For our subscribers and members celebrating Thanksgiving shortly, pie is a frequent addition to the menu. Whether you’re attending an event elsewhere or hosting a celebration yourself, try our sugar-free low carb diabetic pie crust recipe.
It will make the perfect base to fill with all your favorite pie toppings (pecan, pumpkin, blueberry, lemon cream, key lime, coconut cream pie, cream chocolate pie etc).
It’s a super easy recipe to make – put in the food processor, then assemble the crust – no laborious rolling of dough required!
Best of all, this recipe fits perfectly into your diabetic lifestyle and can be used on any celebration, without feeling like you’re missing out because you have diabetes.
And hey, with this recipe, you can even pie to your regular menu – after all, it is a diabetes-friendly dessert. In any case, you’ll love it!
NOTE: If you want an update on pie fillings we’ll be sharing
Let’s talk “normal” pie for a sec…
Admittedly, you’ll have to be careful with pie, at least “normal” pie that is. Because a regular pie crust is packed with carbs, often the refined type of carbs, too – white flour and sugar!
For instance, a pie crust made with graham cracker racks up around 19 to 20 grams of carbs per slice before adding any filling. Other wheat flour pie crusts can range anywhere starting from 10 grams per slice upwards. And these crusts often contain little, to no dietary fiber, which doesn’t lower the net carb count by much, if any.
And then you’d need to be super careful selecting your filling. For instance, a pie filled with apple, is not going to leave your blood sugar levels happy.
Yes, sorry to say, apple pie is not a diabetes friendly option. In fact, an apple pie often ranks up a whopping 30 to 60 grams of carbs per slice – ouch!
But, there are still plenty of options you can have. And we always say: focus on what you CAN have, not what you can’t – it makes for a healthier, happier life. 😉
That’s where our low carb pie crust comes into play: 9 grams total carbs, 6 grams fiber, ranking in at just 3 grams carbs per slice.
As long as you pick your fillings carefully, you’ll find you can enjoy life more (including pie!) while regulating blood sugar and A1c at the same time.
Making a Low Carb Pie
Our pie crust recipe uses a combination of low carb flours: coconut flour and almond flour, which means it is also a gluten-free pie crust.
If you have a nut allergy, you could potentially try ground flaxseed meal as a substitute. But just be warned, we haven’t tested it with ground flaxseed meal, so we can’t guarantee it will work.
This pie crust was baked in a 10-inch pie plate (26 cm) but will work equally well in a 9-inch pie plate. It can even be split into portions for smaller pies. Simply follow the same process and you’ll get a similar outcome. This crust is best cooked with parchment paper, then remove it after pre-baking.
And, since the crust is pre-baked, you can then use it to make a no-bake pie, as it doesn’t need additional baking.
Our preferred sugar substitute is liquid stevia extract. Other suitable options include monk fruit, tagatose, erythritol, xylitol or a blend of those.
Diabetic Pie Crust Cooking Class
To show you how easy this pie is to make, watch the below cooking class.
While you’re here, CLICK HERE to subscribe to our new YouTube channel – we’ll have more videos coming soon!
This sweet diabetic pie crust is one of the recipes in our Low Carb Breads Masterclass – a class containing over 30 recipes and cooking classes including breads, buns, crackers, pastries and more.
Low Carb Diabetic Pie Crust Recipe
Low Carb Diabetic Pie Crust Recipe
Ingredients
- 3.5 oz almond flour - equiv. approx. 1 cup
- 2.7 oz coconut flour - equiv. approx. 1/2 cup
- 4 egg
- 1/4 cup olive oil - equiv. 4 Tbsp
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 10-15 drops liquid stevia extract - if you like it sweeter, add a few more drops
- Parchment (baking) paper
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F/ 175°C.
- Place all the ingredients into a food processor (using a mixer element) and blend for 1-2 minutes to combine. When it first starts to blend it will look like quite a runny mixture. But as the flours absorb the liquid, they will swell and the dough will slowly begin to thicken. If the mixture sticks to the sides of the processor, remove the lid and use a spatula to scrape down the edges. Once it’s well combined, you should have a thick, sticky dough.
- Line a 10-inch (26 cm) pie dish with parchment paper.
- Remove the sticky dough from the food processor and place into the pie dish.
- Moisten your fingers with water so they don't stick to the dough; then use the palm of your hand and flat of your fingers to flatten it out evenly across the bottom of the dish and up the edges. It is a bit of a fiddly process so just take your time and work the dough mixture evenly across the dish. When you’re satisfied the base is fairly even, use a fork to intermittently poke the bottom of the crust.
- Place the pie crust in the oven on the middle shelf for 25 minutes, until the edges begin to brown.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before removing the parchment paper.
- Your crust is now ready to add your pie filling.
Notes
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NOTE: If you want to re-bake the pie crust, cook it for just 15 minutes so that you get a blond crust.
As you can see in the image below, one crust is blond and can be re-baked. The other is browned and perfect for a cold pie filling. Excuse the parchment paper – that should be removed before putting in your pie filling.
You can also do different “designs” around the edges of the pie crust. For instance, in the image below we just used a finger to make a pattern. You can use a fork, spoon or another gadget you have on hand to make an impression in the crust before baking it.
Stay tuned… in a couple of days we’ll share our Raspberry Cream Pie filling. With a whipped topping of sweet cream and a blissful berry filling. We use frozen raspberries but you could easily use fresh raspberries as well. Or any other frozen or fresh berry for that matter.
You could also use the exact same process to make it a blueberry pie or a strawberry pie topped with fresh strawberries and cream – YUM!
And, a couple of days after that, we may even be sharing a pumpkin pie recipe as well (our tests are still in the making so fingers crossed all goes well).
And in case you didn’t know, all our recipes are tried and tested by us – they’re low carb and 100% diabetic friendly, of course!
ENJOY. 🙂
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Is the total of calories is by portion or the entire crust?
Nutrition facts are per serving, there are 8 servings in the recipe.
Does the 4 against egg mean 4oz and not x 4 eggs?
No, it means 4 eggs.
I don’t hav e coconut flour just almond flour- can I use only almond flour?
We haven’t tried this crust with only almond flour – give it a go and let us know how it goes.
How is a top pie crust done like apple pie?
You might be better off aiming for a crumble topping, rather than a true top pie crust (as I don’t know if this particular recipe would work well as a top crust, its a bit sticky and the transfer might be tough.)
You can make a crumble topping using equal parts coconut and almond flour, toss in some chopped nuts, cold butter, cinnamon, and your choice of powdered sweetener (ie. monk fruit or stevia.) Use a fork to mix ingredients until it forms a sand like texture. Ultimately, either option will increase the carb count of your dessert so be mindful of that change if you do choose to add a top.
Love this site very informative!! I would like a recipe for the cauliflower crust. thankyou
Hi Anne,
Thanks so much for your kind words. You can find the recipe for cauliflower crust here.
Being it’s Thanksgiving Eve, do you have a pumpkin pie recipe that would go in this low carb diabetic pie crust?
We do have one for our members but not available to public at this time, sorry.
Donna Q – here is what I do & I believe it is quite Diabetic Friendly… I take the recipe on the side of the pumpkin can ( I use Libby’s) and switch all the ingredients out for healthie options. ( Egg whites for eggs , Swerve or Splenda for sugar , and either 2% or Fat Free evaporated milk for the “Full Fat” E-milk.) I use pumpkin pie spices instead of the individual spices and then a bit of vanilla. & to get rid of the extra carbs that would ordinarily be supplied by the crust – I make it crustless. We love it
Do you have any specific recipes for fresh fruit pies such as peach or cherry?
It’s summer and I’d love to have a piece of good pie diabetic style!
Thank you
Patty
We have a delicious Raspberry Cream Pie you can work from.
Has anyone tried a double crust for a fruit pie yet?
To the best of my knowledge we do not have a recipe published for a double crust fruit pie.
Based on my personal experience, I have had better luck making a “crumble” pie top by combining almond/coconut flour, flax meal, chopped nuts, butter, cinnamon and sweetener. Be careful with your choice of filling; fruit in general is a higher carb food. Let us know if you create any yummy recipes- we would love to try them!
I am glad I came across the crust recipe, as I just made one with carbalose and I did not care for it much. It was hard to work and I did not really like the flavor. Maybe if I had sweetened it…
I use almond and coconut flour for many other recipes.
Do you have recommendations for a double crust for a fruit pie?
Thanks for sharing these great recipes for some of us who have “special” diets.
I don’t believe we have written a recipe for a double crust fruit pie- remember, fruit can very quickly become a high carb/high sugar food, so in general this is not something we would encourage.
In experimenting in my own kitchen previously, I have found some luck with making more of a “crumble” style pie- using a combination of almond and coconut flour, plus some nuts, butter, sweetener, etc. The butter will cause the dough to “clump” and you can break up these pieces over the top of your pie and bake until golden. Let us know if you’re able to create anything yummy!
This sounds yummy. I have questions though – will the partially baked crust be sturdy enough to remove from the pan to remove the parchment? Should I remove the parchment before adding filling that requires further baking? If I leave the parchment to continue baking with a filling, again is the pie sturdy enough to remove from the pan without breaking in order to remove the parchment? Is it possible to make it without the parchment? Thanks!
Yes, the pastry is very sturdy. We remove the parchment before adding fillings. But for additional baking, you could potentially do it either way and it will hold up. I can lift the entire pies from plate to plate without breaking them, being careful of course, like any pie. I have not tried it without parchment so can’t make comment on that. Hope that helps!
Can I use corn oil instead of olive oil if so would it be the same amount
Any type of oil could potentially replace the olive oil in the same quantities.
Thank you so very much for the time and effort you put into each and every recipe! My son, 42 years old, developmentally delayed, and recently diagnosed Type 2, is eating healthier, (so are Mom and Dad!), and his most recent A1c was 5.7!!! When he was diagnosed his glucose level was 588. What an improvement! Love this site!
That’s wonderful to hear about your son Linda – thanks for sharing! That’s why we do what we do and hearing news like this always makes our day. 🙂
That is terrific!!!!
It would be nice if in the recipes that called for stevia that you would also list the equivalent sweetness in sugar, so people can easily convert the recipe to their favorite low carb sweetener. Also, listing the brand you used for the stevia would be helpful.
Thanks for the suggestion Amber.
How big is one serving? Is the pie cut in six or eight?
The recipe says 8 servings Janice.
Glad to see this. Will try on quche. Only one question can stevia be left out. I have never added sugar to crust.
Yes, the stevia can be left out.
We just made a quiche, made the crust out of cauliflower it was awesome. We will try it again, less expensive than those flour’s too, never seen them up here in the Great White North. But then weren’t, looking for them either, we have some specialty stores, Whole Foods etc, that may carry them.
Most grocery stores now carry flax, coconut and almond flour – Walmart, Kroger, Whole Foods etc.