Pistachio Cream Pie

Made without using any packaged mixes, this from-scratch Pistachio Cream Pie starts with a smooth nutty pudding, topped with silky whipped cream and chopped pistachios tucked inside of a sweet pie pastry.

Pistachio Pudding Pie

This Pistachio Cream Pie is made with exactly what you think: actual pistachios (and cream, and milk and eggs and butter---you know, all the good stuff).

Raw, shelled pistachios are ground down into a paste and incorporated into a really delicious homemade pudding and poured inside of a shortbread cookie crust, and then topped with freshly whipped cream and more chopped pistachios.

I don't want to throw too much shade towards the boxed "pistachio pudding" that most recipes out there call for, but there really aren't any actual pistachios in that. However, this recipe has an entire cup of pistachios in the pudding, and the nutty, earthy, almost buttery flavor is exceptional. It simply is a celebration of that little green nut.

I have had this pie on my "must create" list practically since I started this website, and I'm thrilled to finally be getting down to it.

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!

Key Ingredient Overview

Here is an overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The full recipe is listed below in greater detail.

• shelled raw unsalted pistachios (I don't recommend roasted or salted because it will dull the color, change the flavor, and upset the salt balance)
• unsalted butter
• granulated sugar + powdered sugar
• whole milk (because of the added fat in the form of pistachios I tried to keep this lighter by using just whole milk instead of a combination of milk and cream, which is more typical for pudding; if you want a more "rich" pudding, feel free to substitute some of the whole milk for heavy cream...I would recommend about ½ cup)
• all-purpose flour
• cornstarch
• kosher salt (I use Diamond Crystal kosher salt in my recipes, if you use Morton's or fine table salt, the salt amount should be decreased by roughly half)
• eggs
• almond extract (this is essential for the flavor as it is almost always paired with pistachio-flavored food)

Tools Needed

Here is a list of some of the primary tools I use in this recipe. You won't necessarily choose to use them all, but they are exactly what I used. Any links may contain affiliate links.

• food processor (to make the pie dough and to make the pistachio butter)
• electric mixer or whisk (for whipping cream)
• 9" pie plate
• dried rice and beans/pie weights (for blind baking)
• rolling pin
• knife
• small pot
• kitchen essentials: baking scale, bowls, measuring cups and measuring spoons

Recipe Overview

There are four components needed to make a pistachio cream pie:

• the pie crust
• the pistachio butter
• the pudding
• the whipped cream

The following sections will go into further detail about each element!

Pie Crust Options

The pie crust in this recipe is a sweet, crumbly, shortbread-like crust that is very stable and holds up well in the refrigerator.

It also comes together quickly in a food processor following the typical method to make a "shortbread" pie crust:

1. Add the dry ingredients
2. Pulse in the butter
3. Add the wet ingredients--in this case, an egg--and pulse until it just comes together around the blade, and then stop!

The consistency will be that of play dough when it's done. It will be soft, but if handled delicately, it can be rolled out right away. Or, it can be made ahead of time, up to 3 days.

Even though it doesn't need to be chilled before you roll it out, it does need to be chilled briefly before you blind-bake it. And yes, it absolutely does need to be blind-baked since the filling of this pie is just a pudding that never goes into the oven.

If you are new to blind baking, check out this Tutorial for more in-depth information.

If you don't want to make a pastry crust, a quick Vanilla Wafer Crust would be really awesome with this pie. Or a Pretzel Pie Crust.

I would not suggest using a flaky pie crust for this pie, since it will be served cold.

Let's Talk Pistachios

This recipe calls for shelled raw pistachios. Using anything other than raw unsalted pistachios will alter the final result.

Going in, I knew this recipe required smooth ground pistachios, also known as pistachio butter. But I wasn't settled on the path to get there.

I tested a couple of different approaches to making it. I even tried blanching the pistachios and then taking the brown/purple skin off of them to produce a "clean" colored pudding. In the end, I found that entirely tedious, and the end result was not worth the time and effort.

The method I finally landed on for the best filling was to make pistachio butter in a food processor using just shelled raw pistachios. It produced a nearly smooth pudding with a lovely light green color. However, it is a little bit of a time investment to turn nuts into "butter". It takes about 10 minutes or so. Sometimes less if you have a high-speed food processor or sometimes more if you don't.

How to Make Pistachio Butter

It's a relatively straightforward process of turning the pistachios into a paste. Use either a high-speed blender or a food processor to make it. Here are the steps in making it:

• Stage 1: Process the pistachios to a fine powder. This should happen fairly quickly. At this point, scrape down the sides.
• Stage 2: Continue processing until the pistachios start to clump together. Scrape down the sides, and continue to process. If your machine is very hot, let it rest for 30 seconds.
• Stage 3: The pistachios may at some point clump around the blade, keep going.
• Stage 4: Continue to process until the pistachios release their oil and turn into a smooth thick paste! There will likely be some tiny pieces of pistachio remaining. You can keep processing it to get it smooth, but for the pudding, I think some small pieces are desirable so I stop processing it as soon as it turns to an oily paste.

The only issue that comes up is the number of pistachios needed for this recipe. This pudding only needs 1 cup of pistachios. If you have a small food processor or a high-speed blender like a Vitamix, this likely won't be an issue and you can make the pistachio butter. But if you only have a large capacity food processor, it may be tricky to be able to grind only 1 cup of pistachios. 

If this is the case, I'd recommend increasing the number of pistachios used to make the butter. Yes, that means you'll have more pistachio butter than you need, but it can be used in other cooking and baking projects in your kitchen. Use any excess as you would any other nut butter.

If you need to go this route, you'll want to use 140 grams of the pistachio butter (or roughly 5 ounces or roughly ⅔ cups).

Troubleshooting Pistachio Butter

Making a nut butter should be simple enough: grind raw nuts until they release their oil and turn into a smooth creamy paste.

Yet like most simple things in life, there can be some pitfalls when it comes to making it.

The biggest hurdle one may encounter when making nut butter is the anticipation that it will never come together. Depending on the strength of the machine used to grind the nuts, it can take about 10 minutes, or maybe even more! Keep going, it will eventually turn into butter.

Do not add any additional ingredients to the paste...doing that can make it "seize" up. So be sure not to add anything like water to it to try to make it smooth out. The exception to this is oil. If you do find yourself with sandy pistachios that never come together, you can add 1 or 2 teaspoons of neutral-tasting oil to the machine. This fail-safe addition should do the trick to bring it together.

Or, if you really think it got messed up, you could add about 1 cup of milk to the recipe to help bring it together. The end result may not be exactly as intended, maybe slightly thicker, but it will still be tasty!

Could you buy pistachio butter and use that? Yep! So long as it's just raw pistachios and salt in the ingredients

Preparing the Pudding

Once the pistachio butter is made, it's a breeze to put together the pudding. 

The pudding is made in one pot and doesn’t require the tempering of the eggs. You start by whisking together the sugar and cornstarch, then the eggs, pistachio butter and finally the milk.

The whole mixture is cooked over medium heat, while you alternate between whisking and using a rubber spatula to scrape up any thickened bits from the bottom.

The trick with this pudding recipe is to slowly heat the eggs with all of the ingredients at once so they don’t scramble. The added cornstarch helps stabilize the egg mixture so that doesn’t happen. The cornstarch is also responsible for thickening the pudding.

Once the pudding is cooked it needs to be strained through a fine-mesh sieve to strain out any bits of egg or large chunks of pistachio; hopefully, both of those have been avoided. And finally, the butter and almond extract are added in for flavor and texture improvement.

Quick Tips for Making the Pistachio Filling

1. Make sure to have a rubber spatula and a whisk handy. I use both to be sure the mixture cooks evenly. I swap between them while I’m cooking the pudding to make sure I’m getting all the mixture out of the crevices of the pot while whisking to ensure consistent cooking.
2. Don’t walk away from the pudding. It takes no more than 10 minutes to cook. Also, it’s incredibly important to stir almost constantly at the beginning when you are cooking it to ensure no egg yolks get stuck to the bottom of the pot and scramble.
3. Strain the pudding to get rid of any small bits of cooked eggs you might have. It makes the final pudding smoother.
4. This pudding will set pretty firm and that is what you want for nice slices of pistachio cream pie, so be sure to pour the pudding directly into the prepared pie crust when it's hot.

The Whipped Cream

What would a cream pie be without a pile of whipped cream on top?

This recipe calls for adding cream cheese to the heavy cream, along with a touch of sugar and vanilla. It adds not only another layer of flavor to the cream but it helps to stabilize it. While whipped cream is always better served fresh, the stabilized whipped cream will hold up well on any leftover pie for about 2 days if need be.

Garnish Options

It's perfectly acceptable to leave the pie unadorned since it already has that gorgeous cream top. But, it's always a fun idea to decorate the pie to give a "sneak peek" as to what is hidden below the whipped cream. For this pie, the obvious choice would be some crushed or chopped pistachios.

Make Ahead Tips

As with most pies, there are a few steps you need to do to get to the finished pie. A lot of these components can be broken down into steps and done ahead of time.

• Make the pie crust ahead of time. You can do it for up to 3 days in the refrigerator, or up to 3 months in the freezer.
• Make the pistachio pudding: You cannot make the pudding alone ahead of time. It has to be made and placed directly in the baked crust immediately, and this can be done up to 1 day ahead of time.
• Assemble the pie: The entire pie can be assembled up to 1 day ahead.

More Cream Pies:

• Butterscotch Cream Pie
• Strawberry Cream Pie
• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Banana Cream Pie
• Triple Coconut Cream Pie

I am so honored when you make a recipe from my site! If you make this Pistachio Cream 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!

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