Perfect Homemade Pie Crust

Unbaked pie with lattice top and crimped edges on a white surface.

5 from 1 vote

For buttery, flaky, tender pie crust, this perfect homemade pie crust recipe is foolproof! The all butter pie crust dough is made using a food processor, vodka, and orange juice to create a delicious dough that's easy to roll out and ideal for creating lattice or other decorative tops.

Prep Time20

Chill Time2

Total Time2 20

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Servings:

Calories: 377kcal

Author: Allison Ferraro

Equipment

food processor

Ingredients

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour, divided
2 Tablespoons granulated sugar
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 ¼ cup unsalted butter, cut into ¼ inch pats and chilled*
3 Tablespoons orange juice, pulp-free and chilled
3 Tablespoons vodka or ice water, chilled**

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Add 1 ½ cups of the flour, all of the sugar, and all of the salt to the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to blend.
Spread the chilled pats of butter over the surface of the flour mixture and pulse until no dry flour remains and the dough just begins to clump. (At first, the dough will look like coarse meal. Keep pulsing. When it begins to clump and stick around the edges of the food processor, you're ready for the next step.)
Using a rubber spatula, spread the dough evenly around the bowl of the food processor. Sprinkle the remaining cup of flour over the dough and pulse until dough is just barely broken up, about 5 pulses. (The dough will be crumbly, but there should be lots of pea-sized chunks and no dry flour.)
Transfer the dough to a large bowl. Sprinkle the chilled orange juice and vodka into the bowl and, using a fork, gently toss and fold the dough until it comes together. (The dough will still be a bit crumbly, but it will be moistened throughout and the bits will stick together easily when the dough is folded.) It's important not to overwork the dough here, because overworked dough leads to tough pie crust.
Divide the dough in half and flatten each portion of dough into a disk about 1 inch thick. (The dough should flatten easily without crumbling.) Wrap each disk of dough tightly in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
Once the dough has chilled, roll, fill, and bake the pie crust according to your favorite pie recipe.

Notes

Storage: The dough can be stored in the fridge (wrapped tightly in plastic wrap) for up to 3 days before rolling and baking.

Freezing: The dough can be frozen (place the dough, wrapped tightly in plastic, into a freezer safe container or plastic bag) for up to 3 months and thawed overnight in the fridge before rolling and baking. Be sure to check out my tips for freezing pie crust.

*Cold butter is crucial for flaky pie crust. To ensure your butter is as cold as possible when adding it to the dough, remove the sticks of butter from the fridge, cut the butter into ¼ inch pats, and then refrigerate the cut butter for at least 15 minutes before making your pie crust, leaving it in the fridge until you're ready to add it to the dough. If you cut the butter just before adding it to the dough, or if you leave the butter out of the fridge while you begin to prepare the dough, it will begin to warm slightly and won't be as cold as possible.

**If you don't want to use vodka in your pie crust, you can substitute 3 Tablespoons ice water for the vodka in this recipe. The resulting crust will not be quite as tender, but it will still have a nice, tender texture.

Nutrition