Classic Pecan Pie – Simple Best Pecan Pie Recipe

Classic Pecan Pie is our favorite rendition of the traditional pecan pie we all know and love. It’s made completely from scratch, crust and all, Mennonite style. 

Before you leave with intimidation, give it a try! It’s actually very simple and quite easy. Who knew?

I definitely used to be scared to make pie, so if that’s you, I get it. Especially making pie crust scared me. Until one day I came across this easy, four ingredient pie crust recipe, that is. And I will say, homemade crust beats a store-bought pie crust any day.

Homemade pie is amazing. Pumpkin pie, cherry pie, apple pie… ’tis the seaon for pie.

Pecan pie is still one of our all time favorite Thanksgiving pies though, and it’s one I make at least once a year. (My husband, especially, is an avid pecan pie fan.) Thanksgiving dessert just wouldn’t be complete without the perfect combination – pecan pie and vanilla ice cream.

So this holiday season, try something new: our Classic Pecan Pie recipe for a Mennonite style pecan pie made completely from scratch. 

(And there’s no shame in making it any time of the year; it’s good year-round!)

Without further ado, let’s make our favorite pecan pie recipe. 

Supplies you may need

• Mixing bowl or two – one to mix up the dough and a microwavable one for the filling. (You can also use an electric stand mixer for mixing the pie dough)
• Electric handheld mixer – works great to beat the eggs for the filling.
• Kitchen knife – to cube the butter and also trim the edge of the pie crust.
• Rolling pin – to roll out the pie crust 
• A little strainer and some flour – works great to dust a fine layer of flour onto the counter top
• Pie pan – a 9-inch pie pan or pie dish (one with higher sides is ideal; ours is hardly high enough and often tends to cook over in the oven!) 
• Measuring cups and spoons and a spatula

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Ingredients

Simple Four Ingredient Pie Crust

Flour – all purpose flour 

Butter – salted butter cut into cubes

Salt – regular iodized table salt or whichever kind you prefer

Water

Pecan Pie Filling

Butter – salted butter

Eggs 

Corn syrup – dark corn syrup or light corn syrup. I know, I know. It’s not good for you. But you really shouldn’t skip it or substitute with something else or the pie won’t set up nice and firm.

Maple syrup – real maple syrup adds that lovely sweet maple flavor

Brown sugar

Vanilla Extract

Salt

Pecan Halves – pecan halves or chopped pecans will work. Personally, I like how the pecan halves look over the pieces.

Find the full recipe on the handy little printable recipe card below!⬇

Here’s how to make Classic Pecan Pie

Line the floor of your oven with aluminum foil or place a rimmed baking sheet in the bottom (in case the pie runs over while baking which quite possibly could happen) and pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.

First of all, make the crust…

Place the crust ingredients in a mixing bowl (we used our stand mixer) and mix everything together. (You can also use your hands to mix!)

Place the dough ball on a lightly floured surface, and roll out the dough evenly with a rolling pin dusting the dough with flour if necessary. Pro tip: the more times you roll out the dough, fold it over itself in half and roll out again, the more flaky your crust will be (since we’re all after that flaky crust!).

Once you’ve got a flat circle of pie dough rolled out, gently transfer the dough to an ungreased pie pan and lightly press it into the bottom and up the sides of the pan.

Take a knife and cut off all the extra dough around the edges of the pie pan. 

Using your fingers, flute the rim of the pie crust for that classic pie edge. (It’s also completely fine to let it as is!)

Mix up the filling…

In a microwave safe mixing bowl, melt the butter. Add the eggs in with the melted butter and beat with an electric handheld mixer. Then add the corn syrup, maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, salt and stir again. Fold in the pecans then dump the pecan syrup mixture into the prepared pie crust.

Place pie on the bottom shelf of the preheated oven, place a piece of aluminum foil gently over top (not touching the pie filling) and bake pie for 25 minutes. (The aluminum foil is to keep the crust from turning too brown before the middle is done.) 

Once 25 minutes is up, remove the tin foil tent and resume baking for 25 more minutes, or until the middle of the pie is set. (Give the pie a jiggle; if the center of the pie still moves, keep baking for a little longer.)

Let the pie cool for a little, then serve warm with ice cream.🤎 Or refrigerate until ready to serve.

Notes

You can use either pecan pieces or halves.

Chilled pie dough is the easiest to handle. You can chill it in the fridge awhile before rolling if you wish and it just may be easier to roll out. 

So when it comes to crimping/fluting the edges of the pie crust, I’ve seen folks just fold the excess pie dough back on top of the crust edge instead of cutting it off with a knife. Then proceed to flute or crimp as desired.

Another thing you can do is roll out the extra pie dough that you cut off and cut out fun shapes with a cookie cutter and arrange them on top of the pie.

I’ve seen these things to cover the pie crust while baking, but never tried them. Let us know in the comments; does it work well?

How do I store Classic Pecan Pie?

Cover with plastic wrap and store the leftover pecan pie in the refrigerator for 3-4 days or freeze for a couple months. (Get a head start on holiday baking! Make it ahead of time and freeze until the big day.)

Inspire your friends to make Classic Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving Dinner

So, have you tried it?

Leave a comment below. We’d like to hear how it went for you!

Thanks a million…

For visiting Small Town Scratch this season; we’re so glad to have you. Here’s a couple more recipes you might like:

Pumpkin Torte Dessert

Cream Cheese Chocolate Chip Pumpkin Cupcakes

Chocolate Swiss Roll Bars

Until next time, we love you and we’ll be praying for you,

Julie