Pretzel Pie Crust Recipe

This salty and sweet Pretzel Pie Crust Recipe is an easy and delicious crust option! It has only three ingredients and is simply pressed into the pan and it's ready to go. You can bake it before filling, or freeze it for a truly no-bake pie crust option.

Crushed Pretzel Pie Crust Recipe

This crunchy, salty and sweet pretzel pie crust can make a pie feel revolutionary! But best of all, like most crumb crust recipes it's so simple to put together. Simply grind up some pretzels, mix it together with a touch of sugar and melted butter and and you've got yourself an easy pie crust that won't disappoint.

I shunned crumb crust recipes for a while because I found it difficult to actually press in the crumbs in an even way. And then I discovered if you press in the edges of the pie first and then work the crumbs down to form the bottom that it is more efficient and easier to evenly distribute.

Types of Pies to Make with a Pretzel Crust

There are a lot of pies that work well with a pretzel crust. Sweet pies tastes great with the balance of the salty and crunch pie crust. No bake cheesecake or cream pies are also a great candidate. Really, any pie that requires refrigeration will work well here.

There are a few pies however that won't work well with this crust, and that would be any pie that needs to be served at room temperature, or a pie that has a very wet filling.

It's perfect for many sweet pie options like:

• no-bake cheesecake style pies
• cream pies
• ice cream pies
• chiffon pies
• chocolate pies

Troubleshooting a Pretzel Crust

Pretzels can vary in terms of their moisture level. For this reason, there can be some variance with how much butter you actually need for the recipe to work. The pretzel crust mixture should have the consistency of wet sand. If for any reason your crumb crust is extremely dry, you can add 1 tablespoon of melted butter–one tablespoon at a time–to the crumbs until they are evenly moistened. Alternatively, if your mixture is too wet and it is hard to work with, add more pretzel crumbs until it is the correct consistency.

How to Prepare the Pie Plate

Generally speaking, I don't recommend greasing a pie plate when making a crumb crust. There is plenty of butter in this recipe that when you are removing a slice of pie it should easily come out. But I have had anomaly pies made with a crumb crust that have stuck to the bottom in spots. This tends to happen when the crumbs are very finely ground, or when I have chosen not to blind bake the pie crust. If you are nervous about your crumb crust sticking, use a cooking spray or oil to grease the pie plate, instead of butter.

To Blindbake or Not

It is not essential to blind bake a pretzel pie crust! However, I recommend it. Blind baking is good for two reasons. The first being that baking it lends a toasty caramelized flavor to the pie crust, and adding another level of flavor is always a good thing. The second reason is that blind baking a crumb crust makes it just a little bit more sturdy than simple freezing it.

But sometimes when you are making a no-bake pie it just doesn't make sense to turn on the oven for 8 minutes of cooking! So in that case, it's perfectly okay to freeze the crumb crust instead of baking it.

Tips for Forming a Pretzel Crust

Want to know the best way to form a crumb crust? While logic might tell you to place the pretzel mixture in the middle of your pie plate and start pressing it in there, this process makes it messy and hard to get an even crumb base all the way up the sides. The easier and faster way to do it is to start forming the edges of the pie crust first, and then press the crumb mixture down into the bottom of the plate.

Steps for Forming a Pretzel Crust

Here are the steps for forming a pretzel crust. Also, check out the video above that shows you how to do it!

1. Gather the pretzel mixture loosely up the sides of the plate until all the edges are covered with crumbs.
2. Form the top edges of the crust and neaten them up by pressing them together with two fingers. It may feel like you won't have enough crumbs to fit the bottom of the pie at this point, but don't worry. Plenty of crumbs to go around.
3. Next, start packing down the sides of the pretzel crust with your thumb in an even layer. As you do this start moving the excess crumb mixture toward the center of the pie plate.
4. Continue packing the crumbs from the outer edges towards the middle until you have a single layer.
5. Then with your fingers, a spatula, or the bottom of a measuring cup pack down the crumbs until everything is tight and even.

More Pie Crust Recipes

• Graham Cracker Crumb Crust
• Vanilla Wafer Crust
• Potato Pie Crust
• Pecan Gingersnap Crust

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