the prepared pastry-lined pie dish and smooth over the top. Sprinkle additional chopped walnuts over the smoothed filling. Brush an egg wash over the crust.
- Transfer the pie to the oven and bake on the lowest rack for 20 minutes.
- Lower heat to 350º and continue to cook until the pie is has puffed up around the edges and is just barely wobbly around the middle, about 25 minutes. If the crust is browning too quickly loosely cover with foil (being careful not to lay the foil on the top of the pie filling).
- Let cool for at least 4 hours before serving.
Notes
Have a question or looking for tips? The text written above the recipe is always a great first place to start! There are always loads of explanations, tips and technical advice shared before the recipe.
While a totally optional step, you can blind bake the pie crust if desired. This ensures a really crisp bottom crust. This recipe as directed should fully bake the bottom pie crust without blind baking, but if you've had trouble with fully baking bottom pie crusts in the past, go ahead and follow the instructions in this Blind Baking Tutorial to ensure a crisp bottom crust.
This recipe was influenced by one I made while working for Chef Charlie Redd, in Boston. It was very slightly adapted from a pecan pie recipe from his grandmother.
Keywords: Walnut Pie
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Kristin
This pie is incredible— exceeding my expectations. I made it with red walnuts— a new California variety— for Valentine’s Day and it was both beautiful and a massive hit.
★★★★★
Sue Clementz
Can this pie be frozen to serve later?
Kelli Avila
I have not tried, but it might be able to! I've frozen pecan pies before with success, and this is very similar to that. Let me know if you try!
Denise
This pie is incredible! I made it for a dinner party and everyone loved it. I used your gluten free pie dough recipe which also was fantastic. This is now my go-to recipe. So easy and so delicious!
★★★★★